Page 27 of Monster. Me.

Blue slowly shakes his head in disapproval.

"Well, our offer didn't include two million dollars, so I'm sure it was a lot less tempting." His tone is matter-of-fact.

I hesitate. I don't want this entire visit to revolve around Fenn, but… that's exactly where it's headed, and I’m fine with that.

"It's hard to find much real information about him online," I say, my voice a bit uncertain, because how am I supposed to explain why I'm interested in him in the first place?

"In smaller outlets, there is a lot of gossip and sensationalized reporting. In the national news, there's only information about what happened on Calsing Island, and none of it paints him in a very flattering light. But what about him as a person? What's his story? How did he end up on Calsing Island to begin with? That's what I'm curious about."

Gabriel raises an eyebrow and studies my face. It’s obvious he has no idea where my sudden interest in such a controversial figure comes from.

Blue tilts his head slightly. His unusual sapphire eyes lock onto mine.

"What I know about his past came from Mr. Gomez, the new director of the facility where Fenn Drax worked."

I stare at him so intensely that he must realize I'm practically dying to hear the rest. Blue slightly narrows his eyes.

"Drax's story is pretty tragic. It started in Finland, near the Russian border. A tourist passing through a tiny village hidden deep in the forests came across a shocking sight. Three boys, maybe ten or eleven years old, had been tied to a post and left there, slowly dying from untreated wounds. The tourist was horrified and called the authorities. The villagers claimed the children were demons and needed to be killed, just like their parents had been. The police took the boys to a hospital instead, and they received medical treatment there."

"Fuck," Gabriel mutters. "I had no idea. That sounds horrible."

I stay silent, barely keeping my emotions under control.

"Drax only remembers that his two brothers were taken away. He has no idea where they ended up, except that they were eventually adopted by families in the United States. He was supposed to be adopted too, but when he arrived, the adoptive parents changed their minds."

Gabriel jumps in again. "Wow, talk about bad luck. That had to hurt. Kind of like being rejected without being given a chance. Was it because of how he looked?"

"Maybe. But his brothers looked unusual too, and they were still adopted. In the end, Drax was sent to a group home for orphaned alphas, where he lived until he turned eighteen. He trained as a carpenter there and was apparently very talented. Afterward he found work in a nearby town, but rejection followed him there too. Because of his pheromones, people couldn't be around him without experiencing some… unexpected effects. As you probably know, they create a very strong sexual response. And I don't necessarily mean people wanting sex with him, although that's part of it. It's more that he creates this atmosphere where everyone suddenly starts wanting sex in general."

Blue winces slightly.

"I wonder if the people working at the facility wear the nose clips around him," Gabriel says.

"Yeah," I say. "The nurse I saw was wearing one."

I don't mention that I never noticed any unusual scent myself. This isn't the time to interrupt Blue.

"Eventually Drax had to leave that town and abandon his job. He knew he was basically unemployable. Not long afterward, though, he met a man named Sidorov. He was the warden of one of the facilities I oversaw, part of the Beta Activation program on Calsing Island, and he was also obsessed with improving his success rates. Pregnancy among betas at his facility was very low, so he decided to take a gamble with Drax’s unusual abilities, hoping they might affect fertility. He selected a beta participant and instructed Drax to have sex with him."

I bite the inside of my lip. Of course I’ve read a lot about the Calsing Island incident before, but Blue may add some new details, and I’m here for it.

"To make sure any resulting child wouldn't biologically belong to Drax, they required him to undergo a vasectomy. The beta was still paired with his own alpha, just like participants are in the programs you’re in."

Blue pauses and lets out a small huff.

"The surprise came a month later when the beta became pregnant. Sidorov could hardly believe his luck. He sent another beta to Drax. Then another. Then seven more after that. Within a few months, the facility's statistics had skyrocketed."

"Creative," Gabriel says. "But kind of hard to replicate once you remove Drax from the equation."

"Exactly. That's why everyone wants to understand what's different about him. Obviously you can't send him to sleep with every beta or alpha who wants to alter their hormonal profile. The next part is where the scandal begins. A video leaked from the facility on Calsing Island. It showed Drax with one of the betas, and rumors started spreading that the betas were being forced into it and had no choice. Several people were arrested, but public opinion turned against Drax almost immediately. People started calling him the Monster of Calsing, the Calsing Rapist, a mutant, and every other name you can imagine."

"Was… any of it actually proven?" I ask quietly.

"No. The investigation found that Drax had no idea the betas were being pressured into participating. He had even secretly recorded a conversation with Sidorov where he directly asked whether everything they were doing was legal, because he felt something wasn’t right. Unfortunately, that didn't change much. Most people still viewed him as a cruel beast who had victimized those betas. He might have walked away free, but…" Blue lets out a quiet sigh. "Drax made a mistake. He returned to the island to get revenge on the people who started the false accusations against him. But he was unsuccessful… and quickly caught. The judge wanted to sentence him to many years in prison for attempted murder, but that's when I approached him with my offer. I wanted to conduct ethical research involving him. He initially agreed; unfortunately, I didn't offer enough money. As you already know, a few months later Welrun came in and offered more. They reached an agreement with the judge that once the experimental period was over, Drax would walk away a free man, which appealed to him as well." Blue shrugs. "That's everything I know."

I sit quietly for a moment, staring at my hands.

"That's a rough situation. You could say he jumped from one nightmare straight into another. If you'd seen his body… I swear it looked like they were doing all kinds of things to him."