Page 36 of The Alpha

She protested, but her words were muffled by the gag.

"It appears she has no place for the ring, sir," Oswald pointed out.

"I can see that." Dr. Charles studied the ring. "But she's been wearing it, and it is clearly the sort that needs a hole to be worn properly. Yet there is none." He turned to Oswald. "But she had this in yesterday."

"Yes sir."

Dr. Charles' eyebrows shot up. "Well then, I suggest we review last night's footage. I want to see what happened to her tattoos."

"Yes, sir," Oswald said happily. He gave Pari a look of relief. "Shall I return the female to her cell?"

"No. Not yet." He handed Oswald the nose ring, went to a cabinet across the room and pulled a few things out.

Oswald eyed the syringe of death that lay on the side of the table. Pari watched him pick it up like it was a poisonous snake and set it down on a high table covered with surgical type instruments. That done he gave Pari a sympathetic look.

So, the man wasn't one for cold blooded murder. Thank goodness for that.

Pari closed her eyes in relief. She had no idea why all her tattoos had disappeared over night, or why her nose was nolonger pierced. All she knew was that the lack of both had just saved her life.

Dr. Charles returned with another syringe. He was more careful this time, and swabbed her arm with alcohol before he jabbed the needle into it. "There, by the time you wake up, I'll have watched last night's footage and have this mystery solved." He smiled at her. "Then we'll see whether or not you live or die."

Pari's eyes widened at his words.

Before she could ponder her plight further, Mr. Vance re-entered the room with a half dozen men. They went straight to the other prisoner's cell, opened it, and were soon hefting him out and onto the table next to hers. He was out cold, and they made short work of securing him.

What were they going to do to the poor guy now? A tear slid down her cheek at the thought, despite the fact she'd been facing death only moments ago.

Would they both die? Pari didn't know and didn't want to think about it. Neither one of them asked for this, and as far as she knew, there was no one to save them. She had no idea where they were, or who these people were for that matter. She had a few names, heard the doctor’s freaky plans, but didn't understand any of it. He could be lying through his teeth for all she knew. Maybe the tall handsome man next to her wasn't an alien at all.

Okay, so he didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen before, but that didn’t mean he was from another planet.

"Could he have had anything to do with it?" the doctor mused aloud. "I must say, this is most curious."

Pari's eyelids were growing heavy. The blasted sedative was taking affect. At least it wasn't the kind that knocked her out immediately.

Two men took their time releasing her from the straps. She wouldn’t be able to fight them if she wanted to. Her limbs were heavy, and she couldn't lift them.

She looked at the handsome man on the table next to hers. She didn't know if he had anything to do with her tattoos disappearing or not and said a silent thank you in her head as someone pulled the gag from her mouth.

Pari was vaguely aware of being lifted off the table and put onto the bed in her cell. Then there was nothing, and she drifted into a drug induced sleep.

13

They were hurting her! Melvale threw his shoulder into the wall of the cell a second time. The resoundingcrackreached the Alpha deep inside of him. The part he feared to let take over. He gave the rising Alpha some leash, but not enough to let it take control. Maybe he should.

He rammed into the wall again, and the spider web cracks extended further. A few more tries and he might break through.

Melvale looked at his helpless mate bound to one of those dreaded tables. He seethed at the sight, and the Alpha within him tried to break free and get to her. But he knew what it would also do. An Alpha, while protecting his mate, would kill anything that moved. As lethal as he was even without being an Alpha male among his people, he didn't like killing. To him it took nothing to kill, no strength, no thought. But to spare a life, even an evil one, that did take strength. He was using that strength to bring the Alpha side of him to heel. So far, he wasn't doing a very good job.

Melvale was about to run at the wall again when something hit him in the arm.

He looked at the dart, pulled it out, then ran at the wall again. A second dart hit him in the thigh, causing Melvale to stumble as he ran. He slammed into the wall again and backed up a few steps, glaring at the man that led this mad house. He'd heard him addressed as doctor, watched him do things to his mate. Poke her with long needles. It drove him mad, but the drugs they were giving him were strong. This one, the strongest of all.

Melvale sank to his knees in surprise and took in the pleased look on the doctor's face. He gave Melvale a satisfied smirk and handed the dreaded tranquilizer gun off to his assistant. That done he returned to Melvale's defenseless mate. He meant her harm, still did, and there was nothing Melvale could do about it.

And that was when he let the Alpha trying to rise up loose. The drug might take him, knock him out. But when he woke up, these men would no longer be dealing with two sides of him. They'd only be dealing with one. And his Alpha side would show no mercy.

His breathing came in short pants as he sank to the cell's floor. He fought the drug trying to overtake him and focused on one thing and one thing only while he still had time. His captors were studying his mate, wondering where her tattoos went, no doubt.

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