17. Uriel’s Secret
URIEL’S SECRET
The next morning, Zenith emerged from the bathroom wearing thick jeans. His hands were wet, his cheeks faintly pink.
No hard line in his pants, though. The muffled groans and ragged breathing had been part of solving that.
Emre had listened to every hot, sinful second of it.
“Let me carry you down the stairs,” Zenith said.
Emre blinked himself back to the present. “Why? I can walk.”
Zenith peered at him with unfairly intense puppy eyes. They were lethal. Weapons of ass destruction. “Please? You might not be fully recovered from the birth.”
“It’s been four days.” Already, Emre felt lighter than he had been, his belly much less round, but not flat like before.
He still had some of his weight gain—not a lot, because he had starved a little during his pregnancy.
He had his balance back, though. And everything was easier when your human child was now pup-sized, and much lighter than before.
Zenith’s puppy eyes returned.
Emre sighed fondly. “Fine. You may carry me down the stairs, brave soldier.”
Zenith cheered. He swept Emre off his feet and thundered down the stairs, Abbie and T-Bean cradled in Emre’s arms.
At the bottom of the stairs, Buttwheel greeted them excitedly, wheels squeaking as it followed them through the mansion.
“Morning, Buttwheel,” Emre laughed.
Zenith set them down at the breakfast nook, before hurrying into the kitchen. He returned with glasses of milk and OJ. Then he went back in for coffee and formula.
Over the past few days, the alpha had gotten the hang of preparing formula with ease.
Abbie was still turning up her nose at it, but T-Bean drank whatever they fed him.
It made Emre feel better about letting Abbie nurse from him sometimes, since his body wasn’t ramping up milk production as quickly as he wanted it to.
“When is Uriel showing up?” Emre asked.
“Two hours from now.”
Emre set Abbie on the floor so she could scamper around. Before he could do much else, Zenith was back with a bottle of formula.
“How do you want your eggs today?” Zenith said.
“Sunny side up?”
“You got it. Waffles?”
Emre moaned. “You keep making me all the best food.”
“All the better to convince you to stay.” Zenith quirked his eyebrows, and Emre blushed.
Breakfast was delicious. The waffles were fluffy and crispy on the outside, and Zenith had fried the eggs in butter. He also produced some vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, and a box of blueberries that were so sweet, Emre had to feed some to Abbie.
“Will you be working on Ulgon and Burnzinger before Uriel shows up?”
Zenith cringed and turned pink. “Not if I want to look Uriel in the eye. Yesterday’s sex scene turned out much longer than I expected.”
Emre coughed. “Of course it would be long and hard.”
“Of course.” Zenith nodded sagely.
They exchanged a look and snickered.
“Here,” Emre said when he caught Zenith watching T-Bean. “Would you like to hold him?”
Zenith froze, his eyes growing wide. “Are you sure?”
Emre had been aware of it, the way Zenith’s attention kept straying to him and Bean. A few times, Zenith had opened his mouth to ask, only to stop himself. Emre had been tempted to make the offer too. And each time, he had been too shy to give it voice.
Until now.
“Don’t you want to?” Emre asked.
“It’s just... He’s so tiny,” Zenith whispered. “What if I hurt him?”
“You’ve held Abbie.”
“Abbie is older and hardier.” But Zenith’s gaze was hesitant and longing.
“You’ll be fine. Bean isn’t that different from Abbie.” Emre made sure that Abbie wasn’t underfoot, before sliding around the U-shaped booth to Zenith’s side. “Hold out your hands.”
Zenith obeyed. Then he stopped breathing completely when Emre transferred Bean into his cupped hands. Bean twitched his nose and nuzzled at Zenith, before going back to sleep.
The sight of Bean trusting Zenith made something settle in Emre’s chest. This felt right. Perfect.
“Wow,” Zenith whispered, looking overwhelmed. “He’s so tiny.”
“He really is.” Emre leaned into Zenith’s side, watching as the alpha brought Bean closer to his chest. “You’re warm, too. And you can keep him warm when I can’t, but that’s only when, you know, we’re not distracted by each other.”
Zenith coughed, his cheeks turning pink. “You are very distracting.”
“Am I?” Emre beamed.
“So distracting,” Zenith murmured. With Bean still cradled in his hands, he leaned closer, his gaze dipping to Emre’s lips.
Emre’s heart skipped. Is he going to—? He wet his lips, his heart thumping.
“Doorbell!” Huxton announced, twirling out of the kitchen. “Uriel is here.”
Emre jerked away from Zenith, feeling incredibly shy all of a sudden. Zenith licked his own lips, his gaze intent.
“Oh,” Huxton said. “Oops.”
“We’re coming back to this conversation later,” Zenith said quietly. He drew a breath, held it, and blew it out. Then he brought Bean close to his face and watched the rise and fall of his little chest. “So precious.”
“Very,” Emre agreed. “Abbie has been sniffing at him.”
“Aww!” Zenith said.
Emre watched Zenith and Bean for a while longer, until Huxton cleared his throat.
“You have a guest,” the butler said pointedly. “Please get going so I can put my plan into action.”
Zenith narrowed his eyes. “Don’t get me disqualified from the betting pool.”
“Of course not,” Huxton said, flapping his hand. “Did you think I’m an amateur?”
He adjusted his vintage flight goggles and flounced away. Emre and Zenith exchanged looks.
“C’mon. Uriel wants to make sure you’re okay, anyway.” Zenith winced.
“Why?”
“My... friends are wondering if I kidnapped you and brought you here. They’re joking, of course, but Uriel would still like to make sure.”
Zenith, kidnap him? Emre gave him an incredulous look. Zenith shrugged.
“I’m so offended on your behalf,” Emre said. He scooped Bean out of Zenith’s hands and tucked the pup against his chest. Then he handed Abbie to Zenith, and took his other hand. “Let’s go clear your name.”
Zenith lit up. “You’d do that?”
“Well, yeah! You’re giving me somewhere safe to stay.” Emre dragged Zenith to the front door, and Huxton opened it with a flourish.
The alpha visitor was not what Emre expected.
Uriel was a shorter alpha, with broad shoulders and muscles everywhere Emre looked.
His eyes were sharp, mouth unsmiling. But what stood out were the silvery patches on his body—scars, Emre realized.
There were so many that, from a distance, his skin looked paler than it actually was.
The only thing more distracting than Uriel’s scars, were the wet spots on his shirt where his nipples were.
That, and the baby harness strapped to his back.
Emre couldn’t help it; his mouth betrayed him. “Are you really an alpha?”
Something flickered in Uriel’s eyes, there and gone. He shrugged. “What else would I be?”
He studied Emre intently though, from his head to his feet, like he was looking for injuries.
“I’m okay,” Emre said, standing taller. “I trust Zenith, and I’m here because he asked me nicely.”
Uriel watched Emre’s face for a moment longer, then cracked a smile. “Okay. I believe you.”
“Will you tell the rest that this isn’t a kidnapping?” Zenith asked dryly.
“Sure. Give me a sec.” Uriel pulled out his phone and typed into it. Then Zenith’s phone buzzed, and more buzzes came after that. “Do you need anything aside from what we’ve discussed?”
Zenith shook his head. “Fireproof Emre’s things, create the answer to my problems, and do some maintenance on perimeter security.”
“Oh, oh! I have one!” Huxton cried.
“No,” Zenith said.
“Enchanted toilets,” the butler whispered. “Toilets that will kiss your ass and serenade you with pickup lines.”
Uriel coughed, his lips twitching.
“Only for the toilet in your quarters,” Zenith said to Huxton. “None of the ones I use. You go ahead and have your ass lovingly smooched if you want, but I do not need my ass kissed.”
Huxton made exaggerated kissing sounds and cupped his hands like he was cupping someone’s ass. “Not even by the plushest toilet seat? It will cradle your butt cheeks with supreme tenderness.”
“Ugh,” Zenith said. Emre giggled.
“Tell me if you come to a decision on that,” Uriel said. “I’ll get started on the other orders.”
For the most part, Uriel’s spellwork was a lot of the same. He wrote fireproofing spells on all of Abbie’s toys and clothes, runes that glowed and disappeared into the objects.
It was amazing, but it probably also cost a lot more than what Emre had spent on those thrift store clothes. Then again, if Abbie burned her entire wardrobe, there would be nothing left for her to wear.
Emre sighed when Uriel set down Abbie’s pink rabbit plushie. “Thanks. That’s her new favorite toy. She set fire to the old one.”
Uriel quirked a smile. “Happy to help.”
Emre couldn’t help looking at the damp spots on Uriel’s chest. His own nipples leaked too, because he was nursing his pups.
How did an alpha like Uriel manage to feed his baby from his chest?
As though he felt Emre staring, Uriel glanced over. “You have a phone?”
“Yeah, I do,” Emre said. Zenith had bought him a fancy phone two days ago, in case they were apart and needed to communicate.
“There’s an omega friend group chat,” Uriel said. “The mates of Zenith’s friends got together and made one. I thought you might like to be included.”
“M-mates?!” Emre squeaked.
He looked around hurriedly in case Zenith heard, relaxing when he didn’t see the alpha. Then he remembered that Zenith could hear them from across the mansion.
“Oh,” Uriel said, like he understood. “The chat group is for regular omega friends too. You don’t have to be someone’s mate to be part of the group. I just thought it was a good reason to join.”
“Okay,” Emre said, relieved.
“I could add you to the group now?”
“You can?”
Uriel smiled mysteriously. “I’m in the chat, yes.”
Emre wanted to ask, How? The question was probably all over his face.
He looked at Uriel’s chest. His baby carrier. Then he looked at Uriel’s face, and thought about all the things the mage wasn’t saying.