by Nora Phoenix
Alpha’s Sacrifice
Irresistible Omegas Book One
Nora Phoenix
Alpha’s Sacrifice (Irresistible Omegas Book One)
Nora Phoenix
Copyright ©2018 Nora Phoenix
Cover design: Vicki Brostenianc (Vic’s Pics)
Edited by Angela Campbell (Addicted to Reviews Editing)
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form by any means without the written permission of the copyright holder, except in case of brief quotations and embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The use of any real company and/or product names is for literary effect only. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
This book contains sexually explicit material which is suitable only for mature readers.
www.noraphoenix.com
Contents
Publisher’s Note / Trigger Warnings
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Meet Nora Phoenix
Acknowledgments
Also by Nora Phoenix
Publisher’s Note / Trigger Warnings
This novel depicts mature situations and themes that are not suitable for underage readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Please note there are trigger warnings for mentions of rape, sexual assault, suicide, miscarriages, and abortion (all off-page) and depression (on-page story element).
1
The attractive, dark-haired beta behind the pharmacy counter in the drugstore avoided Lidon Hayes’s eyes. Many betas and omegas did it, or they flirted with him excessively, since Lidon was an alpha and an imposing one at that. With the pharmacy tech, Lidon wondered if the beta possessed another reason for his evasive behavior. Lidon wore plain clothes, but his instincts screamed he’d been made. After three years in Narcotics and ten years on the force, he’d damn well learned to rely on his instincts.
Still, he’d keep up the charade until the beta voiced his suspicions. Lidon wasn’t in any danger here. This timid guy was not about to pull out a gun, unlike some other suspects he encountered. Lidon excelled at reading people, and this beta appeared as non-violent as they came. The type of crime they suspected him of only confirmed this.
“Can you get me these meds?” he asked, making every effort to keep his voice soft and kind. He put the medicine bottle on the counter, and the beta slowly reached for it to read the label.
“Sir, this is not over-the-counter birth control. You need a prescription from your physician,” the beta explained, still avoiding Lidon’s eyes.
Lidon reached for his pocket and pulled out the prescription. “Here you go.”
The beta read it, only a few quick blinks betraying his nerves. “Is Dr. Brooks your personal physician?”
Lidon shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“Yes, sir. By law, we can only accept prescriptions for this drug from your personal physician.”
Lidon raised his eyebrows. “Is that so? So if my personal physician didn't prescribe these, you’d refuse to give me the meds?”
The beta hesitated. Lidon had him cornered with this question. He would either have to confirm it, which would seal his fate since he’d then have to admit to knowingly distributing these meds to patients who didn’t have prescriptions from their family doctors, or deny it, which could cost him his license. Regardless of his answer, he'd lost his license by now anyway with the evidence they’d collected against him.
The beta slowly brought his eyes up to meet Lidon’s for the first time. “Do we need to continue this farce?” he asked. “I’m well aware you’re a cop.”
Lidon waited. He was under no legal obligation to confirm it, unless someone asked him directly. Apparently, the beta had taken Law 101 as well. “You are a cop, correct?” he said.
Lidon sighed with frustration. How had this pharmacy tech made him? Had he been too dominant? That seemed unlikely, considering how fast the tech had recognized him as a cop. They possessed plenty of evidence to arrest him, but it still annoyed Lidon he’d been busted so quickly.
“Yes. I’m with narcotics,” he said, his voice not so friendly now.
The beta looked almost relieved. “I figured.”
“You’re Lucan Whitefield, is that correct?
“Yes, sir.”
“You want to explain how several patients received prescription drugs from you without a prescription from their physician?”
The beta shook his head. “Not really, no. I’m not going to help you make this case and in the process, hurt innocent victims.”
“Victims? I would think more of them as fellow perpetrators who knowingly bought illegal drugs.”
“These birth control pills are not illegal,” Lucan protested.
“They are without the right prescription,” Lidon fired back.
The irritability that had been plaguing him lately rushed back into his system. Who the hell did this beta think he was, arguing with a cop and an alpha at that? He’d been caught dealing in illegal drugs, for fuck’s sake. The guy should have some sense of his place in this…and it wasn’t on equal footing with Lidon.
“They shouldn’t be. These are crucial drugs many omegas need.”
“Then they should request a prescription from their primary doctor,” Lidon snapped.
“Are you that naive? You may be alpha, but you can’t be that blind…”
Lidon’s jaw tightened at the almost-insult. “What are you talking about?”
The beta didn’t cower under the icy glare Lidon shot at him, which was impressive, though the small tic below his right eye betrayed he wasn’t unaffected by Lidon’s intimidation tactics. His hands shook as he placed them on the counter, probably to steady himself.
“These are some of the most expensive birth control pills available. Coincidentally, they’re also the most effective. However, many insurance companies are reluctant to pay for them because they’re so expensive. They’ve been lobbying ever since these became available to get doctors to prescribe anything else but these. I’ve seen the number of legal prescriptions go down further each month. That’s also why they added the clause that birth control pills can only be prescribed by your personal physician and not by any other doctor.”
Huh, that was a damn calm and rational explanation under the circumstances. Lidon took the bottle back and studied the drug name on the label. “Excellon,” he read the drug name.
The name was unfamiliar, but that wasn’t surprising for a new drug in this category. Lidon stayed away from omegas and didn’t fuck around like many alphas did, so birth control held zero interest for him. They’d found a few of these bottles during a raid in a drug dealer’s apartment, a guy who dealt in anything ranging
from cocaine to prescription drugs. They had traced them back to this pharmacy and to this pharmacy tech who had distributed it without a valid prescription. A little digging revealed he’d been filling close to two hundred prescriptions that weren’t prescribed by the correct doctor.
“You’re saying insurance companies are actively discouraging doctors from prescribing this?” he asked, his anger diminishing, though tension still simmered in his body.
Lucan nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if monetary incentives were involved.”
“Monetary incentives…you’re talking about bribes? Pay offs? You think they’re paying the doctors to prescribe something else?”
“I think that's an option,” the beta said, his face not betraying much.
“It’s usually the drug companies who pay doctors to prescribe their stuff.”
“Excellon is a little different since it wasn't developed by the big drug companies. A small start-up invented and now produces it. They had trouble getting enough investors to even back them financially, despite promising first trials. And it took ages before they got approved by the government. Of course, that could also be because they’re aimed at omegas who don’t exactly constitute a priority.”
A small start-up, huh? This could be bigger than even this pharmacy tech suspected. If this birth control had proven to be more effective than others, that created a big financial reason for other birth control drug companies to stop this drug from becoming a success. The insurance companies could be bribing the doctors, but competitors could be as well.
If that were true, it wouldn't be his case to solve. He’d do a quick investigation, if that, and then kick it over to the white-collar division. Hopefully, they’d do something with it, though with the backlog they had, it was doubtful.
“I’m gonna have to bring you down to the station for further questioning, Lucan,” he said.
Lucan nodded, a resigned look on his face. “Will you allow me to call in a coworker? We have patients depending on us being open.”
Lidon gestured him to make the call. He took out his own phone, walking to the back of the empty store for some privacy as he called Enar. He answered only after seven or eight rings. Lidon checked the time. Damn, it was almost midnight. Oops.
“Hey,” the tired voice of his best friend greeted him.
“Hey yourself,” he said. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
Enar yawned. “I was taking a nap in my car. Was too tired to drive home.”
“Long day?” Lidon asked, more out of reflex than anything else. Enar only had long days. The man worked seven days a week most of the time.
“Yeah. Emergency hysterectomy on a female omega after an illegal abortion.”
Enar was a doctor, an OB/gyn and reproductive specialist who focused on helping omegas who had nowhere else to go. Lidon was aware that a good portion of what his friend did was illegal, but they’d managed to find a way to not have their respective jobs clash. Usually, that meant not asking more than what the other was willing to share.
“I’m sorry, man,” Lidon said. He had lost civilians in drug raids or when the uniforms called Narcotics in after ODs to trace the drugs, and it never got easier. He couldn’t even imagine what Enar encountered on any given day, considering how much of himself he poured into his work. Losing patients was hard on him.
“Yeah, it sucks. Young omega, too.” He sighed. “Anyway, what can I do for you because I assume this wasn’t a social call considering the hour?”
“Excellon,” Lidon said. “What do you know about it?”
He regularly called Enar with questions like this, and the assumption was always the same, that none of what his friend shared would be traced back to him or his patients.
“New generation male birth control pills, highly effective in comparison to the three most popular ones. When taken as prescribed, they are about ninety-five percent effective in preventing male pregnancy.”
“What’s the competitors’ percentage?”
“Around eighty percent, the cheapest one seventy-five.”
Lidon whistled. That was a big difference. “It’s good stuff, then.”
“Yeah. It’s also crazy expensive. You need to start taking it twice a day a week before your heat till a week after, so sixteen days in total. They run at about fifty bucks a pill so that’s sixteen hundred dollars per heat. With four heats a year, you’re talking about a lot of money for most people.”
Lidon almost choked on his own breath. “Holy crap, that’s insane. Why are these so exorbitant in price?”
“No idea. I’m sure they have developmental costs to recoup, but it’s a small company, so it’s not like they have a lot of overhead.”
“Huh. Interesting. But it’s the most effective birth control method on the market right now?”
Enar hesitated. “Condoms are getting better and better in preventing pregnancy.”
“Yeah,” Lidon agreed. “But alphas hate them because they feel restrictive during knotting. Argue all you want, but they’re a major hassle during a heat ‘cause you have to put on a new one for every round. Plus, they’re not comfortable, especially when knotting, and take away a big chunk of pleasure.”
As he spoke, his dick stirred again. He turned his body toward the wall to prevent anyone else in the store from witnessing his erection. For some reason, he’d been easily excited the last few weeks, and all this talk about sex only aggravated his libido.
“Yeah, condoms are far from ideal,” Enar agreed. “But it’s what we have.”
There was something in Enar’s tone that triggered Lidon to ask, “Aside from condoms, this Excellon is the best thing available, then?”
Again, Enar paused before he replied. “Legally, yes.”
Ah, now they were getting somewhere. “You’re saying there are illegal methods that are more effective? Why are these not freely available?”
Lidon swore he could hear the eye roll Enar was giving him. “You know, for a cop, you can be stunningly naive,” Enar said.
That was the second time in an hour he’d been called naive, and Lidon didn’t appreciate it. His annoyance flared back up. “Well then, Doctor, if you know it so well, why don’t you explain it to me?” His tone was snappy, and he regretted it as soon as he’d said it. Enar merited more than to be the target for Lidon’s temper.
“Not today, man. I’m wiped…and it sounds like you are as well.”
Enar’s answer was more civil than he deserved, which shamed Lidon. Plus, there was a tone in his voice that betrayed how depleted his friend was. “It can wait,” he said. He lowered his voice. “Do you need me to come over?”
He wasn’t sure if he hoped the answer would be affirmative or not. He could sure use a release of pent up energy out of his system, but maybe Enar wasn’t the best candidate. His mood had been crappy lately, and he would not risk taking that out on his friend.
“No. But the fact that you offered means a lot. I’ll talk to you soon, okay? Stay safe.”
“Sleep well.”
By the time he’d hung up, Lucan’s coworker had arrived. Was he really gonna bring the beta in for questioning tonight? It would mean he wouldn’t be home for another two hours at least, if not more, though his shift officially ended in a few minutes. Nah, this could wait till tomorrow, he decided. This guy wasn’t a flight risk, and it wasn’t like he had anything in his possession that he could destroy.
Lidon gestured Lucan to come over. “I didn’t realize the time. You’re banned from working until we have questioned you. Please contact no one before coming in tomorrow morning at eight sharp. I trust you won’t do anything stupid, like trying to get rid of evidence. We have you under surveillance, just so you know. Will you agree to these terms?”
Lucan nodded, relief palpable on his face.
He had his partner who had been on standby in a car outside drop him off at the precinct and drove home. As he left the city lights behind him and maneuvered his car with ease up and down the hilly cou
ntry roads, he wondered if Enar was truly okay, because he sure as hell hadn’t sounded like it. Lidon scolded himself for being too immersed in his own shit, rather than picking up on the clues Enar manifested that he needed a friend. Lidon should have pushed a little harder instead of allowing himself to be convinced by his friend’s first, automatic answer. Especially since they both could have used a meet up.
Then again, it was always a delicate line to cross. They had a lot to lose if anyone ever found out, Enar arguably a hell of a lot more than Lidon, but it would taint him as well. For himself, Lidon didn’t see anything wrong with it, but alas, society viewed it differently. He hoped that would change in the future, so Enar would have his chance at happiness. It wouldn’t be with Lidon, because fuck knew he had no intention of ever getting another partner, let alone marrying one. He was happy by himself, devoting himself to his job, staying far away from complications and heartbreak.
That being said, he wanted nothing more than for his best friend to be happy and to be able to fully be himself.
One day.
Maybe.
2
Palani studied the pale face of his best friend and lover Vieno, who had finally fallen asleep after a restless few hours. His dirty blond hair stuck against his head, damp with perspiration. Even in his sleep, the omega’s body trembled and spasmed. Palani patted Vieno’s forehead with a moist cloth.
He was getting worse by the day, his fever rising and his body too worn out to fight it anymore. Vieno’s next heat would start tomorrow, and this one might just kill him. Palani discerned it not just in his mind, but in his own body and soul.
