ALEX #5
I start, of course, by offering him my sympathy and telling him how sorry I am that he keeps being targeted so often, but he cuts me off quickly and says,
"Thanks, I appreciate your concern, but that’s not why I’m calling, I finally found a brief moment after all this chaos and I need to tell you something I’ve learned."
I go completely still, literally all ears, because I can feel he wouldn’t have called without a real reason.
"You know that the man who saved me during the attack is Bay’s biological brother, right?"
"Yes, I know, Storm," I reply, pleased that he won’t be able to surprise me with that one.
"That alone is a funny coincidence, the world is small after all as they say, but that’s not the end of it, because he wasn’t the only one who helped save me during that attack, Storm arrived at the agency together with his True Mate."
"Storm has a True Mate? That’s nice, good for him, his family must be happy. I remember him as a very unruly kid, but also someone his brothers didn’t always treat fairly, so I’m glad he found happiness."
Blue cuts me off again with a slightly impatient tone.
"You know what’s even funnier in all of this, it’s who his TM is."
"Who?"
"Your own brother, Sebastien’s son, Damien."
A shiver runs over my back.
"What?" I ask Blue to repeat what he just said because I feel like I must have misheard, and he does, saying it a little slower this time with a kind of delighted emphasis on the strange symmetry of it all.
"You know, it only adds spiciness and mystery to this whole situation between you and Bay. Because the truth is, it’s absolutely genetically impossible for a case like this to happen, where there are two people that are True Mates but their brothers, or even cousins, turn out to be completely incompatible with the ones from the other family.
Such a situation has never been recorded in the history of the ABO population.
Do you understand the significance of it?
It only strengthens my certainty that your incompatibility with Bay is not normal incompatibility at all, but something entirely different. "
I stay silent, his words not yet settling into any clear shape in my mind, but I have to force out this one thing that always hovers somewhere on the edges of all my conversations with Blue.
"What if Bay’s dad told the truth about my birth? What if something strange happened back then that disrupted the balance, maybe because my body was brought back to life it isn’t exactly what it should have been and even though we’re genetically compatible something epigenetic happened."
After all these years of studying the subject, I know enough about genetics to understand that epigenetic changes can occur in fully developed organisms, as environmental factors influence gene expression and subtly modify how genes are switched on or off.
"You know, that crossed my mind too, that maybe there’s a grain of truth in that story and if something extraordinary really did happen to your body back then that changed you in some way, you could say it created some kind of strange ‘allergy’.
But it only convinces me even more that the therapy we now have with Compatron could be very effective. "
"So why would it all be so significant?"
"Because I have this strange conviction that genetically you and Bay actually are True Mates."
If silence could have a sound, it would be deafening right now.
What did he just say?
Blue lowers his voice a little. "There’s more.
I strongly believe that when you go through the Joining, which has healing properties, your TM magic may take over and fix everything between you.
It might level out those epigenetic changes and you won’t have to stay tied to Compatron for the rest of your life. "
For a few long seconds, I stay quiet as heat rushes to my cheeks, my heart pounding.
This is big, life-changing news.
And this is something I have to share with Bay. I don’t want to keep my therapy secret any longer, enough secrets between us already, maybe more than I would have liked and maybe some that should never have existed in the first place.
I say goodbye to Blue and land on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
But how to put it all in words? I don’t want to talk over the phone. I need to say it face to face.
For a long time, I go over different scenarios, as a subtle excitement arises in me.
Strange. On some level, I’m shocked.
On another, I’m not surprised at all.
We are meant to be, it’s as simple as that.
◆◆◆
Three weeks later on Saturday, even though I feel weak and lightheaded after my therapy session, I manage to make it to Bay’s concert.
Watching him on stage, my head is fogged with a thousand thoughts I can’t line up properly, I need to finally sort all this out, I need to tell Bay the truth.
This time I’m the one surprised.
When I finally see Bay backstage alone, he tells me he’s not going out with the guys and instead asks me to go have dinner with him.
Interesting. Though he offers it in such an easy tone, as if nothing unusual were happening between us, as if this were simply a friendly situation: two old acquaintances trying to catch up on the lost years by talking through a decade’s worth of events.
His delivery is casual and relaxed, it doesn’t sound like an invitation to a proper date, so I try not to behave like it is one, and we get into Bay’s car, a very luxurious dark red Audi, and drive downtown to one of the elegant restaurants that offers a beautiful view of the city skyline, apparently Bay likes that kind of atmosphere.
The restaurant is in a high-rise and as we sit in a quiet spot by the window I feel nerves running along my spine like tingling chills.
We sit and order, Bay takes out his ever-present vape and starts smoking, his eyes slightly narrowed and focused on my face while he sits loosely against the back of his chair.
Maybe it really is just a friendly meeting and I’m imagining too much, but either way I need to say this, I need to get it out after all these years.
Bay deserves to know. Enough secrets.
"Do you remember how four years ago… I emailed you asking you to send blood samples to that address?"
He inhales deeply from his vape and turns his head toward the clear, luminous fountain in the center of the restaurant, watching the streams of water lit by colored lights.
"Of course," he answers shortly, his eyes oddly distant.
"Why did you never ask what I needed them for?"
"Did I have to?"
I stay silent, not understanding that answer.
"Couldn’t I just trust you? Believe you’d use it for a good purpose?" he tilts his head slightly.
Duh, I feel embarrassed.
"I don’t know if I deserve trust, I’ve done my share of reckless things," I add, clenching my jaw a little, though I am definitely not going to talk about it now.
"Either way I want to finally explain why I needed those samples."
Bay just sits there calmly, waiting, watching me.
Why does he seem so relaxed when compared to him I’m a bundle of nerves, but then again nothing has changed…
In a way we were always complementary opposites, Bay had two modes, he was either brooding or calm, and I had two modes as well, I was either cheerful or anxious.
"I went to Blue Lowen back then, knowing he’s considered the best geneticist in the country, hoping he would explain the extraordinary phenomenon of us being so compatible mentally but turning out physically incompatible."
I briefly explain everything Blue told me back then and how he gave me hope of finding a solution.
What’s interesting is that Bay listens and his face remains unfazed, he doesn’t seem surprised.
He simply watches me with those unreadable eyes, and if not for the fact that I’ve always had a kind of energetic sense of his aura which lets me feel what he truly feels, he would be an absolute enigma to me.
What I sense right now is a sort of anticipation mixed with tension and maybe even a hint of excitement buried deep down, although none of that shows on the surface. Literally, not a flicker.
"For the last few years Blue has been conducting research and recently he finally made a breakthrough, but there is something else that developed alongside it," I murmur, realizing how cryptic that sounds, but since Bay still doesn’t say anything, I have the space to continue.
"See, I managed to reach my real father."
Only now do I notice Bay’s brows lifting slightly, apparently not expecting the conversation to take this turn, and he fails to hide his surprise.
"But the biggest shock was who he turned out to be."
Bay leans in a little, and for the first time in a long while he hasn’t taken a drag from his vape, which for him seems almost impossible, his dark eyes fixed on my face.
"He is someone my dad had been consulting on various criminal law matters for years. It’s Sebastien Lowen."
Bay lets out a soft whistle and straightens up, resting his back against the chair.
Then suddenly a strange thoughtful grimace crosses his face, he scratches his chin and says, "The head of the Omega Red Line agency?"
"Yes, the same one."
"But he’s an omega," he blurts out, his eyes slightly widened.
"More precisely, he is a gamma subtype."
I watch his face and see the gears turning slowly in his head. Of course most people have heard about rare designations like gammas or sigmas, but they are so rare in society they are more like an urban legend than anything else.
"Wait, so Blue Lowen is your uncle, and Jacob Lowen too?"
I nod. "And that’s not the end of the funny coincidences. Your brother Storm’s True Mate is my brother."
Bay stares at me with wide eyes, I really managed to surprise him.
"See, that is one more reason why you and I absolutely cannot be incompatible, it is simply genetically impossible, Bay," I say it slowly, emphasizing every word.
Silence.
Bay drops his gaze to his fingers, rolling his vape between them in a continuous motion.
He says nothing.