Strange.
But is it, really? If you have something as big as this operation, you want people you can trust to keep quiet. That might mean betas who have the incentive of getting a drug that will make them more alpha-like. Or it means having alphas from the Southside who are financially reliant on you.
"Tell me," Dom barks, his dominance exploding out from him. "What did you do to call your alphas here?"
I clamp my jaw shut.I do my absolute best to fight the compulsion. To stay silent, but no matter how hard I thrash around in the bed, there's nothing here I can use to cause myself enough pain to snap out of the bark.
Tears prick at the corners of my eyes as I feel the urge to answer his question.
I bite the inside of my cheek so hard I taste blood. I shift my focus. He asked a very specific question. I can give him a very specific answer.
"Nothing," I grit out.
I collapse against the bed behind me, the muscles in my body trembling like I just ran a marathon.
His eyes narrow on me, and he opens his mouth, probably to bark another command, but the door slams open.
"Hmmm, looks like you don't have any use to us, Dominic," Sebastian says. "What use is an alpha if they're bark is utter bullshit?"
My ears feel like they explode as a gunshot cracks and echoes through the small concrete room.
And then I scream. I scream and scream and scream.
Dom collapses onto me, nearly crushing me. There's blood everywhere. It's all over the wall behind me, it's all over the bed, it's all over me.
Blood. Everywhere.
It almost masks the damage that's been done to Dom's head.
Almost.
Because some of the mess all over me isn't just red. I don't want to think about what the white and gray stuff is.
"Be quiet," Sebastian huffs, rolling his eyes.
His words do absolutely nothing to calm me down.
"I said, be fuckingquiet," he snaps.
My jaw clamps shut and my eyes go wide as my body follows his command.
That was a bark.
An alpha bark.
From a beta.
"That's more like it," Sebastian huffs, tucking his gun back into the holster on his suit pants. "Impressive, huh? How effective an artificial bark can be?"
It is.
It's also just what I needed to snap me back to reality. With my brain panicking over this new shocking development, I can ignore the warm, wet stickiness seeping onto my chest and the dead body on top of me.
Or at least I can try.
"Whatever you did to signal to your mates where we are, it's not going to work. Only certain people have access to any sort of cell service or signal here, and it's incredibly hard to pinpoint the specific location of this place."
I can barely hear him, with my pulse roaring through my ears. My entire body is shaking like a leaf. I can barely breathe. I'm starting to see black spots dancing around in my vision.