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I don’t know how long it had been since Soren had been back in my life, but everything in my body now hurt. A throbbing ache like I’d been on a machine working me out for a solid week and the respite was just hitting now. I made it known from the moment I opened my eyes how much I was in pain, nearly in tears from the searing pain attacking me from all angles of my body.

“Hush,” Soren’s soft and sympathetic tone washed over me, as did a cool wet cloth, pressing to my forehead and rubbed down my chest. “You don’t look good.”

Opening my eyes, my entire body was breaking out in a small blotchy red spots. They didn’t itch, they just felt like hot pokers had been applied but without any of the actual burn markings, or branding.

“What did you have to eat? Or drink yesterday?” he asked.

“Only what you had,” I said burning turning my head over the side of the bed and throwing up. “I don’t know what it is. Oh god. I can’t take this.”

Soren continued to press the cold cloth to me, at the nape of my neck. “I hope it’s not my fault,” he said. “But it might be your bodies way of flushing out all the toxins you’ve consumed. You just need to keep throwing it up. Is there something you can—”

I threw up without thinking on the floor, and I would do it again if it meant the feeling left my throat and chest. And it did, there was an immediate relief after the spicy bile left my throat, coating my tongue and the inside of my mouth. “I think that’s it,” I said, coughing up the saliva now.

“Sip this,” Soren said, and as I turned my head, he was right there with a bottle of water, prepared the cap off. “Like yesterday, you need to take slow sips, and you need to practice breathing. These look like hives. What were you dreaming about?” He took my wrist and applied a small amount of pressure as he held it. “Heart rate is extremely elevated. If this was another panic attack, you’re gonna have to tell me what it is you’re so worried about with your family.”

I didn’t even know where to begin with that. My family weren’t going to let me go free. I couldn’t recall my dreams, but that wasn’t a new development. On the nice occasion when I had perfect recall of a dream, I was lucky, but this wasn’t one of those times. Whatever it was, it had been awful enough to provoke my body into betraying itself.

“Breathing,” Soren continued, softly over me. “And then, we need to actually eat. I wasn’t going to say anything last night because it was so late, but I’m actually really hungry.”

“We can go get food,” I said, even if the idea of putting anything solid in my mouth made me feel like I would immediately throw it back up. “As long as you’re ok with helping me get dressed. And coming with me.”

Soren quickly dropped the cloth. “Say less. I’ll sit on your chest, no scratching this time, I promise. And I’ll get to finally see all the food options. You might need to get more than enough.”

“Don’t worry,” I told him, sipping the water. The sharp acidic taste lingered in the back of my throat, forcing me to gag slightly. “I’ll make sure we get enough food.”

He was busy picking out my clothes from the closet, humming and nodding as if he wasn’t taking in anything I’d said. “Is there something special about the different clothes?”

“Not really,” I said. “I mean. Some of them are more uniform and look like what the others are wearing, but I’m not everyone, so I like to have my flair on everything.” I dressed like one of my brother’s advisors, rather than one of the commanders, another perk.

“Get all of that vomit up,” he said. “Otherwise, you’re gonna make a scene out there.”

“Well, being sick might not be the worst idea, it could get us into the doctors lab,” I said.

Soren paused and looked at me. “I didn’t think of that. I’m actually kinda surprised you did. I mean, not saying you don’t have good ideas, but considering everything you’re going through, it’s probably not the area of expertise. Making plans and all.”

There was no disrespect from it. I’d never been the greatest at making plans, hence why I fell in a bush and nearly got myself killed. It wasn’t even the first time I’d tried running away from home. Another memory flashed. Another repressed feeling, it all came up with another bout of vomit, this time, more liquid.

“You’re gonna have them wheel you out of the bedroom at this rate,” Soren said, stepping away from the side of the bed. “And if that happens, your brother will be right here and seeing that you haven’t been drinking his poison punch.” He gestured to the cup. “Speaking of, do you have anything we can take a test sample of.”

“I need to get my head on right before we do anything.”

“Ok, but we are in the viper’s pit.”

“I’m a pit viper, so the pit viper’s pit,” I joked, still hanging my head over the side of the bed in case my throat had that telling tingle again. “You’ll probably find something in a drawer. You just need a vial. There are vials.”

As I continued to sip the water and wait for my stomach to accept it, Soren searched my bedside table at the other side for vials, similar to the vials that were used to carry venom. These were unused and without any trace of venom. Wrapping my head around the suspect idea that my brother had poisoned me was still a shocker, and brought yet another tingle up where the cool water should’ve quelled.

No vomit arrived, just a dry heave.

My body stopped feeling lie a thousand lit daggers had been plunged into me and the taste of vomit vanished from my mouth soon after. Soren got me dressed as he continued to waltz around the bedroom in a pair of my boxers. He claimed they were freeing, and proceeded to ask how my cocks didn’t slip out of the bottom, or the pain of a wedgie going between them. It had happened and it was painful, but not nearly as painful as having two cocks that sometimes got hard at the same time.

With Soren shifted and settled against my chest, and me dressed and smelling nice once more, we headed to the canteen area. There was a single vial of the blood from the cup in my left pocket, I just had to remember that, in case I dipped a hand in there.

“Ok,” I whispered to Soren on my chest. “Left side of my chest means yes, right side means no, remember. So, whatever you want, just let me know.”

The canteen was busy during peak meal times. I should’ve known, but it didn’t take an Alpha with my level of hearing to know Soren’s stomach had been rumbling, or the bond we had that caused my stomach to rumble with sympathy in sync with him.

Doctor Rathe spotted me as I walked in. She had a clipboard in hand and waved at me. “You’re looking awfully pale,” she said. “I thought you managed to get more sun than most of us yesterday.”

“I’ve not been feeling too well,” I answered her. “I think it might’ve been all that sun, in fact. It’s the reason we’re burrowed so deep. All of that sun poisoning us isn’t good.”

“Sun poisoning is a very real fear,” she said.

“In fact, you’re just the person I wanted to speak to,” I said.

“Really? Well, we spoke to your assistant yesterday,” she said, leaning in and looking around the canteen. “Or at least someone claiming to be your assistant, they were asking a lot of questions. If I see them, I’ll point them out.”

Soren tugged at my chest hair, on the left side. “My assistant. Yeah. I’ve been taking one of them under my wing so to speak. I’m sure whatever they asked was for their own education. I did ask them to check on the omegas. I know there’s been a lot of curiosity since my brother announced his plans for them.”

“His plans,” Doctor Rathe chuckled. “You make it sound like he’s made all the decisions unilaterally. You know the plans. Well, if you need to come and take any medical tests at the lab, I’ll happily run them. Your life is important to us, Vasilis. This place wouldn’t be up and running without a Vepres at the head.”

Soren tugged on the right side, seeming to disapprove of her words. “You’re right,” I told her. “The Syndicate wouldn’t be the same without a Vepres. Is my brother around anywhere?”

She shrugged. “Last I saw of him, was early this morning. He wanted to know if we could make any progress faster. Which brings me to another thing. Someone took a lot of needles from omega bay one. So, if you see any of the soldiers out there particularly high, let the Apex know.”

I could feel Soren giggling, although not a physical giggle, but the manifestation of one. It forced me to smile in the face of bad news. “I will do.”

“Great,” she said. “And we’re all looking forward to the offspring this experiment will bring. Things are being set up at the place in Georgia. Will you be relocating?”

“Georgia?”

She laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m asking too many questions. This is far too early, and I’ve been awake far too long already.”

Soren had promised not to scratch up my chest today, but he was certainly making it up for it with all the hair pulling as if I’d left him out of some seriously big secrets. I didn’t know half of it.

As Doctor Rathe left, I went to the buffet style serving stations. My mind trying to process what I’d been told, and also feeling out what Soren wanted. I piled a tray with mostly rice and vegetables. He declined all the meat options I mentioned. I didn’t blame him, I didn’t know where the meat came from, and they could’ve been closely related to his current shifted form. It was a horrible thought, it weakened the pit of my stomach.

Naja caught me before I could leave with my tray of food. She stood at the large open door with her tablet pressed to her chest and a smug look on her very painted pretty face. Or, the natural blood rouging she applied daily with a pinch and a bite. “The people need to see you in here, mingling with them,” she said. “If they think you think you’re above eating with them, they might begin to hate you, more than they already do.”

“They don’t hate me,” I said, glancing into the canteen full of soldiers under my command. “And if they do, they’ll soon find out that hating me means they can find somewhere else to live and mooch from.”

She smirked. “And no meat, what is this?” she asked. “These aren’t going to give you the necessary boost you need to fulfill your duties.”

“Why are you on my back, Naja?”

“Because I’m your brother’s eyes and ears.”

“The Apex,” I corrected her as she had done to me many times before. “Yes.”

“Yes. While he’s occupied, I’m here to make sure everyone stays in line.”

All I wanted was for Soren to eat, and he couldn’t do that here. “What do you know about the Georgia compound?”

Her eyes widened. “That’s on a need to know basis,” she said. “Your family home is being transformed for the offspring. They can’t exactly grow up here underground. They need to be around prey they can snap the tiny necks of.”

“Like who?”

“There’s a lot of people in this world the Syndicate plans to take care of, and once there’s more Vepres pit vipers in this world, I’m not so sure your position within the organization will be so safe,” she said, screwing her lips together like she was mushing lipstick on them. “Just something to think about while you’re elsewhere eating, and these soldiers think you’re abandoning them.”

The more information I got now, the better I could combat it later. I didn’t like this new approach which seems to have been the approach this entire time. Obviously, I was the black snake in the family, cast aside, or under the strict supervision of someone I dreamed of tearing scale by scale.

Once we got back to my room, I nearly threw the plate of food across the bed. I placed it with my shaking hands. Hot under my collar and an itch at my neck all happened in quick succession. Soren was right there, shifting into human form and pressing his mostly naked body to me in an embrace.

“It’s ok,” he said. “These people are wicked. And you’re going to get back at them.”

“I just—” my fingers fumbled to undo the shirt, and I was slapped away from undressing.

“Apply the cloth,” he said. “And breath. You need to practice your breathing, otherwise you’re going to frustrate yourself and make it a million times worse.”

Soren was the only person I could trust right now. He might’ve been using me to get what he wanted, but it wasn’t like he was manipulating me to bring life into this world, going against one of my core beliefs. I shouldn’t bring children into this world when my blood was a curse, and yet so many thirsted after it. It was difficult to seek sympathy from anyone who was the same type.