Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

ter factions voted against it, and my father was forced to close the laboratories. After two more years, he decided to take the risk of opening them again, under the most extreme secrecy. You see, Max, I don’t always agree with my dad. He has his flaws and little obsessions. But, I do agree with him when he says that the shifter representatives didn’t look at all the possibilities a cure for their venom might bring. They chose to be blinded by their fear and paranoia, and failed to see the greatest advantage of this vaccine.”

A long, almost uncomfortable pause. “Which is?”

“Hybrids, Max. Hybrids.”

“Hybrids?”

Even Delyse was now staring dumbfounded at her brother. It was obvious she was hearing this for the first time.

“Not entirely human, not entirely animal. The shape-shifter genes are so strong that they completely overpower the human genes. This is why the result of the union between a shifter male and a human female will always be a shifter. No exception. But a vaccine, an antidote made of your own venom combined with uniquely human molecules, can turn a shape-shifter into a hybrid. It can make you half human, half werewolf. You would still have the strength, power, and heightened senses of a werewolf, as well as the long lifespan, but you would never have to turn into your wolf form ever again. In fact, it would take away that ability.”

Max blinked a couple of times in confusion. “And how exactly would that benefit us?”

“You would be more like us, and we would be more like you. The species would meet half way.” James sat up to take his cup of coffee and take a sip. He didn’t set it back on the table. “And the thing that may interest you most: your female shifters would be able to procreate again.”

“Wow!” For a minute, Max found it impossible to say anything else. He rubbed his short beard in deep thought, trying to wrap his mind around the new information. He hadn’t expected that. No, he hadn’t expected that at all. “And you’ve managed to prove that, or are you only working with theories?”

“We’ve tested the vaccine, and it works exactly as I’ve described.”

“How did you get the subjects, if you don’t mind me asking?”

James smiled. “I do mind.”

For a second, Max was taken aback by the blunt answer. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it implied. He tried to stir his mind in a different direction. He eyed the phial on the glass table again and the trick worked.

“What you’re saying… sounds wonderful. However, there are many implications to it. I wouldn’t know of any shape-shifters who would give up their ability to shift. The majority of us were born with it.”

“But you do agree that it can be a solution for those who weren’t born with it. Those who were turned before and during the war.”

Sabine’s dark brown eyes flashed through Max’s mind. “Yes… If they want it.”

“All of them want it, believe me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

“You’re thinking of your ex-bride, Sabine. Don’t you think this cure would be a blessing for her?”

Max took a moment to think about his question. He thought of Sabine as she had been when he returned to the Schloss after the war was over, of her turning before him to show him how well she had learned to control the change. He had no idea how she had been as a human, but he knew she loved to run through the woods in her wolf form. “No. I don’t think she’d take it. She’d always loved being a werewolf, enjoyed every second of it.”

“Except when she went mad with jealousy thinking that you were cheating on her because she couldn’t get pregnant. The cure would take her wolf from her, but would give her a fertile womb. A new chance at happiness.”

“I don’t think that would work out so well.” Delyse’s soft voice startled them both. They turned towards her, and she looked at them hesitatingly, almost feeling sorry for having intervened. Well, there was no turning back now. She rarely disagreed with her brother, but when he was wrong, he was wrong and she had to let him know. “Maybe she’d give up on her wolf and take the cure, but then she’d just want to destroy Avelyn. I can’t claim that I know Sabine or understand her, but from what Avelyn told me, it doesn’t seem like her obsession with you,” she turned to Max, “has anything to do with the fact that she was turned into a werewolf and taken away the chance to ever become a mother. If things had been different, she would have done the same. Jealousy is not something one develops in time, under certain circumstances. My two cents is she’s always been that way, you just didn’t see it.”

Max smiled at Delyse. “You’re right. Thank you for that.”

“All right,” said James. “I see how your ex-bride becoming a hybrid would do you and Avelyn more harm. Nonetheless, you get my point. Even if there wouldn’t be too many shape-shifters thrilled at the idea of the vaccine, at least they would know it’s there and they have a choice. Don’t you think it’s only fair for the members of your species, born or turned, to have a choice?”

“With that I can’t argue,” said Max. “Sure, having a choice is always a good idea. It would also mean humans would have a choice. They could turn, become stronger and faster, get a longer lifespan, then take the cure and ditch the ability to shift. As you said, it can bring the species to the same level.”

“And wouldn’t that be… fair?”

There was a small challenge in Harington’s voice, and Max didn’t miss it. While humans dominated through sheer number, shape-shifters dominated through physical strength and magical abilities often too complicated and enigmatic to comprehend. The possibility of humans being brought to the shifters’ level was frightening to say the least, but it might as well have been the novelty of the notion that made Max uncomfortable. A fleeting thought crossed his mind: he was probably feeling now exactly how the Councilors of the shifter factions felt when Arthur Harington presented his project to them.

“Yes, I guess it would be only fair.” For now, he had to agree with the young Harington. He needed the cure for Avelyn. He could reconsider all the implications of a globally distributed vaccine and make up his mind later.

James nodded, his expression sober. “I’m sorry. I’m very passionate about my job and I often get sidetracked when I talk about it.”

“No problem.”