Page 22 of Feral

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been mortifying, in light of what else I’d been made to do in front of an audience lately, but it was. Something about squatting over a steel toilet bowl in the corner of a cell drove home the inhumanity of my situation, and 351’s unconcerned stare didn’t help.

I was truly a test subject now, no better than an animal in the eyes of my captors.

No better than the alpha whose very humanity they’d stolen.

I didn’t return to him on the mattress after. Now that he’d stopped purring, there was nothing preventing the harsh reality of my situation from settling in full-force. Despite goosebumps spreading on my skin without his body heat to keep me warm, I skirted the mattress and went over to the bars to peer out, keeping my arms across my chest and pelvis to preserve just a modicum of modesty.

Not that anyone was there. The lab was desolate. Because it was the weekend, I realized. They’d all gone home to their families and hobbies, to get refreshed for the next work week, leaving the lab rats behind.

I shuddered and steadied myself against the bars as memories of doing the same came rushing back. I’d gone home night after night to my apartment, to make dinner and unwind with a silly TV show. And all the while, people had been imprisoned here. Like animals.

I glanced over my shoulder as the feral alpha got up and walked over to me, perhaps sensing my distress again.

“Can you talk?” I asked, biting my lip when he wrapped an arm around my midsection and pulled me back against him. His heat was comforting, but right then, I’d have given anything to just be able to talk with him. Discuss what we’d been through—to feel even halfway human again.

His only response was to nuzzle at the bite mark at my neck, an unmistakably possessive growl rising in his chest.

There was nothing human about him right now.

I swallowed thickly to push back the tears stinging in my eyes.

“Don’t bother. We gave him a double dose while you were both knocked out—to ensure the claiming takes good and proper.”

I jolted at the unexpected voice, but only managed to catch a glimpse of Dr. Urwin as he sauntered up to the bars, because 351rippedme behind him with a furious snarl.

“He won’t be able to form words for at least twelve more hours. May I suggest you don’t agitate him in the meantime? He’ll be deep in his instincts, and a newly mated alpha can get quiteassertivewith his female until he’s certain she has submitted to him fully.”

351 growled, releasing his grip on me so he could pace in front of the bars, keeping his body between me and our captor without ever taking his eyes off him. His every aggressive move underscored Dr. Urwin’s point.

“What are you going to do to us?” I managed, despite my throat feeling too tight to produce words.

“We will continue with the next stage of our research,” he said with infuriating calm. “We need to know what demands we can put on him now that he has a mate he’ll want to keep safe, and which trigger points will be most efficient in ensuring his compliance.”

“So you’ll torture us.”

“No, not torture. Whatever you may think, this is a scientific study. We will provide stressors and stimuli, true, but for a much higher purpose than something as base as commonplace torture. We are truly grateful to you, Lillian—without your suggestion that creating a pair-bond requires more than just physical attraction, we would not have had this opportunity.” He sounded like his regular self, absorbed in his study—as if I was still capable of discussing scientific method after everything they’d done to me.

“You won’t get away with this.”

Dr. Urwin regarded me coolly. “There’s nothing toget away with. You signed yourself over to this study willingly, if you remember, just like all the other women. And thanks to you, we have a breakthrough that will improve the nation’s defense. You will be with us until your death, Lillian. I appreciate it will take some time for you to acclimate to your new life, but I suggest you try to do so as quickly as possible. Most women eventually find contentment with the alpha who has claimed them. Perhaps, despite the circumstances, you will too.”

“Do you think I’ve forgotten what you said to me?” I hissed. “What you did?” How dare he try to pretend he hadn’t said horrible things to me while he’d rubbed me between my legs? As if he could fool me into believing he was nothing more than a scientist, and I his willing test subject. Nothing about last night had been professional.

“Ah. Yes. I admit, we did not expect success from your mating.” He gave me a thin smile past 351’s shoulder as the alpha stalked between us, growling a low, continuous threat. “But since it did… it is only prudent that you be treated in the same manner as our other test subjects.”

“How comforting.” I hadn’t forgotten 351’s deep lash marks, or Gloria huddled on the mattress in her cell.

“May I suggest you spend the weekend coming to terms with things? Monday we will have more tests for you both, and they will be best faced with a refreshed mind.” Dr. Urwin snapped open a slot in the door, and I only noticed the tray of food he’d brought when he pushed it through. “You both slept through the earlier feedings, so I have increased your evening portions. Try not to make it a habit—we don’t usually coddle our test subjects.”

Feedings.

He truly saw us as lab rats.

“Enjoy your night, Lillian.”

I stared at his back as he walked away from the cell, until the angle of the bars didn’t allow me to see further.

Only when he was completely out of sight did 351 lower his hackles and turn his attention to the food.

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