Chapter 25 #3
He jerks his chin up. “Welcome to Arcana Falls.” He holds his hand out.
I shake it.
“Appreciate it, sir.”
“Says a lot about your character that all these folks are willing to go above and beyond. I got one thing to say and that’ll be it from me.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Don’t fuck up,” he warns.
“Dad,” Cicely mutters. “Don’t ruin this moment.”
His eyes flit to her before he rolls them.
“Do my best,” I vow.
She grabs my hand and ushers me into the exam room, closing the door behind us. Tyson follows.
I kiss her. She grabs my jaw. “We’ve got this. We’re figuring it out, okay?”
I hate that she can feel my anxiety. An alpha is supposed to be the comfort and strength for his mate. She’s that for me.
“We’re in this together. We’re in everything together,” she tells me, once again knowing what I’m feeling.
I kiss the tip of her nose and turn to the others, taking the room in, particularly the ten-by-ten metal crate in the corner.
It’s been lagged to the floor. I give it a rattle, and it feels solid.
Inside, I see four rings lagged to the cage floor, an additional ring protruding from the back wall of the cage. There are restraints in there, too.
I blow out a long exhale.
Tyson leans against the closed door and gives me a look of reassurance.
Cat asks, “Before we chat, we’d like to take vitals, do a cheek swab, and draw some blood. Is that okay? Then we can talk while we run the numbers on my fancy new equipment.”
“Okay…” I know my voice doesn’t sound sure.
I sit on the exam table.
Mitch steps closer. “Before you shift, we can talk about the information I’ve gleaned from your pedigree. I have an explanation for your wolf. And I have an option for you to consider.”
“Okay…”
An explanation? Before he runs my numbers? A chill runs up my spine and for a change it’s not because of my wolf.
Cat says, “After we talk, we’ll ask you to get inside the crate, restrain yourself, and shift. We’ll make some observations, then we’ll jab your wolf with a sedative so we can then remove you from the cage, take measurements, and do another cheek swab and blood draw while you’re in that form.”
“Right.”
Mitch adds, “Then if you agree to it, once you regain consciousness and are again in this state, we can have you take the drug we used for the Silver Hills pack members who lost connection with their wolves. Based on the drug’s performance, it could bridge the gap between you and your animal.
It’s still in trials and I can’t make any guarantees it’ll work, but it worked exceptionally well for the Silver Hills pack members as well as in another similar case I’ve read documentation on.
Be aware that I don’t make guarantees there won’t be adverse reactions because we haven’t studied it in someone with your specific chemistry. ”
“Already got suggested by Cat here. I’ll consider it,” I say. But I doubt I’d want to do that. Connecting myself to my monster?
Mitch says, “If you’re unwilling to try the drug after I share what I can share with you, I’ll respect it.
But I must say I think it might help. I got some facts about your past from Lorenzo and Lincoln filled in some more information this morning.
If the drug works to reconnect you with your animal, it could fill in gaps for you about what happened the night your alpha died.
What happened to your mother and sister after. ”
I swallow. “Right. My Uncle Mike, I have no regrets about, just to be clear.”
“I read the transcripts of interviews from surviving pack members, and I must agree with you there,” he says.
Michael Stone was short-tempered, frustrated, and had a real hate on for me.
After he said Dad was dead, he treated my mother and sister like shit and regularly dared me to do something about it, more than happy to kick the shit out of me as a kid in front of the pack.
He knew I’d grow to be stronger than he was.
That I’d challenge him. He did his best to break me before I matured.
If I hadn’t killed him that night, he’d have killed me before I got a chance to challenge him and take his position.
My gut tells me Mitch knows things that could turn me inside out.
But it also tells me to trust what he’s saying to me right now, that he doesn’t have other motives.
And the fact that this pack takes responsibility for my wolf is huge.
That he brought his mate here for this trip further demonstrates he’s a friend to this pack and wouldn’t have his mate here if they didn’t have a good relationship, even with some of the conflicts lately between the SCC and this council.
Cat asks me to open my mouth, giving me a kind smile and using a cotton swab to take a sample.
After this, I put the muzzle on my face and my mate gets behind me to fasten the straps before she moves to stand by my side, those beautiful blue eyes on me, steadying my heart while these two poke at me, draw blood, and ask medical questions with nodes attached all over my torso, on my thighs and my head.
I haven’t been to a healer. I rarely get sick and never sick enough to need help. I’ve healed from any injuries with a shift or two. I can’t answer many of their questions.
Mitch and Cat do something at the counter with microscopes, syringes of liquid, and slides as they look at the results of my cheek swab.
They pour the test tube of my blood into a hematology machine.
When they get their results, they look over them together before Mitch wheels a stool over to sit in front of me.
“Your measurable alpha markers are higher than an average alpha. Not as high as these council alphas, but close.”
“So, practically a super-alpha,” Cicely puts in and smiles. “My super-sigma male.”
She winks.
“And there are unnatural reasons for that,” Mitch says, which wipes the smile from my mate’s face.
“Unnatural?” Cicely asks.
“Right around thirty-two years ago, your father participated in a clinical trial with a group of betas. It was an experimental drug that would give betas the same strength as an alpha, but with a caveat that it wouldn’t result in mutiny.
It’d lend strength and cunning to the beta’s pack without a threat to leadership. ”
I straighten up.
He keeps going. “The experiment was unsuccessful. The betas increased in strength and came into strong alpha traits, but the behavioral aspect changed with it. Almost every one of them challenged their alphas or behaved with excessive aggression. Some wound up dead, some became alphas. Some were run off from their packs and became lone wolves, which presented problems in every single case.”
Shit. Cicely gets closer, looking to lend me strength. Fuck, I adore this woman. My woman.
Mitch continues, “My understanding with your father is that he was butting heads with his brother, the alpha, and stayed away most of the time.”
“Yep.” Exactly that. I was close to my old man, but he was a visitor in my life rather than a fixture.
“You are one of the few surviving alpha shifters who are offspring of this group,” he says.
“There’s a high level of a particular protein showing up in your labs illustrating that the results of the drug your father took was passed on genetically.
The resulting chemistry, coupled with severe trauma just prior to maturity is what I believe resulted in your current situation with your animal.
A variety of ends were met by other alpha offspring in the control group.
To our knowledge, you are one of three surviving male alpha offspring out of seven from the group.
One is a well-adjusted alpha who leads a pack.
He has a healthy relationship with his wolf.
The other has violent tendencies, is missing and wanted for crimes against his pack. You’re the third.”
“Just three out of seven? I have a question,” Cicely states and Mitch gestures for her to go ahead.
“Why the fuck are the SCC playing with peoples’ lives through medical experiments?” she demands.
Mitch’s expression changes. He doesn’t like her tone, obviously.
“The SCC has many medical trials on the go on an ongoing basis. It’s one of the many ways we support supernaturals.
Breeding programs to breed stronger beings, smarter ones.
Clinical trials to help eradicate illnesses.
A variety of programs for very strong and gifted supernaturals.
Highly classified projects that I can’t talk about, some I don’t even know about.
The trial Jeremiah Stone participated in is also highly classified.
Anything we discuss with respect to SCC medical trials mustn’t leave this building. And that’s non-negotiable.”
“Threats? Nice. So Jared has to keep the reason for his wolf’s nature a secret?” she asks.
“Top secret,” he confirms.
Cicely looks affronted.
“Where’s my father now?” I ask. “Linc said he’s alive. My uncle told us he died while away on assignment for the pack.”