Page 36 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

“Take me to her,” I ordered.

He pressed his lips tightly together, real anger flickering in his eyes for a moment, but then he walked around his desk and passed me, opening the door and taking off down the hallway.

I followed him closely, hurrying to make sure I didn’t lose sight of him. We passed other patients in the hallway, and I was disgusted by the complete lack of regard he offered to the other people who worked and lived in this facility. He actually shouldered past an attendant holding a clipboard outside a closed door, and the attendant stumbled before returning to his observation task.

We walked down the winding hallways for a long time—so long that I wondered if he was pulling my chain. I was ready to speak and make sure he was taking me to Lilah, but then we turned another corner, and my nostrils flared.

I could smell her. It was the first time her scent had touched my nose, even faintly, in more than a week, and it eased some of the tension I’d been carrying.

Marcus glanced over his shoulder at me, interest flickering in his eyes, but then he pressed his lips together in a tight line and turned his head to continue walking.

The proof that Lilah was nearby, that he was actually taking me to her, was all I needed to continue following with more energy and vigor. I practically had a bounce in my step as he finally drew to a door at the end of the hallway, closed and bolted, and lifted the card from his pocket to scan on the reader.

“She’s in here.” He didn’t offer me anything more before he pushed open the door and stepped back so I could walk through.

I held my breath as I walked into the small room behind the steel door, and the sight of Lilah curled up in wolf form in the middle of a bare and empty room broke my heart. Her scent permeated every surface, warm and familiar. It made my cock swell andmy heart rate slow, and I dropped my knees in front of her, no longer giving a shit about the curious eyes observing me.

“Lilah, baby,” I whispered, slowly crawling over to her. I didn’t care that the knees of my slacks were probably getting dirty; all I cared about was getting closer to Lilah.

It was the first time I’d properly seen her in her wolf form, and she was stunning. Her fur, even slightly matted and mussed, was long and silky, begging for me to reach out and touch her. Her fur was a gray so light that it was practically silver, and I could already imagine how it would glow under the moonlight if she ever offered me the privilege of seeing her shift with her consent.

She was smaller than my wolf, given her omega status, but she was lean, and I could tell she would be quick if we went out running. And god, I wanted to. I wanted to take her out of this place, wrap her in a blanket, and keep her in my room where I could nurse her back to health. This was no place for her. I couldn’t stand the thought of my omega, myscent-match, being stuck here, alone and afraid.

It took a moment for me to draw close enough to touch her. I made soft sounds at the back of my throat as I approached her, not wanting to frighten her. There was something off about the way that she was lying down, her entire body slack and practically unmoving against the ground. Her chest barely moved with each breath, and her eyes were half-lidded as she stared in front of her, unseeing.

“What’s wrong with her?” I finally asked, my voice barely louder than a whisper.

Marcus made a soft scoffing sound behind me. “Well, there’s nothingwrongwith her,” he said, his voice implying that he thought that I was being obtuse. “She’s simply sedated because she’s been attacking my staff. We can’t have a feral shifter attacking humans or beta wolves; surely you know that.”

The growl that ripped from my chest was out before I could control it, and I glared over my shoulder at Marcus before I moved a little closer to Lilah, carefully reaching out and stroking my fingertips over her fur.

“Baby girl?” I asked quietly. I scooted even closer, ignoring the man standing behind me in favor of my omega in front of me. Of all the ways I’d thought I would find her, seeing her like this...

It broke something inside of me. I needed to get her out. It didn’t matter if she didn’t recognize me right now. I couldn’t stand the thought of her staying a single day longer.

She shifted a little, pulling my thoughts out of my head, and I looked down as one of her paws twitched. The source of her stillness, other than the sedation, immediately became clear. All four of her legs were clasped with leather cuffs that were bolted to the floor, buckled so tightly around her that her fur puffed out around them. She let out a low growl when one of my fingers brushed up against the cuff, and when I looked closer, another involuntary growl escaped me.

The skin under her fur was irritated from how tightly the cuffs were clasped around her, and for a moment, I saw fucking red.

“Who the hell put these cuffs on her?” I snapped, not looking away. I eased a fingertip under the leather of one cuff—or tried to. It was buckled too tightly for me to get my finger between herskin and the leather, which meant that it was too fucking tight. The skin underneath was uncomfortably cool to the touch, and when my nostrils flared, and I sniffed beyond the calming scent of my mate, I could smell the beginnings of necrosis.

“Um.” For the first time, Marcus sounded a little uncomfortable, and I growled loudly again before he stammered, “I’m not sure. I’d have to check. But, Killian, you understand that I can’t release her into your custody until she shifts back into human form so that she can rationally sign the paperwork that will allow us to let her out...”

He continued to drone on, and I tuned him out as I turned my attention back to Lilah. Her eyes were open a little wider now, and they flicked over to me for the first time since I’d walked in. Just for a second, a moment of recognition that made hope flare inside of me, despite how ill-advised I knew that it was.

Her nostrils flared, and she let out a low whine as she scented me. The bond in my chest—the fragile one that seemed to have been fracturing more and more by the day—throbbed and reached out for its partner, the one in the sweet omega wolf lying in front of me.

“I’m going to get you out of here, baby girl,” I whispered, speaking so low that Marcus would have no chance of hearing me. “I’m going to get you out of here. God help me, the minute they release you, I will find every single employee who hurt you, and I will burn them to the fucking ground. Do you understand me?”

I could hear how unhinged I sounded, but I didn’t care. Not when Lilah’s eyes widened a little further, flaring with realrecognition for the first time I walked in, and she huffed out a breath to acknowledge what I’d said.

I nodded, gently stroking one of her paws one more time before I shoved myself up to stand. I turned and faced Marcus, whose pointless diatribe died away as I faced him with the full extent of my alpha fury.

“I’m going to be back in three days,” I said, my voice low, furious, and intense. “I’m going to help her shift back to normal, and you will have everything ready to release her into my care. If you don’t, you won’t know another day of peace until you finally decide that living is just a little too difficult, and you choose to remove your cowardly fucking self from existence. Do you fucking understand me?”

His throat bobbed with a swallow, and slowly, he nodded his head. With a vicious bite of satisfaction, I noticed one of his hands trembling, and I brushed past him without another word.

It was time for Oliver and I to have a fucking conversation.

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