“Cal-ee Wren,” I mutter, pitching onto my side to watch his antics. “Live house.”
He freezes, foot upright, hands clasped around his toes. “Dude, you live in the same fucking house as him?”
I shake my head and swing my legs over the side of the bed. “No. Chased Cal-ee out.”
Al tips his head back and laughs. “Fuck me. You chased him out of the house? Man, I want to hear this story from someone who makes sense.” His nose wrinkles. “But the silver spoon hasn’t contacted me yet, so we might run out of time.” He growls under his breath, and then flattens his body over his leg some more.
When I lean over to see better, Al waves at me. “You should come down and stretch too. No telling what can happen out in the yard.”
I cock my head, studying him. “What happen?”
He shrugs and switches legs. “Fights. Hmm, how would you say it? Challenges? Threats.” When I growl in response, he holds up one finger. “Sometimes, not always. Just gotta be ready.” His hands flap in my direction again and I reluctantly climb down the ladder, but only because I’ve seen Mine do some similar moves before getting on the big four-legged animals.
Al watches me from the corner of his eye as I copy my pack mate’s stretches, but he seems satisfied that I’m moving.
To be fair, he knows a lot of things. From him I’ve learned about the kitchen, laundry, and even a small library inside the prison. Not that the words on paper mean anything to me. Since he understands so much, maybe he knows about this prickle in my chest.
I straighten. “What this?” I lift my shirt and poke in the center of my body, where the lines of my breast meet with the ones over my ribs.
“A six-pack?” He doesn’t sound sure.
I expel a frustrated breath. “Inside.” I rub my too-tight skin. “Feel White Mine.” Guess I should use his ‘outside’ name. “Ri-ckon. And feel ohm-ga.”
Al’s brows rise in a high arc. “An omega?” He whistles. “How did a naïve fucker like you bond an omega?” He rolls to his knees as his eyes widen. “Shit, is that why you’re in here?”
I bristle at his tone. “Red mine.”
He chokes on a laugh and lifts his hands in the no-fight gesture. “Geez, all right, cool your temper. But did you bite her?”
“Bit Mine and White Mine,” I declare proudly. No one else can have them because I claimed them. Then my excitement fades and I press my hand to my chest again. “But feel hot, uneasy. Thirsty, here.”
“Ah.” He brightens. “That’s called a bond. It shares emotions.”
I frown.
Al shrugs and mutters under his breath. “How the fuck did I end up as a kindergarten teacher?” He rubs one hand over his glossy head. “Um, so happy, sad, angry. Those things get felt through a bond. It means you can sense what your omega feels.”
“Bond,” I repeat. I say it once more, deciding I like the way it sounds. I stretch my arms up, slowly making an arc like the path of the sun.
“Yeah, so that’s what you’re feeling,” Al says, scratching at his beard. “But a bond also means like a rope or chains.”
I stiffen. “Leash?”
The man shakes his head slowly. “I don’t even wanna fucking know how you learned that word, but yeah, like a leash. I guess.”
A buzzer sounds through the small box up on the roof, the noise that indicates a change in activities.
“Yard time.” Al gets off the floor with a grunt and hits the air a few times with his fists. “Watch your back out there, Zack.” His voice drops to a mumble as he adds, “And I wouldn’t mind if you watched mine while you’re at it.”
I turn the new information over behind my eyes as I follow him out of our small room. This feeling in my chest means I have a leash that holds me to Red and Ri-ckon. A grin spreads across my face, and I don’t care if anyone thinks it’s a challenge. A leash is for keeping close and keeping safe, which means I’m still joined to my ohm-ga, even though I can’t see her.
Patting one hand over my chest, I stride out into the sunlight.
A patch of grass on one side and concrete on the other forms the yard. The building shields it on two sides and the other two have tall wire fences. My steps slow as I realize this is the same sort of setup I climbed back at the other prison.
A lump forms in my throat. The alphas back then weren’t challengers, which is why most of them ignored me. They simply had yard time. I growl under my breath at my foolishness. No wonder Mine and the ultra-magical White Mine put me on a leash away from home.
“Keep up, Zack,” Al says, wariness in his tone.
