Page 30 of Feral

“Lillian—get that thick alpha over here before I have to bring the taser. Trust me, no one’s going to have a good day if I have to knock him out.”

The vaguely familiar voice made me look over 351’s bulging arm. Despite the alpha’s best efforts to cocoon me entirely with his own flesh, I caught a glimpse of the speaker. Kenneth. The lab assistant—and up until last Friday, my colleague.

“What are you doing?” I asked groggily, my tongue thick in my throat from sleep.

“It’s time for his injections,” he said, impatient as he eyed his wristwatch. “Dr. Axell is expecting you both in twenty minutes, so please don’t make this hard.”

“Oh, Iamsorry your Monday’s not living up to expectations,” I hissed. “Wouldn’t want to keep the esteemed doctor waiting.”

“It’s going to be worse if you don’t comply,” Kenneth sighed. “Just… trust me. It’s in your best interest to get that stupid alpha to cooperate.”

As much as I hated my former colleague for how un-horrified he seemed, I didn’t miss the warning. After what we’d gone through this weekend, I didn’t doubt Dr. Axell would punish both of us if we resisted whatever sick plans he had for his newly mated prize alpha.

“You need to let him inject you,” I said, keeping my voice soft to break through the alpha’s unrelenting growl. “It’s no use fighting. Not now.”

351 didn’t move, his bulk still pressing me firmly into the mattress and his growl rolling through the cell, warning the other male off.

“Please… they’re gonna hurt us more if we don’t,” I whispered, not wanting Kenneth to hear how scared I was of what was going to happen today.

351’s growl finally quieted, ending in an angry huff. He pressed his nose to the side of my face, constricting his arms around me… and I got the sense that he was trying to comfort me. Promise me it would be okay, even if we both knew it wouldn’t.

In that moment, for the first time since waking up in this damned cell, I was grateful he was there with me.

Gently, I touched his arm. “Come.”

He lifted off me then, slowly, reluctance clear in every line of his body as he unfolded and made his way to the bars.

“Arm,” Kenneth said while I tried to hide my nudity behind my hands. I might have spent the weekend naked with 351, but this was different. This was a former colleague—a reminder of the life I’d lost. Of when I was still someone who could expect to be treated like a human being.

351 turned to the bars and allowed Kenneth to jab a needle into his bicep. He glared at the lab assistant the entire time, and I didn’t miss how Kenneth avoided his gaze. It was apparent that the alpha’s anger had the same effect on beta males as it did me, even from the other side of sturdy metal bars.

The cell seemed colder as I huddled up on the mattress, looking at 351 and waiting for the drugs to take effect.

It wasn’t long.

Kenneth kept an eye on his watch until maybe five minutes had passed. Then he glanced up at me. “Stand back while we collar him, okay? It’s rarely a quiet affair, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I bit my tongue to stop a derisive snort from escaping my throat. If they truly cared about whether or not I was hurt, they wouldn’t have locked me up with a feral alpha over the weekend, nor forced a mating. But I was too worried about what lay ahead to bicker, so I got to my feet and pressed myself up against the far wall, hands still clamped across my chest and nether region. “Can I have some clothes? Please? I don’t… want to walk through the lab naked.”

A twinge of what could have been shame shone in Kenneth’s eyes for the briefest moment. It was gone before I was even sure that was what I’d seen.

“Sorry, no clothes. Dr. Axell’s orders.”

He really was a creep. I recalled Gloria’s name for him—Dr. Pervert. It wasn’t hard to guess how he’d earned that one.

“Stand back now,” Kenneth warned, as he turned around and called to someone I couldn’t see. Not that I had to wait long to find out.

Three burly guards—alphas, by the looks of them—came into view, long metal poles with collars attached in their hands.

351 let out a low snarl, his shoulders hunching as he took up a defensive stance. When they opened the door, he charged, but they hit him with a taser, the voltage just high enough to make him jerk and lose his footing. The collars snapped shut around his neck and biceps before he regained full motor control, and by that point, it was too late. Not that that stopped the feral alpha from fighting against his bonds.

Heroaredand threw himself around, trying to break the men’s hold on the poles by forcing them against the bars, but it was no use. Through much swearing and banging of metal against metal, they got him dragged out of the cell.

“Come.” Kenneth held an arm out toward me. He had to raise his voice to be heard over 351’s fury. “I think it’s best you stay close. He’s not going to want to have you out of sight.”

I hesitated, eyes darting to the open door. Only the lab assistant blocked it, but there was no way I could make a break for it and make it out of the compound without being apprehended.

“Don’t make me get the restraints,” Kenneth said, voice a smidge softer. “Please. Just come.”

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