Chapter 21 The Fathers
The Fathers
Pascal
Ansel sat down next to me, and I sighed with relief at having him within reach. I grabbed his hand, he squeezed mine, and we waited. The buzz of air-conditioning and muted noises from the streets below seemed loud in the silence.
When the door to the office opened, I stiffened. Dr. Clearbridge walked in, frowning at a printout in his hands. “I’m afraid I can’t really give you a specific date.” He sank heavily into his chair and lifted his gaze above the rim of his small reading glasses.
He was an elderly omega with sharp eyes and a quick smile. I felt like he could read my mind after seconds in the room with me. He seemed nice but made me uncomfortable, as if I were a kid in the headmaster’s office.
“Haven’t you had intercourse yet?”
I sucked in a breath at the blunt question.
“No,” Ansel answered before I could. “Pascal worries about me feeling rushed or overwhelmed. We’ve been intimate in other ways, though.”
Clearbridge smiled. “Very few couples have such self-control.”
“Is it somehow dangerous for me to have sex already?” Ansel asked.
“Of course not.”
My mate side-eyed me, and I sank lower into the chair.
“Well, Ansel, let’s see.” Clearbridge spread the paper on the table and clicked a few keys on his laptop.
“The bonding is ongoing. Your hormone levels are indicative of rapid changes, but the development is not linear. I’m getting different results from your blood than from your slick sample.
I attribute it to the relatively unusual bonding process you’re going through.
Direct stimulation of the mouth to the womb might speed up the development, as will increased pheromonal exchange. ”
“So us having or not having sex affects how soon the heat will come?” I asked.
“Yes. But even if you abstain from penetrative intercourse, Ansel will go into heat within the next ten days.”
“I need the IUD, then,” Ansel said.
“I would definitely recommend inserting it as soon as possible.”
“Can we do it now?”
Clearbridge glanced at his computer. “I have another patient in twenty minutes. If you feel ready, we can do it. Otherwise, I have an empty slot at fifteen thirty.”
Ansel patted my hand. “I’m ready.”
“Very well. I will insert a small tube through the mouth to your womb and implant the device through the tube. This can be painful, but since you’re bonding, the breeding channel is already widening, so the discomfort will be brief.
I’ll give you something intravenously for the pain and to relax your muscles, just to be sure.
” He turned to me. “Pascal, the analgetic and muscle relaxant will make your mate drowsy for a few hours. He isn’t allowed to drive today. ”
“Oh. Okay.” I was still processing what he’d said about the pain. But before I could ask about that, the doctor glanced from me back to Ansel.
“You’re free to engage in sexual activities, but the mouth to your womb might be tender after the insertion. Since you’re bonding rapidly, any small tears in the tissue will heal within a few hours. You should be fully healed and comfortable tonight. Any questions?”
What tears in what tissue? My mate would get hurt during the procedure? What the fuck?
“Are there alternatives?” I asked, my voice too loud.
Clearbridge cast me a compassionate look and opened his mouth to answer but my Ansel patted my hand. “It’s okay, Pascal.”
“Shall we?” The doctor gestured for Ansel to follow him.
I stood as well, but Clearbridge pinned me with his clear gaze. “Wait here, Pascal. It’ll only take a few minutes.”
A lifetime later, Ansel returned, a little pale, his eye glazed. He moved visibly slower. I shot up and curled my arm around his back.
“Are you okay?”
“Sure.” He grinned. “A bit wobbly.”
“As I said, no driving today,” Clearbridge said, winking, “or operating heavy machinery.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Ansel looked up at me. “Can we go home now?”
It didn’t escape me that he referred to my apartment as our home.
“Thank you, Dr. Clearbridge,” I said emphatically. I had no idea how Ansel was going through all this so breezily because my head was spinning.
As we turned to the door, the good doctor squeezed my shoulder.
“He’s doing great,” he mouthed. “Don’t worry.”
I hugged Ansel in the elevator. Closing my eyes, I pulled his scent into my lungs and tried to repeat the doctor’s quiet words in my head. He’s doing great. He’s doing great.
“Pascal, I might need to breathe at some point.”
“Oh, sorry.” I loosened my hold.
Ansel tilted his face up. He looked amused for some reason. “The doctor said I should be patient with you.”
“Huh?”
“He said that all dragon alphas get overprotective, but with a bigger age difference, like ours, it’s worse.” Then he patted my cheek. “You’re lucky I find it cute.”
Cute.
I was all but ripping my hair out worrying about him, and he found it cute. Not knowing how to respond, I let out a small frustrated grunt. Grinning, Ansel stretched on his tiptoes to kiss my cheek.
He’s doing great.
Back at home, I parked in the garage and helped Ansel out of the car.
“It’s fading quickly. I’m not dizzy anymore.”
I trusted him but wouldn’t take any chances. Holding him around his back, I led him to the reception area.
We stopped at the door.
Four men stood at the reception desk, surrounding our poor doorman. One of the men gestured wildly, his voice carrying through the hall.
“My son is up there! Either you let us in, or I’m calling the police!”
Ansel stepped away from me but held on to my hand. “Father.”
The men turned to face us.
The alpha who I assumed was Bernard Perrault, Ansel’s father and the CEO of the Perrault concern, stared daggers at me while his omega husband eyed me up and down with a cold, calculating expression on his well-groomed face.
The two alphas flanking them must have been bodyguards. Their faces were impassive, their dark suits identical, and they waited, rigid like statues.
“We need to talk, Ansel.”
My mate looked up at me. “Are you okay with them in your apartment? We don’t have to speak to them.”
“Whatever you think is best.”
Ansel hesitated before lifting his chin defiantly. “You can come up, but the staff stays here.”
After Ansel’s father told his men to wait, we piled into an elevator.
I’d never survived a minute as awkward as the ride up, with Ansel and me standing behind his parents, staring at their stiff backs. They didn’t say a word.
I opened my apartment and gestured for them to enter. They remained standing on the edge of my living room, looking around with thinly veiled judgment.
Holding my hand, Ansel faced them. “Aren’t you going to sit down?”
Ansel’s papa made the first move toward the living room lounge group, and his father followed. They took the armchairs, while Ansel and I settled on the sofa together.
Ansel’s father stared at our intertwined hands murderously, but my little mate seemed undeterred. He even took my hand in both of his and cradled it in his lap.
“So? I assume you’ve come to apologize to Pascal,” he said. I swallowed a grin. He was incredible. How did I even deserve a man like him?
“Absolutely not,” Ansel’s father spat. “He should be grateful for the intervention of our security team. Valentin and his men could have beaten him to a pulp.”
“Actually, he incapacitated all three before your men arrived.”
Ansel’s papa raised his eyebrows at me, but his father remained scowling.
“What did you want to talk about, Father?”
Bernard Perrault squared his shoulders. “You will sever all contact with each other, and Ansel will return home with us today.”
My mate’s heartbeat accelerated, but his voice didn’t waver. “Oh? Will you carry me out over your shoulder? Drag me by my hair perhaps?”
“You will come with us voluntarily.”
“Because?”
“Your assets are already frozen, and I have my legal team revising your grandfather’s will. Even if we can’t prove he wasn’t of sound mind when he penned it, you won’t see your money for years while the process is ongoing.”
Everything was said methodically, with coldness and intent.
I had no idea how seriously Ansel’s father meant his threats.
What he didn’t know was that it was physically impossible for Ansel and me to be apart.
Whatever threats he voiced or even executed, Ansel and I were inseparable.
Besides, I wouldn’t calmly look on as Ansel’s parents stripped him of his inheritance.
“I’m perfectly capable of providing for Ansel for however long he needs me to,” I said. “You’ll only spend a fortune in legal fees for nothing.”
Ansel leaned against me and sighed. His voice sounded teary when he spoke. “You know what’s sad? I think our relationship is salvageable. But if you continue threatening me instead of talking to me, you’ll lose me.”
“You’re not acting in your best interest!” The alpha’s booming voice cracked and broke on the last word. He was bleeding helpless frustration. His face scrunched up as if he could taste something sour, and he shot up from his seat and began pacing.
Ansel squeezed my hand reassuringly as if I was the one needing support. When I glanced at him, he gave me a faint smile.
His papa put one leg over the other and lifted his chin in a movement so like Ansel’s it was eerie.
“How did you meet my son?” He sounded casual, even showing genuine interest.
“I had a hiking accident in Cross River National Park. Ansel found me and let me recover at the cabin for a couple of days. We got to know each other and created a bond.”
Ansel’s father scoffed and resumed pacing, but his papa observed me with curiosity.
“A bond. How very romantic.”
I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me or being serious. People created bonds as well, didn’t they? Maybe not as strong or as constant as dragons did, but it wasn’t a foreign concept to them.
“Your father and I have been discussing your situation, Ansel,” his papa continued, “and we deem it best not to insist on your marriage to Valentin.”