Chapter 4: Control Group

I held out my hand.

"That's mine."

Titus didn't give it back. He turned a page.

He stopped on a line with Nero's name in it, and his jaw went tight. "What is this, Tenley?"

"What are you doing in Hadrian's bathroom?"

"Borrowing his razor. Mine's dead." He turned another page. "Answer the question."

"It's a trial."

"A trial."

"The Book of Omega Law. A fated alpha can wake a late wolf. I'm measuring it."

"On my brothers."

"On me. They're the variable."

He shut the notebook so hard the bathroom echoed.

"You're running experiments on my family in my father's house."

"I'm not touching anybody."

"Yet." He shoved the notebook into my chest and walked out through Hadrian's room.

I stood there with my heart going.

He'd tell them. He'd tell the Commander. He'd make it sound filthy.

So I'd tell them first.

Sunday dinner was at six.

Mom and the Commander had gone across the river for a reception at the Palace.

At five, I watched him take a spoonful from a brown glass bottle on the kitchen windowsill before he left.

"Joint tonic," he said, when he caught me looking. "My doctor swears by it."

He made a face at the taste.

The bitter green note hit me from across the kitchen, three times stronger than before.

I wrote that down too.

So Sunday dinner was just the eight of us.

The cook made roast chicken with lemon and enough potatoes for a regiment.

I waited until everyone had a full plate and a full mouth.

Then I set my notebook in the middle of the table.

"I need to tell you something," I said. "Before Titus does."

Titus put his fork down.

"I'm running a trial," I said. "On my own wolf."

Nobody chewed.

I opened to the first page and turned it so they could see my handwriting.

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