CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The room the betas showed him to, underground, small, and with basic furniture, a little further down the corridor, didn’t seem like it could be the Mother Superior’s office. She sat, composed with that same bland expression, behind a desk that would look more at home in a school room than the office of an important official. The desk bore nothing except a steaming tea pot, two mugs, a milk jug, and a sugar bowl on a tray.

It looked so damn domestic and civilized after what he’d just endured. His unbroken fist clenched with the urge to upend the desk. To get the answers he needed, and his freedom, he pushed the alpha anger down and drew on his beta self.

“Please, take a seat, Doctor.”

“Slumming it a little, Auntie?” Away from the omega he’d mated, his nose was beginning to pick up other scents. Beeswax furniture polish, the tea, and a hint of her surprisingly sweet blackcurrant aroma, that seemed so incongruous for the stern omega.

“A little occasional austerity does the soul good.”

Tavish slid onto the hard wooden chair on the opposite side of the desk. “Perhaps, but it’s damn hard on the backside.”

“And please don’t use that title where members of the flock can hear you. Tea?”

“I’d rather have the answers you promised.”

She picked up the teapot and poured it into one mug. “It wasn’t an either/or question, my son.”

“Try nephew.”

The pot hardly made a sound as she placed it gently down and focused on him. Now, when he looked at her with a clear mind, he saw the unmistakable Grabar traits. The same stormy gray eyes as Zep’s stared back at him, but her eyebrows were darker than his brothers’ blond hair. He should have noticed the Grabar aquiline nose straight away. Manifesting could change the outline of a jaw as alpha’s developed more muscle, but noses didn’t lie. She was a relative, although he wouldn’t depend on her word for how close or distant that relationship could be. There were many Grabar cousins in Malthusia.

“Genetic relationships are not important in the church, except for reproductive purposes. We are all siblings in the eyes of the Almighty.”

Sitting still, having this ridiculous conversation, tested his last resolve. He gritted his teeth against the urge to attack her, an impulse he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist a few days ago. “I’m not here to debate religion, and I do have other, very pressing, matters to attend to.”

“Are you a believer?”

“Not relevant,” he ground out. Pain spiked in his broken hand as he unconsciously tried to make a fist.

The condescending smile on her all-knowing face made him feel like a young pup who had mucked up. “Oh, but it is. The pertinent part of theology for you today, is if you believe the Almighty intended the sapiens and their world to be abandoned when they guided the scientists to create Malthusians, or if our Three-Faced God intended their Chosen to one day save the sapien world too.”

“As I said, I’m not here to debate religion.” But his belly rolled with discomfort as well as hunger. “What has this got to do with Mir’s pups?”

“Unlike the path followed by most of the church and the Council, your brother, Sakish, belongs to the faction who propose that Malthusians were created to save the world across the veil. The most radical propose simply wiping out the sapiens by force, but that view, as well as impossible with our level of weapons technology, has never gained favor, thank the Almighty.” She tapped her fingers to her thumb.

Cold dread claimed his heart. “He’s experimenting with genetics again, isn’t he?”

“Again?” She seemed amused by his comment. “The Divine Experiment has never stopped. Your offspring will only be the eighth generation of stable Malthusians, although the Holy Scientists refined us for several generations before they claimed to have created a Malthusian.

“For example, the church has been concerned at the increasingly weak—physically and mentally—omegas in the general population over the last two or three generations. I don’t have to tell you that they contribute half the genetic material to the next generation. All Malthusians should be strong in body and mind, no matter their gender.

“Part of the church’s responsibility is to provide a pool of genetic excellence that could be called upon if issues appear in the general population. We don’t make matches according to wealth or connections, we select the strongest and most intelligent to produce the next generation. If a lesser quality individual manifests gender, they are returned to their beta state. Those with alpha characteristics, usually manifest anyway.” She waved her hand at him. “You are a prime example of that.

“However, in order to improve the omega side of the equation, we offered promising proto-alpha youngsters born into the church the opportunity to become omegas to serve the greater good and positively impact the next generation. We thought this method had definite advantages over the previous system of encouraging betas and alphas to mount them.

“Unfortunately, that was a practice that those suitable for this program found extremally distasteful and upsetting before they manifested. Of course, once they manifest as omegas, being included in the sacred rites is something they greatly anticipate.”

He sat there, digesting the information and connecting the dots. Manifestation was a hormonal issue controlled by the pituitary gland in the brain. Surgery could remove unwanted body parts, but it couldn’t produce them. Only a chemical change could do that.

“There’s an omega manifestation drug.”

“I was one of the volunteers before the practice was discontinued.”

Tavish reassessed his aunt. Yes, she was taller and seemed far more dominant than any omega he’d met. Except one. “Mir got the drug too.”

Her lips pursed. “Given all the information I have, I’m assuming so. But if they did, it would have been without the church’s blessing, or by the sound of it, Mir’s consent.”

“You say the church isn’t using it anymore?” When she didn’t disagree, he pushed a little harder. “Why? Does it cause long term issues in the recipient?” The most hideous medical conditions he could think of whirled in his head: cancer, motor neurone disease, dementia. She stared back at him, waiting for him to work it out as if this was some sort of test. She appeared… perfectly healthy for an omega in the far end of her fertile years. All her movements were smooth, controlled. He’d noticed no difficulties in speech, and her eyes were clear with even pupils.

Cold suspicion prickled his neck. “What’s wrong with the babies?”

“Wrong is a very judgmental term, Doctor Grabar. But suffice to say, Mir’s viable offspring would have been taken across the veil as their lives in the general population here would be… problematic.”

“What the hell do you mean, problematic?” A thousand different scenarios sprinted through his head.

“When Mir’s babies are born, you will know. When that happens, come back to me, and we can negotiate further.”

“Negotiate for what?”

“Your offspring in return for a little professional expertise.” He hadn’t expected that. She’d made it perfectly clear that his own pups weren’t up for discussion, but now she’d mentioned them, Tav’s blood heated with the need to protect them from the life they’d have here. But would Mir accept another omega’s pups? Natelle had been positively evil to Per, and Lang and Zep had never stopped proving their dominance over— He pushed the possible future of blending two families who weren’t even born yet. He had to secure all their futures first.

He concentrated back on the Mother Superior, drawing on every ounce of beta logic. “You need a doctor who won’t inform the authorities, just like the one who performed unsanctioned procedures without consent on Mir. I won’t do that, not for anyone or anything.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I’m glad to hear it. I’d never ask you to do anything against your personal ethics, but yes, we require someone with surgical expertise.”

Like the doctor over the veil who performed the neutering surgeries on the former omegas on Blackwell farm.

“I’d require suitable facilities, but yes, in principle, I’d be prepared to perform surgery within my personal ethics and the uncoerced consent of my patient, not of their guardian, or of you.”

“The church is their guardian, just as it is mine, and as Mother Superior, everyone here is under my protection.”

“I didn’t feel very ‘protected’,” he snapped. “In fact, I suffered significant abuse.”

“The Almighty works in mysterious ways for the good of all, my child. I assure you, every patient will be exceedingly grateful for your assistance.” Her smug superiority itched at him, but if this went on much longer, omega or not, he would lose his tenuous grip on his temper.

Tavish wasn’t sure of the legal precedence here, he’d never assumed gendered individuals existed in the clergy, but he’d already broken the law several times when rescuing abused omegas.

“It’s up to me if I conduct any procedure or none?”

She inclined her head. “Of course.”

Time was ticking by, and each extra minute he spent here frayed his nerves a little more. “Now, live up to your end of the bargain. Where are Mir’s older pups?”

“I do not have personal connections beyond the veil, and finding specific individuals among the billions of sapiens would be virtually impossible for those not used to the technology over there, but I’m in touch with those that do.”

Tavish knew someone too, but he didn’t know if Tom would be prepared to risk everything he had to return to his former home, if another veil traveler, like Falen, could be found to facilitate the journey. If her contact was willing, they might be the better bet.

“Is this the same person who knows what Sakish is doing?”

“It is. My contact has been in place for many years and is thoroughly trusted.”

The memory of Mir’s shaking, scarred body on the day he found them ripped into his mind. “And they just report? You haven’t done anything to stop it?”

He’d long suspected that Mir hadn’t been alone in their captivity, and this just confirmed it. There must also have been multiple alphas involved to produce genetic diversity, along with the ‘problematic’ attributes that Sakish must think were positive to keep the program going.

His nostrils flared as the sharp scent of alpha fury flooded the room. “Do you have any idea what they do to the omegas there? Why didn’t you intervene?”

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. 1 Peter verse 5 -10.”

Tavish gaped at her. “There’s no talking to you if you think what Mir went through is a good thing. Besides, quoting some sapien who died three thousand years before our kind came into being, even if he existed as one individual rather than a collection of myths of different individuals? Not exactly convincing.”

“The Almighty works in mysterious ways, my son, and their purpose is not always clear to us mere mortals.”

“Auntie, or should I say Uncle given your mental gender?I’d rather your Almighty worked with a foot up the ass of the fuckers who think it’s ok to abuse others.“ He stood up. “All I want to know is if you’re going to tell me where exactly to find Mir’s pups, or failing that, who this informant is and where I can find them, because using innocents in experiments is not only illegal, it’s unholy.”

“You are entitled to your opinion. For which the Almighty has infinite understanding and forgiveness.” He opened his mouth to retort but she held up a finger. “And I happen to agree with you and so do many on the council. The group I lead are of the opinion that the Almighty meant to leave the sapiens to their own devices, and we work toward cutting off all ties with that side of the veil, but even in our utopia, greed for technology from across the veil infiltrates some of the Almighty’s children. For example, the gun that wounded Mirelle.”

He twitched at the use of Mir’s omega name, but it was the least of his concerns. “You want to rid Malthusia of everything from across the veil?” The idea was ludicrous. Virtually every home in Malthusia had at least one of two sapien artifacts. His Ma had possessed over forty sapien books, but entertainment and curios weren’t his concern. “Do you have any idea how much medical technology has its roots across the veil? Do you think we can invent and produce everything we need with only a population of several hundred thousand?”

“The Almighty will provide.” Her faith shone through.

He snorted in frustration, feeling a little dizzy from low blood sugar. “The Almighty will lose most of their Malthusians.”

“And They have devised their children to populate to the extent of the available resources. Once we are cut off from those Satan corrupted, all will be well, my son. And you have your place in their plan. Where would you like your certificates sent?”

He scrunched his eyes and opened them wide, trying to stay alert as the lack of sleep, food, and the drop of adrenaline impacted his body and brain. Even with brain fog, he remained alert enough not to reveal Freedom Farm or refuse something that could help him gain Mir’s guardianship. “The hospital in Malthus city. Just tell me where to find this informant, and I’ll leave you in peace. I’m shattered, and I need to get to Mir.”

Her lips pursed. “Remember, this person has been working for me for many years. He was following my explicit instructions to get close to the people in charge of this project. He shares my philosophy, not that of Sakish and the rest of his rebel group, who have allowed unholy greed to corrupt them.”

“Yes, yes, I get it. Their name?”

She raised her voice. “You may enter.”

The door opened, and Tavish was on his feet, spinning to face the threat.

Zepish’s hands flew up in defense, and a dark bruise showed around his eye. “Hold it, little brother.” He glanced over at their aunt. “I thought you said you’d explain it to him?”

“She did,” Tavish growled. His shoulders flexed. He might not know how to fight, but the ancestors in his blood, in his genes, had known what to do to Sakish. “But I thought it’d be someone else, not you.”

Zepish backed up a step as Tavish stalked toward him and offered a sheepish smile. “Surprise?”

Tavish’s fist shot out, but as he used his dominant hand, the one with the splint; he pulled it before it contacted. “I will end you for abusing Mir.” He meant every grand word.

“Hold your horses. You still need your big brother as I’m the only one who can tell you where Mir’s pups are. Want a lift? We can talk as we ride.”

“To Mir?”

Zepish wrinkled his nose. “Seeing as they are holed up with their siblings, that might not be the best idea for either of us. Continuing my work from a prison cell would be damn tricky, and as Corish Reeve has a reputation for getting convictions for alphas, you might want to avoid him as well. You did keep his sister at your farm unlawfully for the last five months.”

“You know about that?”

“Who do you think arranged Mir’s escape?” Tavish face must have been a picture as Zepish laughed. “Guess my evil brother persona worked a little too well. Come on, let’s get out of here. Auntie gives me the creeps.” He turned and bowed to his aunt. “Until next time, Mother Superior, may the Almighty walk beside you.”

“And you, my son. You too, Dr. Grabar.”

Tavish couldn’t bring himself to offer the same benediction to the omega who had blackmailed him into creating life, so he just gave her a nod and followed Zepish back out into the stark corridor.

They’d taken several paces before Zepish spoke, his voice quiet. “I never hurt any of them.”

“And you think I’m going to take your word for that? I’m not as deluded as your religious brethren back there.” Tavish kept his gaze on the far end of the corridor as his blood boiled with impotent fury. Merely sensing his brother’s presence beside him made him clench his teeth so hard his jaw ached. “Besides, even if you didn’t cause any of the scars, you didn’t stop them from happening, did you?”

“No, no I didn’t, but I happen to believe what I’m doing is worth it.”

Tavish stopped in his tracks; his movements stalled along with his mind. “You’ve seen Mir’s scars, probably saw a lot of them created,” Tavish saw no denial in his brother’s gray eyes, only the condescending look of an older sibling to a younger one as if Tav had failed to notice something important. The same look had graced the Mother Superior’s face. “How can that be worth it? And don’t give me any religious shit.”

Zep glanced around as if embarrassed for his little brother. “Yeah, maybe not the place for this conversation. Let’s get out of here.”

They turned a corner, and up ahead, a black metal gate barred the corridor, guarded by a brown-robed beta. Beyond that, concrete steps led upward, lit by natural light. The beta produced a key, and Tavish almost vibrated with excitement over seeing the outside again. Only a few days had passed, but he already missed sunlight on his skin, the rich blue of the sky, and the fresh caress of the wind on his cheek. How had Mir coped for years in captivity?

He waited until they were halfway up the steps before asking, “Was Mir kept underground?”

Zepish blew out a breath. “Yes, they was. But I don’t think most of the omegas paid a lot of attention to their surroundings, not with the heat implants.”

Grinding his teeth so he wouldn’t attempt to chew out his full sibling’s throat as he’d done to his half sibling took all the self-restraint Tav possessed. How the hell could anyone be so nonchalant about such atrocities? If he hadn’t needed the information inside Zep’s head more than he needed his next breath, he might have done it. Instead, he replayed the memory of Sakish’s slick, hot blood in his mouth, the way it felt to tear at his flesh while the fucker writhed and tried to scream for help.

With every step up, the temperature increased, until they exited into a cloister. Yellow sandstone pillars supported the roof of a covered walkway that surrounded a square open space, at least a hundred feet long on each side. Gazing up at the clear blue sky, he appreciated the magnificence as if he’d been underground for weeks not days. Drawing fresh air into his lungs, he savored the lack of damp and unfamiliar omega scents.

A group of a dozen children, perhaps five to eight years old, sat on cushions holding slates and chalk sticks, in front of a brown-robed beta. At least Tavish thought it was a beta, but his only criterion was the individual’s jaw-length hair. His own pups could be sitting right there in a few years.

“It’s not a bad life, you know.” Tavish hadn’t realized that his brother had stopped beside him. Zepish wore a wistful expression as he watched the group. “They know where they belong in the world and are happy to be useful cogs, rather than leaders. They don’t have to worry about how they or anyone else will manifest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from sad about growing balls, but I learned a lot about life outside the Grabar clan while I was here.”

“You didn’t change much. You were still the asshole you’d always been when you came home.”

Zepish clapped him on the back, making him jump. “Good acting, that’s all that was.”

“Not sure most of the junior betas would agree.”

Zep shrugged. “I had to give Father a reason not to find me a minor post at one of the factories or some other dead-end job. Being the ‘spare’ to Lang was never my destiny. I’ve seen more, done more, than he ever will.”

“You almost sound proud of what you did,” Tavish bit out.

“Some of it, yes I am. But I also had to do crappy things to keep my cover.” Zepish nodded toward the nearest corner of the cloister. “This way.”

“The ends do not justify the means,” Tavish growled.

Hands clasped behind his back, chin high, and gaze locked on the group of pups, Zep continued as if he hadn’t heard. “I remember how knackered I was after I got proved when I was in musth. If I let you ride, you’d probably fall off, and the ma of at least some of my pups would have even more reason to go all homicidal on my ass.”

Tavish couldn’t bring himself to ask if he’d meant the Mother Superior or Mir. Getting his head around chatting with Zep, the brother who had terrorized him as a child, who had fathered at least some of Mir’s pregnancies, like they were friends, like Tav and Clay were friends, messed with his head. He still wasn’t sure how to behave around Zep when all he wanted to do was break his nose. But for now, he needed the information locked in his devious brother’s mind.

“I rented a carriage,” Zep said. “Clay offered his gig, but the Grabar crest on the side is like traveling in a shop window.”

Even though it was mid-morning, the sun beat down as if it had a vendetta against Tavish, and he wondered if Mir was inside or outside wherever they was.

“Do you know how Mir is?” Tavish asked as they approached a solid door in the ten-foot-high sandstone wall, that screened everything within from prying outside eyes.

“They spent a few hours in your old hospital in a private room. They lost a bit of blood and had a transfusion from their beta sibling. Babies are fine. You probably won’t be surprised to find out all the treatment was carried out while they was unconscious, and they discharged themself as soon as they woke up. That’s the Mir we both know and love.”

Zepish tapped on the door, a small sliding panel Tavish hadn’t noticed opened. Blue eyes peered through, and then bolts scraped as they were withdrawn before the door opened.

Heat rushed over his skin as anger flared back to life. “Shut your damn mouth. How dare you even say their name? Do you think a few cute words, or using religion, can change or justify what you did?”

A smirk so swift Tav almost doubted he’d seen it, flashed across Zep’s lips. “Ah ah, brother, not now, or everyone will think your musth isn’t over, and you’ll be locked away with another omega for the Almighty knows how long. I’m sure you don’t want Mir thinking you’ve abandoned them for any longer than necessary.” The casual words ripped at Tav’s chest and twisted his balls. His omega had to be in distress, could have even delivered their babies and lost them. And because he hadn’t bonded Mir, he couldn’t feel them, couldn’t send any reassurance. He deserved every ounce of pain and distress for his failure.

A hand patted his shoulder, then withdrew before he could shake it off. “Despite what you think, I’m not your enemy. And right now, you need me way more than I need you, so leash your temper, little brother. Come on, we can talk freely in the carriage. Rowen’s affiliated to me.”

The monk who held the exit door open didn’t speak, and neither did Zepish. Two gray horses stood under a carriage porch a few feet away, shielded from the bright sun and any observers. This must have been where they brought people in and out without being seen.

A stocky beta in their early thirties dressed in a nondescript dark blue shirt and matching pants removed two buckets of water from in front of each horse and climbed up onto the driving seat.

“In you get, sleepy head,” Zepish said. When Tavish got in, Zepish sat beside him, and after fiddling with the folding canopy, pulled it up over them. “Can’t have you getting sunburned, can we?” Tav didn’t believe the act. Yes, the canopy shielded them from the sun, but it also hid them from the eyes of any observers.

“Nice to see you again, Doctor,” the beta said.

Tavish squinted at the shaggy-haired brunet. It looked as if they’d ridden a galloping horse and then not bothered to comb the hair curling to their collar. “Do I know you?”

Without asking for direction, the beta clucked to the horses, and the carriage lurched forward.

“We’ve met but didn’t speak, and I kept far enough away that you couldn’t scent me well. I was one of the betas who came nosing around asking about an escaped omega.”

“I didn’t think you recognized Mir’s scent.”

“I didn’t. The other beta did. But the poor bugger fell off his horse as we were rushing back to report that we’d found the runaway. Broke his neck. Such a shame.”

Tavish blinked. “You killed to keep Mir’s secret?”

“Mir’s got a lot of fans, me and the boss included. What was happening to them wasn’t right. Birthing babies for the program was one thing, but that level of abuse?” Their voice hardened, “That’s not right.”

Tavish stared at the beta’s stiff back in disbelief. That’s the only thing that bothered these people? So forcing a false manifestation on someone, not to mention kidnap, rape, and having babies taken was ok, but not the beatings? Did they think the rest was ok because that’s what omegas were for anyway, or because of the greater good according to religion?

And now they thought Mir was so fucking wonderful because they’d fought and survived? What about the other omegas in this damn program? He kept his lips buttoned. Like Zep said, right now, he needed Zep to find out about this program, about the things Mir refused to speak about.

After a few minutes, Tavish recognized the familiar triangular church he’d attended every Sevenday of his childhood. And he’d never thought about what lay behind the building during all those years. The only thing he’d concentrated on during those services was avoiding the spiteful pinches from the sibling currently sitting next to him.

“If you helped Mir escape, why did I find them naked and hyperthermic with gaping wounds on their hip and foot?”

Zepish turned in his seat to face Tavish. “Because I underestimated them. I sent them to a cabin I had, then I went to disable the tracker. I intended to pick Mir up and get them somewhere safer. I have a long-term contact on the other side of the veil who has previously helped me with omegas I’ve gotten out. But—”

“You’re a veil traveler?”

Zep’s eyes widened a little, then he chuckled. “I should have known you’d somehow worked it out too. Did you cross by accident the first time, or did someone show you? I’ve always wondered how many of us have the gene.”

Zepish might be laying some cards on the table, but Tavish still didn’t trust his older sib as far as he could throw him. “That’s none of your business. So if you’ve got others out, why did you let Mir suffer for so long?”

“Mir…” He shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “Mir fought so damn hard, it made them a favorite of the more violent alphas, including Sakish. I only managed to smuggle out the ones who no longer held their interest.”

Tavish had seen plenty of omegas who no longer ‘held their alpha’s interest’. Broken wrecks who didn’t flinch or react in any way.

“Where’s Sakish?” he ground out, wishing he’d bitten that fucker’s neck just a little harder.

“Patched up and back home to recuperate. I’m meant to be making up with the family and trying to locate Mir.”

Tav spoke through gritted teeth. “And what are you meant to do if you find them?”

Zepish blew out a breath. “Do what I did the first time I met them. Take them back to the club. Last time it took a lot of drugs, myself, and two betas. Knowing Mir, even with Rowen to help and them being heavily pregnant, it’d be a tough ask.”

“She sure can kick and bite,” Rowen agreed, amusement in his voice. “I’ve still got a scar on my arm from where she bit me.”

Anger chased away the growing cobwebs in his head. “You think that’s funny? That someone is forced to act like an animal because they are so abused there isn’t—”

“Tav,” Zepish said sharply. “That was admiration. Rowen and I are both continuing to risk our lives to help.”

“Help? You call what you did fucking help? You destroyed their life, probably that of many other omegas too. I always thought you were an asshole, but kidnapping omegas and drugging them? Turning them into sex toys for some fucking experiment?”

“Tavish.” Zep’s voice was even, controlled, his expression neutral. The lack of fight dialed down his fury a touch. “I don’t expect you to understand me, and I don’t need your forgiveness, so spare me your righteous rage. I did what had to be done. Someone had to get their hands dirty so people like you could keep their halos. Yours still looks good on you, by the way.” Zep grinned, and Tav saw the echo of the arrogant bully he’d known as a pup.

Tav’s temples pulsed, vision throbbing with the urge to hit. His body shifted closer to Zep as he hissed, “Start talking, or I’m getting off. Your Mother Superior needs me for something, and I assume she won’t be happy if you lost me.”

Zep grimaced. “You’re not fun, as always. What do you want to know, baby brother?”

“Everything. Start with the beginning.”

Zep huffed out a wry laugh. “We haven’t got that long. But Mir was my first pick-up, my first real test; I didn’t have a choice. I—”

Tav’s eyes almost bugged out of his head. “You didn’t have a choice?“ Faced with the same blank expression, Tav flopped back in his seat. There was no arguing with these people. That this was sanctioned by the church boggled his mind.

“I believe in the principles of Malthusia, that the strongest should breed to improve the stock, and Mir is the strongest omega I’ve ever met.”

“That’s because Mir isn’t a damn omega, and we all know it.”

“And yet, Mir has given birth to my pups before, and might be about to again.” Devilish flames danced in Zep’s gray eyes. The bastard was enjoying trying to provoke him, just like when they’d been pups so he could justify beating up his little sib to Daven or Pa.

Stone cold, Tavish stared at his brother. “Mir is my mate. Remember that and forget about those pups. I’m already more of a Pa to them than you’ll ever be. They are mine. Mir is mine. If killing you and everyone else involved in this filthy business wouldn’t mean me spending the rest of my life in jail and away from Mir, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Zep nodded slowly. “I believe you would, and I would end up in the arms of the Almighty and others will take my place. Given my time over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Can you say that?”

Tavish didn’t reply. What was past was past. ‘What ifs’ were pointless. But the small beta voice remaining at the back of his head said that given a choice, his beta self would have weighed the facts logically and stayed a beta. His alpha heart ached with the betrayal of an omega he never would have met, never would have helped.

Zepish continued, uncaring of anything but his mission. “The veil trade needs to stop, and my evidence will help bring it to an end.” The gleam of fanaticism in his eye proved there was no point in arguing, just as there hadn’t been with the Mother Superior.

Exhaustion washed over Tavish. He needed rest, needed a few hours somewhere stress-free, before he started the hunt for Mir again. The rest of all this shit would have to wait until he could think all this through. He was a doctor for fuck’s sake, not a political activist. He knew what happened to people who loudly tried to change the status quo. All he wanted was to find Mir, take them back home, and mentally pull up a drawbridge, like the Blackwells. Impossible.

“I want to go to Dr. Alcott’s place.”

“I thought you wanted to see Mir?”

Tavish almost fell over his words as he rushed to answer. “Of course I do, but I thought they was with their siblings; I wasn’t sure they’d—”

“I said see, not meet. The Alpha League has had someone keeping an eye on the Reeve siblings for years. And yes, I’m a member. Those meetings are definitely a case of ‘grin and bear it’.” He shook his head. “Some of those assholes need putting down nearly as much as Sakish. But Mir isn’t the only Reeve sibling capable of creating trouble. I’ve had to argue damn hard against bringing at least the beta into the program.”

“That would have killed Mir.” Tavish didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Zepish replied.

“Seeing one of them go through that was bad enough, seeing two?” He shook his head. “The ‘specials’ as Sakish calls them always fight so damn hard.”

They were heading down the road to the city, but the journey would take at least a couple of hours, so Tav returned to the question that had forced his compliance in the bowels of the monastery.

“Where are Mir’s babies?”

Zepish didn’t hesitate. “Alive, but out of all of our reaches.”

“If you mean they are on the other side of the veil, which you can cross, is it a case of can’t or won’t reach them?”

Zepish huffed out a wry laugh. “Even if I could retrieve them, which I can’t, I wouldn’t. They are exactly where they need to be.”

“Stop being so damn cryptic.”

Zepish’s lips tipped up in a smirk. “Always did irritate the fuck out of you if you didn’t know something.”

“The Mother Superior said you’d tell me.”

“And she should have asked me first. But I might tell you, one day. Believe me, those pups won’t be harmed.”

Knowing he wouldn’t get any more out of Zep on that subject for now, but there were others who probably knew, including the beta driving the carriage. He turned to the question that burned in his gut. “Are they also yours? Mir told me you sired their first pregnancy.”

Zepish gave him a sharp look. “They knew that?”

“Mir was conscious when the doctor told someone on the radio. Along with the fact that they all had a genetic abnormality. Is it the same one the Mother Superior mentioned?”

Zepish blew out his cheeks, then released the air with a loud pop. “That wasn’t meant to happen, but those scientists know how to exploit an anomaly. The drug was meant to be used to improve the genetic stock by introducing stronger omegas, but as soon as the first babies were born… Sakish’s pro-sapien interaction faction ran with it. They purposefully sought out well-grown proto-alphas who no one would miss. They did their research and disguised the shot as a free government vaccination.”

If Tav had been involved in selecting participants for such a study, Mir would have been the ideal candidate, and he hated that he concurred, even intellectually, with such a proposal.

“That explains a lot. It took me ages to work out why Mir freaked out every time I mentioned I was a doctor. Usually, it calms patients down.” He frowned as the conversation had slipped away from his initial question.

“You didn’t say if Mir’s babies are yours.”

“Which ones?”

“All of them?”

Zepish wrinkled his nose. “Frankly, I don’t know, but it’s possible. I was around at the time, but so were a lot of other alphas.” He held up his hands. “Don’t go trying to punch me again; you already broke your hand on my eye. They was in heat, and I had to maintain my cover to get as much information on the program as possible.”

Tavish unclenched his unbroken hand. Despite trying not to use it, the tension in his broken one sent spikes of pain up his arm. He really needed an x-ray to see if the fracture was displaced. “Program?”

“And that is a completely different conversation, one that Mir deserves to hear too. Now get some sleep because I doubt you will when we get where we’re going.”

“Why?”

“Because if you’re as serious about Four as you claim, you won’t get—”

“Don’t call them that,” Tav snapped, teeth bared.

Zepish shrugged. “Sorry, old habits are hard to break. They went by that name for eight years. Do you know why?”

Tav swung a punch with his dominant hand, the one in the brace. Zep slapped it away with a laugh. Even that light contact radiated pain far worse than when he’d broken it on Zep’s face.

“Don’t growl, pup, or I’ll think you grew balls, but given you have no idea why Mir got that name, you haven’t.”

“You’re no better than Sakish,” Tavish spat, feeling as powerless as he had as a pup.

Zepish’s amusement vanished. “You can’t be more wrong, baby brother. He and I are as alike as you and me. I want him dead no less than you do. Maybe even more. Greed killed the sapien world, and I swear it won’t destroy Malthusia too.” He took a breath as if the subject had sucked all the air from his lungs. “Now take a nap, I’m tired of your questions, bookworm.” With a mean smile, Zep flicked Tav’s nose and turned away, leaving his younger sibling seething with the same burning embers of hate from his childhood.