Page 25 of The Alpha

Dallan glanced between them. “Explain, Flower.”

“Kitty discovered it when she got a hold of that cell phone to help us find things. Everyone’s phone had something called social media on it.”

Dallan cocked his head. “What is social media?”

“As I recall,” Lany said. “It was a way for people to communicate with each other without actually having to talk face to face.”

Dallan frowned. “Why?”

Lany shrugged. “Who knows? Suffice to say, if someone got a photo of Melvale and it got posted somewhere…”

“Like a video site. Kitty showed one to me,” Shona said. “People could take pictures and film things with their phones. It’s amazing really.”

“Aye, someone else thought so too when they caught sight of Melvale and took a picture,” Dallan groused.

Shona nodded. “That’s exactly right. Somehow Dr. Whateverhisnameis, saw it, and investigated.”

“That still doesna explain how this doctor got to 2024,” Dallan mused. He shook the thought off. “Enough of this, we ken where they nabbed Melvale, and need to start tracking him. As soon as we find his location, we’ll need Tylahs to help us free him and his mate and bring them home.”

Lany gave them a quizzical look. “Only this isn’t his mate’s home. What are we going to do if she wants to go toherhome?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, aye?” Dallan headed for the door. “Let’s go.”

9

Pari hurt. They’d poked and prodded her for hours. She was hungry, thirsty, and when they finally unstrapped her from the table and removed the gag, she thought she might throw up. Thankfully there was a tray of food and a bottle of water waiting for her in her cell. After they’d freed her from the table, three men pulled her off and dragged her into the cell and sat her down on her bed built into the wall. She was able to see the room better and noticed the toilet in one corner and the sink next to it. She hadn’t noticed them before when she first woke up.

Pari looked at the tray of food on her bed. There was a sandwich, a bag of chips and an apple. She was hungry, but her curiosity was overriding her hunger at the moment.

She went to the seamless door of her cell and noticed the one-inch holes at the top of the door along with a few in the middle. Air holes? There were also a couple of long, two-and-a-half-inch slits here and there. Big enough for the barrel of a rifle to fit through. She backed up and looked through the heavy glass wall at the other prisoner’s cell. They must have used those same slits in his door to shoot at him.

Pari stood in the middle of her cell and examined it. The glass wasn’t glass at all but more a see-through plastic. She didn’t know what it was made of, but it was several inches thick at least.

Her eyes drifted from her cell to the man still strapped to the table. He’d been trying to get to her. Why? She was nobody.

“You should eat something,” a familiar voice said.

Pari looked to her left, saw Dr. Charles standing outside her cell, and frowned. “What do you want?” She marched to the cell door. “Why am I here?”

He cocked his head. “You honestly don’t know?”

She shook her head.

“Oh dear.” He disappeared, and Pari had to plaster her face against the see-through wall of her cell to see where he went. A similar see through wall separated her cell from the tall stranger’s. But the back and opposite walls of each cell were of white concrete. She felt like a fish in a bowl, and the men and women working in the lab looked at her now and then, their eyes filled with curiosity. She hoped it was the women that had taken her clothes and put the hospital gown on her.

Pari pushed the thought aside when Dr. Charles returned with a chair and a small table. He set both down then disappeared again. When he came back, he held a fancy teapot with a matching cup and saucer.

Pari watched him sit and pour himself a cup of tea. That done he sat back, crossed his legs, and smiled at her.

“Now,” he began. “Eat your lunch and let’s have a chat, hmmm?”

Pari gaped at him, then looked at the poor unconscious man still strapped to his table with several people in white lab coats buzzing around him. “Who is he?”

The doctor took a sip of his tea then set the cup in its saucer with a delicateclink. “I was hoping you could tell me. If not, then I’m not sure I have any use for you.”

She backed away from the see-through wall. “What do you want?”

“You. For now. And him. But I must admit, I cannot for the life of me figure out what he wants with you. Outwardly you don’t look like anything special. What happened to your hair? And what young lady in their right mind colors their hair yellow? Gad, girl, you’ve more tattoos than a sailor. And that ring in your nose. Most unattractive.” Finished with his tirade he sipped his tea.

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