Page 45 of His Bonded Omega Mate
We still didn’t risk it, though. If other people knew, there could be more issues, so we stayed away from everyone, only taking visits from people that knew about the situation.
How it hadn’t gotten out to the entire pack was a mystery. I wondered if they were just too busy with the increased presence of the elves to worry about what was going on with Roan and Hiroshi. Perhaps they assumed that we just lived with Hiro and that we weren’t all mated.
I’d completed my training with Deke, Jake, and Sebastian, meaning that I was a fully fledged enforcer. It was also my day off, so it was time to face another thing I’d been putting off; a trip to see Ívarr.
Over the last few weeks, I’d been experiencing symptoms of something I couldn’t explain. Hot flashes, sudden chills. Feeling horny, like insatiable. Then wanting to be left alone. Unable to bear anyone touching me, that certainly made home life awkward. I had a lot of baths until I could get myself together. Often I felt like my skin was too tight, that I’d burst out of it at any second. Clothing hurt to wear at the oddest of moments. Getting through my training had been excruciating at times because of it.
By using magic and shifter strength, the elves had placed a new building next to our medical clinic for the study of the beta sickness. It was full of shiny new machines the elves had ordered in to examine the many, many samples they had taken over the period the Sweetwater betas were sick. They’d arrived at the compound two weeks into the sickness, the same day as some betas woke from their coma like sleeps.
Any beta that had been sick was required to submit themselves for testing when they came upon strange symptoms they couldn’t account for. As far as I was aware, I was the only one having these odd feelings.
I didn’t feel special or anything. In fact, I felt singled out. Again. Being a part of the first shifter poly mating on record was enough for me, thanks.
At the reception desk, a young feeling elf greeted me. Elves never looked their age. Both Ívarr and Hakeem appeared to be around thirty-five and Hakeem was over four hundred years old, Ívarr, a little younger. So while this elf looked young, he could be much older than he looked. Yet, he just didn’t have the wisdom of centuries in his lavender eyes.
“Hello, I’m Eion. How can I help you today?” He greeted me with a polite, but eager, smile.
“Um… hi Eion, I’m Tate. I was wondering if I could speak to Ívarr or one of the other scientists, please.”
“Oh! Uh, of course. If you could just give me a second, I’ll see if he’s free.” The elf’s speech made it apparent he was younger. The older ones didn’t use contractions as much as he had.
I stepped away from the desk, taking a seat across the room so that he could make a call in an undertone. He was clearly used to shifters and their snooping ways.
Within a few minutes, Ívarr and Teagan came around a corner, Teagan looking worried. “Is everything okay, Tate?” she asked, a frown marred her beautiful face. I was happily mated, but I could appreciate beauty.
“Um, could we discuss this privately?”
Ívarr took charge of the situation. “Follow me and we will head to my office.”
Nerves almost got the better of me and had me bolting out the door again, but I followed the two elves, Teagan watching with me in concern.
The office was soothing. Lots of blue and gray tones with warm oak wooden chairs and a large desk. Rather than take a seat behind the desk like I expected, Ívarr took a seat on the deep blue sofa next to Teagan, leaving me an armchair to sit in.
“So, Tate. What can we help you with?” Ívarr’s voice was soothing, and it was easy for me to just lay it all out there.
I started with the issues with the mating. He expressed some concern over it, but acknowledged there was little that could be done. Either the bond would break on its own, or we would get to the point where we’d break it ourselves. He also mused that if we did that, perhaps there was a way we could re-bond once we had fixed the issues in our relationship. I wasn’t so sure it would work again. It felt like a one and done situation.
Once I got to my health issues, he excused himself, rounding his desk to get a folder and a notebook to jot down some notes. He asked a bunch of questions, probing my answers with yet more inquiries.
We must have been there for about an hour before Teagan cut in. “Ívarr, we must let Tate get a drink and perhaps run some tests? These symptoms are unusual. They don’t match any illness that I can think of.”
“Of course. You are right, Teagan. I have been remiss not offering refreshments.” He rose again and made a call from his desk. “Once we have slaked our thirst, we shall move to the laboratory. There, we will draw blood and saliva samples. I would like to run your DNA, Tate, if you find that acceptable. I wish to compare it to the other beta shifters here. You are a raven, correct?”
“I am.”
“Wonderful. We have a raven shifter here that I can compare your sample with.” Ívarr looked delighted with this.
“Jake is my cousin. Our mothers are twins.”
His eyes lit up. He was a handsome elf, though intimidating, until he softened like he just had. “Oh! That is even better! It will give a better reflection of any changes with a close blood relative.”
“Does this mean you know what is happening?” I asked.
“Not at all. However, the samples and a comparison will assist me in ruling conditions out.”
Right. So again, I was an anomaly.
I was at the clinic for longer than I hoped to be. When I entered the house, Roan was sitting at the kitchen table shoveling pasta into his mouth. He frowned when he saw me and sniffed the air. “You okay? You smell like medicine.”
