"That's what the doctors told her, not that she really believes it. After what happened in the locker room." I wrapped my arms around myself. "Category Red Omegas can bond with two Alphas simultaneously. It's rare. And dangerous."
"Dangerous how?" Jaxon asked.
"Because the Alphas usually destroy each other. Fighting over the Omega. Unable to share. It ends in violence."
Jaxon's laugh was sharp and humorless. "So your mom convinced you that you were a walking disaster waiting to happen."
"She wasn't wrong. Look at what happened when we were kids."
"What happened," Luca said carefully, "is that two teenage Alphas who didn't know better tried to protect their Omega from real threats. That's not your fault."
"But it could happen again. If I go off suppressants, if I go into heat around both of you..." I shook my head. "My mom said the bonds would make you territorial. Aggressive. That you'd eventually fight to the death over me."
"Your mom said a lot of things," Jaxon said. "Doesn't make them true."
"The Category Red classification is real, Jax. The medical research backs it up."
"Medical research from thirty years ago," Luca countered. "I've read some of those studies before. Most of them are outdated. Based on incomplete data and biased assumptions about Omega biology."
I looked at him in surprise. "You've read the studies?"
His ears turned slightly red. "After you left, I tried to understand what happened. Why your mom took you away. I read everything I could find about heats, about Alpha-Omega dynamics, about Category classifications."
"Why?"
"Because I needed to know why that happened…why you’d ran away or been taken away…it was good bed time reading,” Luca offered with a shrug.
"And what did you find?"
Luca’s icy blue eyes seemed story. “Just that the research is inconclusive at best. There are documented trinity bonds that lasted decades. Category Red Omegas who bonded with two Alphas and lived happy, stable lives." He stepped closer. "Your mom cherry-picked the worst-case scenarios and convinced you they were inevitable."
I sighed. "She was trying to protect me."
"She was trying to control you," Jaxon said bluntly. "There's a difference."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to defend the mother who'd raised me, who'd done what she thought was best.
But deep down, I knew he was right.
"So what are you saying?" I asked. "That we should just ignore the risks? Pretend everything's fine?"
"No," Luca said. "We're saying we should be informed about the risks. Make conscious choices. Not let fear make our decisions for us."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who could trigger a blood bath."
"Actually," Jaxon said, moving to stand next to Luca, "we're the ones who'd be doing the fighting. So it's our risk to take."
They were standing side by side now. United. Both looking at me with identical expressions of determination.
"We're adults," Luca continued. "We know what we're getting into. We can handle this."
"Can you?" I looked between them. "You're rivals. Captains of opposing teams. You barely speak to each other outside of this room. How are you going to handle a bond that ties you together through me?"
"The same way we handle everything else," Jaxon said. "We figure it out as we go."
"That's not a plan."
"No, it's not. But it's honest." He crossed to me, took my hand. "I'm not going to stand here and promise you this will be easy. It won't be. We're going to fight. We're going to struggle with the territorial shit. But I'd rather struggle through it with you than spend another twelve years without you."
