Chapter 4
“Stop.” Elm bared teeth, but the alpha on the opposite side of the bars remained unphased.
Unlike the one at his side, who bristled.
“Push harder, Levi,” the Butcher of the White Frost, who’d introduced herself as Fiora, said from behind the gas mask she was wearing. Didn’t seem like it was doing much.
“The mask keeps you from scenting me,” Elm snapped, “but pheromones can still seep into pores. Even I know that, and I’m beta.”
Fiora was holding an arm band, clearly trying to take his heartbeat. It wasn’t invasive, and yet Elm felt some type of way about her presence and nearness.
As in, he wanted her gone.
It was inexplicable, because he didn’t even know her. Yes, she was one of the White Frost, and Butchers in general were scary as all hell, but there was only one alpha in this room he could recall doing anything to him when he’d been trapped in heat and vulnerable, and it hadn’t been her.
But he wanted to claw her eyes out.
“I can typically withstand omega pheromones,” Fiora explained. “Even dominant ones. But you…You’re something else.”
Levi’s soothing pheromones came stronger, but Elm resisted, snarling again and retreating to the corner of the cage.
“Perhaps this is an adjustment phase,” Fiora suggested.
“We should get another dominant alpha in here. Subjecting him to their pheromones, and eventually having them spend his next heat together, could be beneficial. His body is still trying to make sense of these new feelings and urges. He’s confused. ”
“Fuck you!” Never mind. His hatred toward her was clearly warranted.
She hummed. “I wouldn’t make a good fit. I’m not a dominant, and your pheromones are too strong for me to withstand for long periods of time.”
“You’re about to be put on your knees by a synthetic,” Levi said, his tone inscrutable.
Was he insulting her or simply making a statement?
Getting a read on this man was impossible, even more so now in the light of day, and Elm did not like it.
He didn’t like these people or this place or what was being done to him, and the more he thought about it, the worse the anxiety swirling in his gut seemed to get, and the harder it became to focus.
“There’s a real risk he’ll turn people feral,” Fiora said.
An alpha or omega were considered feral when they fell too deeply into their primal instincts.
It was a rare occurrence, with most still capable of keeping some semblance of self even during the worst ruts and heats.
Elm was aware that’s what he’d been these past few days, but to learn there was a possibility he could force others into that kind of chaotic state…
“I don’t want to do that.” Sure, there was a possibility that sort of thing could come in handy, could help him escape, however, there was no telling if or when Elm would ever gain control over an ability like that.
What if he never did?
“What if no one can ever come near me again?” He stared at her, at the beads of sweat on her brow and the way her chest rose and fell unevenly. The second she tried coming closer, though, any concern he felt was dashed. “Back off.”
“I’m just taking vitals,” she reminded, as though he shouldn’t mind, then gave up and spoke to Levi. “I’m going to have to sedate him. We can work on finding a suitable alpha for the rest of the experiment in the meantime.”
Elm reacted, a burst of energy exploding out of him in a heavy wave strong enough to push her back a couple of steps. She growled, and he ended up returning it, a vicious warning rumble from deep within his throat he hadn’t been aware he was capable of making.
“Omega.” Levi’s smooth tone cut through the tension, but only somewhat took the edge off. He entered the cage, flicking his fingers at Fiora to put more space between them as he approached Elm, letting his soothing pheromones flood toward him like a warm blanket on a cold winter evening. “Omega.”
He pressed against the wall when Levi reached out a hand, but didn’t hiss at him.
The urge to attack wasn’t there like it’d been with Fiora.
They’d explained it as his pheromones being strong enough to subdue Elm’s.
Was that what this was? Why this particular alpha was the only who made him feel…
not safe, because that would be certifiably insane, but at least… grounded?
“I won’t fuck a stranger. I swear to the gods. If you try to make me—” Elm flinched when Levi’s hand wrapped loosely around his throat.
He pushed against Elm’s chin, lifting his head slightly so their eyes could meet directly, but his touch, while dominating, wasn’t threatening. He was almost gentle. Even with the way he looked at him.
“No one will touch you,” the alpha promised quietly. “You have my word.”
“Levi—” Fiora shut up the second Levi released a targeted slap of his aggressive pheromones.
Elm could sense them on the air, but they didn’t affect him since they weren’t aimed his way, instead, he continued to receive soothing ones. “How did you do that?”
“What?”
“You can release two different types of pheromones at once?”
Levi cocked his head. “Kian can as well, as a dominant. He never spoke to you of this?”
“We never really talked about…stuff having to do with presentations. Not since…” If he wasn’t being held in place, he would have hung his head.
“I see.” It really sounded like he did. Like Levi had just made some great discovery about Elm’s person.
And it was clear that should bother Elm, that he should be guarding against this man more than anyone else, and yet…He was tired, and Levi was the only thing that seemed to ease some of the ever-present anxiety.
“This is dangerous,” Elm mumbled, trying to talk some sense into himself. “You are dangerous.”
“I’m not the only one,” Levi replied. “If the Butcher is to be believed, you can become a serious threat.”
“To you?”
He paused to consider. “We’ll see.”
“What if I swore to lie to Kian about where I’ve been and never bring you up?” he asked. “Will you let me go? Better out there than in here, if you think I could become a problem for you.”
“Better dead, actually,” Levi said bluntly, giving no reaction when Elm recoiled. He merely dropped his hand, then stared him down while Elm glared, as though letting him throw a momentary tantrum like one might with a child.
“Here.” Fiora broke the moment by thrusting the cuff toward Levi. “Since you’re the only one who can get near him, you’re going to have to be in charge of logging his vitals.”
“I’m in charge of everything,” the alpha reminded calmly, turning to take the cuff and then moving to cinch it around Elm’s left bicep. He didn’t ask or give Elm time to react, merely attached the device and then hit the button, his eyes lifting once more when Elm let out a yelp.
“Something pricked me!” Elm had felt it against his skin just before the cuff started to tighten and read his heartbeat.
“It took a blood sample,” Levi explained.
“What’s next?” he growled. “Want me to pee on it?”
“We will be needing a urine sample, but no, that’s not the way we’ll get it.”
“Seriously?”
“The toilet has a built-in monitor,” Fiora said. “It’s already keeping tabs on your health.”
Elm blinked between the two of them.
“I told you,” Levi removed the cuff once it beeped, “this is an experiment.”
“And I’m a test subject.”
“You’re the test subject,” he corrected, the corner of his mouth almost lifting before he settled it back into a firm line and turned to face the Butcher once more. “The drug?”
“Too soon to tell if replication is possible,” Fiora replied, clearly able to follow Levi’s question. “This isn’t my area of expertise, but I already know you’ll reject the request to bring in anyone else.”
“Correct.” The alpha placed his palm against Elm’s neck again, thumb pressing lightly against his pulse point as he continued to speak with the Butcher, almost as if the move was unintentional.
“Replace the guards. Now that the heat has passed, it should be fine so long as they keep their distance.”
“As instructed, no one knows what’s in here, just that the area needs to be kept secure.” Fiora pulled something from the cuff, a chip, and attached it to her multi-slate. “Shocking no one, his readings are unstable. Still dehydrated as well. I’ll get him to drink some electrolytes—”
Elm had no idea why he did it, but he made a sound of protest, pheromones flaring.
“Calm.” Levi pushed his own soothing pheromones, the skin-to-skin contact, his hand on his throat, helping to deliver them more directly.
He slumped against the wall, the blooming irritation at the center of his chest dissipating. Even understanding that no part of him could afford to let his guard down, Elm couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“This whole pheromone thing is exhausting,” he confessed. Mostly because he’d always been chatty, and even if these people weren’t his friends, old habits die hard.
He wasn’t sure he could make it through this with his sanity intact if he didn’t at least attempt to vocalize it somehow. Verbally working through his issues was the only way he knew how, it was a coping mechanism he could fall back on, even now.
Honestly, if he had more energy, he would be talking a mile a minute.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Levi stated. Maybe reassuringly.
“How do you know?” Elm asked.
“Because if you don’t,” Fiora clicked a few more buttons on her device, “you’ll have to be euthanized.”
Oh.
So definitely not reassuringly.
Fantastic.
“Despite what you psychopaths believe, I’m not actually a lab rat.” He set his sights back on Levi. “My brother will come for me. He’ll find me eventually. I meant it before. Just let me go, and I promise I won’t so much as utter your name ever again. He’ll never know.”
Levi was quiet for a moment, then maintaining eye contact, ordered Fiora, “Show him.”
She sighed and hit a side button on her multi-slate, activating a projection. It shot up and expanded showing a holographic screen a foot long and almost as tall. Images played across it, sound echoing clearly from the dual speakers.