Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Neither of them broke it.
He waited, eyes closed, until the soft click of the door ended it.
It felt final.
Chapter 22
“I’m sorry, Michael.”
Michael clenched his jaw, hating how pitying Hugh sounded. “It’s not reversible?”
A deep furrow appeared between Hugh’s brows. “It doesn’t look like it. Granted, there’s a lot we don’t understand about such body transformations, but I can’t imagine what it would take to fix you.”
Fix you.
His stomach knotted, a wave of nausea settling in.
“But I’m healthy?” Michael said, with barely any inflection in his voice.
“You are, for an omega.” Hugh studied the chart in his hands thoughtfully. “Some of your readings are off for an omega, but that’s to be expected.” He lifted his gaze to Michael, his expression serious. “Have you decided how to handle it?”
“What are my options?”
“There are two options,” Hugh said. “We could put you on suppressants. Strong suppressants would block your heats and scent completely.” He frowned. “I wouldn’t recommend that option for you because we don’t know how your body would react to us messing with your hormones again. But if that’s what you want, we can do it. Ultimately, what you’re more comfortable with is more important.”
“And the other option?”
“We could put a scent-blocking implant under your skin. It wouldn’t change your hormones—just suppress your scent and dull your own senses, effectively making you smell like a beta.” Hugh seemed to hesitate. “I could also discreetly find an alpha implant for you so that you smell like an alpha. It’s illegal to falsify your designation, of course, but I think in this case, it’s justified. You are an alpha who was forced to become something you didn’t want to be. You should be treated like your true self.”
Michael wondered if he was supposed to feel relieved and grateful for this solution. He knew Hugh meant well.
But it only made him more uncomfortable. As if he were lesser now than he’d been.
He couldn’t help but notice that Hugh hadn’t even considered the option of not hiding his new designation, as if it were a given that he would want to hide it.
But it was, wasn’t it? Surely he didn’t want people to gawk at him? A powerful alpha suddenly becoming an omega would be the scandal of the century. Hugh was right not to even consider that as an option for him.
So why did the options laid before him make him feel so claustrophobic?
“I’ll take the second option,” Michael said. “If you could find me an alpha implant, I would be grateful.”
Hugh nodded, looking unsurprised. He seemed to hesitate before saying cautiously, “I have to warn you that even though your scent and sense of smell will be greatly diminished, the implant will not suppress your hormones or pheromones. Alphas will not be able to smell your omega scent, but they will still be drawn to you on some level if there’s compatibility. Scent is just one aspect of pheromones, after all. You may have to act more aggressive to avoid suspicion, especially around the full moon. Vos omegas don’t have particularly strong heats, but their pheromones do become stronger around the full moon.”
Michael just nodded, already feeling exhausted by all the pretending he’d have to do.
“You’re probably wondering what you’re going to do when it comes to marriage,” Hugh said.
Michael blinked. It hadn’t even occurred to him, but now it definitely did.
“You’ll still have some options,” Hugh said. “Obviously I can’t reveal any names due to doctor-patient confidentiality, but there are omegas who prefer omegas and would be happy to marry you.”
Michael’s stomach felt like it was full of lead. “Right,” he said. “Let’s—let’s talk about it later. Not now.”
He still felt queasy by the time he left Hugh’s office, smelling like an alpha again thanks to the implant. He was grateful for his dulled sense of smell, because the fake alpha scent put him on edge. While it did smell similar to how he used to smell, it felt foreign to his new body, as if there was a strange alpha in his personal space. It grated on him, setting his nerves on edge, but this was his new reality. He’d have to get used to it.
Michael glanced at his phone. He didn’t have any missed calls or texts. His thumb hovered over Anthony’s name in his contacts.
No, damn it. He was angry at Anthony. Wasn’t he?
But he didn’t force you, a small, needy voice chimed in. He didn’t force you to keep spreading your legs for him for months. It wasn’t his fault that you couldn’t live without his knot even during your rut.
Even thinking about it made him ache between his thighs. Michael had to squeeze them together to ease the ache, the throbbing need inside of him. It was such a strange, foreign feeling. He’d loved being fucked by Anthony, but he’d never longed for it like this, his hole literally aching with the need to be filled up. Was that how omegas felt arousal? How did they not ruin their trousers all the time? It was fucking horrible. And oddly addicting too.