Page 79 of His Bonded Omega Mate
“Wow... I… Hiro —“ He sounded as completely wrecked by the news as I felt. I was shaking with the need to share this with everyone.
“I know. Look, I need to tell Ívarr, tell Aldrin, tell everyone what I’ve worked out. This is huge!”
“It is. Well done, sweetheart, and thank you. I’ll finish up and come home as soon as I can. We need to celebrate!”
“You’re welcome. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
We ended the call, then I gathered all the papers up and ran towards the center next door to the clinic, shouting for James and Aldrin to follow. They did without question as I dashed past the elf receptionist and straight to Ívarr’s room, nearly running into the elf as I rounded the corner.
“Slow down, Hiroshi!” he chided in his gentle way.
“We need everyone in your office or a bigger room. I know why the sickness happened.”
I itched to get the meeting going, but we had to wait for Axel, as Blake’s second, to arrive, along with Teagan and Teárlach. A couple of members of the council were waiting on video call for me to begin.
Axel squeezed into the room with an apology. At his nod, I started.
“Someone had already found the gene. They just hadn’t been able to compare it with other samples, or discarded it as unimportant.” I broadcast the file onto the whiteboard behind me, highlighting this gene and comparing them to an alpha and omega.
Ívarr interrupted me. “Where is the note from the person who found the gene?”
I looked at my notes, trying to find the post it and the little star next to the correct sequence. It wasn’t there. “Um, I can’t see it. Maybe I left it back in my office with the other paperwork I was doing.” I shrugged it off, determined not to think about it too hard.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter how I found it. We can check that out later. It’s clearly there.” I pointed back to the board. “As you can see, the alpha and omega do not have this gene. It gets interesting when I do this.” I laid out all my information, the two types of genes, and my hypothesis that the bite acted as the agent for the change in designation.
“You are right. This is what we have been looking for,” Ívarr said, marveling at the board. “Well done, Hiroshi. You have solved the mystery.”
We were in that room for another couple of hours, going over what we should do with this information. There were a lot of betas that had been sick and would have to adjust to this if they felt they wanted to change designation. We would have to counsel them carefully, support them as they found someone to change with.
There were still so many questions we needed to answer. Would it only work with an alpha bite? Could two betas bite each other and develop a new designation? What about the betas that were already bonded? Could they break those bonds and re-bond later? Would that work?
It was at the end when Axel took me aside. “Do you know if I have the gene?” His voice was careful and quiet.
“You do,” I whispered.
“Do you know which one?”
I nodded and looked through the messy pile of papers to locate his. I made a note on the paper in pencil. This was so private I didn’t want to speak the words aloud so people could overhear. His eyes lit up when he read the word I wrote and promptly erased it.
“Only you can know for now. Please,” he begged.
“But —“
“No, Hiroshi. This could have dire consequences for the pack if this got out.”
Goddess, he was right. It would have a ripple effect on the entire pack. I nodded. “Of course. Congratulations, Axel.”
With the briefest of hugs, Axel fled from the room.
A Celebration
Hiroshireturnedfromtheclinic abuzz with his news. “Tate! It wasn’t us that made you like this!”
“What do you mean? Like what?”
“The sickness did it. All the betas that had the sickness have a new gene. If anything, our mating just unlocked it.”
