Page 128 of Feral Alphas

There’s the faintest sound of an indrawn breath, and then his finger pushes through the bars to touch a card.

“Blue it is,” I say with a faint smile as I retrieve it with the long-handled tongs.

Zane also pats his cards, but the wrong color. He’s trying though, bless him. Just like I’m trying to breathe despite the hole in my heart.

“Blue seven,” I say as I place mine down. I switch my position, the hard floor making my legs go numb all the way to my waist.

The big knuckles on Scars hands flex and then he pushes a blue card toward me. My breath catches. It’s a fluke, right? Even if he’s been silently listening for days, he couldn’t have picked up the rules of the game.

“Yellow nine.” I place my card to change the color and suck my bottom lip in, staring at the dark-eyed alpha. His gaze flicks up to me and then he slides a yellow skip forward. Now that he’s finally in the light, the scars around his neck are obvious, jagged and dark red. If my suspicions are correct, he’ll never be able to speak.

A tiny sob lodges in my throat as I pick the card up with the tongs and add it to the pile. “Sorry, Zane, but Scar skipped your turn, so it’s my turn.”

Zane taps a card, not understanding.

I sniff my tears back and scrub my wet cheeks. Luka might not be here, but someone has to take care of these abused men.

I play my yellow number one and Scar slides a matching green number one across the floor toward me. My breath catches and more tears fall.

“Rose?” Kye sighs and squats down behind me to hug my shoulders. Scar backs away at the first hint of another alpha’s presence. “I’m so sorry,mi amor. I know how hard this is for you.”

How could he possibly know? I spent my entire life feeling broken, thinking a pack was beyond my reach. But when my dream finally came true, I lost part of it right away. Before I thought I was damaged, but now I feel it deep in my core. I’m as broken as these feral alphas.

I grip Kye’s arm and partially turn to lean into his chest. “He knows how to play Uno, Kye. He knows.”

“Really?” My lover hums under his breath. “I guess he’s been paying attention more than we thought.”

I cling to Kye’s arm, wanting to bawl my eyes out again like I have every day since Luka left, but I swallow it down and breathe throughthe pressure so I don’t frighten the alphas. Although they’ve heard my distress for the past week. The whole neighborhood has.

Kye offers me his handkerchief. “You want to come and eat or keep playing?”

“I’ll do a few more rounds here.” I want to see Scar play again, to make sure I’m not imagining it.

He kisses my hair, and his presence soothes a little of the rawness.

“Could you play some music?” I ask. “We still haven’t heard about how your concert went.”

He smiles and agrees, pulling a chair from his room out into the far end of the hallway to play while I start the next few rounds without Scar. As I deal out a new hand, he slinks forward again, black eyes flitting up the corridor to check on Kye.

“He won’t hurt you,” I promise. “You can have the first turn.”

The feral alpha bristles for a minute, like a predator scenting the wind, but then he turns his attention to the cards, sliding forward a draw two of the correct color. A happy feeling bubbles up inside me, the first since Luka’s absence. Everyone thought there was no hope for Scar, but even he might be able to adjust, eventually.

“I think we should change his name to Uno,” I announce. Kye stops playing and smiles lovingly at me. “That’s a cool name. Because he knows how to play?”

I tilt my head, studying the feral alpha with bleached hair that never grew out, thick dark brows and sloped shoulders. “Yeah, and because he was the first of my scent mates I ever laid eyes on.”

“That’s beautiful.” He lifts his bow again and I recognize the tune as the one he composed for me.

Forgetting the game, I sit with my eyes closed and listen to the beautiful strings. I fluff a bit of air into my shirt as it’s stuffy in thishallway and remind myself to open the sliding doors while I have lunch. I don’t want Zane and Uno not getting enough air.

Luka had opening the house on his to-do list four times a week. I draw my knees up to rest my head on them as the tears start flowing again. I don’t notice when the music stops, only when Kye pulls me up off the floor and into his arms, guiding me back into his room.

“I miss him so much!” I cry into his shoulder.

“I know,mi amor. I miss him too.”

“Where is he? What if he’s hurt? He was bleeding, Kye. What if he’s in a ditch somewhere?”

---