day when he would need to explain. After all, if they did build something together, if their paths intertwined as a couple in the future, there would be no way to prevent Adrien from meeting Heath’s friends and family, all of whom would see the resemblance immediately.

But there was no need to rush that. They had months still, and Adrien was in the early stages of his pregnancy. There was no need to upset him just yet.

For a fleeting moment, Heath wondered how much it would cost him to bribe all of his friends and family to simply forget that Nathan had ever existed and to embrace Adrien without revealing the truth. But even he knew that was impossible.

The question of when to tell Adrien was an important one; the timing would need to be just right. He’d never intended for his heart to get involved or to even entertain the idea of Adrien being in his life going forward. He still wasn’t sure it would even play out that way. Adrien was easy to be with, and he’d taken to being cared for like a duck to water, but pregnancy hormones make all omegas pliant, amiable. Don’t they?

Heath scrubbed a hand over his face, wishing that he had simply told Adrien up front. Then there would be no question at all. Why hadn’t he foreseen that living with a pregnant, beautiful, willing, open-hearted, innocent omega might wake his heart from its slumber? It seemed obvious in retrospect.

All he knew for sure was that now was not the time to stir the pot.

Drawing up to the glittering high-rise where his first appointment of the day awaited, Heath straightened his tie and tried to pull his thoughts together.

Damn Simon for getting him riled up after such a blissful morning spent cuddling naked with Adrien, laughing and licking fresh fruit juice out of his ripe, red mouth.

As he stepped out of the car, he nodded firmly. Simon was right in one way: everyone would have to know the truth eventually. But he was wrong in another: no one needed to know right now.

Heath made his choice.

Confession could wait.

Chapter Fifteen

ADRIEN RAN HIS hand along the wall of concrete tunnel between the door that led to the larger part of the castle, back down to his bedroom, and out to the living room. Simon was in the garden pruning the roses, and he was inside wearing the soft, light robe that Heath had bought for him. Underneath, he was naked as a jaybird. The robe fluttered around his calves as he made what was becoming his daily meditative walk.

He turned around and headed back up the tunnel, his fingers trailing in and out of different colors of light funneled in from the high windows and the skylights above. Amber light, golden light, a creamy white that made his pale fingers look white as milk. He counted the steps as he walked, making a little song in his head.

The tunnel was comforting. It smelled of trapped cooking scents, usually whatever Simon had made that morning. Today, it smelled of freshly baked bread, yeasty and delicious, warm and homey. The day before it had smelled of peaches. He wasn’t sure what he found so perfect about light in the tunnel, but it was mesmerizing to him. He could walk the tunnel over and over, but the light was never the same twice, shifting as the sun moved outside and the angles changed too.

His two favorite places were the garden, with all the roses of different colors and scents, and the tunnel. In both places, he could relax his mind, breathe in and out, and simply let all the worries, questions, nagging concerns slip away like so much flotsam.

“You look beautiful in that light, little one.”

Heath’s voice brought Adrien out of his reverent study of the light, and he smiled to see his alpha standing at the end of the hallway. “You look handsome in that suit.” He waggled his brows as Heath strode to join him. “I want to rub all over it.”

Heath grabbed him in a kiss, and Adrien did just that, brushing his sensitive skin against the material that smelled so strongly of his alpha. It was a good, soft wool suit, made with quality and care. In his infatuation with

Heath’s suits, Adrien thought that when he returned to school, he might change his study focus from the cultural meaning in the design choices of Hontu handwoven fabrics and material art to studying the cultural meaning attached to the design of men’s suits. But that was bordering on a fashion focus and not an artistic one, not to mention it felt a bit fetishistic, given his current reaction to Heath in a suit.

“A quick fuck before dinner?” Adrien begged.

“No,” Heath said, a quiver of amusement in his voice. “First, a walk in the garden, conversation, and then we’ll bond our flesh.”

“But I want you.” Adrien flicked what he hoped was a sexy look from beneath his lashes.

Heath growled. “I want you too, but you’ll follow my commands.

Understand?”

Adrien’s knees went weak. He loved following Heath’s commands.

Though he couldn’t say just why, exactly. It made him feel safe, like he had when he was a child and his father told him what to do, how to think, and what to feel. Eventually, that had chafed when he hit adolescence, and he’d found his father’s commanding attitude stifling. But now, pregnant and ripening, a little frightened but willing to trust Heath, he found his commands intoxicating.

So he gave in to them without too much thought.

Seeing that Heath was with Adrien, Simon left them alone. The garden was beautiful, and the roses ruffled in the breeze all around. Adrien removed his robe and left it on a bench, enjoying the gust of air on his skin. He could almost feel the sweet perfume of the roses, it floated so thickly around him, and reached out his hand to fondle a big bloom.

“What did you do today?” he asked Heath as he bent to take a deeper sniff of the red rose.

“Attended appointments in the city, visited my nephew’s school to clear up a problem there, and argued with Simon.” Heath said the last reluctantly, and he plucked the rose, using his nails to dislodge the thorns, before putting it behind Adrien’s ear.

“Arguing with Simon about what?”

“About the future. I haven’t told my brother yet about the baby.”

“Won’t he be happy for you?”

“He’ll be furious,” Heath said, his mouth widening in a tight smile.

“Utterly enraged.”

“Why?” Adrien was mystified. He’d always believed that babies were a gift. That’s what his father had taught him and what the religion of his youth had touted. He’d never thought of a child as anything but something to celebrate, even if he, himself, had often been terrified by the prospect of growing one inside his body and birthing it.

“Because his son Ned is my current heir. Once this little one is born”—

Heath touched Adrien’s stomach, his warm fingers stroking over the hair between Adrien’s navel and his pubic mound—“Lidell’s son will be displaced. You can see how that might get under his skin.”

Adrien frowned. “He must have expected you to try for a child yourself one day?” It seemed obvious to him that Heath would want an heir of his own. It was what every alpha was supposed to strive for, and it was taken for granted that every alpha would do just that.

“I may have made dramatic, emotional statements in the past when I was grieving that led him to believe otherwise.”

“Ah.” Adrien didn’t like to think of the baby Heath and his other omega had lost. It felt like it might jinx things for him, bring bad energy to his own pregnancy, and so he refused to ponder it much. But of course Heath had grieved the loss. He was selfish not to have considered how much it must have hurt him.

Heath touched Adrien’s cheek. “Do you think I should tell my brother?”

“I think that we have a lot of time yet before we’ll know if the baby will be born healthy, or if it will be an alpha so it can inherit—”

“I don’t believe in those laws.”