Page 35 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

It took another few moments before he finished whatever he was typing and turned his attention to me. The full weight of his gazesettled on me, and I could see the glint of mild surprise in his eyes, melting into an impressed look as he cocked his head to the side.

Taylor Marcus—the Director of Melvin Rehabilitation, and a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country. The building had been purchased by his family some ten years back as they made their way through various industries, gobbling up power. Since they took over, the stories that came out of the facility had become even more horrifying and diabolical than they had been before.

Testing on shifters—all different kinds of tests, trying to figure out what made the magic of our shift work and how to stop it, the formation and breaking of bonds, and the science of scent-matches.

It was all fascinating stuff, but the methods used here were horrifying. Drugging shifters and testing them while they were unable to defend themselves was unethical at the best of times, but when it came to people who had been admitted for help, voluntarily or not, it jumped to the next level of pure evil.

“Killian,” he greeted me. He turned to face me fully, linking his hands together on top of the solid oak surface of his desk, and his eyes flicked down my body, evaluating me with a glint before they returned to my face. “It’s very nice to speak to you face to face.”

I growled. “I could have given you the pleasure of my company much sooner if you’d agreed to meet when I first asked,” I snapped.

I knew that it probably wasn’t smart to antagonize this man—he was the one who held Lilah’s freedom in his greedy, horrible palms—but I couldn’t help myself. I’d been desperate to get behind the walls of this building for days to search for my mate, and it was starting to affect me physically.

I could feel sweat beading along my hairline and anxiety humming under my skin, and it was harder to hold back my shift than it had been in a very long time. I was jittery and desperate to get these stupid pleasantries out of the way so he could lead me to Lilah.

Director Marcus seemed to sense my unease, but it didn’t seem to push him to move any faster. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at me, and in the back of my mind, I wondered how many shifters the man had interacted with if he was this at ease around a mildly unstable alpha. I was sure he knew I could tear him apart at a moment’s notice if I lost control for even a second, but he didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest.

“Yes, well,” he finally mused, looking down and flipping open the manila folder on his desk. “I’m sure you understand that I’m very busy, and can’t simply drop everything for a meeting when one is demanded...no matter how insistently.”

My jaw dropped at the dismissive way he referred to my efforts, but I bit back another growl before it could escape. Coming off as aggressive wasn’t going to do me any favors here, and the more he thought he was helping me, the more likely it was that this would move quickly.

So I sat silently as he perused the paperwork in his folder. In the back of my mind, a tiny part of me wished that I hadbrought Oliver to this meeting; he was much better at speaking diplomatically than I was.

But I was still pissed with him, and even if I wasn’t, I had the feeling that Lilah wouldn’t react well to seeing him—especially if the little information that I had about her current state was true.

Finally, after what felt like forever but was, in reality, only about two minutes, Marcus looked up at me with an evaluating expression. “So you’re here about Lilah Jackson,” he said evenly.

I nodded, endeavoring to match his even tone. “Yes. I’m one of her alphas.”

He cocked his head to the side. “She’s not listed as a member of any registered pack. Her courting information hadn’t been updated in the state database, either, so you couldn’t have known her terribly long before she came to stay with us, even if what you’re implying is true.”

I gritted my teeth, biting back a growl. Yes, our relationship with Lilah had progressed quickly, but I wasn’t going to explain to ahumanwhat it was like for a wolf to encounter their scent-match.

“Sometimes, when it’s right, you just know,” I finally answered, managing by some miracle to keep my voice steady.

He continued to look at me with an evaluating glint in his eyes, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest. “If it was so right, can you explain why my patient came to my facility suffering from Bond Rejection Syndrome? As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s a fairly serious condition.”

Ice flooded my veins, and for a moment, I couldn’t speak. Bond Rejection Syndrome was a horrific condition that only affected the most broken of omegas when an alpha rejected them. Most omegas didn’t form close enough attachments to potential packs to be affected by it, to my understanding—not before they mated, anyway.

The fact that Lilah had felt close enough to us to be so shattered by Oliver’s rejection, even before she was a formal member of the pack, made renewed fury at my Prime Alpha flood my veins.

This washisfucking fault. I was going to kick his ass so hard the moment that I had Lilah safe in my arms again.

“There was a misunderstanding between Lilah and my Prime Alpha,” I finally answered, my voice slightly more tense than it had been before. “I was the one working through all the details of Lilah’s integration into the pack, and I wasn’t there to make sure that everyone was communicating effectively. Lilah’s condition is a result of my oversight, which is why I’m here today—to rectify it, and to bring Lilah home.”

Marcus looked at me, arching an eyebrow at me. “As noble as that sounds, I’m sure you can understand why I can’t just release her into your custody. She still hasn’t even shifted back into her human form, and the data we’re collecting from her shows she’s still incredibly distressed, even after all this time.”

Two things made me stiffen. First, Lilah hadn’t shifted back to human form. Even if she had been lost to her feral state, the way he implied, there was no reason she shouldn’t have been able to shift back unless they were making sure she was never conscious long enough to do so.

Second, the way that he said “data”, as if Lilah—the woman that had occupied every thought I’d had for weeks now—was only valuable for the information she provided. She was everything to me, and they were treating her like a product.

I straightened my shoulders with resolve and glared at Marcus. “Well, I’m sure you’re aware that even without a formal bond, my role as one of her courting alphas means I have more authority regarding her health treatment than you do,” I said firmly. “I want you to take me to her. I need to see her to ensure you’re not mistreating her the way I know you mistreat so many of your patients.”

His eyes barely twitched, but I could see his mind processing the fact that Iknewthe things that went on behind the walls of this building. I wasn’t going to let him walk all over me, and as the two of us sat there, glaring at each other, I saw him as slowly accepting that, bit by bit.

“Very well,” he finally conceded. “You are well within your rights to request a visit, and perhaps you can guide us to the best way to get her to shift back to human form so that I can release her into your custody.”

I knew that I wasn’t imagining the bitter undertone of his voice as he stood up and conceded to me, and I felt a flare of triumph as I nodded and rose to stand as well.

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