Page 59 of Their Marked Mate

She only knew Kai by reputation, so she didn’t comment.

The pack alphas arrived a short time later and took control of their misbehaving males.

“Show’s over,” Alex called out to the onlookers. “Go home or I’ll put you all to work!”

The crowd gradually broke up and then Alex took Luna by the hand and started walking back to their cabin. Anger radiated off him in palpable waves. She was glad that he hadn’t berated her in public, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was heading toward a long and painful evening.

They reached the cabin in silence and Alex led her into the living room before beginning the unpleasant conversation. He faced Luna and asked, “Do you understand what you just witnessed?”

She nodded, shame and regret making it hard to speak. “Shannon paid the price for my ambition.”

“I agree, but that’s not what I meant. Do you understand the physiological cause for what you just witnessed?”

He knew damn well that she did, but apparently he needed to hear her say it. “Shannon went into heat and it sent her compatible males into a mating frenzy.”

“The bastards at Nuevo called it the omega effect.” Alex paused, giving her a moment to absorb the implications. “When an omega goes into heat it drives her genetically compatible males insane. Technically, she starts the process, but none of them are in control. The only way the bastards found to avoid the frenzy was to give control of the mating bond to male hybrids. It was never about subjugating the females. It’s simply a biological fact. Male hybrids are stronger than females. They are able to control the impulses, while females are not.”

“Why didn’t you warn me,” she snapped, furious that he would allow this to happen.

“I did,” Alex flared angrily. “You were so determined to gain the upper hand that you didn’t believe me.”

“The omega effect? I have never heard that term before,” she objected.

“He told you that there had been significant complications when the bastards at Nuevo tried to make the females less vulnerable,” Nate reminded, his expression nearly as stern as Alex’s. “You knelt there and rolled your eyes at him.”

The scene played back through Luna’s mind. Alex had been spanking her at the time. He suddenly rocked her back onto her knees and made her look at him. Then he’d said, they tried this at Nuevo, and it resulted in horrible side effects. You need to go back to the original formula.

Her response had been, yeah, right. And like Nate said, she rolled her eyes. She’d said something about the males needing to give up control if they wanted babies.

Obviously angered by her flippant attitude, Alex said, have it your way, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

The last phrase echoed through Luna’s mind, mocking her, damning her. This was her fault, not his. She had no one to blame but herself. “Could you have stopped this from happening if I hadn’t pissed you off?”

“If I could sequence DNA, I wouldn’t need you,” he snapped, still angry. He took a deep breath and continued in a less hostile tone. “The omega effect didn’t develop with every female, and your formula was different from theirs. I was waiting to see if it was even a problem. Things had been going so well, I hoped it was a nonissue.”

Their mind link was still active, so she knew his words were true. However, she also sensed a hint of smugness, which warned that he’d been punishing her with his silence. The problem was by keeping the information to himself, Shannon was the one he’d punished, not Luna.

“Shannon has only had two of the injections,” Luna digressed. “Her transformation is incomplete. Why did this happen now?” More than expecting an answer from her companions, Luna was trying to make sense of the events in her own mind.

“You chose the three-stage transformation,” Alex reminded.

“The first injection triggered activation,” Luna murmured. “The second triggered acquisition.”

“And you just saw how an omega acquires her mates,” Alex stressed.

“Shit,” Luna muttered, clearly seeing where she went wrong. “How long will the frenzy last?”

“Three to five days,” Nate predicted. “They won’t hurt her,” he stressed as he moved closer to Luna. “We can’t help but be protective of our mates. Shannon is safe with them.”

“As long as we keep them separate from each other,” she clarified with a faint smile.

“They’ll work that out too,” Alex assured her. “We’ll likely need to break up another fight or two, but they will learn to live together. They’re a pack now whether they like it or not.”

But poor Shannon. Had she even interacted with those males before the frenzy hit them?

“It can’t be changed, so torturing yourself serves no purpose,” Alex said firmly.

“What about Tianna and Jill? They have each had the first injection but I’m not sure it’s wise to alter the formula mid-treatment.”