Mack-henna.
I snarl and slump back in the seat. Mack. Zack. Why does he get similar sounds in his name to mine? “Change name,” I mutter.
He laughs, though the noise carries a bitter edge, not pure and warm like Red and White Mine’s laughter. My pale, slender alpha has a name everyone else uses too. Ri-ckon. Red and Ri-ckon. And Zack.
I stare out the window, my thin reflection smiling with bared teeth.
Wherever I’m going, Red will find me. Wait patiently; don’t kill. I can do that, right?
The car slows and turns, and the organ in my chest double-beats. High walls capped in sharp bones block our path. My throat collapses in on itself. Not here. Not the stale hall filled with alphas in tiny cells and unbreathable air. An unhappy rumble escapes me.
The alpha in the front smirks, a challenge in his hard gaze as he turns to face me. “Prison’s the only place you should be, mutt.”
I throw myself at the mesh between us, the tiny squares embedding into my palms. It refuses to give. Why am I back here? Pain fizzes behind my eyes, and I hurl myself into the barrier again, headfirst.
Don’t hurt yourself, Zack.
I spin, searching for Ri-ckon, but he’s not here. It’s only a memory planted in my chest from the times I hit my head when ideas swarmed too loudly. I squeeze my bleeding hands shut. He wouldn’t want me to hurt myself, so what else can I do? This is why I have words now. What would my ohm say?
“Fuck off,” I try, rolling the words carefully over my tongue.
The alpha doesn’t like that, which pleases me immensely. But not enough to chase away the dread growing thicker in my belly as we slide through barred gates that open for us like a gaping mouth.
“Welcome to your new home,” Mack-henna says as he opens the door, the biting stick crackling in his hand. I slide out, battling for control of myself. I might be faster than his stick. Could still close my fingers around his unguarded neck.
But as I’m about to launch, a familiar voice cuts through the air. “Zack!”
I spin. “Cal-ee?”
He leans on the outer fence near the gate, hands digging into the wire. “Zack. I’m coming! Just don’t kill anyone.”
A strange relief explodes inside me. “Cal-ee! What do wrong? Where’s Red?”
His face twists with pain. “We took Red home. Rickon’s helping her.”
“Fucking lawyers!” Mack-henna grabs my arm and pulls me away. “Like leeches sucking on society’s blood.”
I wrench myself out of his grip and stumble toward the wall.
“Don’t kill anyone!” Cal-ee yells as the gate between us slides shut, the gap shrinking steadily.
“Cal-ee!” I scream, clinging to the hope that he might get me out. The entrance thumps closed, locking me inside. In prison.
A clicking noise chatters behind my head as Mack-henna’s stick bites into my neck. Heat and light trample my senses, and my muscles spasm out of control.
I fall, hitting the ground with a heavy thump, and froth coats my lips.
“You all saw that, right? He attempted to escape.” A boot connects with my side, sending pain shooting through my ribs. If not for the weakness shivering in my limbs, I’d tear his foot clean off his body.
Another alpha comes to help Mack-henna lift me to my feet. “So this is the feral from Darinian? Let’s get him processed.”
Don’t kill. Don’t kill.The words echo in my brain as they drag me out of the sunlight.Don’t kill.As they strip me and make me crouch over a shiny mirror. As they shave my hair off and pass me new, scratchy orange clothes.Don’t kill, Zack.As they push me into a stinking corridor full of new alpha scents.
As I tramp along, the first familiar chill prickles along my skin. I’d forgotten about the cold. Before I met my ohm, everything was cold. Even the ideas behind my eyes turn icy.
Cal-ee said he’d find me, but Cal-ee’s the alpha I threw out of our pack. Even if he knows Red needs me, he’ll want to keep us apart. If my fate rests on his decision, won’t he use that to ask to join the pack?
My stomach cramps, tight as the walls closing around me.
