The receptionist answered. “Meadowfall Hospital. How can I help you?”
“Hi. This is Harrison Fields from the fire department. I had one of my staff admitted last night. Valen Tolstoy. May I have an update on his status?”
“Sure. Give me a moment.”
Every second of that wait seemed like an eternity. Harris closed his eyes, wondering what he’d do if there was bad news.
The last time Valen looked at him... Valen’s eyes had been cold. Gods, Harris should’ve apologized. Should’ve told Valen I love you.
The wait dragged into minutes, and Harris felt as though his heart might explode.
The phone clicked. “Mr. Fields?”
“I’m here.” His grip tightened; Sam sucked in a breath.
“Mr. Tolstoy is stable right now. He’ll be held for observation for the next six days.”
“Thanks,” Harris said, breathing out. Relief surged through his chest. “He’s stable.”
Sam sniffled, and Harris dropped the phone on the mattress. Turned to hold Sam, Sam shaking against him.
“Thank goodness,” Sam mumbled.
Harris rubbed his back, breathing in the dahlia of his hair. “Yeah.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Probably.” Didn’t want to think about complications, and shit like that.
Sam pressed his face into Harris’ shoulder, his eyes wet. A surge of protectiveness roared through Harris’ chest.
“I’m here,” he said. “If... if anything happens to Valen, you’ll have me.”
Sam gulped. “I don’t want to bother you.”
“You’re not a bother, Sam.”
Harris realized that he meant it. Sam wasn’t here for Harris’ love, or his money. He’d gotten involved with Valen, come to seek shelter.
Harris had watched Sam’s eyes light up when Valen made him that pickle soup. He’d watched Sam cradle his wheel of Parmesan, tracing the stamped letters on the cheese rind with his fingertips.
Some days, when Harris passed the kitchen, he would glimpse Sam lifting up his shirt, looking at his growing belly with awe.
So maybe Harris liked Sam in the way he wanted to see Sam around, wanted to make Sam smile. He wanted Sam to look at him with awe, and delight, and affection. Can’t believe how much I want you.
Harris pressed a kiss to Sam’s forehead.
When Sam quieted in his arms, Harris peeled away from him, padding over to open the curtains. Light flooded the room.
Sam squinted. “Ugh, it’s bright.”
“It’s 4 in the afternoon,” Harris said. Returned to bed, trying not to puff out his chest when Sam’s gaze raked down his body.
“We should visit Valen,” Sam said, looking at Harris’ thighs. Then his cock, his abs, and his chest. “I just... I don’t know what to tell him. About us.”
Sam met his eyes, and Harris’ stomach flipped. “What about us?” Harris murmured. “Valen has given you the go-ahead, hasn’t he?”
Sam licked his lips, nervous. “Yeah, but... What are we? I mean, me and you.”
To be truthful, Harris didn’t know, either. “We could be anything. But, you know, hopefully not enemies like lettuce and hot broth.”
Sam laughed. In the daylight, his eyes sparkled, and his lips pulled into a smile. He was beautiful. Not in that rugged way Valen was, but Sam was delicate, and pretty, and Harris wanted to pull him close and protect him.
He couldn’t get all alpha with Valen, because Valen didn’t want protection. Sam, though...
“I’m assuming you’ve never had boiled lettuce,” Sam said, his grin turning mischievous. “The lettuce gets all limp and translucent and stringy, and there’s this variety that comes with a bitter aftertaste—”
Harris reached over, covering Sam’s mouth with his palm. “Say no more. That’s the most disgusting food I’ve ever heard of.”
Sam licked his palm. Surprised, Harris pulled his hand away.
“Gotcha,” Sam said, grinning.
Harris leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Sam’s breath hitched.
“I like you,” Harris whispered. “In the same way I want to fuck you and make you mine.”
Sam shivered against him. Then musk coiled from his skin, and Harris knew Sam felt the same way. It made his insides knot up tight. Hadn’t felt this way about an omega since Nicholas.
“But—but Valen?” Sam breathed.
“I love Valen,” Harris said, fully aware it was the first time he’d ever said it aloud. “And I’m more attracted to you than I should be.”
“Oh.” Sam flushed a deep red, looking away. “I like you, too.”
Harris wanted to roar. He kissed down Sam’s jaw instead, combing his fingers through Sam’s silky-smooth hair. Thought about the times Valen had kissed Sam, marked all of his skin. “How’d you meet Valen?”
Sam chuckled. “In high school. You know how you can’t hear me sometimes? Because my voice is so soft?”
Harris blinked. Yeah, he’d noticed that.
“I can’t hear myself very well,” Sam said. “To me, I sound audible, except I have to shout if I want anyone to hear me.”
Valen had adjusted to Sam almost immediately. Made sense, when Valen had been Sam’s alpha once before.
Sam leaned into Harris, looking at Harris’ chest. “It’s hard to keep friends when they can’t hear you. I’d have to shout—it’s tiring when you have to keep shouting at everyone. Anyway... Valen and I did a biology project together, and he listened. That was nice.”
Harris couldn’t help smiling. Trust Valen to care about everyone but himself. “Took him long to ask you out?”
Sam laughed, his voice tinkling. “The third time we worked on that project at my house, I was in heat. So, um, things happened. You know.”
And maybe Harris was a pervert, wanting to know more. “No, tell me.”
“We were on the floor—I didn’t have a desk. I was drawing the animal cells when he sniffed at me. Then he kept sniffing, and I, um. I opened my legs. And he sniffed there.”
“Yeah?”
“He licked me through my pants.” Sam squirmed, the tips of his ears red. “And he fingered me and I came, but it wasn’t enough.”
Harris pictured that, heat slipping through his veins. Gods, it was shameless of him, imagining Sam and Valen as high school kids. “I hope you had condoms, at least.”
Sam laughed. “Valen brought a box of them! I was surprised. We went through the entire box that weekend.”
Harris snorted. “You guys.”
“How did you get together with him?” Sam asked, squirming
