SALT #8
Everyone knows that betas who have given birth once can later get pregnant again. Their hormonal profile shifts into what is known as a ‘beta with omega characteristics’, which means the program can, in a way, continue on its own into the future, allowing couples to have more children.
Jeff slips an arm around Shane and kisses him on the lips. Shane stiffens just a little, but nothing looks openly wrong. Nothing I can point to. He even looks happy.
"What the hell?" I mutter under my breath. "How did that even happen?"
Eliano turns toward me.
"What don’t you understand? How people get preg? I can explain."
I pull a face. "Asshole. Let’s eat and get out of here. I need to tell you something."
Eliano nods, unfazed. We start eating. Roman and Evan are buzzing with excitement, talking nonstop about how lucky Jeff and Shane are, how they hope the same thing happens to them someday. I nod when it feels expected and keep my mouth shut.
When we finally leave, after hearing that some massage class starts in about an hour, I suggest a walk to the beach. I haven’t been there yet, so why not check it out a bit?
The shore is warm, with a light breeze rolling in from the water. I drop onto a rock where the grassy slope turns into sand.
"I couldn’t sleep last night," I say. "Went out to clear my head." Then I tell him everything. All of it. I do not spare a single detail.
Eliano does not sit beside me. Instead, he lowers himself onto the sand in front of me, arms resting on his bent knees. He looks unfairly good like this. His hair is black with a deep violet tint, striking contrast against his light golden eyes.
He stays quiet for a long moment, a frown slowly forming.
"It is starting to make sense to me," he finally says.
"Oh yeah?" I snort. "Then explain it, because my brain is still a mess. Did they have some kind of weird romance going on, or was it something else?"
"Hardly a romance. When we met that purple alpha, Drax, I smelled something."
"What kind of something?"
"He has extraordinarily powerful pheromones. Almost aggressive. It hit me hard, like concentrated alpha scent during rut."
"What?!"
That sounds downright bizarre.
Eliano chuckles. "Yeah. It nearly twisted my gut.
The intensity was overwhelming. I would bet his presence alone could trigger heat for omegas and maybe betas.
I once heard about a heavyweight fighter who had such a strong pheromonal output that all his opponents had permanent hard-ons during matches with him and could barely focus, which worked in his favor, of course. " Eliano makes a funny face.
I stare at him, and suddenly things start clicking into place.
"Fuck. So what, you think he is behind all this? He fucks the betas and kick-starts their heats?"
Eliano shrugs. "It is one hypothesis."
"So he has a ton of kids running around? That is messed up. What if someone runs genetic tests?"
"I do not believe the children are his."
"What?!"
"I am certain they belong to the alphas the betas are paired with."
"How can you be so sure? I saw what I saw. There was no condom."
"That is irrelevant. This is a government program. Too large, too visible. It has been running for two years. Blood type testing alone would expose it quickly. The BA would collapse."
I think it over, then nod slowly. "Yeah. You’re right. Too risky. Maybe he had a vasectomy, or uses some other kind of protection."
Eliano nods. "He likely provides only pheromonal stimulation. Their contracted partners have sex with them afterward. Fertilization follows. He… just kind of prepares the way. It is speculation, true, but it fits. Also, it doesn’t have to be a real, intense heat.
They may experience so-called hidden heats.
With the amount of sex encouraged here, conception becomes a matter of time. "
I rub my temples. Eliano is onto something. The pieces line up disturbingly well.
"So the program is… kind of a scam. They don’t really get results through legal or scientific, reproducible methods. Their secret weapon is Drax."
"That’s my guess. Unless we’re missing something.
But seriously, his scent… it almost made me dizzy.
I don’t think Drax could live a normal life in society.
He’s a purple alpha, looking like a monster, with a strange mutation, and he uses it to his advantage here, since everyone on the island staff is beta anyway and can’t scent him, and he never shows up in the sectors.
I asked Evan about him yesterday, just out of curiosity, and he had no idea who I meant. Seeing him was pure luck."
"I wonder if the alphas in the program know that their betas are being fucked by another guy… Wait!" I raise my finger. "I discovered something else. At the back of our unit, right by the bathtub, there are secret doors. You cannot see them with the naked eye."
Eliano snaps his head up and stares at me in surprise.
"Yes, yes. Shane used them to get back inside, not the main entrance. And even better, your card does not open them. Only mine."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. I was pretty shocked. Secret doors for betas? So they can slip out of the unit while their husbands think they are in the bathroom, and meanwhile they are having quickies with a purple alpha right behind the wall. Then they just wash, and ta-da!"
Eliano blinks and rubs his cheeks, clearly shaken.
"It really looks like it was all done by design. A fucking scam, not a scientific method."
Silence falls between us.
Suddenly our wristbands beep simultaneously.
"Oh. Massage class. They are calling us."
We both stand up.
But then I realize something, pausing, unsure if I should even say this, especially with my escape plan still hanging over me. Still, if something goes wrong and things get delayed, I need Eliano to know what I don’t want, so he can back me up if it comes to that.
"I don’t… I don’t want to be stimulated like this, Eliano."
Our eyes meet. He nods, his expression serious.
"I doubt it would ever come to that. Maybe after two years here, but I don’t think we’ll still be here by then."
I swallow. Whatever he means by that, I would rather not ask. I already suspect he has guessed my plan to escape, so it feels safer not to pursue the topic any further.
Eliano watches me closely and adds, "But if they try something like that, it’ll happen over my dead body," in a slow, unyielding manner.
Our eyes meet in an intense lock, I nod in response. We have a silent understanding, and for some reason it makes my hole clench a bit. How weird!
We head back toward the entertainment wing of the complex. Not a single word is exchanged between us, but the silence is not tense.
The massage room turns out to be exactly what I expected. It has the same folding screens as the other rooms, but the layout inside is different. There is a massage table in the enclosure, with open space beside it. Clearly, one person is meant to lie down while the other does the massage.
It strikes me that the one being massaged will obviously be the beta, and the alpha will be the one doing the touching. I glance at Eliano, who is studying the table as well, and for a brief moment our eyes meet.
An insistent thought starts to creep in.
The intensity with which this program pushes closeness, encouraging alphas and betas to spend time together through touch and physical proximity, is bound to affect me too.
I already know that I like Eliano’s touch far more than I should.
No one has ever touched me like this before, definitely not in an erotic way, so I am only now discovering this whole world of physical sensation, and it is pretty overwhelming.
I know that the more of this I allow myself, the harder it will be to give it up later.
Damn it. These people are really not making this easy for me.
How am I supposed to focus on sticking to my plan in a place where everything seems to be working against me, even my own body?
With an irritated scowl, I fold my arms across my chest and turn away as footsteps approach.