Unnatural - Alessandra Hazard Page 0,27

the chair next to Haydn’s.

Every muscle in Royce’s body seemed to stiffen.

Haydn laid a calming hand on his arm and glared at his cousin. “Why are you back so soon?” Alphas were still keyed up after their ruts and didn’t like strangers in their home.

Devin’s green eyes flicked toward Royce. “I called Belinda. She said his rut was over.” He raised his eyebrows, looking at Haydn. “Did he piss all over you? You smell like he pissed all over you, several times.”

Haydn tried to ignore the heat creeping up his face again. No, he just came all over my face—and my mouth.

He carefully didn’t look at Royce. “You still shouldn’t have returned so soon after Royce’s rut. You know it’s not ideal.”

Devlin retrieved something from his pocket. “I just remembered that I forgot to give you your medicine. Your mother insisted that I give it to you as soon as I got on board the plane, but I forgot.”

“Oh,” Haydn said, slightly mollified as he accepted the familiar white bottle. He’d been running low on it. It was a good thing his mother remembered.

“What medicine?” Royce said, eyeing the bottle with a frown on his face. “Why doesn’t it have any brand name?”

Haydn shrugged. “Because the drug hasn’t been certified yet. I’ve been told it’s rather experimental.”

Royce’s arm stiffened under his hand again. “Why? Are you sick?”

Stroking his wrist absentmindedly, Haydn sighed. “I have a rare genetic disorder. It’s pretty much a bad allergy to something in my body. I’ve had it since I was born. If I stop taking my medicine...” He winced. “The one time I forgot to take my pills, it wasn’t pretty. I felt so shitty I thought I was dying. I could barely breathe and had a fever so high it caused seizures.”

Royce’s brows furrowed. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing of this?”

Haydn smiled at him, touched by the concern in Royce’s scent. He suddenly felt a rush of gratefulness to Prime Minister Taube for choosing Royce for him and not someone else.

“Because there was no need,” he explained patiently, stroking Royce’s tense arm. “I never forget to take my medicine. I like breathing. You have nothing to worry about.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Devlin muttered. “Stop making googly eyes at him. It’s ruining my appetite.”

Haydn scowled at him, but Royce completely ignored Devlin, his intent gaze still on Haydn. “I don’t like it,” he said curtly, the scent of thunderstorm and wet soil becoming predominant in the room, despite the presence of a Xeus.

Frowning, Haydn cocked his head to the side. “Is your scent-blocker malfunctioning? You don’t smell like a beta anymore.”

“Yeah, you definitely don’t,” Devlin said.

Something grim settled over Royce’s features. “My implant is fully functional. I’ve checked.” Before Haydn could say that this couldn’t possibly be right, Royce shook his head. “I’m aware of the problem: Belinda told me about it first thing in the morning. But I don’t know how to fix it. My beta implant is completely functional. I just seem to be exuding more pheromones than usual and the implant can’t mask them anymore.”

Oh.

“Maybe it’s just the rut,” Haydn said slowly. “Maybe the problem will go away once your hormones settle after your rut.”

Royce looked down, his lips pursing briefly. “Maybe. Let’s hope the problem will go away before I have to return to work the day after tomorrow.”

But what if it didn’t?

Chapter Thirteen

“What are we going to do?” Vagrippa said, wringing her hands. She was pale, her normally impeccably coiffed hair in slight disarray. “I’m going to be in so much trouble for falsifying your presentation documents. I can’t even blame it on your father, because he was off-world when you presented!”

Royce’s face was grave, his body tense beside Haydn. His scent was pure alpha now, strong and difficult to ignore. At least Haydn couldn’t ignore it, Royce’s scent the only thing he could smell. Granted, it probably didn’t help that they were sitting so close, but they didn’t sit any other way these days. Royce’s territorial behavior hadn’t abated at all since his rut. He was always all over Haydn’s personal space, and every time Haydn had tried to get some space between them, Royce just crowded him and scent-marked him so thoroughly Haydn’s mind became hazy and unfocused from all the pheromones.

Devlin had actually said that Haydn looked a little high all the time now. “Are you fucking him or not?” he had said yesterday. When Haydn had flushed and said a vehement no, Devlin looked