Chapter 18
Hugh Randall wasn’t a man who was easily surprised in his line of work. As an Alpha Omega doctor, he’d seen it all: alphas and omegas with dysfunctional cycles, infertility problems, erectile dysfunction, slick production problems, and so on and so forth.
But for the first time in a long time, he had a truly unique case. A unique patient.
Hugh regarded the two alphas seated across his desk.
Michael Terlaine met his eyes steadily, but his anxiety was obvious.
Anthony wasn’t looking at Hugh at all, his gaze fixed on his…
friend with the sort of attentiveness that piqued Hugh’s curiosity.
In the years since marrying Eric, he’d never seen Anthony behave like this.
His brother-in-law had always been rather aloof with Hugh—with all alphas except for Michael Terlaine, and maybe Jon.
Hugh had known these two were good friends, but he’d never seen Anthony look at anyone this way—utterly, singularly focused.
It made Hugh curious about their relationship, but he was a professional, so his mask stayed firmly in place.
“We have reviewed your bloodwork and CT scan results, Michael,” Hugh said, shifting his eyes back to Michael. He didn’t know the man all that well, but he’d met him enough times at Blake family gatherings to be on a first-name basis with him.
“And?” Michael said, his posture tense.
“We’re seeing significant deviations from the baseline alpha readings.
Your body isn’t producing as much alpha hormones as it should.
That’s why your scent is no longer as offensive to other alphas.
And that’s not all.” Hugh pulled up a holographic projection of Michael’s brain scan.
“See this region of your brain? It’s the fachea, the part of our brain that regulates our instincts. ”
Michael eyed it with a frown. “Is it... Is there something wrong with it?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Hugh said. “The area is showing increased activity on our scans, indicating ongoing physiological processes, which should not be possible for Vos alphas outside the full moon.”
“Physiological processes?” Anthony said. “What does it mean?”
Hugh looked at his brother-in-law. “This region of the brain is not typically active to this extent in Vos alphas even during the full moon. Vos is a small moon, and it doesn’t affect alphas all that strongly.
Even Torryn alphas’ brains don’t look like this during their ruts.
But Xeus alphas’ do. That’s why it’s assumed that active processes in this region of the brain have something to do with body transformation, since Xeus alphas are the only alphas that transform into another form during their ruts. ”
“But I’m not a Xeus alpha,” Michael said.
“No,” Hugh agreed. “Your case is unique. None of the moons are in their full phase right now, but your brain is acting like there’s an intense biological process going on. Something as intense as Xeus body transformation.”
“What does it mean?” Michael said.
“We can only speculate,” Hugh said. “I’ve discreetly consulted with a few Kadarian doctors that specialize in researching alpha biology—don’t worry, I didn’t mention your name—and we think the alien toxin that caused Anthony’s unnatural rut must have entered your system through Anthony’s bodily fluids.
” He kept his voice impersonal, pretending not to see Michael’s flushed face.
“It likely activated your fachea—in both of you—”
“But if that’s the case, is Anthony still affected too?”
“Anthony’s readings are normal,” Hugh said, shaking his head. “I wish you’d come to me right after your return from Belith—it would have been helpful to know how soon Anthony’s readings returned to the baseline. As things stand, we can only speculate why he’s back to normal but you’re not.”
“Then speculate,” Michael said. “What’s your personal opinion?”
Hugh folded his hands on his desk. “I think it has to do with his instincts and behavior aligning with a normal rut,” he said carefully.
“He asserted his dominance. His fachea recognized the normal alpha behavior and went dormant again, satisfied. But yours... yours might have gotten confused. Because you submitted to another alpha.”
Michael couldn’t seem to hold his gaze anymore, his shoulders tense. Anthony was watching him like a hawk.
“But I slept with an omega during my next rut,” Michael said stiffly.
Hugh hummed thoughtfully, noting the way Anthony stiffened, his scent thickening.
“Did it feel right?” Hugh said.
Michael’s lips thinned. He didn’t reply for a long moment.
“It wasn’t very satisfying,” he finally said in a stilted voice. “I came, but it felt like it wasn’t what I really wanted.”
Hugh nodded. “That aligns with my theory. Your fachea got confused on Belith, getting your instincts used to a more receptive role.”
“Then shouldn’t spending my rut with an omega have fixed me?” Michael said.
Hugh searched for the most diplomatic answer.
“It probably would have worked if you didn’t keep submitting to the same alpha.
That likely confused your instincts further, making your body think it needed to reduce the production of alpha pheromones to appeal to what your body started perceiving as your alpha. ”
Anthony cleared his throat. “I think it’s a sound theory, but what does it mean in practical terms? Is this temporary?”
Hugh frowned. “Again, I can only speculate, since there’s no precedent, but I think it’s not too late yet to reverse the changes to Michael’s body.”
Michael leaned forward, his eyes bright. “Really? How?”
“You’ll have to stay away from each other for a long time,” Hugh said. “Not even see each other from afar, much less...” Much less fuck. He didn’t say it aloud, but he didn’t need to.
“Oh,” Michael said, his face falling.
“That’s not acceptable,” Anthony said harshly, rolling his chair closer to Michael’s and laying a hand on his shoulder. “We need another solution.”
Hugh stared at Anthony’s hand. Didn’t he realize how proprietary that touch was? But neither of them seemed aware of it. It was the ease of it that got to him—the way Michael didn’t even flinch at being touched like that. It was… telling.
Looking back at Anthony’s face, Hugh said in his most patient voice, “There’s no magical solution for this, Anthony. Just time and distance, to make his body remember how it’s supposed to work.”
Frowning, Michael chewed on his cheek before he lifted his eyes to Hugh. “What would happen if we don’t do it? Would my symptoms get worse?”
Hugh suppressed a grimace. The fact that Michael was even considering not doing everything to reverse the changes showed how bad it already was. An alpha in their right mind would never even consider staying submissive to another alpha.
“We ran some models to predict how your... condition might progress. The results don’t look promising.” He put on his most neutral expression as he met Michael’s gaze. “If you don’t follow my recommendations, your body will stop producing alpha hormones completely. That’s pretty much certain.”
“You mean I’ll effectively become a beta?” Michael said thoughtfully. “That’s... That would be pretty weird, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. It wouldn’t be all that different. Vos alphas aren’t as ruled by hormones as Xeus and Torryn alphas are.”
Hugh averted his gaze for a moment before looking back at Michael. “That’s one possibility,” he said carefully. “But some models suggest that your fachea will switch to producing omega hormones.”
Anthony inhaled sharply.
Michael just stared at Hugh blankly before letting out a laugh. “Is that a joke?” he said, his voice faint. “How can it even be possible? I’m an alpha. I can’t just—I can’t just become an omega after allowing another alpha to fuck me. That’s ridiculous!”
Hugh glanced at his brother-in-law. Anthony was very quiet, a strange emotion gleaming in his blue eyes.
Hugh looked back at Michael. “Normally, you would be correct,” he said.
“I personally know an alpha-alpha couple, and they have been in a relationship for years without either of their designations being affected.” Hugh grimaced.
“Eric told me how toxic and unhealthy that relationship is—they can’t seem to go more than a few days without being at each other’s throats and they can’t spend their ruts together, but they try to make it work. ”
“Exactly,” Michael said, frustration clear in his scent. “If they can keep hooking up for years without it affecting their designations, what makes me different?”
Hugh had to choose his words carefully. He didn’t want to offend Michael.
“Neither of them had been forced into a sexual relationship. Neither of them had to overcome their own nature and submit to an alpha in rut. Not to mention that neither of them had been affected by an alien toxin that activated their fachea during said rut. There was also the fact that you would have been in rut yourself if you weren’t off-world and away from our moons—Vos was at its full moon phase at the time.
So your circumstances are completely different from theirs.
You were forced to submit to another alpha in rut from the very beginning of your sexual relationship. That likely made a difference.”
“Are you talking about bitching?” Anthony said.
Michael froze, his eyes going wide.
It took Hugh an incredible effort to keep his expression blank. He couldn’t believe Anthony had actually said that. Not that it was necessarily incorrect, but it was the most humiliating way of putting it.
“Bitching is a term coined by the porn industry,” Hugh said dryly, giving Anthony a flat look that hopefully conveyed how out of line he was. “There’s no scientific proof that you can turn an alpha into an omega by raping them.”
Anthony didn’t look impressed. “As if the scientists would ever perform an experiment like that. You know there were plenty of supposed cases in the Middle Ages. It’s hard to believe those stories had no truth to them at all.”
Hugh grimaced. That was true enough. “I believe there was some truth to them, but there hasn’t been a single documented case in the last eight hundred years—even though there have been alphas raped by criminals.
If forcibly changing another alpha’s designation was ever possible, it required something else besides rape.
” Hugh pinched the bridge of his nose. “The truth is, alpha-to-omega transformation might be possible—theoretically. Alphas do have vestigial organs similar to omegas’, which theoretically might become functional under certain conditions.
But that is beside the point. Even if forcibly changing another alpha’s designation were possible, you didn’t repeatedly rape Michael. ”
“But you think the forced element of what happened on Belith did play a part,” Anthony stated.
“It seems likely,” Hugh admitted before looking at Michael, whose face was still frozen, expression blank. “It doesn’t mean this isn’t reversible, Michael. If you stay away from Anthony and start seeing an omega, it should still be possible for your body to relearn how it’s supposed to function.”
Michael nodded and got to his feet. “Thank you,” he said, sounding a little dazed and distracted.
Hugh felt a pang of painful sympathy for him.
He cleared his throat a little. “I know what it’s like to have been forced into something you didn’t want thanks to your biology making the decision for you.
” He might be happily married to the love of his life now, but his first marriage was still a dark spot in his life, and it always would be.
“You can call me anytime if you need to talk to someone.”
Michael gave him a small but genuine smile. “Thanks, Hugh. I will.”
“You can talk to me,” Anthony said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
Hugh narrowed his eyes, studying his brother-in-law. Anthony wasn’t an easy man to read, his years as a government spy having made him good at hiding his emotions, but Hugh didn’t think he was imagining that Anthony wasn’t pleased by the idea of Michael talking to Hugh and not him.
“Hands off him, Ant,” Hugh said. “You’re only making it worse.”
Anthony’s shoulders stiffened. He was slow to withdraw his hand, but he did eventually, his fingers flexing.
“Thanks,” he said, without looking at Hugh. “Tell Eric I said hi.”
Hugh watched them go, his stomach churning with unease when he saw Anthony open the door for Michael, his hand twitching to touch Michael’s lower back before he thought better of it.
This was alarming.
It seemed Michael wasn’t the only one who needed them to stay very far from each other.