Page 132 of The Heart of Winter

Our eyes met. His pupils were dilated, nearly eclipsing his irises entirely. We just stared at each other.

And then he said it: "What the hell just happened, Winter?"

Well, he was obviously as puzzled as I was, so I cursed under my breath.

"You’re asking me? I should be asking you—you’re basically the alpha-adjacent one here. I have no fucking clue."

"Something weird is going on here, Winter. Either that, or you’re not telling me something. Are you a beta with alpha characteristics?"

For a moment, I gaped at him, trying to understand why he’d ask that. Unlike true hermaphrodites—like gammas and sigmas (a fresh piece of knowledge I’d picked up from Sariel)—betas had their own variations, but they couldn’t reproduce in both ways.

Everybody knew the term ‘beta with characteristics of another subgender’. A good example was Soren, the guy my brother Skye had fallen for—a beta with omega traits. He even had short heat cycles and could get pregnant, though such pregnancies were high-risk and more prone to miscarriage.

On the flip side, there were also betas with minor alpha traits—some had semen that was partially fertile, some could form a knot, and some could even hear sounds normally audible only to alphas and omegas.

Such cases weren’t common, they made up only a small percentage of the general population, but I was certain that wasn’t the case with me, so I firmly shook my head.

"I don’t know anything about that. When I was eighteen, I had a full medical exam for my college application. There was an option to test fertility, so I did it, along with a full hormonal profile. Everything was perfectly within the beta range, and my sperm wasn’t viable. I’m a regular beta. There’s no hidden secret inside me."

"And yet, there is," Sariel said. He slowly raised his hand, touching his gland before glancing down at his fingers, now stained with blood.

"You didn’t bite me with your regular teeth, Winter. I would’ve felt the difference."

I hesitated before slowly pulling my upper lip back, revealing my gums. He had to see it for himself, the tiny red marks where my teeth had pushed through.

"You’re right. Those weren’t my regular teeth. Those were mating teeth."

A heavy silence settled between us.

"Winter, this is all a bit… strange."

He was right, all the clues pointed to one thing—only one thing could easily explain them all!

No! Another wave of stress crashed over me. I didn’t want to hope. That would be stupid.

"Yeah, but I doubt we’ll get any answers here on this island. Maybe something changed in me. I’ve heard of late bloomers; betas who awaken secondary gender traits later in life. It’s supposedly more common in betas born into families with a lot of alphas. And I have six alpha brothers."

Sariel’s gaze lingered on my face for a long moment, like he was analyzing why I kept backing away from thisoneincredible possibility.

"Maybe," he finally said, a note of sadness in his voice. But somehow, I got the feeling that wasn’t what he really meant.

"Well, either way, I’m not complaining." He smirked, lightly brushing his fingers over his gland. "At least now I know what it feels like."

"That was actually my next question," I muttered. "You’re not mad? I did it… kinda out of nowhere."

"What? Are you kidding? That was fucking awesome! You still wanna claim you can’t help me through my heat?" He tilted his head, grinning. "Because I think you did just fine."

The compliment sent a rush of warmth through me, more intense than I expected. I was never easy to sway with flattery, but in his case… his smile, those bright eyes looking at me with happiness as he said it. I wanted more of this. From him, only from him.

"This day has been full of surprises," I murmured, turning my gaze toward the cave entrance. "It’s almost over. It’s dark already."

"In a way, that’s good. They probably won’t be searching for us at night."

And then, despite not wanting to be a pessimist, I let it slip.

"Maybe. But by morning, another eight hours will have passed… and to them, that means less and less chance of finding us alive."

A silence settled in the cave. Sariel turned his head, staring at the wall. Neither of us felt the need to comment further.

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