Hugh stroked the furrow between Eric’s brows with his knuckle. “We aren’t returning anything. You need clothes that fit you, Eri.”
Eric laughed. “I definitely don’t need clothes that cost like ten of my computers—and my computer is ridiculously expensive.”
Giving an unconcerned shrug, Hugh steered him toward the helicopter. “Don’t worry about the price. It’s inconsequential.”
Eric chuckled. “Only someone ridiculously rich would say that. I can’t accept all of this, Hugh. Alphas don’t do this kind of stuff for omegas not in their pack.”
Hugh helped him into the helicopter and, following him in, settled in the opposite seat. “I know,” he said, his expression a little pinched. Leaning forward, he took Eric’s hands into his own, frowning down at them. “But I want to do it,” he said in a clipped voice. “It eats at me that I wasn’t able to help you—that my treatment only complicated things for you. So I want to do something for you. I need to do it. Indulge me.”
Eric blinked at him in bewilderment. He’d known that Hugh cared for him a little, but he hadn’t thought it was anything like need. Alphas were natural caretakers, but they normally needed to take care only of their pack.
“My boss thinks it’s because I’ve been without a pack for too long,” Hugh said with a grimace. “And she’s probably right. Ever since Freddie moved away, it’s been only me and my mother, and my mother is too independent to indulge my instincts to provide and protect. You make them go kind of crazy.”
Eric wet his lips with his tongue, his face a little warm. He knew Hugh hadn’t meant it that way, but it still sounded an awful lot like that. It made his stupid heart beat faster, filling with irrational hope.
“Okay,” Eric said softly, looking down at their joined hands too. Hugh stroked his wrists with his thumb, scent-marking him, and Eric had to squeeze his thighs together to ease the growing ache between them. He lifted his gaze to Hugh’s eyes and whispered, “Thank you. You’re so good to me.”
Hugh’s nostrils flared, his gaze darkening and the air thickening with his pheromones. Eric breathed them deeply, greedily, pleasure making him almost lightheaded. Their gazes held, and held, and Eric felt like something was going to happen—
Then the helicopter started moving and the spell was broken.
Clearing his throat, Hugh let go of his hands and looked out the window. “So, you didn’t finish telling me about your brother’s mating. What happened after he arrived at the capital?”
Right.
Maybe he’d just imagined the tension.
Maybe it was nothing.
It probably was nothing.
Squashing down his hopes, Eric started talking.
Chapter 11
“How did you realize you were in love with Devlin?”
Jules stopped talking and peered at him from the screen. “Is there a reason for this question?” he said, his eyes lighting up with curiosity and faint suspicion.
Eric winced inwardly. Maybe he should have asked Liam. Jules was the nosy one out of his brothers.
But he had always been closer to Jules. They were less than two years apart in age, and Jules was… a lot less perfect than Liam was. Liam wouldn’t understand Eric’s social anxiety and awkwardness. Liam could navigate any situation with grace and poise. Jules was much easier to talk to.
“No reason,” Eric said quickly, and immediately regretted it when the faintly suspicious look in Jules’s eyes turned into a deeply suspicious one.
“You’ve met someone!” Jules said excitedly, his face becoming enormous on the screen as he moved it closer to the camera. “Tell me at once! I need details!”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Eric said, dropping his gaze and looking at his hands. “I haven’t met anyone.”
“I know a lie when I see one. Spill. Or I’m flying out to Kadar.”
Eric snorted, recognizing the empty threat for what it was. “There’s no way Devlin will let you out of his sight in your condition.”
“What condition? I’m expecting a baby, I’m not sick!” From the exasperated way Jules said that, Eric could guess that it was a much-repeated argument. Jules peered at him with a mischievous smile. “Anyway, if you don’t tell me and force me to fly to Kadar, you’ll be the one getting the brunt of Devlin’s anger, not me. He can never be mad at me while I’m in this condition. So spill, Eri.”
Eric hesitated. “There’s nothing to spill, really. There isn’t anyone. Not anyone available, at least.”
“A-ha!” Jules narrowed his eyes. “So there is someone! I knew it.”
“He’s… he’s not interested.”
“Pfft! If he isn’t interested, he can be made to be. You’re a total babe! If even I could land the most handsome alpha on the planet as my mate, I’m sure you can totally catch that alpha’s interest. Unless it’s a beta or omega? That would be totally fine, by the way.”
Eric shot him an exasperated look, but he didn’t bother arguing with Jules’s conviction that he was plain. It was impossible to convince Jules that he wasn’t lovely in an unassuming way.