Chapter Forty-Six #2
“Of course.” Adrian nods. “Well.” He picks up his phone from the table and slips it into his jacket pocket.
His gaze shifts to me and then slides to Levi.
“I think we've been rather productive today.
We'll look into that. In the meantime.” He glances at Wallace.
“You mentioned you've been uncomfortable. Can we send some food over? You must be hungry. Thirsty, at the very least.”
Wallace blinks. “I could eat.”
“Absolutely.” Adrian lifts the water pitcher from the side of the table and pours a glass. He sets it in front of Wallace and adds a straw. “Start with this. I'll be back with more refreshments.”
Wallace leans down and drinks. He drains the whole glass without stopping and Adrian refills it. Wallace drinks half of that one too.
“Thank you,” Wallace says, the word coming out stiff and deliberate, like it took effort to locate.
“Certainly.” Adrian smooths his jacket again. “You know, while we're all here, I want to ask you something. You're familiar with Pinnacle Therapeutics, of course.”
Wallace makes a sound. “I'm familiar with most pharmaceutical research entities, yes.” He sounds bored. “What's your question.”
“We do a lot of work in omega health,” Adrian says. “Heat suppressants. Cycle regulation. Hormonal intervention. You'll know the space.”
“I know it better than your team does,” Wallace sneers.
“I'm sure.” Adrian looks at him. “What you might not know is that in order to develop a reliable suppressant, we had to map the opposite end of the spectrum first. You understand. The science requires the full picture.”
Wallace's expression doesn't change. Then something moves behind his eyes, some internal calculation he hasn't finished yet, and he closes his mouth.
“In developing that suppressant,” Adrian continues, “we created a rather effective accelerant. Quite a breakthrough, actually. Designation-non-specific, which was the hard part. Most compounds work on omega biology and nothing else. This one.” He tilts his head. “Works on everyone.”
Wallace shifts, and this time it's not about the chair. Or his full bladder.
“Fascinating development,” Adrian says. “The other thing that makes it unusual is the delivery method. It can be ingested. In solution, for example.” He glances at the water glass. “Very stable in solution, as it turns out.”
Wallace's gaze slides from the water to Adrian.
“What have you done?” The words come out even, but he's pressing his bandaged hands to his crotch.
I lean on the table and look down at him. “What's the matter, beta? Hurting?”
He pushes back from the table and stands, the chair grinding back behind him. The front of his trousers is unmistakable, the erection straining the fabric. He's pushing his bandaged stumps at the zip he cannot grip, cannot get purchase on, cannot do a single useful thing with.
“What the fuck have you done to me? I gave you no permission. You need to—” He looks down at his bandaged stumps. He tries to unzip his pants where his cock strains against the material. He'll never get them undone. Never get relief. “I can't — I need — you have to—”
“Feeling a little hot, professor?” Levi says. “How does a forced heat sound to you now?”
“Help me.” Wallace's voice cracks down the middle. “Alpha, please. Please. I need it, I can't — this isn't — you can't leave me like this, you have to—”
“We don't have to do anything.” Adrian straightens his cuffs. “Consider this your latest experiment. All in the name of science.”
“Let's go,” I say.
Wallace is still talking as I reach the door.
“Please.” His voice has lost everything it walked in with. “Please, I'll tell you whatever you need, I'll give you everything, just — alpha, please. Please. I need — alpha—”
“You'll tell us everything when someone comes back here, I have no doubt. When that will be, I can't say.” I pull the door shut. The latch catches. Silence.
The corridor is quiet and smells of industrial cleaning fluid.
Levi puts his head back against the wall and closes his eyes.
“How long does it last,” I say.
“As long as he keeps drinking the water,” Adrian says. “Which he will, because he's in heat and will need his fluids. He should also be aware that he won't be able to relieve himself either. Not until it passes.”
Levi opens his eyes. “When does it pass.”
Adrian looks at him. “When we decide it does.”
Levi nods once. That's enough.
“We'll get answers about her, Levi,” Adrian says and clasps Levi's shoulder.
“I have everyone on it already, but now we have a name and a county, we have a direction.” Levi speaks like he's convincing himself the search will be straightforward. “That's more than we had this morning.”
“Go,” I say. “If you need anything, call me. Whatever you need.”
“Anything at all,” Adrian says. “Every resource I have is yours. I'll fill you in with more details as we get them.”
Levi nods before he walks away.
“He'll find her,” Adrian says.
“He has to,” I say.
Neither of us fills in what comes after that.
Adrian turns to me. “I wanted to talk to you about the space Evelyn Hardwick left. Have you considered running for office?”
I blink at him. “What?”
“You’ve spent years working omega cases. You know the system. You know where it fails.” His mouth curves slightly. “And with my funding behind you, I think you’d win.”
I stare at him for a long moment.
Me.
Running for office.
The idea should feel ridiculous. Instead, something shifts quietly into place.
Research that matters. Policy that actually protects people. Omegas who don’t get abandoned the second the paperwork clears.
Real change.
“That would change things,” I say quietly.
“It would,” Adrian agrees.
He says it like the decision’s already been made.
Like he’s just been waiting for me to catch up to it.
Thank you for taking this journey through Torment Me Knot, and for walking beside Espie, Aubrey, Sera, and their pack as they fought their way through fear, grief, trauma, and the fragile beginnings of trust.