He shakes his head. “Not for you, but I like a smoke now and then. They make you cough.” He thumps his chest and fakes a hacking noise.
“Then why use?” I grumble. People are so hard to understand.
Al grins and shrugs like he doesn’t know either.
When the man puts leaves on my dish, I stare at the green mass and think of how Ri-ckon always added more to my meal. “More,” I say. Maybe they are the source of his hidden magic.
The alpha with the food pincers sighs but obeys.
“Good,” I say before moving on.
Al snorts, but I don’t know what the joke is. When I turn to scan the tables, I spy a familiar face. The young alpha from the long vehicle sits at the far end, but three alphas hover around him, one leaning on his shoulder. I stride across the room, and Al follows, grumbling about how he’s supposed to lead.
I plop my tray down on the table loudly, making the alphas flinch. The three bigger ones glare at me as I sit down.
“What?” I ask them, rumbling faintly in warning. “I eat here.”
“Why are we here, exactly?” Al mutters, eyeing the group.
I point my plastic fork toward the wide-eyed alpha hunched over his meal tray. “This Owen.”
Al leans his elbow on the table, looks from me to the standing alphas, and taps one finger on the metal surface. “That’s your cue to piss off, boys.”
The alpha leaning on Owen’s shoulder raises his hands and backs up a step. “All right, Alhedy. We want no beef.” He smirks, and the expression makes me think of cold nights on concrete floors. “But I wonder if you’ll be singing such a pretty tuneonce your sidekick here gets taken down a few more times. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be next.”
Al bristles, his scent and invisible challenge rising together. It’s thick and pungent, enough to unsettle me despite our deal. Another growl rattles my chest, adding to the challenge in the air. Owen shrinks down until his head almost touches his food, and sweat trickles down his neck to turn his orange collar dark.
The three alphas back up, using words Ri-ckon tells me not to say, and then tear themselves away and flee.
Both Al and I wait until they’re on the far side of the room before settling. I reach over and shove Owen’s head back. “I said, give no holes or thoughts,” I tell him, annoyance leaking into my tone.
He nods, sadness in his eyes. “I remember, but I’m not strong like you.”
“No one like Zack,” I confirm with pride. “But all alpha can challenge.” I rise enough to reach him and tap the back of my fork to his chest. “Breathe. Fill space with death. Then push toward alpha. Challenge.”
Al sighs. “This idiot means get angry enough to wanna kill someone and then let it show.” He twirls his own fork between me and Owen. “How exactly do you two know each other?”
I stab a pile of greens and turn it side to side, looking for magic. “Met on . . . what long vehicle on trip from hospital?”
“The bus?” Al chuckles, shaking his head before attacking his food. “Fuck me sideways. My kindergartner is making friends at daycare now.”
“Bus,” I mutter, tucking the word into the space between my ears. I eye my cell partner, not liking his tone. He’s mocking me, but I let it slide since we have a deal and he’s teaching me about cameras.
Owen’s chest rises with a big breath, and he straightens in his seat. “Thank you for the help, sir.”
“Don’t thank me. The giant man-child chose to sit here; I’m just sticking close.”
“Okay.” Owen looks from me to Al and plucks at his collar, mopping up sweat. “Is something, ah, different about Zack?”
Al chokes on a laugh. “You clocked that, huh?” He goes to drive his elbow into my side, but I block him. “This is a one-of-a-kind feral, an alpha who grew up in fighting rings and never learned how to be part of society. Get this—he doesn’t even know why he’s in here.”
“Do,” I grumble around a mouthful. “Disobeyed. Hit and kicked people.”
Al shrugs, smiling. “Well, what can I say? He’s learning.” He fills his fork with pasta and waves it toward me. “Zack also happens to be the second most dangerous alpha in here, physically at least.”
Owen stiffens. “Who’s the first?”
“Me, of course,” Al says, chest puffing out.
