Chapter 40
Tex
“Hey, long time, no see,” Candy said as I walked into her office. “What can I do you for, big guy?”
I sat down in the chair she gestured to.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about being a latent omega,” I said, right as Candy took a mouthful of her coffee.
Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to ask, because she spluttered, sending droplets of coffee everywhere.
“Actually, about all latents.” I wiped coffee from my face and rubbed my hands clean on my jeans.
“Ethan’s a latent, but now I know he’s my packmate, I need to know more about that too. ”
“Everything?” Her eyebrow cocked upwards.
“William Rex Callahan.” I went by Tex because when I was a baby, my sister found my middle name easier to pronounce.
Rex became Tex in the weird convoluted ways that Australian family nicknames evolved.
“I spent many long years at university studying genetics, and have since worked in a program that has revolutionised the way we see alpha, beta, and omega genes.” She mopped the coffee mess up with some tissues, then leaned closer.
“According to Riley, her pack, Gideon, and well, everyone, I act like an idiot, but I’m actually super smart. ”
“Yeah, well, I’m not.” I settled back in my chair with a smile. “So give me the Cliff notes version.”
Her expression softened.
“This is about Nadia and what happened the other day. I know it’s scary—”
“Terrifying.” I nodded, feeling that same chest tightening, heart pounding need to do fucking something, but of course, there wasn’t much I could do.
There was no way for me to take Nadia’s pain away, to go through this for her.
“I didn’t want to believe what you, Riley, and Ethan were saying.
Me and my mate, we’re fated to be together, so I thought you’d give her a shot and she’d just shift. ”
My eyes met hers.
“Nadia didn’t. I had to stand there and listen to her scream in agony, knowing I did this to her. I couldn’t help, couldn’t stop the pain or anything.”
My chest was heaving, because I saw it all happening again inside my head, but this time the events played out so much slower, meaning I was forced to re-experience every twist of her body, every spasm of her muscles. With a shake of my head, I continued.
“My sister talks a lot about mental load,” I said.
“That blokes just cruise along, completely unaware of how much is being done in the background. Her husband’s a pretty good guy, a hands-on dad, but she showed me that even he slips up sometimes.
Not me.” I tapped my chest. “Nadia is struggling to shift. I’m her fucking alpha.
It’s on me to work out how to help her, so I might not have a fancy science degree, but if you use concrete examples, I’m pretty good at picking shit up.
If you’ve got time and can help me to understand what the fuck is going on, I’ll build you a walk in wardrobe, shit, a whole new house, if that’s what it takes. ”
For a moment she just stared, then finally Candy smiled.
“My dear sweet himbo—”
“I’m not a himbo,” I said. “Every day, people trust me to build complex things and shit.”
“I know and it’s slightly terrifying.” Candy nodded slowly.
“But you were always a good kid. I’m never gonna get in the way of a guy trying to step up for his girl.
” She reached down and then plonked a container full of LEGO on the table, then grabbed a handful of blocks and a base plate.
“Genes are like LEGO bricks. Someone like you who had little difficulty shifting has all the right blocks in every cell of your body.” She built a square construction made of staggered bricks.
“Some made you tall, strong, have blue eyes, but all of these red ones?” She added them to the mix.
“They are what you needed to shift. Your mum and dad could have had some red ones.”
“So she’s a latent too?” I asked, unable to see it.
“Maybe.” Candy shrugged. “There’s a lot of genetic material we used to call junk genes because they just seemed to be there, not doing anything. What we’ve learned since is that different things can switch them on.”
She tore down the construction and then rebuilt it with the red blocks evenly spaced around it.
“It’s like they’re there, just chilling, until something happens. Two people come together and have a kid like you.” She glanced my way. “Or someone like Nadia meets the three of you. Sometimes its famine or abuse or something that turns shit on and people change.”
“Like evolution?” I asked.
“Evolution is a long, slow process,” she said. “Epigenetics is a whole other thing.”
“Bringing out the big words,” I said with a wry smile. “So what’s going on with Nadia?”
“She doesn’t have enough red blocks.” Candy created a new construction, this time the red blocks were far fewer and placed at random in the tower. “Or too many of some and not enough of others. I could show you an actual model we’ve created of her gene sequence, but it won’t mean much to you.”
“So give her some of my red blocks.” I started pulling them off the original construction and adding it to the new one. “Take them all, if that’s what my mate needs. I don’t care if I never shift again. Just need for Nadia to be OK.”
Candy let out a sigh.
“Gene editing is still very experimental. People have died from simple changes. At some point, I think we’ll be able to introduce more red blocks… genes, into latents and fix the issue, but we’re not there yet.”
“Why not?” I didn’t mean to yell and the shame I felt had me up and out of my chair, pacing back and forth. “What’ve people been doing? This has been an issue for years and…”
The way Candy just watched me was familiar.
It was the same look she gave us boys when we were acting up in the alpha program.
Soft eyes, firm set of her shoulders, she’d let me rant and rave, but then she’d force me to face what I had to: they were doing everything they could right now and that was enough to get me slumping back in the chair.
“So what do we do? What do I do, Candy?”
“The same thing as everyone else who walks in here with their loved ones. You stay by their side, help them endure the unendurable.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No.”
“And make clear that you’re there, every step of the way. That you can be the rock they need as they experience a level of pain that would kill most people.”
Claws snicked out, my muscles swelling, as the wolf and I prepared for a fight, but there was no enemy to punch through the wall. Just bad luck. I shook my head.
“Most kids that came through our outreach program were pretty messed up by the fact they were suddenly able to turn into a wolf. Some struggled for control, like Grey. Some found shifting agonising, like Ethan. It was always easy for you.”
“And now its not.” As my lips pursed, I felt my fangs press into the soft flesh of my mouth. “OK, if that’s what has to happen, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“Just like that, huh?” The skin around her eyes creased as she smiled at me.
“Keep that can-do attitude, big guy. Riley’s talking about amping Nadia’s hormone levels up.
Your mate, she’s managing to keep her beast locked down tight and Fanta Pants is hoping that with the right push, we can help you meet the other half of your mate’s soul. ”
I felt hollow, empty as I walked out of the office.
Perhaps that’s why my ears were ringing.
My finger was stuck in one, trying to dislodge whatever the hell it was that was causing that sound, but of course, the harsh whine wasn’t an organic thing.
It faded away as I reached the suite door.
My hand went to the handle and for just a moment, I stood there, focussing on my breathing.
You can do this, I told myself. You have to. Nadia needs you and—
The handle was wrenched from my grip as it opened to reveal my mate and Ethan.
“Hey, you’re back,” she said and that smile was everything. “Ethan was just about to show me how he shifts.”
No, I wanted to say, don’t do that, because some part of me needed to protect her, but this was a battle I couldn’t fight for Nadia. Instead, I pulled her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“If you wanted to see Golden Boy naked, you just had to say so.”
“Tex—”
“We could all strip off if you like.” She stared up at me with a smile. “Could be fun?” I suggested.
“Naked fun sometime later. Shifting now. Maybe…” I hated that tentative note in her voice. “Maybe if I see how it’s done, I might be able to shift as well.”
“Your wolf is gonna be so pretty.” My hands traced the curve of her cheeks. “Can’t wait to meet her.”
“You ready?”
There was a note of challenge in Ethan’s voice as he stared at me over the top of Nadia’s head.
“I was born ready.”
They said I was a cocky prick and maybe that was true, but I knew now why. It was a barrier erected between me and my worst fears, but this time? As I followed the two of them down the hall, barely registering what was said, I had a feeling that wall was going to be shattered to pieces.
That was OK.
I saw Candy building those LEGO towers in my mind’s eye, because no matter what happened to Nadia, I’d be there to put her, me, all of us back together. With that in mind, I picked up the pace and joined the two of them as they walked into a nearby room.