Chapter 2
The sounds kept switching between whimpers to full blown sobs, but neither bothered Levi. He stole glances into the cage, through bars that separated one half of the room from the other, watching the omega secured to the steel table writhe.
“Elm Erskine,” Baal was going over the information they had on the man.
“Twenty-two. Graduated from Firethorn University a little under a year ago. No involvement with the Eumia. Hasn’t even been spotted near Caelum.
Seems like Kian keeps his adoptive family and his blood family as separate as possible. ”
Caelum was a host club on Glyph where Kian ran most of the Eumia, and also happened to live. It was where his other siblings, Shiloh and his twin sister Sloane, resided with him.
But apparently not Elm.
“Poor thing,” Fiora, the Butcher, stood by the window, eyes roaming over Elm with as much interest as Levi felt, though he was at least hiding it.
She was a lithe alpha who’d been working with him for over a decade, intelligent and cruel, two things every Butcher needed to be to be successful at their jobs.
He’d called her here because of her extensive knowledge of species and how they worked.
Baal frowned when he glanced into the cage. “Are you planning on leaving him like that?”
“Feeling pity for him?” Fiora grunted and crossed her arms. “Best to view him as a lab rat and nothing more.”
“I concur.” Levi turned away from the cage, resting his shoulders back against the bars.
“He’s Kian’s family,” Baal reminded stiffly.
“He’s a newly made synthetic omega,” Fiora interjected. “This is the perfect opportunity to learn what that entails and how it affects the body.” She took a step closer to the cage. “It appears as though he’s still in the developmental stage.”
“How can you tell?” Levi asked.
“The sounds he’s making and the inconsistency in his pheromones. He doesn’t seem able to control whether or not he’s releasing seductive pheromones or warning ones. I wonder if he’ll continue in this state until he’s given a knotting.”
“We could try it.”
“Good Light.” Baal pinched his brow. “Just send me a list of the things you’ll need. But once the two of you are done—”
“We’ll have to either kill him or send him back,” Levi stated.
“Sending him back after experimenting on him might not be the best decision.”
“Noted.” It wasn’t one that had to be made today, so he wasn’t going to bother wasting time on it.
The cell on the lower level of the main house had been empty for some time, meaning it’d been relatively easy to order it redecorated in preparation for Levi’s new guest. There was a single mattress tucked into the far left corner, with a chain dangling from the wall.
A section with a toilet and a sink to the right, with a tiny partition to allow for a modicum of privacy.
And then the medical table in the center. The one the omega was spread eagle on, wrists and ankles locked in place with padded cuffs. He’d been positioned so his private parts were facing inward, his head currently tipped back slightly, eyes locked on Levi.
He’d been staring at him like that for over an hour now, the whole time he’d been carried through the estate grounds, past men in masks to prevent them from smelling his pheromones, and since, while Levi and Baal waited for Fiora to arrive.
The look in his eyes couldn’t be considered present, however. It was cloudy, pupils blown, expression flashing between desperation and anger.
It was impossible to tell how aware he was, whether or not the omega understood what was happening to him. But he didn’t need to know any of that anyway. He just needed to lay there and be a good little test subject.
Once Levi’s curiosity was satisfied, he’d end the omega’s suffering, be that with a bullet or an escorted trip back home to Glyph.
“Should it be taking this long?” Baal tipped his head. “He was supposedly given the drug two days ago.”
“Maybe it’s because he’s a beta,” Fiora guessed. “Or perhaps the vials of Rebirth they had aren’t the final product.”
The drug had undergone so many stages of testing, it was likely.
Earlier stages could last upwards to a year.
This would get old long before them.
“Find out.” Levi wanted to know. He wanted to know everything. “And see if it’s possible for you to recreate it.” With a drug like that, the White Frost would be superior to everyone, not just the Eumia.
“Let me run a basic physical check first.” She pulled a pair of latex gloves from her leather jacket pocket and slipped them on, making her way to the cage. It was currently unlocked, and Levi stepped aside to allow her entrance.
The second she stepped inside the omega went wild.
He screamed and hissed, baring his teeth at her as he violently fought against his bindings. The whole table shook, and a blast of potent aggressive pheromones, the kind meant to sting and burn, exploded from his skin.
Fiora wheezed and darted back, going straight for the window. She shoved it open and hung her head out, gasping.
The omega didn’t stop just because she’d given him space, he kept thrashing, flooding the room to the point even Levi felt the prickle of unease on his skin.
He wasn’t immune to the dominant omega, he merely had impeccable self-control, and even that was waning. Before he knew what he was doing, he was answering, his own pheromones shooting out to combat against the omega’s in a bid for dominance.
The synthetic held out for a moment, but then he succumbed, his entire body slumping. Tears leaked from his eyes as he met Levi’s gaze, releasing a pathetic whining sound that Levi strangely felt all the way to his toes.
The soothing pheromones came out of him like the dominating ones had, instinctually, with no conscious choice of his own.
The omega’s dick was still long and hard, but the crease between his brow smoothed out, and his eyes fluttered shut.
“He’s too strong,” Fiora said as soon as she was able to gather herself.
“I’ve never encountered a dominant omega this potent,” Baal agreed.
“I’ll have to wear a gas mask.”
“No.” Levi reached for the cage door and eased it open, then stepped into the room and paused. When the omega gave no reaction to his presence, he took it further, stalking his way up to his side.
The omega’s eyes opened once he was there, and the second they landed on him, he keened, the sound pleading and soft.
Levi’s hand reached out and he threaded his fingers through his dark hair, smoothing strands off his forehead as they continued to stare at each other.
“I’ll conduct the experiments myself,” he announced after some deliberation. His fascination with how the drug worked, and the possible differences between a synthetic and natural omega, were more than enough reason for him to get his own hands dirty.
It helped that the omega was pretty and smelled like the most expensive perfume on the market.
“In the meantime, you focus on the drug.” Decision made, he pulled away, ignoring how the omega’s sounds turned desperate.
A hint of sourness tinged the air, fear spilling out with the omega’s pheromones.
Fiora watched the exchange while Levi exited and secured the lock. “It must be because you’re a dominant alpha. His instincts would be to find a suitable mate, someone who can handle the potency of his pheromones and force him to submit. Unfortunately for him, that just so happens to be you.”
It was a loaded statement.
Unfortunate because he was the Leviathan?
Because he was Kian’s enemy?
Or because he was…well, him?
Perhaps she’d meant all three.
“Be sure to log all of your findings.” Fiora bowed low and then left without another word, eager to get to her lab.
Baal lingered a little longer. “Satiate your curiosity and then get rid of him.”
He quirked a brow. “Attempting to give me orders now?”
“I’m giving you advice,” he corrected. “As your friend. Kian keeping him away from the Eumia has to mean he cares for him. This could end up blowing up in our faces before you know it.”
“You’re the one who stopped me from killing him earlier.”
“That was earlier.” There was more to Baal’s statement, but he didn’t elaborate.
He didn’t have to.
But Levi wasn’t in the mood to entertain his suspicions.
“My interest lies solely on the fact he’s synthetic. Altering a different test subject with one of the two vials we were finally able to get our hands on would be an epic waste, don’t you agree?” Levi drawled.
Baal glanced away.
“In order to utilize this to our fullest advantage, I have to understand exactly how it works. His name and where he came from, frankly, don’t matter. I only care that he’s a synthetic omega.” He meant every word. Levi would approach this the same way he did everything. Clinically.
Controlled.
“Just,” Baal exhaled in defeat, “tell me what you need.”
* * *
“The subject produces slick the same as any other omega,” Levi noted, speaking to the camera-orb that hovered a few feet above him, circling and filming as he moved.
He had the omega’s hips lifted on the table, and was currently standing between his spread thighs, eyes on the tight pucker that was glistening with slick, the wet, sticky substance omegas secreted to prepare themselves for cock.
The omega watched him, occasionally making sounds, but never once speaking. He allowed Levi to readjust his body, didn’t hiss like he had at Fiora, but he also wasn’t pleased about any of this either, it was obvious in the set of his shoulders and the way his lips pressed firmly together.
Levi couldn’t blame him. He’d spent the first half hour logging visuals, subjecting the omega to his presence and different types of his alpha pheromones. The responses were always exactly as they should be.
To further prove it, he emitted another wave of targeted seductive pheromones, watching as another glob of fluid leaked out of the omega’s ass to puddle on the table.
The omega’s dick twitched and spewed as well, making him whimper and gyrate his hips.