Page 24 of Despair

He pushed down the instinctive urge to force her into submission and remind her that, no matter the circumstances, she enjoyed their matings. And she washis.

There wasn’t time. Not now.

“Lillian,” he said again, because he liked the taste of her name on his tongue, light and soft like a kiss. “I have a plan to get us out, but I need your help.”

Her eyes widened even further, some of the dullness finally receding as hope bloomed. “How?”

“When they bring dinner, you will pretend to be ill. Get them to open the door. I’ll take care of the rest.”

She frowned. “I don’t think that’s going to work. Even if they care, even if we get out of the cell, we can’t make it past the guards and escape the compound.”

“Leave that to me. I promise, if you get that door open, Iwillget you out of here. No matter the cost.”

“Oh.” She looked up at him, uncertainty in her eyes, but nodded nonetheless. “Okay. We’ll try. Can’t get much worse, right?”

He touched her cheek again. “If things don’t go to plan… if I am held up or killed, you need to find your way to St. Halls in Georgia. Find Jerome Willis. Explain to him what’s happened. That you’re my mate. He’ll take care of you. Got it?”

She nodded again, hesitantly. In her eyes he saw the instinctual agony just the thought of losing your pair-bonded mate brought. But he knew it was a very real possibility that he’d die for her tonight. And if he did, he needed to know that she would be taken care of.

“How are you so clear?” she asked, the waver in her voice the only outward indication of her emotional response. “They haven’t tested you for days—the drugs should be—”

Noises from the lab interrupted her, and they both turned to stare out through the bars. The tell-tale clanging of metal trays announced the arrival of dinner.

“Zach.”

He turned back to look at her at the sound of his name, but though his female’s lips were parted as if she wanted to say something more, she never did.

When the sound of the clanging trays came closer, he got to his feet and stepped toward the back of his cell, giving whoever came to feed them the impression that it’d be safe to open the door and tend to Lillian. “Now.”

She drew in a deep breath and crawled closer to the door. Once there, she lay down on the cold concrete and stilled so completely she looked like she was dead. If it wasn’t for the quiet strumming of the bond in his chest, he’d have panicked at the sight of her lifeless form.

They waited for nearly five minutes—long enough that he had to fight the urge to pull his mate off the cold floor. Her discomfort now would be worth it soon enough.

He heard the neighbor alpha receive his food, and the female once more plead for freedom, and then it was their turn.

351 sent a silent prayer to a god he’d long since stopped believing in and tensed his muscles, readying himself for the battle ahead.

“Jesus Christ, Lillian!”

The voice belonged to the lab assistant.Good.This should go smoother.

The beta fumbled with his keycard and smacked it against the door, abandoning the food trays. The second the door swung open, he knelt on the floor by the unmoving woman. “Lillian? Lilli—!”

351 didn’t hesitate—he leapt through the room and grabbed the beta by the lapel of his white lab coat, swinging him up and around so his back hit the bars.

He groaned from impact, eyes wide and terrified as he clawed at the alpha’s fingers. Whether it was for show when his superiors reviewed the security camera footage, or he really thought the alpha was about to tear him apart, 351 didn’t know. He also didn’t care.

He grabbed the man’s keycard and threw him to the floor with a warning snarl—an unspoken threat of what would happen if he tried to move. One final look confirmed that the man was going to cooperate.

351 strode out of the cell, allowing himself a lingering glance at his mate, who was getting to her feet. “Stay here. I’ll get you in a bit.”

She blinked, confusion clear on her face when he shut the door behind him, locking her in the cell with the lab assistant—but for what he had planned now, she wouldn’t be safe out in the open.

Moving as quickly as he could, he ran from cell to cell, smacking the keycard against every single door until nearly one hundred alphas joined him in the now crowded center of the lab.

Snarls rose from the anxiously milling crowd, but every single one of them were focused on the exit.

351 leapt through the crowd and scaled the stairs in two steps, then touched the card to the lock. He didn’t have to guide them. The second that door swung open, the other alphas poured through it and into the hallway that led to freedom.

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