Page 34 of Feral

351 understood. He didn’t know how long he’d been in this cell, but beforeher,it had been unbearably lonely. Even if he’d wanted to, he wasn’t able to communicate with the other alphas in the lab, not after they’d taken his ability to speak. Even the rough matings were lonely—the females nothing but mindless, warm bodies, lost in their own drugged hell.

The woman in there with 195 now was the first contact the alpha had had with another human being that wasn’t marred by pain and violence.

His mate flashed him a nervous look. “Will she be all right?”

351 grunted, unwilling to make promises he couldn’t keep, and she didn’t press him.

But the cell was quiet, save for the alpha’s grunts and growls as he investigated the new presence in his cell, and 351 lost interest.

It was the first time he had some control over his own mind, and the sight of his little female curled up by his side as she stared at the concrete wall reminded him of his duties.

He needed to find a way out for her.

The idea didn’t formuntil the beta assistant brought them their dinner.

351’s hackles raised at the sight of him, a snarl forming in his throat as every instance of the pathetic man holding down his mate and helping the sick doctor torture her flashed through his mind.

But the look the beta shot his mate when he shoved the tray of food through made him pause. There wasguiltin it.

“Wait.” 351 got to his feet and made it to the bars before the smaller man had turned around, eyes wide with shock.

“Please. She… needs help.”

The beta looked past him to his mate, a worried frown making its way to his forehead. “Did you hurt her?”

351 growled, as irritated with the accusation as with the beta not understanding him. “No.Hehurts her.”

There was no need to explain whohewas—the pale expression on the assistant’s face made it clear he knew who.

The beta looked away. “There’s nothing I can do about that. Just be happy I don’t report that your dose is too low.”

351 bared his teeth. “Youcan.You won’t. Difference.”

“It’s not that simple,” the beta hissed. “Not that I’d expect a criminal to understand.” And then he walked away, toward the neighboring cage.

351 roared, smacking his hand against the bars so hard they shuddered and a satisfying pain vibrated through his palm.

The cell door in the neighboring cage rolled open, the beta calling to the woman to come out as he delivered the alpha’s meal.

From the short glimpse he caught of her, she seemed vaguely familiar. Perhaps she was one of the females he had been made to mount, but it was impossible to tell. They all flowed into one in his memory.

“It’s no use.” His mate’s voice was quiet as she came to stand by his side, hands wrapped around the bars as she stared after the other woman. “Even if hedroppedhis card, we’d never make it out of the compound. There are too many guards on the upper levels. And he isn’t going to risk his own skin by escorting us.”

351 glanced down at her, resisting the urge to rub his chest as their bond twanged unpleasantly at the defeated look on her face.

Instincts pulled on him to comfort her, and he grunted when his cock spasmed with eagerness to replace her sadness with pleasure. They hadn’t mated in days because she’d been unwilling. His nearness had made her reek of fear, and since that first time in the cell, he’d had enough control of his mind to not ignore it.

Had they been free, he would have taken her anyway, because he’d know that deep down, she wanted it too.

But here, in their shared prison… He wasn’t the only man to force her into submission. The alpha doctor forced her. Maybe not with his cock, but he brought her pain and unwilling submission every day.

The thought that she would see his dominance the same as she saw the doctor’s was what kept him from following his instincts to subdue her and take her up against the bars until her sadness gave way to bliss.

SEVENTEEN

LILLIAN

“What can I call you?”

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