Chapter 38
The Omega Clinic
Elowen
Adam is already on the exam table when we file in, perched on the edge of it in a paper gown that is doing him absolutely no favors, his bare legs dangling. Perrin moves to this brother’s left, close enough that their arms brush, and I take the right side.
Cliff and Raff linger by the chairs along the wall. Neither of them is sitting. They're both standing with their arms crossed, staring at the educational posters above the chair rail, reading about the late stages of male omega heat cycles, and both looking extremely uncomfortable.
This exam room is bigger than I expected.
Most medical offices treat pack visits like an inconvenience, cramming everyone into a standard room designed for one person and a clipboard, but this one was clearly built with packs in mind.
There are enough chairs along the wall for six people, a wider than normal exam table, and a separate alcove with a curtain for privacy.
The lighting is warm instead of the usual fluorescent assault, and someone has put a small diffuser in the corner putting out something faintly herbal and calming.
I approve.
I approve of all of it, actually.
The organized supply drawers visible through the glass cabinet doors, the color-coded patient folders on the counter, the neat row of labeled empty specimen jars on the shelf above the sink. It smells like gauze and antiseptic and the wonderful sterility of a well-run medical office.
It made something in my chest loosen the second we walked in.
This is my language.
For a few seconds I stand here and breathe it in, and let myself feel at home in a way I haven't felt since the Morder pharmacy…which is a depressing comparison but it’s true.
And then it hits me.
I will never work in a place like this ever again.
Mated omegas don't have jobs. That’s just the reality of the world we live in.
And even if that weren't true, what clinic would hire an omega for anything beyond answering phones or refilling coffee?
The laws are what they are, and the attitudes behind them are worse, and I spent eight years in school becoming good at something that I am never going to be allowed to use again.
I press my lips together and look down at the floor.
"We should leave," Adam blurts as he shifts on the exam table. The flimsy paper gown they had him change into is practically see through, his bare legs dangling over the edge. “I want to go.”
On the other side of the table, Perrin shifts closer, before glancing up at Cliff.
"They're going to lock me up," Adam continues, his voice dropping lower. "They’re going to file me with some kind of government registry and the next thing I know I'm going to be dragged into some kind of academy and matched with an alpha I've never met and I'll never see any of you again and—"
"Adam." Cliff's voice is patient as he pushes off the wall and crosses to the exam table. He takes Adam's hand in both of his. "That only happens to unmated omegas."
Adam's jaw works, clearly not believing him.
"Nobody is taking you anywhere," Raff says firmly.
Adam grumbles something under his breath, the paper gown crinkling as he shifts again. "Elowen doesn't have to get an invasive exam."
I turn to look at him.
"I'm a woman, Adam," I say flatly. "I have been subjected to more invasive vaginal exams than I can count.
It's practically a hobby at this point." I cross my arms. "But if it would make you feel better, I am absolutely willing to hop up on that table next to you and spread my legs. Would that help?"
Adam immediately smiles.
Raff makes a sound from across the room that is low and sexy, making it clear that he’d love nothing more.
"Rafferty," Cliff says, without even looking at him.
"I didn't say anything," Raff says.
"You didn't have to," Cliff says.
Adam’s smile grows, and some of the rigid panic in his shoulders loosens by one small, grudging degree.
"Stop acting like a child," Perrin says, shifting slightly closer to his brother, which I did not think was physically possible given how close he already was.
"Elowen doesn't have a serious medical condition.
" He leans down, looking right into his brother’s eyes.
"And to treat it, they need to know what you are. All of what you are."
Adam opens his mouth.
"Don't," Perrin says preemptively.
And Adam closes it.
The omega looks up at the ceiling, his jaw tight, his fingers curling around the edge of the exam table. He looks like a man trying very hard to talk himself into something and not quite getting there.
I'm about to say something when the door opens.
The doctor steps in with a tablet in one hand and a manila folder in the other, and she's already looking at the folder when she speaks.
"Good morning, Durrant pack." She closes the door behind her, pulls the rolling stool out from under the counter, and sits down. When she finally looks up, her eyes move briefly around the room. “Who’s the pack alpha?”
“I am,” Cliff speaks up, but he stays where he retreated to the wall.
"I'm Dr. Osei," she says, and something in her expression shifts into something careful and considered. "I have your mate’s bloodwork back." She glances down at the folder, then looks directly at Adam. "And I think we have quite a bit to talk about."
Adam's grip on the edge of the exam table tightens.
“There's quite a lot here, and I want to make sure you understand all of it." Dr. Osei says, setting the folder open on the counter, then she looks at Adam over the top of her glasses. "Mr. Durrant, your hormone panel confirms that you are a male omega."
"No shit," Adam says flatly, and Perrin smacks his arm gently.
Dr. Osei's mouth twitches. “No shit," she agrees, with the calm professionalism of a woman who has clearly heard worse.
"Now.” She turns back to the folder. “The more interesting question is why nobody caught this sooner, and the answer to that lies in your medication history. " She looks up. "Verenthicin."
“So, it was suppressing his omega biology,” I say.
Dr. Osei looks at me with an expression of mild, appreciative surprise.
"That's exactly right." She looks back at Adam.
"Verenthicin was prescribed to manage your autoimmune symptoms, which it did effectively.
But as a significant side effect, it flatlined your omega hormones entirely.
Your scent gland development was arrested.
Your heat cycles never activated. Your pheromone production was suppressed to undetectable levels.
" She pauses. "You were never a beta, Mr. Durrant.
Your omega biology was simply being chemically overridden for fifteen years. "
The silence that follows is a different kind than before.
Adam's hand moves first. It finds Perrin's on his left, fingers lacing through his brother's without looking. Then his right hand reaches out and finds mine, and I take it without hesitation, squeezing once.
"My scent glands," Adam says, his voice very careful and very controlled. "You said their development was…arrested?"
"Yes," Dr. Osei rolls her stool closer to the exam table. "May I?"
Adam nods stiffly.
She stands, then reaches up with both hands and turns his head gently to the left first. She examines the mating bite on that side. Her fingers press lightly around the edges of the mark, feeling rather than looking, and Adam winces slightly but holds still.
"These are beautiful," she says, almost to herself.
Adam blinks. "Sorry?"
"Your mating bites." She turns his head to the right, examining the second mark with the same careful attention.
"Clean edges, bruising well, no sign of infection.
Your alphas knew what they were doing." She nods once, satisfied, then her touch shifts slightly, moving to the soft tissue right below and behind the bite mark.
Her brow furrows slightly. "There it is," she murmurs.
"There what is?" Adam asks, his voice very careful.
"Your left scent gland." She keeps her fingers there, gentle and precise.
"It's nicked rather than fully bitten, which is consistent with a gland that sits a little further back than usual.
But the bond should be viable." She releases him and moves to the right side, pressing carefully.
Her expression shifts into something more considered.
"And this one." She pauses. "This one is very small.
Underdeveloped. Present, but sitting unusually low. "
Adam's hand clenches mine. "Am I actually mated?" he says. The words come out so quietly I barely catch them. “I mean, both my alphas mated me a few years ago, but they re-mated me during my heat. Both of them at the same time,” he rambles. “But do either one of them count? Am I capable—”
"You are mated," Dr. Osei says, cutting Adam off.
"Two times over." She smiles at Adam before looking between Cliff and Raff.
"The left gland is definitely marked. However, the right gland is the underdeveloped one.
A mating bite deep enough to reach it would carry significant risk.
" She holds their gazes. "I would not recommend attempting it. "
"We won't," Cliff says immediately.
Adam absorbs all of this in silence, his eyes on the middle distance.
"Then why…” he says finally. “Why don't I have a mental bond with Raff?" He looks up at the doctor. "If I'm actually mated."
Dr. Osei tilts her head. "When exactly did the re-mating occur?"
Everyone looks at Perrin.
Perrin straightens slightly under the collective attention.
"It lasted for three days,” Perrin holds up his hand, like he’s counting.
“And it ended a few days ago. So he was bitten five days ago.
After he was mated." Perrin pauses, choosing his words carefully.
"He drifted in and out of consciousness for most of it. "