by Nora Phoenix
“Yes, alpha.”
More laughter. “You’ve finally come to that famous realization about honey being more effective than vinegar, huh?”
Yeah, a dark, quiet spot under the bed sounded good right about now. Or somewhere deep in his closet, where no one could see him.
“No response?” Lidon teased him.
Vieno debated multiple answers in his head, then opted for honesty. “No. I don’t want to irritate you even more.”
“You don’t irritate me.”
“Frustrate?”
“Nope. I appreciate your honesty, Vieno. More than anything, I value complete and brutal honesty between us.”
“Oh.” He pondered that for, then said, “I think I can accommodate you. I can’t lie worth shit, and I suck at pretending.”
“Hmm. So if you act like you want me, that means I should believe you?”
Vieno pushed himself off on Lidon’s chest so he could look him in the eye. “I would never lie about that. Or pretend.”
Apparently, Lidon liked what he saw on Vieno’s face. “Promise me,” he said, his voice low and deep.
“I promise.”
“Promise me you’ll never accept my sexual advances or initiate anything sexual when it’s not what you want.”
That was about the last thing Vieno expected him to say. What made Lidon ask him to make that promise? Luckily, it was something Vieno had no qualms vowing. “You have my word, alpha.”
Lidon studied him for a few seconds. “What do you need me to promise, aside from never ignoring your ‘no’? You know I’ll always respect that.”
Vieno lowered his eyes and wanted to crawl back on Lidon’s chest, but a strong hand grabbed his chin. “No, this is not the time to hide. You were thinking of something. Will you tell me?”
He could’ve ordered him. If he'd said, “tell me,” Vieno would’ve had a hard time resisting. Instead, he asked. Still, Vieno’s heart was racing. He’d never spoken about this, not even with Palani. Oh, he’d known, but they’d never said the words. But how did he bring this up? Wouldn’t it be the final straw for Lidon after all the stupid shit Vieno had said already about Palani, him being so dependent and everything?
Lidon was patiently waiting, his eyes focused on Vieno. Even now, he didn’t use his alpha power on him but waited till Vieno was ready. He took a deep breath, then plunged.
“Please don’t judge me for how I act during my heat.” He said it fast, then exhaled when the words were out. Okay, the first hurdle was taken.
“I’m gonna need more than that, sweetheart.”
The affectionate name gave Vieno the sense of security to find the words. “I tend to get a little…excited during my heat. More than other omegas, I gathered from research. I can come on strong.”
Lidon shook his head. “You’re still not telling me the full truth, instead hiding behind euphemisms. The brutal truth, Vieno.”
The brutal truth. Did he dare? His throat constricted as he remembered the look of derision on Aloysius’s face, the ridicule of his friends, who kept criticizing him for how he acted…and still he’d wanted them. Or at least, some part of him had. It was what had driven them to extremes—to see how far they could go and have Vieno still take them.
“I see a lot of fear and hurt in your eyes,” Lidon said softly, his voice warm and kind. “Was it so bad?”
Vieno nodded, unable to find words.
“Do you want me to help you say it?”
He nodded again.
“Maybe you meant to say that you get bossy during your heat?”
He sighed, then affirmed it.
“And more dominant sexually than you usually are? Or than would be expected of an omega?”
He bit his lip, his eyes confirming Lidon’s words.
“More open to sexual experimentation, perhaps, than would otherwise be the case?”
They were getting so close to the truth. Vieno’s heart was about to burst out of his chest with fear, if not for the fact that Lidon’s face was calm and kind, not showing any judgment whatsoever. It was the acceptance in his eyes that allowed him to say the words.
“During my heat, I’m a slut. I want everything, crave everything. I have no boundaries. Anything and everything turns me on. And I will do anything…anything until I’m sated.”
Lidon finally let go of his head, and Vieno collapsed on top of him. Lidon held him close. “Thank you for being honest with me, sweetheart, because I can see how difficult this was for you. Are you saying it would be different from the heat I experienced?”
“Yeah. I was too weak to initiate much then,” Vieno answered.
“Hmm.”
“I’m…” He caught himself before he finished the sentence, and Lidon chuckled.
“Good catch. Tell me, why would you think I’d judge you for this?”
“Because omegas are supposed to act as virgin blushing brides. Let the strong, dominant alpha men conquer them and take them. Our job is to spread our legs whenever the alpha asks us to—”
Vieno let out a sudden squeal when Lidon rolled them over, hovering above him. God, he loved that sensation of that big body on top of his. “I’m gonna tell you a little secret, okay?”
Vieno nodded.
“I’m not your average alpha.”
Vieno couldn’t resist the quip. “You’re definitely bigger, I’d say.”
Lidon laughed, then gave him a quick kiss that felt strangely familiar. “Thank you. I assume that was a compliment.”
That, at least he had no troubling being brutally honest about. “I love your big cock.”
That earned him another kiss, but a slower one this time, where Lidon licked every inch of his mouth until Vieno was panting, desire racing through his veins.
“Here’s the thing. I like filthy sex. It was one source of frustration between Rodrick and me before he cheated because he was traditional and mainstream when it came to sex. I, however, like it raw and rough and filthy. I suspect you can get as slutty as you want with me and I won’t mind. The things I want to do to you…”
The words set something free inside Vieno. Palani hadn’t minded Vieno’s…excesses during heat, but this was a whole new level. It almost sounded like Lidon welcomed it, wanted it as much as Vieno did. But if that was true, then why had he been celibate for so long? “If that’s true, how did you manage not to have sex for so long?”
“You talk like I hadn’t had sex in years.”
“I assumed that…”
“I’m an alpha, sweetheart. I can’t go without sex. But fucking a random beta at a club is not the same as knotting an omega, and I’ll admit it had been a while since I’d done the latter before you.”
That made sense.
“And as you can imagine, experimenting sexually is not something that’s easy to do with a hookup. It requires a level of trust, and as a cop, I’m disinclined to trust people I don’t know.”
Vieno blinked. That, too, sounded true. Which meant that…Lidon was telling the truth. He was interested in experimenting with him, and he wouldn’t mind if Vieno got a little overexcited.
“You believe me now?”
Vieno nodded, then offered his mouth up to receive one of those toe-curling kisses, the kind that made him forget his own name. Lidon ground into him as he kissed him, smearing his precum all over Vieno, and he fucking loved it.
“Will you fuck me?” he asked.
12
“What’s taking them so fucking long?” Palani asked for the fifth time in between chewing his fingernails off.
“Do I need to explain to you again that this is a good sign?” Enar asked with thinly veiled annoyance.
Palani couldn’t blame him. The man was stuck here as much as he was, but he had to endure Palani’s nervousness and impatience as well. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I’m a pain in the ass.”
Enar looked as if he debated denying it but then sighed with a small grin. “Yeah, you are. And not of the pleasurable kind. Ca
n’t you think of something to do?”
Huh. That was a risky joke for an alpha. Most of them wouldn’t even want to joke about being on the receiving end rather than doing the fucking.
A soft moan drifted through the walls, and Palani clenched his teeth. At least it was obvious what they were doing now. “You want me to work, listening to that?”
“Let’s go into your bedroom,” Enar suggested.
Palani raised his eyebrows. “To do what, Doc?” he asked, knowing damn well Enar’s request hadn’t been sexual.
“Oh, fuck off,” Enar said as he rose to his feet and stretched.
“So you do admit that you…”
“You may want to shut that mouth before I find a different way to occupy it.”
Enar’s grin suggested he wasn’t mad but was only teasing. Palani led the way into his bedroom, which smelled of fresh linens after Vieno had changed all the sheets after their lovemaking this morning. Thank fuck, because otherwise Enar would have detected the scent of sex as soon as he’d walked in.
Palani plopped down onto his bed, surprised when Enar lowered himself next to him instead of sitting on the small chair in the corner. Granted, the chair was as uncomfortable as it looked, and Palani used it more to dump his clothes on than anything else, but he hadn’t expected Enar to be so casual around him.
With the door closed, Palani couldn’t hear a peep from Vieno’s bedroom, and he relaxed a little. Next to him, Enar stretched out on the bed, folding his hands under his head. He didn’t seem to care it caused his shirt to ride up, exposing his jeans, where the outline of his hard cock was visible.
Wow. The guy was packing quite the tool. Maybe all alphas did? Palani wouldn’t know. He’d only ever been with Vieno and with a few other betas before Vieno had moved in.
“How’s work?” Enar asked. “Are you following something interesting at the moment?”
It took a second for Palani to distract himself from the view, but then he remembered his investigation. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? Enar was the perfect man to fill in some of the medical questions he had.
“I’m researching a series of suscipious deaths,” he said. “All young omegas, all twenty-five and younger.”
Enar frowned. “That’s awfully young to die. Did they have anything in common, aside from their age and them being an omega?”
“Two things. They all committed suicide.” At that, Enar’s eyes flew open, and he turned his head to face Palani, who was sitting with his back against the headboard. “And they’re all from the same family.”
“You’re shitting me,” Enar said, then sat up when he caught Palani’s serious expression.
“Off the record, okay? How many cases of the Melloni gene have you come across in the last couple of years?”
“The gene? Why?” Realization dawned, and a look of horror passed over Enar’s face. “You mean to tell me they all had the gene?”
“You can’t tell anyone this, okay?”
Enar nodded as he pulled up his legs and shifted sideways so he was facing Palani. “I promise. How many are we talking about? What family?”
“The McCains. Ever heard of them? They have a ridiculous omega percentage, way out of the ordinary.”
“Name doesn’t ring a bell, but I’d have to check patient records…insofar as I keep them.” He flushed when he realized what he said. “I hope that off-the-record thing goes both ways?” he asked.
“Absolutely. Besides, you saved Vieno’s life. I would never betray your confidence. But not keeping records, that’s a felony, right?”
“Yes. But so is performing certain surgeries or distributing certain meds. To me, it’s the lesser of two evils. This way, if they ever catch me, they won’t find any evidence against those I helped illegally.”
Palani had to admire his ethics in this.
“But you’re saying all of them had the gene?” Enar brought the subject back to the previous topic.
“I suspect so. I haven’t officially confirmed, because I wanted to investigate further, but all matched the symptoms I recognized from Vieno.”
Enar rubbed his temples. “It’s strange because till a few years ago I had never even come across this gene. And I’m a doctor. Now it seems like more and more omegas have it.”
“It’s purely an omega thing, right? You’ve never seen alphas or betas with similar issues?”
Enar shook his head. “No. But there’s little we know about this gene.”
“Is it hereditary?”
“That's unconfirmed. It seems to affect omega siblings within a family, but we don’t have enough data for the generation after them yet. Testing is costly, so most omegas choose not to, even when they have the gene themselves. Insurance doesn’t cover it.”
No, it wouldn’t, as Palani knew all too well. He and Vieno had experienced a few tight months after paying for the testing themselves. Enar seemed to realize it at the same time. “Sorry, you would know better than anyone,” he said.
Palani shrugged. “What you’re saying is that researchers haven't determined yet what’s causing this genetic mutation?”
“Correct. They identified the mutation that led to these complaints—that would be geneticist Ricardo Melloni, who gave the gene its name—but they haven’t figured out what’s causing it.”
“The first confirmed case was only ten years ago,” Palani said.
Enar rolled his neck, apparently bothered by some tension there. “You did your homework.”
“I always do. Facts matter.”
“They do. What happened to these omegas, can you tell me more about that?”
Palani shared what he had discovered about Lance McCain, who’d worked in the flower shop, and his cousin Adam, who’d been assaulted in the nursing home. “Adam’s oldest brother, Colton, is the latest victim. He hung himself days after his twenty-second birthday.”
“Oh god. Did he leave a note? Any clues as to the why?”
“I got his parents to talk to me after I assured them I wouldn’t paint their son in a negative light. Colton worked as a stripper in a club.”
“An omega? That’s unusual.”
Most strippers and men in any jobs that were sex-related were betas because alphas usually couldn’t keep their hands off omegas and because of the high risk of pregnancy for omegas.
“His parents suspected he had multiple abortions without telling them.”
Enar froze. “Wait. Was his stripper name Cotton Candy?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
Enar’s face turned white. “Dammit.”
Palani waited, but Enar just sat there, his face tight and pale. “Do you want to tell me about it?” Palani asked.
“I can’t. Patient privacy.”
“Enar, I’m not just investigating this because it’s a story. This concerns Vieno. I’m discovering shit about this gene I never knew, shit that could save his life. You can trust me.”
“You’re a reporter, for fuck’s sake, which makes you the last person I should talk to.”
“I’m a human being, first and foremost, and maybe I’m also your friend before I’m my job?”
Enar hesitated for a little, then capitulated. “I performed three abortions on him, the latest one not four months ago. He was highly sexually active and very open about it to me. I did his monthly testing as well. After the last abortion, I warned him another abortion would endanger his chances of becoming pregnant again.”
Enar clenched his fists, then slammed one into the headboard. “Dammit!”
Palani waited till he had composed himself again. “He left a long note to his parents. They said it was too personal to share, but they read a few lines from it. He said he couldn’t handle his constant need for sex during his heats anymore. And that he’d been wrestling with depression for years.”
Enar nodded. “Yeah, he mentioned that to me. He said he took antidepressants. I needed to ask for interactions with any medications I gave him.”
Pala
ni bit his lip, then decided to be completely honest. “Enar, Vieno suffers from depression as well. And it’s getting worse.”
Enar’s face softened. “Can you tell me about it?”
“He’s down, especially about midway between his heats. Blames himself for being a burden to me.” Realization struck as to whom he was talking to and under what circumstances. “Oh god, you won’t tell Lidon about this, will you? Please, don’t let him say no because of this—”
Enar’s hand on his thigh stopped the words he wanted to say. “Sssh. Don’t. I’d like to think I’m a human first, too, as well as your friend. Don’t forget, I’ve been trying to help Vieno too.”
Enar had such a kind, warm voice when he wanted to. It had a soothing timbre that made Palani want to… “Wait, are you using your alpha compulsion on me?”
“Sorry, force of habit with patients. But I only used a little.”
“It worked,” Palani said. “Damn, that’s good.”
“I hate doing it,” Enar confessed. “I use it sparingly, but it’s an instinct when I see someone being emotionally upset.”
“Are all alphas the same in that skill?”
“No. Lidon is more dominant, for instance. He can make you obey him—to a certain degree. It’s more like strong persuasion. I’m more empathic, I guess? Tapped into people’s emotions. The stronger someone’s will is, the more resistance they have to the alpha powers.”
Enar removed his big hand from Palani’s thigh, and it left a cold, empty spot. Was that a power as well, Palani wondered. Or was he imagining things now?
“How do scientists explain these differences in powers or whatever you wanna call them?”
“They’re not sure, but the main theory is that it’s linked to our former wolf powers, back when we could still shift. Some families stopped having the ability to shift earlier than others, and those seem to be the ones with fewer powers. For an alpha, my powers are damn weak, but that makes sense according to that theory because the last documented shift in my family was four generations ago.”
Palani knew their wolf shifter DNA was still present, but this was new to him. In school, he’d been taught that the whole alpha-beta-omega structure they still had was derived from the wolf shifters they had been before. While it frustrated him since you were born as whatever you were and there was nothing you could do about it, he’d more or less accepted it as the truth. He’d never realized the alpha powers that were rarely discussed were based on this.