GABRIEL #8
"For Fate’s sake! Blue! You couldn’t have known, he’s not your brother, and his personality is very introverted.
You’re not to blame. What Marlow wants is a fight against his nature.
Awakening the ability for an alpha to go into heat is unheard of.
And besides, no one can predict things like this. Let’s just hope he can be saved."
We spend the next few hours sitting in the waiting area. The doctors offer us a private room, but Blue refuses. He doesn’t want to be treated in any special way.
Soon my parents arrive too, both extremely stressed. My father looks like he’s lost what little gray hair he had left and now it’s completely white. This past year has taken a toll on him too. My dad looks bad as well, his face pale and translucent.
They sit together on a bench, hunched over, heads bowed, defeated and helpless.
After some time, I manage to convince all three of them to use a small family room and lie down on the recliners, because I’m probably the only one still thinking clearly enough to remember that my parents are elderly and Blue is pregnant.
Half lying beside Blue, I drift in and out of uneasy sleep, waking up from restless nightmares.
At dawn, I hear one of the doctors approach us.
I open my eyes and immediately see the change on his face. He almost looks like he’s smiling.
"Mr. Lowen," he clears his throat.
Blue opens his eyes instantly, fully alert. My parents sit up right away.
"We have good news. The nanobots repaired the damage and restored proper oxygenation. The patient regained consciousness just a few minutes ago. As far as we can tell, there is no evidence of brain injury."
I jump up immediately, and Blue gets up too, still a little out of it, so I wrap an arm around him because I can tell that short nap didn’t really do much for him.
We follow the doctor together through bright white hallways, straight to a large private room where Marlow is lying.
"Maybe let the patient’s parents go in first," the doctor says. "So we don’t overwhelm him. He’s stable, but this will be for the best."
We wait in the hallway for almost fifteen minutes before my parents come out. They don’t look overjoyed, but there’s clear relief in their faces. My dad pulls me into a tight hug, then gives Blue a respectful nod.
"Thank you, truly, for the help you gave us. Without you, we would’ve lost our son. The doctor explained that without the nanobots, Marlow wouldn’t have survived… or at least not without serious brain damage."
"I’m glad I could help," Blue says simply.
A moment later, the two of us step into Marlow’s room.
My brother is lying there surrounded by the kind of medical equipment I’ve never seen before, and somewhere deep down I feel that same sense of relief as my parents do, aware that it’s only thanks to Blue that my brother even has another chance at life now.
We walk up to the bed, and to my surprise Marlow is no longer intubated, even though there are still IV lines in both his forearms. Unfortunately, the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I see his eyes open and fixed on us is, "What the hell were you thinking, Marlow?
You almost gave us a fucking heart attack! "
"Gabriel," Blue says, tightening his grip on my hand, "cut him some slack," he murmurs.
"No, I’m not cutting him any slack. You’re twenty-three, you’ll be twenty-four in a few months. Your whole life is ahead of you. Things can still change…"
"You don’t understand," Marlow whispers. "I don’t want to live like this anymore. I can’t take it. No one understands, not even our parents. I feel like some kind of foreign parasite in this body, and it’s not who I really am!"
Blue steps forward and moves closer to him, and to my surprise he reaches out and gently places his hand on Marlow’s forearm.
"There’s something I didn’t tell you, because I have serious reservations about the whole situation."
There’s a brief silence, and I’ll admit I have no idea what he’s talking about, I just stare at him. Marlow lifts his brows slightly, just as confused.
"About a year ago, something very controversial happened at one of the Beta Activation facilities. A man working there illegally was given a role that can really only be described as… exploitation."
Blue hesitates, like even putting this into words isn’t easy, then continues.
"The supervisor of this facility hired him for a particular reason. He noticed Drax was a purple alpha and… a mutant, with very unusual traits and extremely strong pheromones. By having sex with betas, over time and with repeated contact, the alpha was able to trigger heat in them."
Marlow just stares at him. And I stare, unsure why Blue is telling him this.
Blue closes his eyes for a second, then goes on.
"The whole situation caused serious reputational damage to the BA program, and Drax was treated unfairly.
He later came back intending to take revenge, he failed, and ended up in prison.
Then… I made him a controversial offer, which he accepted.
For a year, he would serve as a test subject.
My scientists studied his glands, his pheromones, his genome, everything, trying to understand the mechanism behind what he could do and reproduce it in an ethical way. "
I keep staring. Where is Blue heading with this? A chilling suspicion begins to creep in.
"Here’s where the story takes a turn. After six months at our facility, Drax got an offer from another corporation, Welrun.
They have funding. They’re the second biggest player after Malden, and they’re running their own research.
They offered him a better deal and worked it out with a judge.
They pushed for him to spend the last six months of his sentence at their facility, where the research methods are far more extreme.
In exchange, once he finishes, he walks out a free man instead of spending seven more years under supervision with an ankle monitor, which was part of the original deal he had with us.
On top of that, they’re paying him a fortune, so he agreed. "
Well, I still clearly remember Blue’s conversation with Drax, he seemed very against being subjected to experiments, but apparently the money and the chance to shorten his sentence were tempting enough.
"Drax has been there for two months already. Unfortunately, since that facility isn’t connected to Beta Activation, my influence there is limited. I don’t have full insight into what they’re doing, but… I could help Marlow get in."
I have to interject. "Wait, what? Why?! I don’t get it."
"To stimulate his endocrine system—"
"How?! What exactly are they doing there with Drax? This isn’t the same arrangement that happened at that horrible Beta Activation facility where Drax used to work, right?"
"Of course not, Gabriel. He’s just one person, and there are millions of candidates worldwide who want to awaken their fertility.
You can’t send him to sleep with everyone individually, that would be absurd.
The scientists are trying to isolate the source of his effect so they can replicate it and, well, make a fortune from it. "
"But you studied him for six months too, and it didn’t work."
"That’s true, but our research was, let’s say, ethical.
We’ve made some interesting developments, but the project was halted.
Now… The issue is that I can’t vouch for what they’re doing at the Welrun facility.
I’ve heard gossip that they’re applying risky therapies using Drax’s DNA.
And they also have volunteer groups paired up, similar to Beta Activation, except these are alpha-with-alpha pairs, and they’re being stimulated in aggressive ways.
" He taps his glasses, like he’s pulling the information up live online.
"From what I’ve gathered, they’ve managed to trigger a pre-heat phase in a few alpha participants using a kind of pheromone therapy, along with slight uterine growth.
It hasn’t progressed to full heat yet, but the program has only been running for two months. In theory, it looks promising."
"Blue… are you sure? Two months is nothing! It can be very dangerous—"
Then Marlow speaks up.
"Gabe, let Mr. Lowen finish."
"I’ll shut up," I mutter. "But not before I say one thing. This all sounds unstable and experimental to me, and you’re my brother. I failed you throughout this year, and I don’t want to see you suffer even more if you get involved in some kind of experiment that could hurt you in the long run."
"I appreciate it, Gabe. But I’m the one who has to make the final decision, please understand that."
"Gabriel is right, it is risky," Blue continues. "That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you about it yesterday. I didn’t have it in me to send you to a place like that, where I don’t know how the research is conducted, at least in part, and likely not ethically.
I can’t guarantee what happens there or what kind of arrangement you’d end up in.
But if things feel this desperate for you, it might be the only option that offers any real hope. "
"Yes, I understand. I appreciate the caution, but… still…" Marlow says, and there’s a strange, regained strength in his voice. "I want to go!"
I let out a loud huff.
"Marlow, please… do you understand you’ll be paired with some stranger? You’ll have to have sex with him whether you find him attractive or not. That’s how these fertility activation facilities work, and if you refuse, you’re kicked out."
Marlow squeezes his eyes shut. "Gabriel, I repeat, leave that decision to me. I’m an adult, and I’m at a point in my life where there’s no going back. I’m ready to do whatever it takes. If they’ve already triggered pre-heat in just two months, that sounds promising to me."