Page 44 of Undone
Looking back at Anthony’s face, Hugh said in his most patient voice, “There’s no magical solution for this, Anthony. Just time and distance, to make his body remember how it’s supposed to work.”
Frowning, Michael chewed on his cheek before he lifted his eyes to Hugh. “What would happen if we don’t do it? Would my symptoms get worse?”
Hugh suppressed a grimace. The fact that Michael was even considering not doing everything to reverse the changes showed how bad it already was. An alpha in their right mind would never even consider staying submissive to another alpha.
“We ran some models to predict how your... condition might progress. The results don’t look promising.” He put on his most neutral expression as he met Michael’s gaze. “If you don’t follow my recommendations, your body will stop producing alpha hormones completely. That’s pretty much certain.”
“You mean I’ll effectively become a beta?” Michael said thoughtfully. “That’s... That would be pretty weird, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. It wouldn’t be all that different. Vos alphas aren’t as ruled by hormones as Xeus and Torryn alphas are.”
Hugh averted his gaze for a moment before looking back at Michael. “That’s one possibility,” he said carefully. “But some models suggest that your fachea will switch to producing omega hormones.”
Anthony inhaled sharply.
Michael just stared at Hugh blankly before letting out a laugh. “Is that a joke?” he said, his voice faint. “How can it even be possible? I’m an alpha. I can’t just—I can’t just become an omega after allowing another alpha to fuck me. That’s ridiculous!”
Hugh glanced at his brother-in-law. Anthony was very quiet, a strange emotion gleaming in his blue eyes.
Hugh looked back at Michael. “Normally, you would be correct,” he said. “I personally know an alpha-alpha couple, and they have been in a relationship for years without either of their designations being affected.” Hugh grimaced. “Eric told me how toxic and unhealthy that relationship is—they can’t seem to go more than a few days without being at each other’s throats and they can’t spend their ruts together, but they try to make it work.”
“Exactly,” Michael said, frustration clear in his scent. “If they can keep hooking up for years without it affecting their designations, what makes me different?”
Hugh had to choose his words carefully. He didn’t want to offend Michael. “Neither of them had been forced into a sexual relationship. Neither of them had to overcome their own nature and submit to an alpha in rut. Not to mention that neither of them had been affected by an alien toxin that activated their fachea during said rut. There was also the fact thatyouwould have been in rut yourself if you weren’t off-world and away from our moons—Vos was at its full moon phase at the time. So your circumstances are completely different from theirs. You were forced to submit to another alpha in rut from the very beginning of your sexual relationship. That likely made a difference.”
“Are you talking about bitching?” Anthony said.
Michael froze, his eyes going wide.
It took Hugh an incredible effort to keep his expression blank. He couldn’t believe Anthony had actually said that. Not that it was necessarily incorrect, but it was the most humiliating way of putting it.
“Bitching is a term coined by the porn industry,” Hugh said dryly, giving Anthony a flat look that hopefully conveyed how out of line he was. “There’s no scientific proof that you can turn an alpha into an omega by raping them.”
Anthony didn’t look impressed. “As if the scientists would ever perform an experiment like that. You know there were plenty of supposed cases in the Middle Ages. It’s hard to believe those stories had no truth to them at all.”
Hugh grimaced. That was true enough. “I believe there was some truth to them, but there hasn’t been a single documented case in the last eight hundred years—even though there have been alphas raped by criminals. If forcibly changing another alpha’s designation was ever possible, it required something else besides rape.” Hugh pinched the bridge of his nose. “The truth is, alpha-to-omega transformation might be possible—theoretically. Alphas do have vestigial organs similar to omegas’, which theoretically might become functional under certain conditions. But that is beside the point. Even if forcibly changing another alpha’s designationwerepossible, you didn’t repeatedly rape Michael.”
“But you think the forced element of what happened on Belith did play a part,” Anthony stated.
“It seems likely,” Hugh admitted before looking at Michael, whose face was still frozen, expression blank. “It doesn’t mean this isn’t reversible, Michael. If you stay away from Anthony and start seeing an omega, it should still be possible for your body to relearn how it’s supposed to function.”
Michael nodded and got to his feet. “Thank you,” he said, sounding a little dazed and distracted.
Hugh felt a pang of painful sympathy for him. He cleared his throat a little. “I know what it’s like to have been forced into something you didn’t want thanks to your biology making the decision for you.” He might be happily married to the love of his life now, but his first marriage was still a dark spot in his life, and it always would be. “You can call me anytime if you need to talk to someone.”
Michael gave him a small but genuine smile. “Thanks, Hugh. I will.”
“You can talk to me,” Anthony said, laying a hand on his shoulder.
Hugh narrowed his eyes, studying his brother-in-law. Anthony wasn’t an easy man to read, his years as a government spy having made him good at hiding his emotions, but Hugh didn’t think he was imagining that Anthony wasn’t pleased by the idea of Michael talking to Hugh and not him.
“Hands off him, Ant,” Hugh said. “You’re only making it worse.”
Anthony’s shoulders stiffened. He was slow to withdraw his hand, but he did eventually, his fingers flexing.
“Thanks,” he said, without looking at Hugh. “Tell Eric I said hi.”
Hugh watched them go, his stomach churning with unease when he saw Anthony open the door for Michael, his hand twitching to touch Michael’s lower back before he thought better of it.
This was alarming.
