Page 5 of Lost and Pound

“I have an acre. Yeah, get the paperwork started. Here’s my ID.” I fumbled my wallet out, hands shaking as I handed the plastic to the woman.

The gray wolf inside the cage perked up, his ears lifting hopefully, head tilting in the cutest little tic. Those icy-blue eyes blinked sweetly before he licked my hand. A tiny whimper caught in his throat.

“I’ll get you outta here. I promise.”

“Ay, boss, where does she want this load of kibble?” Blake stuck his head in and froze, eyes wide. His watery brown eyes widened, the gold in them brilliant as he registered the wolf in the cage licking my hand.

As the father to an omega, the sight must have struck him hard. His mouth opened, and I raised a hand to silence him. “Blake? Go help her unload the truck. I’m taking our new little friend here home.”

Chapter Four

Nico

So, there I was, jaw gaping, head tilted, tongue flopping between the filthy bars of the cage after theworsthamburger in existence as my death-row meal—in front of an alpha.

A hot alpha.

Fuck.

It was a rock-and-a-hard-place type scenario. On the one hand, I was going to die. On the other? The new alpha could send me back to my home pack, may auction me off, sell me, or just lock me up as his plaything.

Which is worse?The thought gave me pause until I processed the alpha’s scent and just the slightest hint of his beta’s. I couldn’t detect the scent of fear, which was strange. Most betas feared their alphas. I stared up at him, taking in dark hair, not black but a brown with hints of auburn highlights. The way his face morphed into a kind but pitiable moue spoke volumes to his character.

“You got a pack to go back to?” The alpha leaned down, brow furrowed as he whispered.

I shook my head.

“Are you in trouble? I’ll find out if you lie.” He stared me down.

Again, I shook my head. I didn’t think so, at least. Who owned my contract had died, presumably. I was free to go as I’d never officially joined my new pack, I thought.

He nodded sagely and reached a hand in through the bars where I approached him, tilting my head into his warm palm. An involuntary shiver took me, exhaustion weighing me down, like I’d not slept once in the weeks I’d been there.

“You’re coming home.” His whisper cut the power to my body, the high-strung energy I had keeping me going left me like snapped rubber bands, sending my weight into his touch.

I barely noticed when he left with a clipboard, my mind a blur when the gate unlocked, letting me walk my way to the car on thathumiliatingleash. The rage-filled look in his beta’s eye gave me pause, tail tucking.

“Nobody deserves to be on a leash,” the beta said. “Least not an omega.”

My luck seemed to be changing as the alpha hoisted me into a rig truck idling in the parking lot. He made a space for me between the two front seats, letting me lay on his jacket in a ball. “Wait here. Heat’s on and we’ll go get that off you.”

When the door closed, I closed my eyes, sinking in the sensation of the idling engine and blowing heat, creating its own kind of silence drowning out the rough noises of whatever they were unloading and distant barking dogs.

I probably should have stayed awake, been prepared, readied myself to flee. Should have, but didn’t. I relaxed instead, letting everything go. I could escape when I was less tired.

I recalled a warm hand resting on me, whispered apologies, and a rumbling road beneath. The events, as chaotic as they’d been, flowed seamlessly from one blink to the next, where I sat in the same truck, surrounded by many smells, staring at a fresh, warm bag of some mom-and-pop burger-chain food. The beta was nowhere to be seen, but my stomach growled hard, distracting me.

“Chow down while I’m in the store and when I get back, if you’re still here, you can come home with me, and we’ll figure things out. I’d ask you not shift in the truck, okay?” He grinned and offered me a slow stroke to my head that I accepted with an involuntary groan.

“Now hold still. Alphas think their sigmas are the only ones with a touch of the blessing.” He snorted, and I froze. A sigma wolf was no different from a beta, really, but they had alpha power that had been warped, gifted with wild magic, magic like what kept my collar on.

He reached that hand toward my neck, fingers circling the raw skin there, the chain clinking as his thumb rolled over one link of the collar’s segments after another. “A mating collar. Ew.”

I pinned my ears and gave my head the gentlest of shakes.

“Nobody that truly loves someone puts one of these on an omega.” His broad face morphed into something hard as he met my gaze, eyes so very dark they reflected the pale blue of my own. “Lucky that I know an alpha has the greatest magic of all. Love.”

His warm hands traced the metal, and the collar fell, hitting the seat and sliding onto the floor. My mouth gaped open as I stared up at him.

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