Page 81 of His Bonded Omega Mate
His new habit of referring to his alter as Demon had me laughing. He’d told me of the name before in one of our visits, but I’d never seen him speak so openly about the alter.
A hush rolled over the assembled group of shifters. I saw the elves become more alert, clearly watching out for trouble. Asher took my hand and wound our fingers together, squeezing gently.
Blake’s voice rang out clearly, perhaps magically amplified to reach all the crowd. “Sweetwater pack. Thank you for joining us tonight. We have a couple of announcements. I wanted to take this time to apologize for the heightened security. You are handling the situation with grace. The safety of my children is of paramount importance and I am grateful for the support of the pack. I can only say sorry that we weren’t able to have our winter celebrations.”
There were a few shouts of good wishes for our alpha and his young family that Blake took with patient smiles.
“Our first reason for being here tonight is we have just completed a deal to partner with Cody Valentine, of the Northarbor coven, and his mate, Toth, to make a new variety of hard cider that will bring new success to the pack and guarantees more investment and new jobs. While I do understand that there might be some prejudice against Toth’s demon nature, I will not accept any bad treatment of a valued business partner.”
There were rumbles throughout the group until a stern look from Axel silenced them.
“We shifters have a short memory. It wasn’t all that long ago that humans discriminated against shifters. Demonkin are much like us. They are magic users like the witches, have an honor code, they have mates like us. And, like shifters, they have suffered because people do not understand them.”
There were a few embarrassed faces. I’d had time to get used to the idea of working with demons, although that would affect Asher more than me. “You okay with that?” I whispered to my mate.
“Yeah, it’s like Blake says. They are like us. Plus, the factory really needs some updating, so more revenue coming in will be a bonus. I bet they have some really great fruit in their realm. Abrocaelum has some amazing food.”
“The next thing I wanted to speak to you about doesn’t come from me. Our healers and the elves that have been working on the beta sickness project made this discovery today.”
His words suddenly filled the air with expectation. I could see that some were confused, others eager. Maybe they knew what was coming.
There was a lull as Blake spoke with Ívarr. “Hiroshi is going to explain this. Please be patient with him.”
Hiroshi shuffled closer and Ívarr said something to him, obviously a spell, because suddenly, we could all hear him. “Do I have to?” he whined. “Why can’t you tell them?”
Ívarr gave him an affectionate smile. “Because it is your find. We still cannot locate those notes you said you happened upon.”
Hiroshi glared at Blake, who laughed, and rolled his eyes at the elf before taking in the pack. “Um, so I’ve been looking at the genetic reports of the shifters that had the beta sickness. Today I found something huge. To cut a long story short, we believe that anyone that had the sickness and was asleep for the full month now carries a gene that can be activated to turn that beta into either an alpha or an omega.” He cut his words off because, although he clearly had much more to say, he realized how heavy a moment this was for all the betas of the group. I knew that most of them had stayed sick for a month.
“What about those that woke up early?” Melody called.
“Um, well, they have the gene... but it’s like it didn’t finish forming. Like maybe it got interrupted by you waking, perhaps?” Hiroshi looked at Ívarr and Aldrin for support. Teagan was nodding. “I’m sorry that I don’t have those answers for you. I just know that Tate and Asher both carry this gene. We believe that theirs were activated, for want of a better word, by the mating bite when we tried our four-way bond.”
“So you didn’t do that to them? It could happen to any beta with the gene if they mate?” someone called. I couldn’t see the person or recognize their voice.
Hiroshi looked between the scientists and Blake, obviously asking to be saved from having to give the bad news.
Aldrin stepped forward, his voice carrying without a spell. “The short answer is; we don’t know. First, we need to do some testing. What we need from you all is beta pairings that carry both genes that are unmated, or willing to break their bonding, and try again. Or an alpha or omega that will risk mating to a beta that carries the correct gene.”
There was a murmur through the assembled shifters. Sure, betas were good for fucking to take the edge off, but no respectable alpha or omega seriously thought about mating with one, not before Hiroshi came around and met us. I shared an eye roll with Asher at some of the scandalized looks from the omegas. Then I felt bad. Those omegas needed knots for their heats, and while spells and artificial knots helped, not all had the resources for that. They weren’t the same. I could say that from experience now.
“We understand that this might be something that many of you aren’t ready to consider. You’ve lived your whole lives as betas. This is a big change and the pack and the council will be here for you if you decide to go through the process. If you choose not to, then that is okay. It’s your life and you need to live it as you feel best.”
Blake spoke. “You are all dismissed now. If you want to learn your new designation, please form a line and inform whoever you speak to if you want to play a part in the testing. Thank you for listening. I hope you are as excited as I am about our new future.” Our alpha looked tense, as if he was expecting trouble to break out.
“One at a time, please.” Teárlach called to the crowd. “We have a new spell to keep things confidential.” His assurance settled something in the waiting betas. Having your designation announced in front of a ton of people was upsetting, so I was glad they had invented a way of telling people privately.
The hush that had fallen over the group broke with conversations breaking out all over. I couldn’t gauge them and wanted to shift to get a better viewpoint in case there was any trouble. Already people were getting their answers. Most looked hopeful about their results.
My cousin and his mate broke from the crowd. “We were first in line!” Jake said, excitement flowing off him. “The spell was so cool. Only I could see what it said, and poof! Gone!”
“So you’re happy with what you could be?”
Jake nodded, sharing a soppy look with his mate. “We’ve signed up to break our bond and try rebonding! We didn’t even have to think about it. Did we?” he asked his mate.
“No. It just felt right. Like that was what we were supposed to do,” Sebastian said. He was a man of few words. I liked him for Jake. He was steady and clearly head over heels for my cousin.
“So...” Asher began. “Are we allowed to ask? You seem happy. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
