Vengeful Bonds - S 2 - Ep. 15 - Loch (Patreon)

Unbeta'd/UneditedLochLoch exchanged worried looks with Fen as Ollie stiffened at the mention of the baby. The silence grew charged as everyone tried to decide whether to acknowledge Deke’s statement or not. This was the first time Loch had heard anyone even admit there was a baby in Ollie’s presence. They’d all been walking on eggshells around the former beta, whispering to each other behind closed doors. With a baby on the way, there were plans to make, things to prepare, tasks to get done. The first baby born into a pack was always a learning experience, but a baby born into a pack this new, under circumstances like this, was something else altogether. Ollie and the baby needed to be protected above all other things. But that couldn’t happen if the father of the child refused to admit there was a child in the first place. They all watched, holding their breaths, waiting to see whether Ollie would make an excuse to leave the room like he usually did or whether he’d finally admit what they all knew. Ollie chose option C, continuing on as if he hadn’t heard that part. “There’s a note he made that he titled Super Alpha with a question mark. He underlined it twice. His notes are a shorthand of sorts but luckily someone else had to do all the heavy lifting by transcribing it. I took a picture of it.”They all gathered around Ollie. Loch handed him his phone back and tried to stay patient as the former beta found the photo, presenting it for all to see. They all pressed in, straining to see the little screen. It was all there, in Times New Roman, black font on a snow white page. But it was clearly someone’s own version of shorthand. Overview: Enigma = Super Alphas? mystery + awe. Can change secondary genders (unconscious ability). Origins unknown, just fragments + cryptic refs.Historical Accounts: Across cultures, rare mentions. Powerful Alpha, changes bio + psych traits of others. Mixed blessing/curse - brings prosperity or chaos.Origins/Lineage: Origins obscure. Legends: Enigma appears once per several generations, in a specific, dominant alpha bloodline or via unique genetic + cosmic forces. Truth unknown, adds to fear + intrigue.Characteristics/Abilities: - Gender Alteration: Changes others’ secondary genders w/o control. - Unmatched Dominance: Physical + psych dominance, commands respect/authority. - Aura of Influence: Supernatural aura, others react strongly.- Rarity/Sightings: Rare sightings, contradictory records. Few encountered, fewer survived to tell.Theories/Questions: - Divine intervention or natural evolution? - Can Enigma control power or victim of it too? - More than one Enigma at a time?Conclusion: Enigma = myth’s most perplexing figure. Truth elusive. Inspires reverence + fear.Loch chewed over the notes, wondering if maybe there might be more, something to explain what the hell any of that meant. Brought prosperity or chaos. Well, they certainly had the chaos down. Loch read it again. Then again. It contained so little but alluded to so much. There had to be more research, more notes. Where was the rest of Shane’s research? “His notes read like there’s more,” he said. “Like he was referencing other source materials. You didn’t find anything?”Ollie shook his head. “We’ve been at that library for weeks and nothing. This was stuffed between a bunch of notes on a 1940’s archeological dig funded by the university. I obviously plan on going back but I think this was just misfiled. A literal fluke.” “Are we sure there’s more?” Saint asked. “He references conflicting information,” San said. “He got that information from somewhere.” “Couldn’t he have been referencing oral retellings about the enigma?” Saint asked. “A lot of myths are handed down this way. Look at indigenous cultures or closed practice witchcraft like Voodoo. Some cultures don’t want outsiders involved unless they’re invited in. Hell, even I heard about the enigma that way.”“Then if he did hear about the enigma through word of mouth, where’s the rest of Shane’s own research?” Fen asked. “I can’t imagine someone who’s thesis was on secondary genders and mythology would be willing to let something like this go.” Binnie nodded. “Yeah and why is this one piece of paper floating around alone? It doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This was Shane’s focus. He wouldn’t have just tossed it aside. Right?” “Couldn’t it just be that they haven’t uploaded the rest of the research notes online?” Seth asked. “Maybe it's some college students' work-study job and they just haven’t gotten to it yet. Someone went to the trouble of transcribing the notes in the first place. Maybe it's only a priority to us because we know Deke—an actual enigma—exists, you know?” Ollie nodded. “But Shane’s notes indicate he’d been looking into previous studies. Studies involve research and research has protocols that must be followed if their findings are to have any merit. So where are the studies? Clinical research is published in journals and those journals are easily accessed online for academics and students. But there’s nothing. At all. It’s weird.” Loch frowned. “Are you implying someone has wiped the internet of any reference to enigmas?” “I’m not implying it, I’m flat out saying it,” Ollie said. “I’m telling you someone out there knows something about Deke and this enigma and they’ve gone out of their way to bury their existence.” Loch mulled that over. Ollie was the sensible one, the rational one. But he was reading between the lines on this one pretty heavily. This could be nothing more than just a professor’s throwaway notes on a subject running adjacent to his thesis topic. Maybe it ended up in a junk pile in the university library because it meant nothing. Or maybe Ollie was right and this Shane knew way more than they thought. “Who has the power to disappear something off the internet forever?” San asked. “The government,” Binnie said. Fen grimaced. “Cerberus.” “Oh, good. And here I thought it might be someone scary,” Seth deadpanned, face-planting into Saint’s shoulder. “Can’t we just have one easy thing to solve? Just one? When did we become The Scooby Gang?”Loch agreed with Seth. It would be great if just one thing was easy. Loch had spent over ten years leading soldiers into dangerous territories for many reasons, some trivial, some catastrophic. But leading this pack seemed to throw something new at him every single day. He’d always considered himself a good leader: clear, decisive, fair. But now he wondered how many of their successful missions were due to his leadership and how many were due to just having people like Ollie on his team to do the heavy lifting in advance? Maybe he was doing the pack a disservice by leading. There were four other alphas in this pack, maybe Saint or Binnie would have been a better call? Hell, maybe Deke, as an enigma, was meant to lead them all. The alpha of alphas. There were other notes that concerned him. Things beyond further research. The notes reference an alpha only being able to change someone physically but having some kind of power over people psychologically? Psychically? Loch snuck a peek at their youngest member who appeared to have checked out of the conversation. He stared straight ahead, eyes red and puffy. Deke was a hyper kid. Smart. Funny. It had made sense to Loch he’d be drawn to things like acting and special effects makeup. But his light was growing dimmer by the hour. He was worried for him. He startled as Fen’s hand touched his back. When he looked at his mate, the omega frowned, clearly sensing his distress. Loch gave a brief headshake, letting Fen know that they would discuss it later. Fen gave him a barely there nod to let him know he got the message. When the others all flopped back into their original seats, Loch began to pace, trying to unravel the ball of yarn that grew bigger every day. “Ollie, what’s our next move with this?” he finally asked. “I want to talk to Shane,” Ollie said without hesitation. “He’s still in the city, he just left for a better teaching position across town.” Deke’s gaze snapped to his mate. “I’m going with you.”Ollie hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Deke frowned. “Why?” “Because if Shane knows what an enigma is and he comes into contact with one, he might put two and two together,” Ollie reasoned. “You’re not going alone,” Deke said. “You didn’t worry about me being at the university with you while we were researching my secondary gender. Why are you freaking out now?” “If Shane buried his own research on the subject then there’s a chance he was bought off or bribed somehow. Maybe even threatened. He might not be our friend. I don’t want you getting hurt.” “And I don’t want you talking to someone who might be working with people who would want to erase any trace of my existence,” Deke countered. “Especially when you’re carrying proof of my existence inside you.” “Baby…” Ollie started, voice full of patience. “Don’t ‘baby’ me,” Deke said, his voice sharp. “I’m not some little kid you can put in time out. This is all happening because of me. You’re an omega because of me, you’re pregnant because of me. My dad might be dead because of me. You aren’t putting me on the sidelines for this so stop trying.” “Okay,” Loch said, before the conversation could devolve into a fight. “Here’s what we’re going to do.” When they all looked at him, he continued. “Deke and Ollie will head to the university to talk to Shane. You will be very discreet. Tell them that you’re students at the local university doing research on…mythology or something. If he doesn’t give up anything, push him a little, but back off if he starts to get suspicious.”Ollie nodded then looked to Deke who also reluctantly nodded before saying, “Fine.” Loch understood Deke’s frustration. Twenty-two was a weird age. Loch had already been in the military for four years by then, but had only been allowed to drink for one. He was leading missions into enemy territories but he’d had to google how to write a check. Deke was at that age where he wasn’t a child, but still lacked a lot of life experience. It was a strange dichotomy, especially for an alpha. Society had a lot of absurd expectations on what that title meant when it was just an accident of biology not an identity.“Saint, I need you to look into Deke’s father’s death. Talk to his coworkers, his friends. This wasn’t a road rage incident, it was an execution. If it isn’t about Deke then it could be about some trouble he’d been in that he couldn’t dig his way out of. If that’s the case, we’ll leave it to the authorities.” “I’ll go with him,” Binnie said. “We can go tomorrow after work.” “Fen, put a pin in the Stirling research for now,” Loch said softly, hoping Fen trusted him enough to know he wasn’t dismissing the reason they all started this in the first place. “Okay,” he said softly. “What do I need to do instead?” “We need to make changing Ollie’s secondary gender in the National Registry the priority.” He looked at Ollie’s belly. “We are under a time constraint. We only have about eight months if we’re lucky.” Fen nodded, giving Ollie a reassuring smile. The other’s however just looked at the former beta like they weren’t sure whether they were allowed to acknowledge the baby yet. Ollie scrubbed his hands over his face, then groaned. “Stop staring at me. We all know the truth. There’s a baby in here. I know, okay. I know. I just…needed a minute to process. I went from being a beta who could never get pregnant to an omega who is pregnant in a shockingly short amount of time. I just…freaked out. I’m still freaking out.” “That brings up another issue,” San said. “Like, not to put too fine a point on it but Deke needs to go take his blood test so he can be added to the National Registry. What if his alleles show he’s something other than a plain ol’ alpha.” Fuck. Loch hadn’t even considered that. The National Registry wasn’t optional. Upon completion of one’s initial presentation they had to go to an approved lab and fill out a bunch of forms and get registered and have their driver’s license updated with their secondary gender. “Can’t he just not do it?” Seth asked. “Like, isn’t it just a matter of paperwork? What’s the penalty for failing to report your secondary gender in a timely manner? Has to be a slap on the wrist, right?” “The concern isn’t the fine, though it is hefty,” Binnie said. “The concern is how suspicious it would look should Deke get caught. It might trigger some kind of internal investigation, which could bring us right back to them potentially finding something weird about Deke’s DNA.” “Why don’t we just do our own DNA test?” Fen asked. Loch arched a brow, amused. “I know this house is huge and full of surprises but I didn’t recall seeing a lab in the basement.” Fen rolled his eyes. “I’m saying, let's get one of those DNA kits online and have them run Deke’s DNA.” “How is that any different than a normal DNA test at a doctor’s office?” San asked. “Isn’t there the risk of them reporting Deke if there’s something odd about his genetic makeup?” “Depends on the lab,” Fen said. “A few years ago, there was a court case where they used a relative’s private DNA profile to find a murderer.” “I remember that,” Seth said. “I watched a documentary about it.” “Ever since then, labs have been using that case in their advertising stressing how the won’t ever share your DNA profile with anyone even with a court order.” “How does that help with the National Registry?” Binnie asked. “He’s still going to have to go to a sanctioned lab to get his blood work done eventually, no?” Ollie shook his head. “Yeah, eventually. But Fenny is onto something. If there’s something weird in Deke’s DNA, the private company will flag it first. Then they’ll tell us.”“But isn’t there a chance that they’ll use that information to their advantage?” San asked. “The average lab tech isn’t going to have any idea there’s something bigger at play. They’ll likely chalk up any abnormal results to a corrupted blood sample and request a new sample,” Ollie reasoned. “Either way, we’ll know what we’re up against and we can weigh the risks of Deke registering versus having Fenny possibly adding him to the registry when he handles the Ollie thing,” Seth added. “What’s the turnaround time on a DNA test like that?” Loch asked. Fen pulled out his phone, presumably looking for the answer. After a moment, he said, “We can buy the kit online. It will take a day to get and a day to send it back, then results are usually available within forty-eight hours. If we order now, we could have the results within the next five days or so.” “Are we sure it’s safe?” Saint asked. “Like, how do we know the government isn’t monitoring them without their knowledge? I’m not trying to sound like a conspiracy nut or anything but after working for Cerberus, I’m a little paranoid.” “Technically, we don’t. I still think it's our safest bet,” Loch said. “It could be nothing. Deke’s DNA could look like every other alpha out there.” “Truthfully, knowing Deke’s genealogy and origins might help us figure out how an enigma comes to exist in the first place,” Ollie said. “If it's as rare as it appears to be, then surely it could be familial.” Familial. Family. Deke’s family. A sudden heaviness fell over Loch as he looked at Deke. “Speaking of…do you want to attend your father’s memorial?” Deke looked up, eyes going wide. “It hasn’t happened yet?” Loch grimaced. “It’s tonight. In about two hours. Do you want to attend?” Deke looked at Ollie, his sudden distress sour on Loch's tongue. “Do we?” Ollie shook his head. “I can’t make that call for you. If you want to go and see your brothers and say goodbye to your dad, we can. If you don’t, that’s fine too.” “I promise I won’t pull the alpha card often, but I’m doing it tonight,” Loch said. “If you go, we go. As a pack. There’s safety in numbers and we don’t know who killed your father or if they’re planning on attending.” “It might be a good idea to have eyes outside the place just to see who comes and goes. If it is a government hit, someone might show at the funeral to see if anyone is talking,” Saint said. Loch nodded. “Good point. But if you don’t want to go, any of us can go park outside the place and watch to see who’s coming and going. You don’t have to go in.” Deke chewed on his lower lip, clearly giving the idea his consideration. “I think…I think I want to go,” Deke said faintly. After a minute, he said it again but this time with far more confidence. “I want to go.”