Page 18 of Ruled By The Alpha

Jack shrugs. “Who knows? Something-something training us to act like normies.” The smile he cracks doesn’t hide the gleam of darkness in his otherwise pale eyes. “Nothing like real food and company to make you forget months of torture and obedience training, eh?”

His tone is sardonic, but AX2 frowns as he takes in his kin. It’s only been ten days, but he sees the difference in them.Reprogramming,Sean called it. If that’s what it is, it looks like it’s working.

Every instinct hard-won during his time in this compound tells him that there is something bad coming—that the only reason the scientists in charge would ever allow them this is to have something to take away again later.

It doesn’t matter. Even if that’s the case—if this will all be yanked away without warning—he still wants it,cravesit, with every cell in his body. Just a moment without fear, without loneliness, is worth whatever horrors lie ahead.

By the time ten o’ clock rolls around, AX2 is full to bursting, and a warm, lethargic sensation threads through his body. It’s the best he can remember ever feeling.

When Dr. Green shows up, he leads them to a room with concrete on all four surfaces lit by a single, fluorescent lightbulb. Three bunk beds with gray blankets and gray sheets fill thespace, two on either side and one in the middle. Apart from the door they enter through, there’s another on the northern wall, undoubtedly leading to the latrine.

“The gym is down the hall on your left,” the beta says. “We expect at least five hours a day from you. If your test results drop, we will step in. I suspect you’ll prefer it if we don’t have to, so put in your best effort. There will be no missions for the time being, but I want you in fighting condition at all times. Understood?”

AX2 nods. His head feels light. They are allowing him control of his day?

Over his body?

“Good. We will be monitoring…” Dr. Green’s voice dies when the door behind them bangs open and General Thompson storms through it.

AX2 jerks once, as do the other soldiers, the sudden and aggressive arrival of another alpha sparking instincts not entirely hardwired into compliance.

“General Thompson,” Dr. Green begins, his brow furrowing as he catches the look on the other man’s face. His lips are pressed into a flat line, but his eyes are wide, their whites pronounced.

“You—AX2. With me,” General Thompson snaps, ignoring the doctor as he exits the dorm as swiftly as he entered.

AX2 obeys, his body moving before his mind has fully processed the scene.

General Thompson waits for him in the halls. His posture is staunch, spine arrow-straight and shoulders wide, but the energy emanating off him is jittery and aggressive, and it sparks against AX2’s nervous system.

“The Russians have Adelaide,” he says the second the door closes behind AX2.

AX2 blinks. “What?” The question is out of his mouth before his training kicks in. He braces for the sear of his chip, but the general is far too agitated to punish him for the slip.

“They kidnapped her. The commie bastards took my daughter right from under myfuckingnose. I’ve managed to locate her whereabouts—they’re holding her in a bunker in Eastern Siberia.” He pulls his fingers through his short hair and turns to AX2. “I need you to get her back.”

A roil of emotions heats his gut—confusion and dread most prominent. He is careful to keep his voice monotone when he says, “I have not been trained for search and rescue, sir.”

General Thompson rounds on him, his steel-gray eyes narrowing to a glare. “I don’t give a shit. If I take this through the proper channels, and if she’s…” He sucks in a sharp breath, jaw clenching around whatever he was about to say. “You’re the best I’ve got. And I am ordering you to rescue my daughter. Save her, no matter the cost.”

Chapter 8

AX2

He is dropped in a barren, snow-covered wasteland on the Eurasian continent.Eastern Siberiais all the information he’s been given. Usually he has exact coordinates and detailed instructions of when, where, and how. Not this time.

Save her.This is the only command he’s been given, but there are precious few details on the opposition he will face.They’re in a bunker,he’s been told.Five-to-twenty men, likely heavily armed.

He pushes his frustration down as he jogs through the waist-high drifts, his weapon at the ready, hunched over to brace against the howling winds throwing blinding flurries into his face. None of it matters; he’s been given a mission, and he will see it through. His chip will make sure of it.

Even if he hopes he finds her dead.

He locates the bunker two hours in.

A shoddy-looking barbed wire fence surrounds the concrete structure only barely visible amid the rocky terrain. It blends in almost perfectly with the bumpy, white landscape, but he spots the singular guard by the entrance. A semi-automatic is in his hand, but his focus is scattered, likely from the biting cold.

AX2 has his knife at the guard’s throat before the man realizes he’s not alone in the freezing wilderness.

“How many?” he snarls, pressing the blade deeper when the soldier jumps.

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