Ehlian could feel it.
The alpha’s power pulsed faintly in the room. The raw, resonant strength of his telepathic presence brushed against Ehlian’s senses, unwelcome but impossible to ignore.
His stomach twisted painfully.
Omegas were never placed in the same cell as alphas. Never. It was against the fucking law for a very obvious reason.
So why washehere?
“This is a mistake,” Ehlian said sharply, spinning to face the guard. “You’ve put me in the wrong cell.”
The guard ignored him entirely. He pulled the cell door closed and walked away without a backward glance.
“There’s no mistake,” the alpha said at last.
Ehlian froze, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the midnight-blue carpet beneath his feet. Strange white circles wove a pattern across it.
“You’re an alpha,” Ehlian said, his tone tight.
“Remarkable observation. You want a round of applause?”
And, apparently, a dick too.
“I’ll ask the guards to transfer me to another cell.”
“You’d only be wasting your time. They won’t do it.” The alpha turned another page in his book, barely sparing Ehlian a fraction of his attention. “What’s your name?”
Ehlian gestured at the number on his uniform. “Break the code.”
The alpha’s lips curled into a faint, amused smile. Ehlian quickly snapped his gaze back down to the carpet, resisting the dangerous instinct to meet the alpha’s eyes.
He took a cautious step, then another. When the alpha didn’t move, he grew bolder and walked to the bar. A sharp and disbelieving laugh escaped him as he scanned the bottles neatly lined up behind two clean glasses. This was some next-level holographic shit, a cruel form of psychological torture meant to drive him mad on top of stripping away his freedom. Cells like this didn’t exist in prisons. Not for inmates.
Reaching out, he fully expected his hand to pass through the illusion. Instead, his fingers brushed cold glass. They curled around the neck of a bottle, and he lifted it experimentally.
It couldn’t be real.
It had to be fake.
“It’s real.” The alpha said.
Ehlian glanced at the alpha, who still hadn’t looked up from his book. He lingered on the sharp jawline and the impeccably tailored uniform. The alpha couldn’t be more than twenty-seven… maybe twenty-eight. A faint, unsettling voice inthe back of his mind insisted he knew the alpha. He would have remembered knowing someone like him personally, yet the familiarity gnawed at him nonetheless.
Whoever the alpha was, it was glaringly obvious he was someone powerful and absurdly wealthy. No one else could demand such luxury while locked in a floating prison. His words carried a weight Ehlian’s never could.
“Ask the guards to transfer me to another cell,” Ehlian demanded. “With an omega.”
“You’re staying,” the alpha said, his tone making it clear the conversation was over before it began.
Yeah, Ehlianfeltthe gravity of his words. He bristled. “I won’t be your fuck toy.”
“You’ll change your mind in a week.”
Ehlian’s grip tightened around the bottle, knuckles going white. The asshole wasn’t even denying it.
“You’re not touching me,” Ehlian said firmly, his voice sharp.
The alpha didn’t even look at him, much less reply. Instead, he turned another page in his book, dismissing Ehlian so utterly it made his blood boil. That cold indifference hit something deep in his chest, painfully familiar.
