Page 12 of Feral

Even if such behavior was appallingly crude in civilized society.

Scenting a female was basically how alphas used to check if she was ready to mate. No civilized alpha would be so obvious about his instincts these days, though. We were allsupposedto respect privacy and verbal consent, but as I looked at the feral alpha who’d only followed his basic instincts, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the supposed civilized alphas just pretended they didn’t do the same. How good was their control over their instincts, when it came down to it?

With an effort of will, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. Right now was really not the time to contemplate such issues.

“Put your shoes on,” I snapped at the alpha, and got a warning growl in return.Right.He didn’t like getting bossed around. “Please.”

His eyes narrowed as he watched me, without making any attempt at the shoes. Some of the softness in his gaze had disappeared, replaced by caution.

“I’m breaking you out of here,” I said, unable to control the urgency I felt from penetrating my voice. I fumbled in my bag for the key card and held it up. “I got a key that works. But we have to hurry.”

The change that came over him made my breath hitch in my throat. The same alpha who’d pulled me against the bars of his cell hard enough to leave bruises in order to get at my key card was back, and it wasn’t until I saw the cold, hard calculation in his icy gaze that I fully realized how different he’d been around me since that day. All of a sudden, the thought of actually letting this three-hundred-pound feral man out seemed a lot less appealing.

But I’d already committed to this.

Taking a deep breath, I motioned at the shoes once more before I reached out and swiped my new card over the lock.

It beeped, flashing green, and a mechanic clink rung through the air between us.

He pushed the door open in the blink of an eye, and I only barely managed to stumble back and out of harm's way from his huge bulk of muscle as he stepped out of the cell and into the lab, eyes glued to the far exit. Clearly locked on his target, he started toward it.

“Wait!” I grabbed his arm.

The alpha stopped abruptly, and I could feel every muscle in his body tense underneath my palm in response to my touch. He whipped around, and I staggered back and quickly removed my hand from him again, sure I was about to feel the impact of those bulging muscles straining against the cheap shirt I’d bought for him. But he only stared at me.

“Y-you can’t just storm up there. There are guards.Armedguards. Please, put on the shoes and lab coat and just follow me. Quietly.” I pointed back at the discarded shoes and white clothes in his cell, doing my best not to show him the burst of anxiety his nearness caused me. Having solid steel bars between us had been a pretty good safety net. “I’ll help you, but you have to trust me. Okay?”

351 made a low growling noise, but to my relief he returned to his cell, shoved his large feet into the shoes, and pulled the lab coat on.

The transformation from wild alpha to smoking-hot doctor look-alike was pretty damn convincing.

The errant thought made me blink, my cheeks heating slightly, but I forced it away as quickly as it’d reared its disturbing head. Now was definitely not the time for inappropriate fantasies about the man I was trying to save.

“Come. Stay by my side—and keep quiet,” I said, squaring my shoulders as I started toward the exit.

The alpha followed me—or rather, he walked beside me, but just a half-step ahead.Typical alpha—incapable of letting someone else take the lead.I shot his shoulder an annoyed glare, but at least he wasn’t storming ahead like I’d halfway feared.

The other alphas were much more alert this time—they all got to their feet and stared after us, hands wrapped around the bars to their cells, but didn’t make a sound. Instead they formed a silent guard, as if they knew their own fates depended on the outcome of our escape.

They might have been murderers, locked away on death row for their crimes before they were shipped to this facility, but my heart still twanged uncomfortably at leaving them behind. No one, not even the most dangerous of prisoners, deserved to have their voice taken away and their bodies beaten bloody if they stood up to their abusers. And these men… whatever they’d been before, they weren’t that anymore. Dr. Axell and his team had made sure there was nothing left of what had made them human.

But 351’s compliance only lasted until we reached the stairs. With a low grunt, he put a large hand on my shoulder, stopping me from ascending the steps. Then, without a care for my startled protests, he took them two at a time and smacked his hand against the door’s release button.

“No, wait!” I called, flashes of his hulking form leaping through the hallways and bursting out into the reception area like a wild beast playing through my mind in rapid-fire bursts. “You have to wait f—“

My voiced died when the door swung open—and the alpha immediately sunk into a defensive crouch, his lips pulling back in a furious snarl. But before he could leap forward, threethuck thuck thuckswhistled through the air. I stared, wide-eyed at the three black-feathered darts sticking out from his chest. My heart pounded in my throat, realization setting in even as my conscious mind tried to deny it.No, no, no!

351 roared in absolute fury and staggered forward, intent on taking down whoever had shot him, but whatever they’d injected him with was obviously fast-working. He only managed two steps before he sunk to the ground in a heap.

"No!" I cried out. The Goliath of a man twitched once before he went still, his eyelids sliding shut. I sprinted up the stairs, not thinking about the danger, and threw myself down by his side. I frantically pulled the darts from his chest.Oh, God, what did they inject him with?

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice sneered from the doorway. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but it is still a disappointment.”

I looked up from the unmoving alpha to the doorway. Dr. Axell stood in the middle of it, flanked by armed guards, and behind them I could just make out Dr. Urwin’s features.

“You had such potential,” he continued before he turned to the guards with a dramatic sigh. “Take him away.”

“What did you do to him?” I spat.

---