Page 89 of The Price of Ice

This pain was all in his head, but that only meant no one could see how much damage he was causing.

He’d been scared, but he’d tried to convince himself that he was simply reacting to his experiences with Maslow, which was fair enough, he didn’t need his legs to stop working again to take it seriously. The doctor was an alpha, but she was a woman, and that helped a little. No alpha women had ever held him down or called him names, for one.

She was older, dark hair going grey, so he hadn’t thought much of it when she had kept her eyes on her computer screen and not met his own. Some alphas were like that with omegas, especially in a professional setting. They did it out of respect, supposedly. It was better than the ones that stared at you until you dropped your eyes, anyway. “I see here you were presenting with paralysis when Doctor Maslow last saw you?” her voice rose in surprise.

“I got better when I came home,” he lied.

Her eyes flickered down his body. “We will check that. And he wants me to do a full blood work...” She listed some stuff that made no sense to him.

“Urine?” he repeated.

He could only think of a reason to test his urine and that was drugs, and if they could tell he’d taken a pill to suppress his last cycle... Except they had no reason to imagine he hadn’t just slept with an alpha outside the team, did they? It was perfectly legal in the off-season.

“It’s standard for omegas.”

He frowned, trying to remember if any of the regular check-ups had included peeing in a cup. “What does it check?” he asked, trying his best to sound curious.

“AMH, Anti-Müllerian Hormone.” He got the answer, but he could also feel the alpha growing tense. A doctor wouldn’t use will in a professional setting, but Kallen could tell shewanted toand every instinct demanded he back down.

He had to remind himself it was still only a test; it wouldn’t hurt him for them to know whatever it was they wanted. And if he refused, that would be much more suspicious than whatever the heat suppressing pill might have done.

But no matter how much he might have wanted to, there was no need for anyone to explain to him what was happening when she made him lay back on the stretcher and lift his shirtto expose his belly. The gel was cold, but he didn’t even flinch as she pressed the scanner to his middle. He could hardly breathe.

This test he remembered.

They’d done it a year ago before hiring him and called it part of his initial health check and he’d shut his mouth, kept his eyes on the ceiling just like he was doing now and pretended to buy it.

He’d stumbled out of the room into the toilet. It’d taken him a good five minutes to be able to pee despite the pain of his full bladder, but he managed, and afterwards he didn’t ask any questions about the six vials of blood the nurse had taken from him before giving him a biscuit and sending him home.

HE KNEW HE SHOULD TELLMr Evans, but he didn’t. He didn’t tell him, and he didn’t tell his mother, or Analisa. Or anyone.

BEING AROUND SO MANYomegas was odd. So odd that it wasn’t until the third meeting that he realised that being in a room with only two alphas, and both sitting quite far away from him, had left him so relaxed he was getting a little sleepy when the omega across from him kept stopping her story to clarify completely irrelevant details.

The idea made him straighten and take stock of his surroundings. One of the alphas was the mum of the eleven-year-old footie fanatic, Francesca, and being an alpha had probably given her a bit of height and bulk, but Kallen would have towered over her if they stood up.

Besides, he did have lure as a tool in his arsenal now, didn’t he? And no one here could fire him if he used it. He didn’t see how it could be made illegal when alpha will wasn’t. Althoughthat was somewhat regulated, which was why what McKinley had done was rape.

And then he suddenly tuned back into the story the older omega was sharing, and he spoke up, “You know you could have used lure, right?”

The woman stopped, staring at him.

“Sorry!” Kallen said, realising he’d interrupted. “I didn’t mean... Only I didn’t know, until recently.”

She was squinting at him over the rim of her glasses. “I’m afraid you have the advantage of me, young man.”

“Kallen,” he said, though it wasn’t untrue that he was young. “Lure is...” His eyes travelled to Taylor, unsure, but he just got a nod. “The equivalent of alpha will, only it’s...” He lifted a hand and pulled at an imaginary rope mid-air. “Magnetic, not a push but a pull. It makes alphas... Well, it makes them want to do things?” He wasn’t completely sure about it. “Or at least makes it more appealing for them to do things. I don’t know how strong it is, I’ve only...” He bit his lip, then turned to Taylor. “I don’t know the rules for this. Someone told me it was a thing, and I just used it a few times, to keep myself safe.” He shrugged, dropping his gaze. He hadn’t meant to speak today, much less this much or about something that might not be completely legal.

“Lure is also known as omega magnetism,” Taylor added, his voice carrying easily. “And it’s considered legal to use for safety purposes. In the same way alpha will is legal to use on children to keep them from doing something dangerous. Anything else gets tricky, because depending on the strength of the omega, itcanmake people do things they don’t want to.”

Kallen’s heart jumped at that, but other than Levy, who’dinvitedhim to use lure and who’d been enthusiastically kissing him ever since, he’d only ever used it during heat with alphas who’d consented to have sex with him. And if they hadn’t wanted to have exactly the kind of sex Kallen had used lure to convincethem to have... Well, it’d the best he could do while keeping himself safe.

It still made him uncomfortable to think of it as powerhe held, power that could presumably hurt someone like he’d been hurt, even if less overtly than alpha will.

“I have heard stories about it, but surely if this was true everyone would use it?” Kallen glanced up to catch a different woman’s sceptical expression, but before he could say anything, someone else piped in.

It wasn’t like no one knew what lure was, but in a matter of a minute there seemed to be several small groups arguing quietly about it around the room. Analisa had missed this meeting to go to the cinema with another childhood friend she hadn’t seen in months as opposed to years—Kallen wasn’t sure if that made the current situation better or worse. He’d said nothing but the truth. An important truth at that, lure wasn’t a magic wand, but he knew for certain it’d made a difference for him in a situation that could have easily turned ugly.

Kallen glanced at Taylor, at a loss. The older omega smiled at him and stood up to approach his seat. He stopped a couple steps away, probably so they could still look each other on the face—the other man wasn’t bulky, but he still had an athlete’s frame, subtly muscled, posture straight. From an alpha, it would have been a demand for submission. But from an omega, it was just slightly awkward to look up at him. Taylor’s smile turned wry. “My knee is not great,” he explained, and Kallen immediately nodded his acceptance. “How good are you at it?”

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