Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
As soon as the words escape my lips, I realize I’ve fucked up. These are good dudes. They all have good hearts, can take care of me and Athena, and they’re really fucking attractive.
I could do a lot worse.
“I’m sorry, that was rude,” I say, looking up at the ceiling. “You guys are a great pack, and anyone would be lucky to be matched with you.”
“Just not you.” Charles’s voice is curt, and I hold back a flinch.
“It was unfair of me to say that,” I reiterate. “It’s just a lot. All of this, all at once. I’m trying to process everything and…”
“It’s okay.” Wyatt crosses the room, clapping Charles on the shoulder as he passes by. “We understand. It’s not personal. You never imagined yourself as a pack’s Omega.”
“Right. I mean, why would I? I assumed maybe I’d join a pack eventually, but even then, that wasn’t a guarantee.
There’s so much about being an Omega that doesn’t work for me.
We were friends. Partners. We had each other’s backs, and now I’m expected to nest in your home and take your knots? I’m not going to take your knots.”
Sebastian snorts into his coffee at my words and then ends up coughing and hammering his fist on his chest. “Sorry, sorry, I wasn’t expecting to talk about knotting at the breakfast table. But if you want to, we can.”
“Nope, not doing this right now,” Harvey interjects, shaking his head. “We can work out the mechanics at a later date, because that will not be an issue for a while.”
Sebastian shrugs. “I mean, it’s worth talking about, all things considered. He’s going to need a knot during his heat. That seems like a logistical thing we need to figure out since he’s our Omega and all.”
“Why are we talking about knots?” Athena’s voice rises above everyone else’s, and I rush to her, wrapping her up in my arms despite Charles’s protests.
“Thank God, I was so worried,” I say, burying my face in her neck and breathing in her pineapple scent.
“Why?” She strokes the back of my head, nuzzling into me.
“Because you were unresponsive, and your bond was quiet.” I pull back and look at her. “You don’t remember?”
She shakes her head. “I woke up hearing Sebastian talking about you going into heat. Doesn’t seem like polite breakfast conversation.”
“We can save the knot conversation for later,” I say tightly, glaring at the blond Alpha before turning my attention back to my Omega. I card my fingers through Athena’s hair, humming softly. “But you’re doing okay?”
She nods and looks around, emerald green eyes wide. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Before I can reply, she wiggles out of my arms and sits in her own chair. She spears a strawberry with her fork and pops it into her mouth.
A groan and sharp exhale escape her mouth as she chews. “Oh my God, fresh fruit. Didn’t know I needed this.”
“Go slow,” Charles reminds her. “You don’t want to hurt your stomach.”
She rolls her eyes petulantly, but takes a smaller bite of the piece of melon she’d picked up. “What’s the plan for today?”
I slide into the chair next to her and take a small bite of bacon. The salty fat makes my eyes roll into the back of my head. “Shit,” I breathe. “I forgot how good food is.”
Athena snorts a laugh. “Right?”
“I’m glad you two like it.” Charles isn’t looking at me, and his voice is steady and calm.
I know I must’ve hurt him with what I said.
The man is a traditionalist Alpha through and through.
It’s not that he thinks Omegas are less than.
On the contrary, he was raised to worship them.
But that means he believes they don’t need to lift a finger, that they need to be coddled and protected.
That’s not me.
That’ll never be me.
I don’t give a fuck what my pheromones say.
The shrill ringing of a phone fills the space, and a whine slips out of me.
Even my vocal cords are traitors.
Harvey pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Slime, what’s up? Good looking out. I’ll toss it on speaker.” He presses a button and slides his phone to the middle of the table. “Go ahead.”
“Athena?” Her brother’s harried voice fills the room. “I realized this morning you didn’t have your phone, and I didn’t exchange contact information with any of Pack Lupine. Luckily, Slime has Harvey’s number. Did you know they’re in the Hawks together? Small city, I suppose.”
She smiles indulgently and rests her chin in her palm. “Hey, Icky. What’s up?”
“You sound good. How are you feeling? Has anyone picked up the antibiotics I sent in for you yet? You wouldn’t believe the damage a UTI can cause.
” There is a muffled sound in the background, and he chuckles quietly.
“Right, anyway. I pulled some strings and had your blood samples run yesterday on a rush. I got the results back. Are you in the headspace to discuss?”
She looks around the table at all of us, waiting for us to answer. The guys clearly want to know, but they want it to be our choice. So, I take over. “Yes, we’re good. Hi, Icarus. It’s Atlas.”
“Hello, Atlas. Good that you’re there. Okay, here’s where we’re at. Both of you are now showing an abundance of Omega genetic markers. Even though it was forced, this is an incredible scientific achievement. In fact, this is exactly what I have been trying to accomplish with my research on-”
“Icky,” Athena interrupts. “Find the point.”
“Apologies. You are both confirmed Omegas. We have solid medical evidence, even if we don’t understand how it happened. But I have a theory if you’re interested.”
“We are,” Wyatt says, staring at the phone like it’s a lifeline. “We want all the information you have.”
“Right, of course you would. I am the same way. The more knowledge you have, the better you can approach the situation. We all have markers of Alpha, Beta, and Omega within our DNA. A significant portion of the genome, or particular traits carrying those markers, is what drives presentation. It’s what the Design Clinic tries to build when we’re working on the embryonic genomes. ”
I’ve never been a science guy, and I can already feel a headache building behind my right eye. I know this is important, but did it have to be so technical?
He continues.
“To cause the transition from Beta to Omega, a catalyst would have been required to transform your current designation profile by ‘activating’ the Omega markers. I believe you two were, for lack of a better term, created using the same catalyst. We believe you both had Omega markers already, and then somehow an additional set of markers was introduced to your systems.”
“Who’s we?” Wyatt asks. “Who are you telling about this?” I’ve never heard him sound so protective.
“Royal we, sorry. Sometimes I…” The strange Alpha trails off.
“Sometimes he does that to downplay his accomplishments, so he doesn’t sound braggy,” comes a rough, masculine voice. “I’m Cyrus, by the way.”
“Hey, boss,” Athena says half-heartedly. “I hope you don’t mind if I take a few days off.”
“Don’t make a habit of it, Valentine.” His words are harsh, but the tone is caring, and Athena seems to enjoy the back and forth.
Icarus speaks as if there were no interruptions.
“I believe that somehow an Omega profile was used to increase the markers you naturally had. Now, I’m unsure how this was done, and I could be way off base.
I’d need to do more research — a full mapping of your genome.
It’s a shame I don’t have it from before to compare it to. ”
His voice trails off a little before someone clearing their throat on the other side of the line has him picking his tangent back up. “I theorize that the profile used to create you both was taken from an Omega and manipulated to add markers to your DNA.”
I’m going to be sick.
“Are… Icky, are you saying that we are Omegas because someone’s Omega DNA was taken from them?” Athena’s voice shakes as she stares at the phone. I can see her hands clenching her thighs, and I grab one, feeding my fingers through it.
“That is my current working theory, yes.”
“So that would mean the Omega DNA we have belonged to pack Lupine’s scent match.” Her voice is flat now, and I worry she’ll dissociate again, but I need to know the answer. I scoot as close to her as I can while staying in a different chair, and we both lean closer to the phone.
“We cannot know that for certain. The likely scenario is that you had Omega DNA on the genes that determine scent, and the activation of those, combined with the new DNA markers, is what created your scent. We do not know what causes scent matching outside of the accepted consensus of pheromones and magic. Not that magic is a great explanation, but you know what I mean. Now, the shared scent and bonding are giving me trouble. That bond is also beyond the realm of scientific comprehension. Something in the Omega profile you received may be what triggered that ability, but of course, no way to know for certain.”
Charles is on his feet, pacing and repeatedly raking his fingers through his hair as he listens to the doctor unloading words that affect all of us intimately.
Harvey stares blankly at the wall behind my head, and Sebass is typing notes in his phone faster than we’re talking.
But it’s Wyatt who grabs my other hand, anchoring me.
“Give it to us straight, Doc,” he says in his deep, accented voice. “In plain English, please, because I wasn’t exactly at the top of my class.”
Icarus chuckles, but it has no mirth behind it.
“Candidly? I believe that Atlas and Athena were somehow infected with the Omega profile of another. I cannot say if that was the goal or what forced the presentation, only that they are both now Omegas. I cannot explain the combined scent matching. Perhaps the same markers were activated on them and are producing similar enough pheromones that they blend.”
My head hurts.
This is a lot of genetics talk for so early in the morning. And I haven’t even finished my energy drink.
And it’s all theoretical. None of it is certain, except for the fact that we are Omegas.
We may never know what caused this or how it happened.
“Are we looking at any potential side effects?” Charles asks.
“Uh, yes? I apologize, I thought that was clear. We are unable to predict the long-term health effects this will have. They will need to be monitored for an extended period to detect any mutations in genes that may cause health concerns. Additionally, both of them will need to go on suppressants, or they’ll go into heat in a few weeks, based on their current hormone levels.
We have no idea what kind of effect going into heat or the suppressants will have on their systems. Kind of lose-lose, if you ask me. ”
Going into heat terrifies me. I do not want to lose myself in need. I’ve helped through enough heats to know that knot desperation is not a look I want to wear.
“Atlas will also be unable to carry children, despite the change in his designation. Male Omegas undergo reproductive organ alterations during presentation. Since this was not a standard presentation, I would assume you do not have the markers that would make male pregnancy possible.”
It never crossed my mind to even think about that, but I still breathe a sigh of relief. “Okay, well, that doesn’t bother me at all, Doc. Pregnancy seems like a pain in the ass.”
“It is!” a feminine voice shouts.
“Hey, Jordan,” Athena pipes in.
“Hey, sis. Ready to pack up your nest and drive to the Design Clinic to reverse this?”
Athena laughs, but I dive forward, grabbing the phone. “Is that possible?”
A deep sigh comes from the speaker. “I’m sorry, Atlas. That was a joke about my presentation. I wasn’t thinking. That was callous of me.”
My heart sinks, and I drop the phone back onto the table. “Oh.”
“I’m terribly sorry, Atlas,” Icarus says gently.
“But this is not reversible. Your DNA was literally rewritten. We can do things to make this process easier on you both, but even if we put you on suppressants today, you’ll still notice you begin to produce slick, your desire for touch and affection will rise, and you’ll crave Alpha pheromones. ”
“Even though they have no scent to us?” Athena asks, glossing over the fact that her brother said I’m going to be making slick.
I don’t know shit about male Omegas.
Where does the slick come from?
It better not come from where I think it comes from.
“You’re still affected by them. Even if you don’t register the scent, they’ll still ease you during heat or a spike and provide comfort in times of distress.”
Thinking about going into heat makes me feel sick. I don’t want to become a slave to instincts I was never supposed to have. “Any way around that? Because I’m not keen on taking a knot, Doc.”
Wyatt chokes on his coffee, and Sebass barks out a laugh.
Dr. Knight chuckles through the tinny speaker. “A reasonable question. You may be surprised to learn, but it’s not the knot that satisfies during heat.”
“It’s the pheromones produced when an Alpha comes,” a chorus of voices sounds behind him.
Cyrus, the Alpha who is Athena’s boss, chuckles. “We’ve heard that speech plenty.”
“Well, it’s not wrong! You don’t have to take a knot if you don’t want to, but you may find your desires change as you settle into your designation, and you shouldn’t feel shame around that.
Regardless, just being in the room with the Alphas will help ease you, even if you’re not the one receiving the knot.
And please, that is as far as I would like to take this conversation.
I am a professional, but Athena is still my little sister. ”
Athena’s face flames red, and she nods rapidly. Harvey notices her embarrassment and takes over the conversation. “How can we best support them right now?”
“Atlas, Athena, it is vital that you both give in to your instincts and don’t suppress them. Nothing good can come from fighting biology. I want to do some more tests in about a week to check your hormone levels before we decide on suppressants or not.”
“Respectfully, Dr. Knight, it’s not your decision if they go on suppressants,” Charles snaps.
“Never said it was. That was not the royal we this time. I want to weigh in from a medical side of things, but that is the only input I’ll give.”
“Hey, Icky?” Athena asks quietly. Her voice trembles, and her eyes are closed. She chews her lip. “The Omega profile that was used. Would uh… would someone live if they were used to make it?”
A loud silence fills the room. Icarus doesn’t jump to answer, and I can picture him mirroring Athena’s pose and expression. Eventually, he says quietly, “No, Athena. I don’t believe they would.”