Page 58 of His Rejected Alpha Mate
“As I said outside,” Ívarr picked up from his earlier comment. “Our oracle made a prophecy that answered the questions of many elves for the last hundred years.” He paused to take a sip of the green tea he had requested. “This is very good, thank you.” He placed the cup down gently. “Over the last hundred years, much like the shifters and the fae, we have seen a sharp decline in elven birth rates. In fact, there have been no elven young born in almost fifty years.”
My mouth had to have been gaping open. How had we not known what was going on with the elves? My shock had opened the link.Shocking, right?Blake must have been listening to our conversation from upstairs.
“Naturally, this is not well known information. Tribes often keep to themselves, but by elven law, all births have to be registered with our rulers and the babe taken to our healing waters and baptized under the moon.” He took another sip of tea, unsettled.
Huh, I hadn’t known that. It made sense that anyone other than the government or council wouldn’t notice the problem that way.
“Of course, we believed rebels were not recording births when none came for a handful of years. We elves are long lived, much like shifters, and every so often a group tries to overthrow the government.” Ívarr chuckled. “I think they get bored. Not much changes, which is why more and more have left our lands for the human realm in the last century.” He gave me a significant look. “Though we do not always integrate well.”
I thought back to the elves on the board of Mercury Delivers. No, they had not.
“There are some that have deep-seated beliefs that they are superior to humans. Shifters too.”
“Anyone not elven or fae.” Teagan interrupted.
“Quite.” Ívarr settled back into his chair. “This is related to the prophecy. According to our oracle, ‘the elves must assist the shifters in their time of need to unlock their future.’ Which is why we are here. There is something in this ‘beta sickness’ that is important to us both as a species and together we have to find the answer. We elves have many scientists studying fertility because of our own sharp decline. I have redirected them into studying this sickness. Together, we will have the resources to help gather the data we need.
“By data, you mean blood samples, observations, etc.”
“That’s right,” he said approvingly. “Do you have a scientific background?”
“No, but my father is a healer and a trained medical doctor. He also has four PHDs, two in biomedical science, one of which is shifter biology. My papa is a nurse and also has the same PHDs.”
“Ah, this is perfect, isn’t it, Ívarr?” Teagan said, almost bouncing in her seat.
“Indeed.” Ívarr agreed. “Have they taken any samples?”
“They weren’t going to, but I insisted. I think they are at the clinic in deep storage.”
“Wonderful!” He exclaimed, then turned to his team. “Teagan, you will be in charge of the main house. Hakeem with you since he is capable of taking samples. I want the pair of you to monitor the shifters, make observations and assist where you can. Teárlach, you will stay with me and assist Dakota and myself where needed.”
The elves all agreed and stood to make a move.
“Shall we take the vehicle?” Hakeem asked, clearly ready to be gone.
“No, we must wait for the young alpha to finish his visit.” Ívarr took his seat again, chuckling. “We are all eager to get to work, but we must be patient. The young alpha has been apart from his family and pack for too long.”
Dakota! Chase is waking up!
“My alpha—“ I stood. “He needs us. One of the twins is waking up!”
They followed me as a group upstairs to the room next to the master. Inside, a doctor was taking notes as Chase squeezed Blake’s gloved hand. Blake was lit up with his joy at seeing his brother awake, his eyes twinkling over his mask.
“Hey, what’s all this fuss?” Chase rasped out.
It was Teárlach that stepped forward to set a cup at the beta’s lips, though I noticed that his full attention wasn’t reserved for Chase, but Axel, in the bed next to him.
“Is Axel awake?”
Blake, the doctor, and I exchanged a look. It was Blake that broke the news. “Not yet.”
Chase being awake was both a cause of celebration and concern. We were relieved to hear his snark, but worried that none of the others had woken. There was no change in their condition.
While he was still weak and could hardly talk, his thoughts were only for his twin. He allowed the medical staff to do their tests, keeping his eyes glued on Axel as if willing him to wake up.
“Dakota?” Blake broke me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
