Page 5 of Feral Alphas

Jackie sees me, but it’s like looking at a ghost. Only her body is in the room, she’s left her soul behind somewhere else.

The man’s eyes flick to me again and he grins as he says, “Pleasure doing business.” His ashy breath washes across my nose and I quiver as I hold my breath.

She nods and picks up her bag.

Business? I’m a person, not an item for transaction. Fear claws up my spine. “Jackie? Don’t do this!” I beg, tears prickling at the back of my eyes. I don’t understand any of this. “Weren’t you helping me?”

Her lips press tight together before she finally looks at me, eyes hard. “Goodbye, O-4. You’ve been a good patient for us, but now it’s time for you to leave.”

I stare at her, shock turning my brain white and silent. Leave? And go where? With him?

A rude snort breaks through my haze and the man grips my chin and turns my face back to him. “O-4? That’s not much of a name for a pretty omega like yourself. Hmm.” He tilts his head side-to-side and his nostrils flare as he breathes in. “I think Rose suits you, because a nose-full of your scent is going to create a fucking garden party.”

I hiss at him, but he presses up on my jaw, closing my mouth. “None of that! My name’s Petrov and I’m your master now, Rose, so you’ll be respectful and do what I say.”

The minute he removes his hand I spit out, “Omegas have packs, not masters!”

He laughs. “Sure, real omegas that the world knows about. But you, pretty lil thing, no one knows you exist, do they? You’re coming for a ride down into the dark world with me that will be your home and your grave, and the longer you fight it, the more pain you’ll get.”

A sharp spasm cuts through my heart. My alpha pack are supposed to give me a name, not someone like him.

He releases the straps around my ankles. I lash out at him, but he preempts me and collars my throat with one powerful hand. “I’m playing nice right now, Rose, but if you make me mad, you’ll regret it.” He leans in close, filling my nose with smoke and afull-bodied aroma I’ve never smelled before. “I specialize in training feral animals, so you won’t like it if you push me.” His hand tightens and my airway chokes shuts.

Something about the dark look in his eyes promises violence and a shiver runs across my skin. I gasp and grab at his wrists, silently begging for air as my lungs burn.

He waits a moment longer until my eyes are rolling before he jerks away, and icy air runs down my quivering throat. I lean forward on my knees, gasping the sweet oxygen in ragged gulps.

I thought only alphas could have this kind of intimidating presence, but as Jackie said, what would I know of the real world when I’ve spent all my life in a fake hospital? They told me I was here to get well, because I couldn’t cycle like a normal omega, but my long-term nurse said I’d been suppressed. Did they do this to me on purpose?

Hot tears burn up the back of my nose.

Petrov grabs me by the wrist and picks up his copy of the paperwork. As he leads me from the room, I glance back at the only home I’ve ever known. On the easel sits a canvas I haven’t finished, a man with big shoulders leaning on a railing overlooking the ocean, his face unfinished as always. I think I see him in my dreams, but I never can depict the face.

Hollow, like my existence.

Everything I thought I knew was a lie.

Petrov leads me down the white hallway, squeezing my wrist when I throw a final begging plea to one of the other staff members. The orderly tenses and disappears into a room without even looking my way.

“Give it up, Rose. They’ve washed their hands of you since the money’s been exchanged.” Petrov tugs me into his side. “You’re mine now.”

The stench of cigarettes is disgusting, but there’s another scent on him that I want to bury my nose in. I take a second whiff as inconspicuously as I can, but he catches me and laughs. “Ever smelled that before?”

Reluctantly, I shake my head.

“That’s alpha scent.”

My eyes widen. I’ve never met one, outside of books and movies. From what Jackie told me, they’re forbidden in an omega center, in case they set us all off. I assumed she meant upsetting O-11 with all her delusions, but now I wonder if she meant heats all along. But if he smells of alpha, does that mean he’s taking me to one? Maybe my hopes of a pack aren’t destroyed after all.

My so-called master pauses before a security door and eyes me for a moment before shrugging out of his jacket and helping me put my arms in. “It’s colder out there than you’re used to,” he offers as he punches the exit button, and the doors slide open. “Gotta protect the merchandise.”

I pull it tight around me, his wry tone making me shudder more than the chill that blows in through the opening.

A car waits for us in the shadowed tunnel lit by a few overhead fluorescent lights, the thick exhaust fumes making me cough as Petrov bundles me into the back seat and gives orders to the waiting driver.

“Go’ a good one?” the red-haired man upfront asks, sweeping me with a look in the rearview mirror before shifting the car into gear.

“Yeah, real nice. Suppressed for ten years.”

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