Page 51 of The Beta: Part Three
“That's ridiculous,” I scoff. “That's completely ridiculous. I can’t even function when I’m in heat, let alone dominate anything; and I can hold my own well enough, but I’m shit without my pack. Anyway, someone would have publicized a study or something.”
Elizabet deflates and folds her hands in her lap and says very solemnly, “Doctor Cabbottt tried. He was silenced.”
“Silenced how?” Talia asks. “There is no mention of this in any of the history books. None of the training or workshops.”
“When he presented his findings to the council they had him separated from his pack and jailed. He didn't live very long.”
Talia puts one hand over her throat and another over her stomach. “What happened to his pack?”
“They were broken, but they had to manage because they had another omega to care for, a female. Doctor Cabbott found his mate during his research and studies, and they had a set of twin boys. There is no record of those boys other than the fact that they were born to that pack. They appear to have vanished alongside their mother just after Doctor Cabbott was taken.”
Nathan comes over and stands at my other side. He rubs my back between my shoulder blades and says softly, “no more, Missus Graves, please. Talia and Jasper are at their limit. Can we see the doctor's findings? Do you still have them?”
“Of course, Nathan. I don't mean to be dramatic, but we need to discuss one more thing. This baby,” she glances toward Talia, “is the first omega-omega baby that we know of in generations. There are still policies on the council's books that dictate that any omega-omega offspring be tagged, monitored, and tracked for the rest of their lives. The council, as a whole, would likely want to keep this baby as secret as possible to avoid the general public discovering that omega-omega offspring are generally more genetically stronger than their more common counterparts.”
A growl rips out of Devon. “Our child will not be tagged. Or monitored. Or tracked.”
“Of course not,” Thaddeus says. “We've been working toward fixing this mess for years. We're sure there are more omega-omega children in the world, they're just afraid to come out into the open.”
“Okay, enough. Really, that's enough,” Nathan orders. “No more questions. No more anything. There are too many omegas in this house that are too anxious. I'm going to take two of them outside to put their feet in the grass. Elizabet, you're welcome to join us, but no more serious-talk. Talia, Jasper, let's go.”
Nathan would never use an alpha command on us outright, outside of a dire situation, anyway, but there's just enough of an undercurrent of one in his voice that we both follow Nathan out the front door without another word.
“The ground is cold,” Talia says blandly, but her toes are digging into the grass just as much as mine and Nathan's are.
“It's going to be alright, honey. I promise. The baby will be healthy. You're going to be just fine. We won't let anything happen to either of you.”
She pulls him down for a kiss, “I know you won't. I'm glad you brought us out here. The grass does help.”
I can feel Nathan's anxiety and worry more acutely than my own. Part of it is worry for Talia and the baby she's carrying, but a large portion of it is a trauma reaction to what happened at the compound. Nathan is so much better than he was, even his nightmares have dramatically decreased; but if either Talia or I get overly upset he's quick to try to help us get to a place of calm. I think he's so overattentive with us because he couldn't do anything to comfort the omegas at the compound.
Elizabet walks outside and leaves her shoes on the porch to come join us at the fountain. “Why aren't there fish in here?”
Nathan shrugs.
“Will you let Obi take care of you and the baby? Would you be uncomfortable with him helping you through the delivery?” Elizabet says and drags her toe across the top of Talia's foot.
Talia links her ankle around her mother's and says, “I wouldn't trust anybody else. Secret omega baby, or not. I'll call him in the morning.”
“I didn't mean to upset you.”
“It's alright, mother. You're upset, too. The grass helps.”
Elizabet lays her head on Talia's shoulder and agrees. “It does.”
I lean against Nathan and breathe him in for a moment, then I sigh, “I don’t think male omegas are the dominant male of our species. I need my pack too much to be considered dominant. It has to be something else, like a form of population control. I only go into heat every twelve weeks, and I’m only reproductively potent during my heat. Talia goes every four to five weeks, and the alphas are potent all the time. It’s just a control to keep the population balanced. That’s all.”
“Baby,” Nathan kisses the top of my head, “alphas are selfish, prideful dicks. If the wrong one found out that his virility was threatened by a male omega he wouldn’t like it. He’d feel threatened and do exactly what those old assholes did. You’ve said it a lot of times. Alphas are stupid and selfish and ruin perfectly wonderful things by trying to control them. I don’t want to think about it, but I think you’re right. Nature has its own way of controlling the population, and some douchey alpha felt threatened by a week of not being the strongest and has destroyed our balance. There are so few omegas now, and even fewer males.”
“Hey,” Talia says, reaching over to tug on Nathan’s hair, “you are not selfish, prideful, or a dick. You are a good alpha, Nathan.”
“And you’re a good omega, cupcake. Try not to worry, okay? Nobody’s getting their hands or eyeballs on our kid. We just won’t tell anybody it’s Jasper’s until it’s safe. That’s shitty, but it’s safe.”
“He,” Talia corrects.
“He,” I repeat, “will be all of ours. I don’t care if anybody ever knows he’s biologically mine. He’s our kid. That’s all anybody needs to know.”
Elizabet is smiling now, “I knew sending you to this pack was the right thing to do. I just knew it.”
