The ABO Serum

Life Interrupted

While Steve left each morning happy to get back to teaching, Lex returned to the lab and back to the alpha team to work on the suppressant project. Dr. Blitzer's discovery that some alpha pheromones appealed strongly to many omegas, without triggering a permanent mating meltdown like Lex and Steve and the other 18% who found reciprocal pairs went through, was their best lead. When they synthesized the desirable pheromones and provided them to the omegas, they relaxed, and their own pheromone production declined. Without a favorable alpha scent nearby, their pheromones overproduced trying to attract one.

In blind trials, this method worked well for omegas who originally gave Dr. Blitzer's scent a score of 2 or higher, which amounted to about 80% of the unmatched omegas. They looked at the other 20% to see if there were any common high scorers and found two that covered all but about half a percent of the omegas. But all these things were still in process as Steve approached his fourth heat, his first out of quarantine.

Steve was not pleased to see Dr. Placer on his doorstep on a rare free Friday morning. School let out last week and in another week Summer School began. He had three weeks of Chemistry, Monday's thru Thursday's, to teach and then had planned some combination sports camps for their local students since the town was blocked off from participating in regional sports events and activities. The arrival of Dr. Placer could only mean an interruption to his plans.

"You haven't been coming in for your daily checks," she accused as she walked in the door.

"Lex does the checks and reports. Saves your people an appointment and me a drive," Steve answered. "Coffee or tea?"

Dr. Placer sat at his little dining room table and asked for herbal tea, with milk. He raised an eyebrow at that but arranged it. She seemed like a coffee drinking executive if ever he'd seen one. "We're getting critical information about you, but you're not getting critical information about you. Or rather, what we're learning about omegas that might be useful or important to you." She sipped her tea.

"Such as?" He prompted. Her relaxed pace unsettled him. It was out of character with the power suit and heels, and the way she'd managed the omegas when he was in quarantine.

"You have another heat due to happen soon. Tomorrow by our estimates. You have no bite mark on your neck, so I assume you have not been intimate with your alpha. Do you plan to be? Or perhaps have a plan not to be? 100% of alpha/omega pairs have become pregnant during their first heat together."

Steve was slack jawed. "You're kidding!" He finally managed, completely forgetting to ask what she meant about a bite mark.

"No, I'm pregnant," she answered.

"Y..you're what?" He stammered. That explained the herbal tea.

"I'm pregnant, like every other omega who's gone through heat with an alpha mate. Like you will most certainly be next week if you don't have a plan. Dr. Martin sent me over to check on you when he looked at your lab reports for your last few cycles and realized you were due. Since you're not in quarantine, and you're not safely mated, we need to be sure you have a plan so you don't cry rape when your heat is over," she explained. It was not comforting.

"I have to take precautions so he doesn't rape me? What kind of logic is that? Can't he just not rape me?" Dr. Placer found a man asking these questions of a woman exquisitely ironic.

"That would make sense," she agreed, and she even managed to keep from rolling her eyes. "But during your heat you will release pheromones designed to attract any available alpha, and they are particularly appealing to the alpha you happen to live with. You can expect him to lose all sense of reason and go to extreme measures to be with you. You can also expect to lose your own sense of reason and not only open your bedroom door to him, but crawl into his bed. You could compare it to both of you being blackout drunk and horny. So, who's at fault?"

"GenLife," Steve answered without hesitation.

"Hmm, well, now you understand why I'm here," she pursed her lips around the unpleasant truth and continued. "Our plan was to keep all unmated omegas in quarantine until we found a better solution. We found you a mate, and let you out, but you are still technically unmated. So, you need to choose, go back into quarantine for your heat, resign yourself to mating, or provide us with another reasonable plan so we know you're making an informed choice and prepared to accept the consequences."

"Can't Lex go back into quarantine?" He asked.

"Lex is only interested in you. Only an omega in heat can make him lose his mind and you're the only one out of quarantine. But you will be desperate for anyone. We have another omega who snuck out of quarantine and went into heat at a party. He was gang banged by betas. He didn't even try to fight them off in the insanity of his heat. He's in the first pregnancy group. Even if you barricaded yourself in your room, you can't trust yourself not to pry away the barricades to get out when you're in heat."

"Fuck," Steve said as he dropped his head in his hands. Once again, his life would be put on hold. "Will this happen every month?"

"Until you decide to mate, yes. Once mated, when you're with your mate during heat, your pheromones can tell they've finished their job and diminish. It's amazing really. But if you're determined to fight it, that's your business. We'll support you with a room in quarantine. We have space in the hotel this time. It's more comfortable than the dorms." She clearly thought he was stupid for rejecting his mate.

"Thank you. When should I report to quarantine?" He asked.

"As soon as possible. Tonight, or tomorrow morning at the latest. When you feel it coming on it's too late. It hits fast." She answered.

"I'll pack a bag, and let Lex know when he gets home. I'll need to finish or bring my prep work for Summer School. As if I'll have the energy and attention to get anything done during my heat." Steve sighed heavily and escorted Dr. Placer back out his door now that she'd finished her business. She looked happy. He couldn't remember her ever looking happy before. Did she want to be pregnant? She wasn't letting it interrupt her life much. How did women manage it?