by Nora Phoenix
It wasn’t till he settled in the waiting room that Enar realized he hadn’t seen Isam. The man always stayed outside the OR for obvious reasons, but he usually hung around Enar’s office. Had he seen the men arrive and decided to hang back? If so, that was a smart choice because Enar wasn’t sure how to explain to the Health Department he had a bodyguard.
Thank fuck he had his phone on him, as he always did. He’d switched it to do not disturb in the OR, but he always had it on him. Should he inform his men?
He smiled at the thought. His men. It had taken him a while to get there, to understand and accept his role, his part, but he no longer had doubts. He belonged with them as much as they belonged with him. If anything, Lidon alpha claiming him had made that clear. And yes, they’d want to know, he was sure. He sent them a group text, keeping it vague, just in case the inspectors somehow took his phone from him. “Health Department raid at clinic bc of complaint. Will keep you posted.”
Palani responded first. “On my way.”
On his way? Why would he come over for that? It was sweet but also a bit much, maybe? Still, Enar appreciated the thought. Palani always was protective of Enar, which was endearing and sweet and made Enar’s heart go all warm and fuzzy.
Five minutes later, Enar’s phone buzzed again. “On my way as well.”
Enar frowned. Lidon was coming over too? Why wasn’t he at work? What the hell was going on? A raid on his clinic wasn’t cause for both of them to show up here. It was sweet that they wanted to show their support, but… He stilled. Unless something else was going on, something that involved all three of them.
Lidon kept his temper in check as the chief of police chewed him out for falsifying evidence. He knew what this was about, who was behind this. Ryland. Lidon cursed his own naïveté. He should’ve known Ryland wouldn’t meekly lie down and let it happen. Not after the attack on the ranch, which he still suspected Ryland to be involved in.
Still, it stung that after so many years of service and an exemplary record, he’d be accused of this. He still trusted the system enough that in the end, the truth would come out, but for now, he was livid that his integrity was taken into question, and he told his boss as much.
Right after he’d been escorted out, he saw Enar’s text. It was like the bottom dropped from under his feet. Him getting suspended on the same day as Enar was getting raided? No way that was a coincidence. And Palani being on his way? That had to mean something, too, because he didn’t have a job where he could just up and leave. He debated calling him but decided it could wait till they saw each other. With everything that was happening, he wanted to be careful.
He caught Palani at the clinic’s entrance, Adar standing close and alert. Lidon walked straight up to his man, who had no qualms about burying his head against Lidon’s chest. Lidon held him, kissing his head first, then grabbing his neck and taking a real kiss.
“What a shitty day,” Palani said against Lidon’s lips. “Though I’m feeling better already.”
“What happened?”
“I got suspended.”
Lidon let go of the embrace, though he still kept his hands on Palani’s shoulders. “I feared you were gonna say that. So did I. Let me guess, for falsifying evidence?”
Palani’s eyes bulged. “They suspended you?”
“Yes. For falsifying evidence to help one of my boyfriends get a scoop.”
“I’m sorry. This is—”
Lidon put a quick hand on his mouth. “Not your fault. We both know it’s not. You exposed the truth and nothing else. We know who’s behind it. We just don’t know why.”
“If they have enough reach to get you and me suspended on the same day and get Enar raided, we’re not talking about Ryland anymore. This is much, much bigger.”
Lidon nodded. “I agree. We’ll discuss this at home. First, let’s go get our man.”
They walked inside, hand in hand, and found Enar in the waiting room. Palani let go of Lidon and watched with warmth in his belly as Lidon hugged Enar and kissed him, right in front of other people. It was funny how easy it came, their dynamic. He’d known Lidon should greet him first, that that was the way it should be. He’d always come second, after their alpha, and he was fine with it. It felt right, in a way he couldn’t explain.
Lidon pulled him close when he was done kissing Enar, and Palani hugged him. “How you holding up, Doc?”
He held him tight, knowing Enar needed that sense of security.
“I’m good, but what the hell are the two of you doing here?” Enar asked.
Palani leaned back and subtly shook his head. They couldn’t talk here, not with strangers around. He let go of Enar. He’d met Nancy before, Enar’s OR assistant, but the young alpha wearing scrubs was a new face. That had to be Maz, Palani deduced, having heard Enar talk about him.
“Nancy, Maz, these are two of my mates, Lidon and Palani.”
They shook hands, exchanging pleasantries, when two men dressed in suits walked in. The inspectors, Lidon concluded.
“Dr. Magnusson, we need the password to your personal laptop,” the taller of the two said.
Before Enar could answer, Palani spoke up. “Why?”
Lidon bit back a smile. How he loved it when Palani got all protective.
“That’s none of your concern,” the inspector bit back at the beta.
“It’s outside your authority,” Palani said calmly. “You don’t have legal access to any of his personal property, not unless you have a warrant signed by a judge.”
Lidon would’ve bet money that Palani had researched this on the car ride here, smartass that he was.
“It is in Dr. Magnusson’s best interests that he cooperates fully with this investigation,” the man snapped at Palani.
“He’s given you access to all his professional files and information. He doesn’t need to provide access to any of his personal data under the law, and he won’t.”
The waiting room grew still, the air heavy with the implications of what Palani had said. As a beta, he couldn’t speak like that for an alpha, and it would raise all kinds of questions about Enar and his relationship with not only Palani but Lidon as well. And Lidon saw with sudden clarity that this was what Enar had feared, this public loss of respect. He was caught in an impossible situation, forced to either humiliate Palani by rebutting him or humiliating himself by submitting to a beta.
Then Enar looked at Lidon, his eyes steady as he nodded for Lidon to lead. A rush barreled through Lidon at this incredible sign of submission, though his voice was calm as he spoke. “He’s right. As his alpha, I’m telling you that Dr. Magnusson will not hand over any personal data, including his laptop.”
The inspector’s eyes popped out as he stared at Lidon for a few seconds, then shared a look with his coworker. “His alpha, huh?”
And Lidon raised himself to his full height, allowing every drop of authority he had to seep into his voice. “Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”
They did, of course, but they wouldn’t come right out and say it, not in front of Lidon. So they took off after a few minutes, informing Enar his medical license was suspended pending the investigation.
Lidon drove Enar and Palani while Adar and Isam took the other two cars back to the ranch. Once they were in the car, they shared stories of what had happened.
“You were right, Palani,” Lidon said when they were done swapping their experiences. “This is much bigger than Ryland alone. What the hell did we get ourselves involved in?”
“It proves what I’ve been saying all along. It’s all connected, and it’s infiltrating the government as well.”
23
The plus side to having his medical license suspended was that Enar could spend a lazy Sunday with his men. All four of them had been happy to be together, uncertain as the future looked for them, and Enar had remarked how he loved to wake up with all four of them in the bed—a rarity. Vieno had rolled himself off Lidon—the little omega loved to sleep sprawled o
n top of his alpha—and straight onto Enar, kissing him until Enar had throbbed with need. He’d taken care of that too, his sweet Vieno, and had let Enar fuck him until he’d exploded inside him.
In the shower, Palani had complained he felt left out—though the twinkling in his eyes had belied his real motivation—and so Enar had fucked him against the wall, slow and deep, stopping every time he felt the beta on the verge of orgasming until Palani had begged him to let him come. Enar loved to hear his proud man beg, so he’d pegged his prostate until Palani had climaxed, sagging against Enar.
It was the perfect start to a lazy Sunday, and the rest of the day had been equally relaxing. He’d lounged with Vieno on the porch swing, the omega’s small body plastered against Enar’s as they both read. Later, Palani and Lidon had joined him, then others as well until they’d decided to do a spontaneous barbecue.
His stomach full, Enar walked back inside to find another book to read. He’d finished the first of Grayson’s books, a captivating wolf shifter romantic suspense, and wanted to start on the next book in the series right away. A sound from the fitness room startled him. Wasn’t everyone still outside? Well, his brothers weren’t, but they rarely joined the rest of the group or at least not when Enar was present.
He stopped as he heard another sound, a low groan. Had someone injured himself while working out? He hurried to the room and swung the door open.
His gasp made Lars and Sven look up, their bodies frozen in what could charitably be described as a compromising position. Lars was balls deep in Sven, who lay on his stomach on a bench, his knees on the floor and his hands holding on to the bench’s grips.
“What the fuck?” Enar said, too stunned to understand what he was seeing. Then it hit him. The closeness Sven and Lars had demonstrated. Sven’s refusal to come to the ranch without Lars. Lars’s overprotectiveness of Sven. This was not a onetime thing. They were lovers, and they had been for a while.
Anger boiled up in him. “Are you two out of your fucking mind? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“This is none of your concern,” Lars snapped at him.
“None of my concern? You’re my brothers!”
Lars pulled out, and Enar closed his eyes, not needing to see more of his brothers, his little brothers, than he already had. When he opened them again, they both stood, their clothes back on, Sven’s face red with shame and Lars’s equally flushed with fury.
“Adopted brother,” Lars said, but it was more of a sneer than a remark.
“You’re not adopted,” Enar said on reflex, since there was no denying the physical resemblance between them. Then it hit him. “Is Sven…?”
Sven nodded, biting his lip.
Enar swallowed. “How…? How long?”
Lars sighed. “We discovered it last year, when Sven went to the doctor for his delayed heat. They did blood tests on him, and the doctor told him there was no way he was related to our father or to me.”
Enar noted the emotionally cold way Lars spoke about their father, but filed it for later. “Did you ask him about it?”
Lars’s face darkened. “No. I don’t know if he knew or not, and I don’t care. It doesn’t make a difference.”
Enar frowned as he tried to follow Lars’s reasoning. “What are you…? Oh. That’s why he can smell him, why I can. Because we’re not related by blood.”
“Doesn’t make it okay, what he did,” Lars bit back.
“Of course not,” Enar said, his head reeling. “But neither is what you guys are doing. You may not be related by blood, but you grew up as brothers. God, it’s…it’s wrong!”
“Says the alpha who wants to be treated as a beta…and who is in a foursome, with a beta being chosen as second-in-command over him,” Lars sneered.
The pain in his heart was so sharp it took Enar’s breath away. His vision grew misty, and he wondered why until he realized it was because of the tears in his eyes. He turned around, blindly staggered out the room, away from his brother, who hated him so much he’d aimed for where he knew he’d hurt Enar the most.
He slammed into a body in the hallway and would have fallen if two strong hands hadn’t held him up. “Enar, are you okay?”
He couldn’t answer Grayson, couldn’t get past the stabbing shards in his heart.
“Palani!” Grayson called out, and seconds later, Enar was wrapped in a strong embrace, Palani’s much smaller body holding him.
“What’s wrong, Doc?”
Grayson’s voice was tight when he spoke. “I have a pretty good idea what happened.”
Enar couldn’t see what he referred to, didn’t want to see. The thought of Lars witnessing his pain was bad enough. He didn’t have to see his brother gloat. He’d much rather bury his head against Palani’s neck, breathing his scent in deeply, since it soothed his pain more than anything else. Palani’s hands found the bare skin under his shirt, rubbing soft circles on his back.
“Motherfucker,” Palani muttered with uncharacteristic venom.
“Will you allow me to handle this?” Grayson asked.
Enar stayed in Palani's arms, since the question wasn’t directed at him. It should bother him, but it really didn’t. All he felt was a massive relief that someone else took responsibility, that he didn’t have to take charge for once.
“You’d better make crystal clear that this will not happen again. He hurts Enar again like that, and he’s out,” Palani snapped, his voice ringing with more authority than Enar had ever managed.
“Yes, beta,” Grayson said, not a trace of mockery on his voice.
“Come on, Doc,” Palani said, his voice much softer and sweeter. “Let’s head to the bedroom and cuddle.”
Enar smiled despite his pain. His mate always knew what to say to make him feel better.
Palani had asked for all of them to sit together, determined to use the power of their collective minds to find theories and hopefully solutions for the predicament they were in. So four days after they’d been suspended, they grouped in the living room together: Lidon, Enar, Vieno—Palani had insisted he’d be there as they’d kept him out of the loop too much for his own safety—Grayson, Lucan, and Bray. Lidon’s Uncle Leland was present as well, per Lidon’s request. He’d filled him in on most of the stuff already, but Lidon wanted him there because of his knowledge of the old ways that could shed light perhaps.
He looked at Lidon when they’d all settled, but the alpha smiled at him. “This is your show,” he said.
Palani nodded. He was still getting used to the trust Lidon had in him, but it felt damn good.
“Let me start by summarizing what we know for sure,” he said. “You may know most of this, but I think it’s important to see the whole picture again.”
He explained what he’d discovered about the gene, the fertility treatments, Maiitsoh, Ulfur, and Lukos. It took him over ten minutes to connect all the dots they’d found.
“Our working theory is that the whole goal of Maiitsoh was to bring the wolf shifters back,” Enar said. “Melloni discovered that the gene modification was done using wolf DNA.”
“But they failed,” Lucan said. “Because there have been no reported shifts.”
“True,” Palani said. “But maybe the goal wasn’t to create first-generation shifters but to create male omegas who would bear children able to shift.”
Uncle Leland nodded. “My dad believed that one of the causes of the loss of shifting abilities was that male omegas had been discarded due to fertility issues. Many alphas who wanted children chose a female omega because male omegas had such issues getting pregnant and a high rate of complications during pregnancy and delivery.”
“We won’t know what happens with the second generation until they’re old enough to shift,” Enar said. “Most of the gene carriers are in their twenties now, so they’re only starting to have kids of their own.”
Palani’s eyes trailed to Vieno, who clutched to Lidon’s hand. Enar must have noticed it too because he added, �
�There’s no reason to assume there will be anything wrong with their offspring, just the fact that they may be able to shift again.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about the wolf shifters lately,” Grayson remarked. “The CWP, who is all for returning to the old ways. The AWC, who is dead set against it. Do we suspect this is connected?”
Bray cleared his throat. “Actually, let me share some enlightening news there. I already told Lidon and Palani, but they asked me to wait till now to share it. Ever since the attack, I’ve tried to find out who was behind it. The cops got nowhere, as we expected, but I had a hard time finding solid leads as well. The men who were killed were all hired thugs. With a little digging, I uncovered their identities. They were all skilled and experienced but motivated by money by the looks of their rap sheets. That meant there had to be someone who hired them, but that’s where the trail ran cold.”
“Three weeks ago, Enar and I visited Dr. Melloni, and we discovered some things that made me believe the gene and Lukos were part of a bigger picture, including George York, but also those who oppose him. When I shared that with Bray, it gave him some new leads to follow,” Palani said.
Bray nodded in agreement. “I did a little digging, and Palani helped by using his extensive sources and contacts. Karl Ryland, the cop who is involved in covering up the fraud surrounding Excellon, is a member of the AWC, the Anti Wolf Coalition. And the AWC is the political face of this movement, the polite and public face, so to speak, but they have a much lesser-known radical arm—army would be a more fitting term. There’s a group of radical AWC members who have started taking action beyond politics. They’re organized in cells that are acquiring arms at an alarming rate, and they’re radicalizing.”
“That’s troubling,” Grayson said, his voiced betraying his shock. “Where are they getting the money?”