Wait. Sando froze. His other symptoms. His hormone-related issues. He’d all but forgotten about them with everything else going on, but now the thought of having babies was at the forefront of his mind. He hadn’t noticed any more changes…had he?
He stripped in seconds, then grabbed the measuring tape he had in his bedside table and walked to his bathroom. Measuring himself was routine by now, and a few seconds later, he had his affirmation. His growth had stopped again. He raised his arms and studied the few hairs in his armpits. Examining his pubic hair meant dragging a chair over to the bathroom, so he could stand high enough to see himself. No changes there either, not in the amount of hair or the size of his balls.
His growth had stopped again, which suggested his hormone levels had decreased again, even after he’d had his first heat. Could he be pregnant? He rubbed his flat stomach, standing sideways so he could get a good look at himself. His vague symptoms did fit, but it would have been visible by now because his heat had been over two months ago. Still, he should take a pregnancy test to rule it out, but his intuition said it was something else. But what?
He frowned as he climbed off the chair and slowly put it back, then got dressed. He’d felt different after his heat, but he’d attributed it to his exhaustion and stress over dealing with his father. But what if it was something else? Could it be related to his earlier issues, the ones Enar nor Maz had ever found a logical explanation for? Or was whatever Palani had contagious? No, he had a brain tumor. Completely unrelated.
He sat down on his bed. What had changed between his heat and now? Was something different in his environment? He’d moved in with his father, and his office had been transferred from the clinic to the cottage as well. But both were new buildings, so environmental differences were hard to imagine. Same pack, same land, same air and water. Same food. So what had changed?
What about food? Had he been eating the same food? He’d missed Lucan’s delicious sandwiches, but he still got most of their meals from the main kitchen, so it was made from the same sources Lucan would’ve used. He wasn’t eating as healthy as Lucan had made him, but that’s where the…
The multivitamins. Those were different. He’d started taking those again, more because his father insisted than because he was convinced they did him any good. Sando had always thought it somewhat amusing that a man who always put science first believed in the power of multivitamins, but it had been an easy way to make his father happy.
He’d taken them for years, but when he’d moved to the ranch, he’d stopped. And he hadn’t started again until his father had come back, until after his heat when he’d been so tired and stressed, and his father had mentioned he’d reordered the multivitamins. He’d suggested Sando start taking them again to see if they would help, and he’d obliged.
Something cold settled in his stomach. It couldn’t be, could it? Surely his father couldn’t have been that cruel. As in a trance, he walked out of his room to the living room, where his father was already at work, hunched over his papers.
“Ah, Sando, you’re up. Good. Make us some coffee and then come join me. I think I have figured something out.”
He didn’t even look up from his papers, and Sando swallowed. How could he ask? The thought was too surreal to even consider, and yet he couldn’t let it go. “My multivitamins are almost empty, Papa. But I don’t think they really help, so you don’t need to reorder them.” The words tumbled out.
His father stilled, but he didn’t meet Sando’s eyes. “I already did. It may take a bit longer, what with the riots, but I have good contacts.”
No, no, no. Please let it not be true. “I’m sorry, Papa, but I don’t want to take them anymore. I don’t think they’re helping at all. You know science has proved they have limited effect.”
His father slowly turned around and faced Sando. “Limited effect, but they still help. And they can’t harm you, so why not just take them?”
“They can actually do harm. A too high dose of certain vitamins and minerals is not good for your health.”