Page 31 of The Hero Within
Johnny breathed out slowly, letting it all wash out of him. The hate. The rage. The desire to hit something.
It wouldn't bring his father back or change the past.
The kid got the message. "So how do you know which strain of warg you are?"
"Depends who scratched you up." Johnny held his hands up, forcing the shift to stir through him. His fingers ached and began to elongate, sharp claws springing from the tips. The whisper of the night-lure became a little stronger in his veins. Every sense heightened just a fraction, until he could hear the rush of blood through Eden's veins.
"Holy shit," Cole blurted. "You can partial shift."
"Yeah. I don't know how the pre-Darkening government created us, but it's like an infection. One bite, one scratch, and you're going to start getting hairy at night. But each infection is specific to the strain of warg who scratched you. Who infected you?"
"Luc Wade."
Johnny shot him a startled look. "And you're riding to get a cure for his daughter?"
Despite the dark, he could scent the sudden flush of emotion coming off the kid. Without thinking, he reached out and rested his hand on Cole's shoulder, feeling that heavy pit of lassitude sweep through him. The calmness flooded his veins the same way adrenaline did, and Cole's shoulders softened the second he smelled it.
Pheromones.
An omega's touch.
A pity it hadn't saved his father's life.
"Lily's a friend. And I've come to terms with what happened. I have this now." Cole wrapped a hand around the pewter amulet around his neck. "Doesn't make it any easier knowing Wade cut my future short, but with this... I can live a semblance of a life. He gave this to me himself, as reparation."
Johnny eyed the amulet cynically.If only you knew the truth....
But he sighed and gave in. No point fucking with the kid's belief system when they were in the middle of the Divide. "I knew an alpha once—his name was Bartholomew Cane. Since he was the one who infected both Adam McClain and Luc Wade, you'll carry the alpha strain."
"Which means I should be able to control other wargs." Cole sounded out the thought, his words not quite a question. "But the second you commanded me, I went down on one knee like those fucking dogs."
"Even an alpha can bend. You're young and untrained, and you've been around two wargs since you were in your teens presumably. It's the pack hierarchy mentality. When Wade tells you to do something, I'll bet you do it. Don't even think about it mostly."
Cole stared out into the night as if he was re-running his interactions with Wade through his mind. "Son of a bitch."
"Don't beat yourself up. It happens when you get a warg young, and I doubt Wade's doing it consciously. He doesn't know shit about being a warg. It's most likely instinct on both your behalf, and as you get older you'll find it easier to defy him."
"Could you do that to Wade?"
He gave a faint, bitter smile. "Considering Wade managed to lock me in a cabin a few years ago and flick a match... Unlikely. It doesn't work on all alphas and depends strongly on the hierarchy. Once they're adults it's virtually impossible to make an alpha yield, especially if they're strong-willed." His smile died. "Unless you break them. Torture. Sleep deprivation. Starvation. That kind of shit." His voice roughened. "You break them down, force them to kneel to your will when you're flooding them with scent. Rinse and repeat. Do it often enough and you can twist even the most hard-core alpha to your will in a way he'll never be able to break. If you get them young, then it works even better. They can't deny you. Can't say no. You can fight it, but you're fighting your own instincts and it hurts like fuck."
A slight rustle stirred. Eden. Rolling over in her blankets, as she gave a soft sigh.
Johnny eased out his breath—and the shame that had suddenly filled him.Fuck. Why was he even saying this? His heart was suddenly racing, the moon beginning to whisper through his veins like a drug. He vanished the claws the second he realized he was getting emotional, staring at his all-too-human hands.
And he realized he'd given far too much away.
Cole slowly stirred the dirt beneath his heels. "You smell different to McClain and Wade. Now I know what I'm looking for I can pick up the difference. It makes me feel weird. I feel like I should trust you, and I don't know why."
"It's the omega in me, thanks to my father. My mother was an alpha. She and my father decided to infect me at the same time. She didn't want me to have to fight the rage she always struggled with, but alphas heal better than omegas, so he wanted me to have her strain too. Thought blending the two strains might help me keep my wits, and it seems to have worked."
"Double whammy."
"Something like that."
"So you're an alpha-omega?"
"Yeah. Only one I've ever met, to be honest."
