Ruari woke up from a slumber when his ten-week-old son started crying.

“What’s wrong, Jax?” he whispered, dragging himself out of bed to pick his son out of the crib. “Are you hungry?”

He checked the clock. Two hours since his last feeding. He shouldn’t be hungry, then, since he’d finished the whole bottle. He cradled him against his shoulder and slowly walked around the room, making swinging motions with his upper body. Hopefully, Jax would fall asleep again without needing the baby carrier, 'cause once he was in there, Ruari couldn’t get him out without waking him up again, which meant he’d be stuck for hours.

Jax’s cries decreased in intensity, and Ruari hummed a song. His son seemed to love that, but whether it was because of the sound or because of the vibrations in Ruari’s chest he found soothing, Ruari wasn’t sure. Jax had just closed his eyes again, letting out a last feeble whimper, when Ruari swayed, a dizziness enveloping him. He had to lean with a hand against the wall for support to keep from stumbling, his heart racing as he waited for the dizzy spell to pass.

This was, what, the fourth time this week? He let out a shaky sigh as he felt his body return to normal. This couldn’t go on. One of these days, he would fall down the stairs with Jax, or stumble and fall on top of him. He needed to have his blood work checked, but how?

He once again cursed his body as he’d done so many times before. Even as a teen, something had been off with him in comparison with other omegas. His heat had been late, for instance, really late. Plus, he’d been so tired and slow, fighting some days to get out of bed. Depressed, too, but that could have been because of his parents. Well, his father. 

His mother had taken him to the doctor plenty of times, but the man had never found anything abnormal. Of course, that was before he’d become a prisoner in his own home, before his father had decided he needed to be locked in his room. Ruari had never gotten an explanation, had never understood why, what he’d done wrong. Had his father discovered how much Ruari knew about his activities? That he’d overheard more than one conversation he shouldn’t have?

Whatever the reason had been, for the six months before his first heat had arrived—finally—he’d only left his room to spend time in the garden every day, 'cause his mother had insisted he needed sunlight. He’d been ready to kill himself, and that was not even a joke. 

Then his heat had come, that horrible, horrible heat, and they’d shoved an alpha into the room who’d gone all but feral on him. Not that he hadn’t wanted it at that point—he’d been clawing the walls for release—but he’d imagined his first heat a little differently. Thank fuck he hadn’t been a virgin, 'cause that would have been a fucked-up introduction to sex. 

Jax let out a little smacking sound, then fell asleep—thank god—and Ruari lowered himself into the rocking chair, the only decent chair in his tiny one-bedroom apartment. As his son nestled against him in his sleep, Ruari thought about his predicament. Something was wrong with him, something serious enough to make him dizzy all the time, and he needed to get it checked out. 

He couldn’t go to a regular doctor. His father would keep tabs on doctors and hospitals, somehow, probably through the electronic patient information system most of them used. The man had informants everywhere, including on the police force. Ruari had a fake ID, but it wouldn’t stand up to that level of scrutiny. 

Even if he could find a doctor, payment was also an issue. He was low on funds, dangerously low, in fact. He had two, three months left at most—if he budgeted carefully—and that was it. That budget left no room for blood tests and a consult that could run up to five hundred dollars without insurance. 

No, he needed a free clinic, but those were scarce for omegas. And many of them had long waiting lines outside, which would be impossible with Jax. Hell, he didn’t even want to bring a baby into a clinic like that in the first place. Fuck knew what it would expose him to, but what choice did he have?

Maybe he should see if there were other options. He reached out for his phone, one of the few things he’d taken from his parents’ home when he’d ran away, though he’d had to switch to a prepaid plan and had to limit his data usage. It took a little while, typing and holding the phone with the same hand, since his other was wrapped around his son, but he managed to start a search for free clinics for omegas.

The first few hits were the ones he already knew about. One was way too close to his father’s office, the other in a neighborhood Ruari didn’t dare to venture in even during the day. The third one had a good rep, but was notorious for its waiting lines, which could be as long as four hours. Not an option with his dizziness and Jax with him. 

Then his eyes fell on a mention of a clinic he’d never heard of before. Hayes Clinic. Huh, that had to be a new one. He clicked on the link, which led him to a basic website. He first checked their location. Damn, they were way out in the boonies. That would be a major hassle with public transportation, since he didn’t have a car. Then again, it was also far off the beaten track, so his chances of running into anyone were slim. 

He scanned their FAQs, since that usually told him whether they charged for anything and if there were any special requirements he needed to be aware of. It all looked legit, and he got the sense this doctor—Enar Magnusson—cared about his patients. There was something about the tone of the website that was different, something warm and caring. It drew him in, like that clinic was a safe place to be. That made zero sense, and yet Ruari couldn’t shake it off. 

He glanced through the rest of the questions, stopping when he saw something he didn’t quite understand. It said the clinic offered free testing for the Melloni gene. What the hell was that? He clicked on the name, which was a link to a different website, some kind of blog. Palani Hightower. The name sounded familiar, but Ruari couldn’t place it.

The blog post was a long one, he saw. Did he need to know all this? Then he saw a bullet list of symptoms and read through them. Delayed heat. Intense heats. Increased fertility. Depression. He almost dropped the phone, his heart racing as he recognized each and every one of them. It was describing him, this list. 

He read the rest of the article, his heart speeding up even faster as he tried to take it all in. But when he saw that unsuspecting women had been injected by their OB/GYN with something that had created this genetic mutation, his heart all but stopped and he got dizzy all over again.

This was it. This was what had happened to him. Oh god, it all made sense now. And his parents knew. That’s what had happened the six months before his heat. Those heated fights between his parents about his mother going behind his father’s back when she was trying to get pregnant, seeking help from this fertility specialist who’d injected her with that gene. He hadn’t been able to make sense of it back then, but now he understood. 

That’s why they had locked him up, since apparently, his smell was irresistible to alphas. It also explained why that first alpha had gone nuts on him. And it was how Ruari had ended up pregnant, despite using condoms. This explained everything.  

He had this gene. There was no other explanation. He had to get to this clinic and get tested. And if he was lucky, they could check up on Jax as well. His mind made up, Ruari started looking for a way to get there. 

Lidon was balls deep inside Palani for one of those quick fucks they both loved so much, when his phone rang. Palani’s look was almost comical, like he was personally offended that someone had the audacity to call at this time. Then again, Lidon was pretty sure he was sporting an identical expression. Their eyes met, the temptation to let it ring unspoken between them, then Palani shook his head.

“You should get it. You don’t get that many calls, so this is probably important.”

Lidon pulled out with a frustrated sigh. “We will get back to this after.”

Palani grinned. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

Lidon was still smiling as he picked up. It only took seconds for that smile to disappear, and when he hung up, Palani had picked up on the fact that something was going on.

“That was Watkins,” Lidon told him.

“The PI? I thought he didn’t work for us anymore since he couldn’t find anything about Melloni or the fraud case against you?”

“He doesn’t, but he wants to meet with us. He says he has new information.”

Palani’s face showed the same surprise Lidon was feeling. “Now?”

“I told him we’d meet him in the city in an hour,” Lidon said. “I’ve never met him in person, so I don’t want him inside the gates.”

“Obviously. Let’s get dressed.”

Minutes later, they were on their way to the city, where Lidon had agreed to meet the PI in a restaurant. When they walked in, the man was already sitting there at the table they had agreed on. He was younger than Lidon had expected, in his early forties, a sturdy alpha with sharp, gray eyes and a face that showed he’d seen his fair share of shit.

“Mr. Hayes,” the PI said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” His handshake was firm.

“Likewise. This is my mate, Palani. You’ve spoken before.”

“Yes, the reporter. Pleasure to meet you. I admire your investigative journalism,” Watkins said. “It’s a crying shame they fired you from your job, but I think your reach and influence have grown bigger since.”

Lidon wasn’t sure if the man did it on purpose, but showing Palani respect was a surefire way to gain Lidon’s respect. He appreciated when people could look past labels and admire a man for their character and their talents rather than for their status assigned at birth.

When the server appeared, they all ordered, and as soon as the woman was out of earshot, Watkins leaned forward, lowering his voice. “I know that technically, I am no longer on a retainer, but I happened to come across some information that is of crucial importance to you.”

Lidon nodded. “We appreciate it. Please, go ahead.”

Watkins looked around, as if he wanted to make sure no one was listening in, then lowered his voice even further. “I have credible information that Professor Melloni is still alive.”

Lidon’s heart skipped a beat before continuing its usual rhythm. “He’s alive?”

“Yes. You have to understand, I’m in a gray area here, as I discovered this information through another client who hired me, a client whose name I cannot reveal.”

“We understand. We appreciate you sharing anything with us that you can,” Palani said. He of all people would understand confidentiality of sources, Lidon thought.

“This client who has hired me, he has a son who has run away from home. My job is to find him. I haven’t, yet, but in tracking potential leads my employer provided me with, I checked out some properties he owns. He is…not exactly legal in everything that he does, let’s put it that way. One of the properties was owned by a dummy corporation. I did a cross check to see what other properties this corporation held and discovered industrial buildings in another city. Even though my client hadn’t told me to investigate those, I did, wanting to be thorough, and one of those buildings turned out to be some kind of lab, which struck me as unusual. I didn’t manage to get inside, but I did talk to one of the guards there. The fact that it even had guards alerted me something was going on, as this was a rather rundown neighborhood that didn’t look like it needed private security from one of the most expensive firms in the country. To make a long story short, the young guard and I connected well…"

It didn’t take Lidon but a second to get the meaning of that statement, and he couldn’t suppress a smile. “Please, continue,” he said.

“Let’s say in our case pillow talk was a little less sexy and romantic and a whole lot more about him trying to brag about guarding some top scientist. I’m almost sure he was talking about Melloni.”

Next to him, Palani let out a soft gasp. “He’s alive, then.”

Watkins nodded. “I think so, yes.”

The server returned with their food, and they were silent as she handed them their plates and refilled their drinks. When she was gone again, Watkins spoke up.

“Here’s my problem. I know you hired me months ago to track down Melloni, and I wasn’t successful. The problem is that I’m now on someone else’s payroll, and his interests are in a direct conflict with yours. If I had known that when I started working for him, I wouldn’t have accepted the job, but I didn’t. It sounded like a simple case of a missing person, quick money, since he pays me well. But it turns out he’s got a lot of shady dealings that I’m finding out while investigating his son’s disappearance, and some of those dealings are a direct threat to you.”

Lidon’s adrenaline spiked. “Threat?” he repeated, keeping his voice soft.

“Yes, but that’s all I can say.”

Lidon studied the man in front of him. He didn’t appear to be the type that was intimidated easily, but his eyes sure held fear now. “Your client, he’s not someone you want to get on your bad side,” Lidon concluded.

“Very much so, Mr. Hayes. Trust me, if I’d known who he was, I would’ve never taken the job.”

“If we act on the information you’ve given us, we might put you in jeopardy,” Palani said, showing he had reached the same conclusion Lidon had.

“That’s my gut feeling right now. My client is suspicious of everyone around him, trusts no one. My guess is that if the information about Melloni leaks, he’ll know it was me, and I don’t think that would end well for me.”

“Is he being treated well, as far as you know? Or are they torturing him?” Palani asked.

Watkins did a quick shake of his head. “I have to go on what the guard told me, but it sounded as if they’re treating him relatively well. They’re forcing him to work on something, but the guard had no idea what. But he confirmed it’s a lab, and that this scientist has access to laboratory equipment, as he called it.”

“Are they holding him there? Is that where he lives?” Palani asked.

“Yes. They built a bedroom for him in the back of the building.”

“You want us to sit on this information and not act on it,” Lidon clarified.

Watkins shot him an apologetic look. “I know that’s a lot to ask, since his son must be desperate to hear something about his father. And it’s hard for me to ask you to value my safety over that of Professor Melloni.”

“But you came to us with this information,” Palani said. “So my guess is you have a plan, or at least a specific request to us, right?”

The corners of the PI’s mouth pulled up in a smile. “I see your reputation is well deserved. Yes, I do have a plan. Or at least, something resembling a plan. This client is dangerous. Deadly dangerous.”

“What do you propose?” Lidon asked.

“I am asking you to trust me. I need to find my client’s son first, so I can end my contract with him. Meanwhile, I will continue to find out what I can about Melloni. If I suspect at any point he's in real danger, I will act, I promise. I need a little more time to figure out what’s going on.”

Lidon and Palani shared a look. It shouldn’t surprise Lidon anymore, that they could communicate without words, and yet as he locked eyes with his mate, his right hand, it amazed him all over again how in tune they were.

“We can live with those terms,” Palani said, and how Lidon loved that he was confident enough to communicate the decision to Watkins without deferring to Lidon. “But we would appreciate if you could tell us a little more about what threat your client poses to us. We don’t need names, because we understand the difficult position you’re in, but can you give us anything more so we can prepare?”

Watkins studied them for a long time, his face tight. Lidon could all but see him going over every option in his mind. 

“My client was behind the first attack on your ranch,” he said finally. Palani’s hand shot out to grab Lidon’s arm in an iron grip. “That should tell you enough about what kind of threat he poses to you. He’s not done with you by far.”