Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
The two doctors sit at a long table, a few seats separating them, facing the door. The television screen we’re watching the camera feed on takes up most of one wall in Click’s lair.
The scrawny Beta pushes some of his blond hair behind his ear as he taps away at the keyboard. “Hold on, let me zoom in a little,” he says distractedly. As the camera angle adjusts, we get a clearer view of the two men responsible for the pain my Omegas are going through.
They both look worse for wear, and I’m glad for it. I hope the Hawks have been unkind to them.
The door opens, and both doctors straighten as our Omegas come into view and sit down next to each other at the long table. Clicks makes a few more camera adjustments until all four of them are visible in the feed.
“Hello,” Atlas says stiffly. “You know who we are. Why don’t you introduce yourself?”
The man on the left, an Alpha with grey hair and a lean frame, peers at Atlas like he’s a science experiment. “I’m Dr. Frank McIntosh. This is my associate, Joshua Mason.”
The younger Alpha, a man with strawberry blond hair and soft green eyes, grimaces under the inspection of my Omegas. Athena is silent, but she doesn’t take her eyes off him.
A smug look of pride flashes on the doctor’s face as he leans back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I suppose you’re curious about the experiments.”
“You suppose right,” Atlas spits. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that there are fewer and fewer Omegas being born each year, and there has to be a way to fix it. When Joshua came to me with knowledge of an Omega gene that we could activate with exposure to a scent match, I knew that research was the first step to solving the problem.”
The quality of the camera is good enough that I can see recognition flit across Athena’s face, and watch as her jaw drops open. “That’s my brother Icarus’s research.”
“I worked with him,” Joshua says quietly.
“His work could help society, but he wasn’t willing to expand the study to see if there were similar genes that we could manipulate into a positive outcome.
When Dr. McIntosh approached me, offering the opportunity to work with him and change the world, as long as I brought the research with me, I couldn’t turn him down. This could help so many packs.”
My stomach churns. This asshole stole her brother’s research and used it against her?
Did he know she was his sister?
“That’s why you took me?” Athena’s whispered question mirrors my thoughts. “Because of my brother?”
“Of course not,” Dr. McIntosh interrupts. “That was a happy accident. We did not ask questions about how our subjects came to us. That wasn’t our place.”
“I suppose it wasn’t their place to make sure they stayed alive, either,” Sebass mutters from behind me. I startle a little, forgetting that he and the others were with me in the darkened room.
“So you didn’t care that people were being kidnapped off the streets?” Athena asks. “I guess I’m not surprised, considering what you put us through. What you put Ethel and the others through.”
Seeing her again makes my body ache to be near her. She’s more beautiful than I remember, her sandy blonde hair pushed behind her ears and cascading in neat waves. She’s wearing a pair of jeans that hug every curve, and a purple blouse that dips enough to show the puckered scar on her chest.
“Unfortunately, sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. Now that we know what is needed, our experiments can be replicated around the world.”
“Who hired you? Who is asking for this?” Atlas asks, fists clenching on his thighs under the table. “Who do you report to?”
“I don’t like them being in there alone,” Charles says, running his fingers through his dark hair. “We should be there with them.”
Clicks makes a tutting noise. “Nah, leave them be,” he says, not looking away from the second monitor that shows a forum he’s flicking through.
“People like those two,” he gestures at the doctor and his associate, “don’t open up to people like you.
They’ll underestimate their victims, and spill shit they otherwise wouldn’t. ”
“It doesn’t mean we should leave them on their own,” Charles continues. “They need us. They’re O-”
“If you’re about to say they’re Omegas, I’m going to punch you in the dick,” Crystal says as she walks into the room and slams the door behind her.
“But they are!”
“Chuckie, buddy, quit while you’re behind,” Harvey says, patting him between the shoulders. “You’re never going to win this argument. Omegas don’t need your protection. Especially not our Omegas.”
“Quit underestimating them because of their designation,” Sebass adds, not looking away from the screen. “Now, quiet, my show is on.”
“I don’t care if Tyler was your contact. There is no way this was his idea,” Atlas is saying, shaking his head. “There has to be someone else.”
“Highly unlikely. If there is, we never met him,” Joshua says, picking at the skin around his nails. “Tyler was the one who brought us all our subjects. He’s the one we turned the reports over to.”
Athena stares at Joshua, her face blank. “Tell me why Ethel died.”
“Who?” the lab assistant asks.
I can see the fury coiled tight within her, but Athena keeps her cool. “Omega subject thirty-four.”
The doctor’s face lights up. “Right, O-thirty-four. She was our breakthrough. It’s unfortunate that she passed away, but at least we obtained the necessary information to complete the experiment.”
“You killed her to create me,” Athena spits. “She was beautiful and kind and deserved so much more, and you took her Omega and her life and gave it to me. Why is my life more valuable than hers?”
The doctor clicks his tongue and shakes his head.
“Oh, my dear, it is not who is more valuable. She was not supposed to die. You must understand that science is never a straight line. There will be errors during an experiment of this magnitude. O-thirty-four was a particularly strong specimen and provided us with multiple avenues of research. Not all of them were successful, of course.”
Athena slams her hands down on the table, lip curled. “You killed her.” I haven’t heard her so angry since we rescued her, and her fire lights my own. She’s strong, stronger than I’ve given her credit for.
He runs his hand through his hair, looking at Athena like she is an annoying child.
“It took us several tries to get the DNA we needed from her, and then we had to figure out how to utilize it and make you an Omega. Her death was an accident, but because she died, we were able to collect all of her bone marrow and extract her Omega DNA, which we used to create the retrovirus that gave you your designation. We are going to change society. Subject O-thirty-four may have died, but her legacy will be found in every new Omega that we create.”
“Oh, fuck,” Sebass says, pushing back in his chair. “Oh fuck, oh fuck.”
“What’s wrong? What did he say?” I ask, unable to look away from my Omegas, who are staring at the doctor in horror. “What’s a retrovirus?”
“A retrovirus rewrites DNA,” Sebass says, grabbing his laptop out of his messenger bag and throwing it onto the desk beside Clicks’s keyboard. “It’s incurable, but we knew this wouldn’t be reversible, so that’s not the worrying part.”
“Well, what is?”
“It’s contagious,” Crystal says quietly. “It’s passed through sex and blood.”
“It’s contagious?” Charles mimics, mouth gaping open. “As in, they can spread it to others?”
“That’s what contagious means,” Sebass says slowly. “And if it truly is a retrovirus, then we’re at risk of catching it.”
“We can infect other people and turn them into Omegas?” Athena asks, her voice shaking. “You gave us a contagious virus?”
The doctor chuckles. “I wish it were so easy! No, the virus only works on Betas, and if the host has the right genetic markers for it to adhere to—a perfect storm of conditions. Luckily for us, you two had the necessary requirements. The bonding is unexpected, though.” He gestures at the marks they placed on each other’s necks.
“I’d need to run more tests to see what caused that. ”
Okay, I’m done with this.
I’m done letting this doctor talk to my Omegas like they’re science experiments.
I don’t give a fuck that they think they can do this on their own. I am sure they can.
But why should they have to, when they have four Alphas who want to be there with them?
Maybe they’ll get mad at me, but I don’t care. Let them be pissed at me.
I’m out of the room before I can think, heading to the office where the interview is taking place. I shove past the biker standing outside the door and wrench it open.
Four sets of eyes turn to me, and I watch as Atlas’s darken with rage. But while he’s furious, relief washes over Athena. I pull out a chair next to her and grab her, settling her on my lap and immediately purring for her.
She turns to jelly in my arms.
“Well, this is interesting,” the doctor says, looking from me to the Omegas. “You have an Alpha? Is there a scent match?”
The curiosity in his voice makes me sick.
“These are real people,” I snarl. “Real people whose lives you changed. People died because of your experiments, and you don’t feel any shame?”
Joshua shrinks a little in his chair. “We did this for the good of everyone,” he says softly. “Our people would die out without Omegas.”
“No, we wouldn’t die out as a species without Omegas. We would eventually all be Betas,” Atlas snaps. “Is this about making more Omegas or eradicating Betas?”
“Could it not be both?” The Alpha doctor responds flippantly. “Who would choose to be a Beta when the option exists to be an Alpha or Omega? Why would anyone choose to live as a lesser designation? Now that we have the Omega virus, an Alpha one will be easy to engineer.”