Page 6 of Feral, Part Two (Wolfscorge #2)

Malik

I somehow untangle myself from Kael, keeping my head bowed as I shuffle past Thane. He starts to make a quip but I just throw him a finger. “Quit it,” I mutter as I start working through the groceries we brought home.

Silence filters between us as I fall into a rhythm of shoving the fresh stuff into the fridge and everything else into the cabinets.

It won’t last long between the five of us and I just might have to make another trip to the market before Saturday.

Which would suck. Now knowing that something might be going on out there with all the guards missing, I kind of don’t want to be anywhere other than in the safety of this house.

I look up to see my Alphas at the kitchen table, spread over the same damn information about The Collective for what feels like the hundredth time.

Papers are spread out between them, documents we've already memorized, photos we've analyzed until our eyes bled. I should have known that they would have used the few moments of quiet in the house to yet again jump into the biggest mystery of why we’re in Wolfscorge rather than in jail.

However, I’m not hopeful we’ll find something.

After three years, there shouldn’t be any additional connections or clues we haven’t already exhausted.

Every conversation ends the same way—with more questions and zero answers.

We know The Collective has money, we know they have labs, we know they framed us.

Beyond that, we're shooting in the dark.

I also know that Kael is trying to distract himself, though. After everything Nathan just dropped on us, I can't blame him for wanting to focus on something he feels like he can control. Even if it's pointless busy work that's not getting us anywhere.

Thane leans back against his chair, watching me with an intense stare as I move around the kitchen.

There's something in his gaze that makes my skin prickle, the desire swirling in his expression heating me up from the inside out. My cock is at half-mast and I’m five seconds away from letting out an embarrassing moan.

Thank fuck I don’t slick up like an Omega or I’d be a fucking mess right now.

Needing to break the silence, I twist around to look over at Kael.

His brows are furrowed as he concentrates, the snarl to his lips more inviting than it should be.

At this point, I might just have to blame the fact that we’re going to want to ‘reconnect’ more often because we’re becoming a feral pack.

I clear my throat, shoving that thought down as I try to focus.

"We're wasting our time looking through all that shit, Kael," I tell him. “There's nothing new, and without a contact from the outside to get us any new information, we're not getting anywhere."

Kael doesn't look up from the papers immediately, his fingers drumming against the table.

Thane shifts, crossing his arms as he continues to watch me.

The movement draws my attention despite my efforts to ignore him.

"I honestly think we won't find any of the answers out there anyway.

We're locked in here, and while that fucking sucks, we might actually find what we're looking for inside the compound. "

Thane's always been good at seeing patterns, at connecting dots that the rest of us miss. When he gets that tone, it usually means he's figured something out that we haven't. Kael finally looks up from the papers, frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"Think about it," Thane says. "We already know they were cooking something up in the labs and most likely trying to recreate a Feral . Success, they've done that. And now the guards are gone? Think about it. Their experiment worked."

I set down the bag of carrots I was holding and really consider what he's saying. No one has really bothered us since a council member watched Thane fully bond Slate. After that, it’s been crickets.

We’ve never had this much time alone without at the very least a drop in or a phone call.

It’s why we’ve always been on edge, trying to be the perfect little soldiers so we could get out of here.

But after Nathan’s visit a few days ago…

it’s been silent. And now with the guards…

"Wouldn't that mean more supervision and not less?

It makes sense, doesn't it? If we're part of some experiment, if they've been monitoring our progress, then shouldn't they want to watch the results more closely? Why pull back just when things are getting interesting?”

"Would it?" Thane counters, his eyes meeting mine. "Think about why the fuck we're here right now instead of in jail. According to Nathan, we're the right makeup of a pack for a feral Omega. We're just as much part of the experiment."

Which means we’re test subjects. “This has nothing to do with what we got thrown in jail for, did it, then?”

Thane shakes his head as Kael lets out a grunt, agreeing with his cousin. Ho-ly Fuck.

We’re somehow the perfect combination of Alpha, Beta, and Omega to see how a feral bond would affect a pack. They didn't send Slate here to help him—they sent him here to see what would happen to all of us.

I think back to our arrest and how convenient it was that we got caught.

How the evidence against us was just solid enough to stick but not so overwhelming that we'd get life sentences.

How we ended up at Wolfscorge instead of a maximum-security prison.

How Slate arrived so close to the end of our sentence.

Thane drags a hand down his face, his shoulders falling in defeat. "I could be wrong but they created a Feral and they have the right blueprints to make it work, which means they no longer need to monitor shit in here. They just have to create the right conditions to make another one."

Shit.

I hadn’t thought about that.

Kael snorts, pushing back from the table. "I hate that your theory isn't as far-fetched as it seems. And if that's true, there's like six or seven packs here, some without Omegas."

Six or seven packs at Wolfscorge, all serving different sentences for various crimes.

Most of them don't have Omegas in their pack structure, which would make them perfect candidates for receiving a feral Omega like Slate.

If The Collective is running some kind of large-scale experiment, then we're just one data point among many.

I shake my head, refusing to accept what they're suggesting. "What you're saying is ludicrous and impossible. There's no fucking way someone is powerful enough to set up an experiment like that."

"Unless everyone is on the same page," Kael says, his voice taking on a more dangerous edge.

"Nathan said that no doctor in their right mind would have performed that operation on Slate multiple times, but Veltmoor did.

The packs he was sent to went through Veltmoor's protocols, and our sentences were commuted in exchange for being in here.

What if The Collective is in charge and everyone else is just following orders? "

Preston had been at Veltmoor for a short stint, years before us, as most Omegas do. Which meant that the center would have records on both our Omegas, detailed information about their psychology, their triggers, their needs.

If The Collective has infiltrated or controls Veltmoor, then they would have had access to Preston from the moment he was sentenced. They could have done things to him, changed him, prepared him for what was coming, without any of us knowing.

And the packs that rejected Slate—what if they were supposed to? What if each rejection, each surgical removal of his bond, was part of the process to make him more feral, more desperate, more likely to bond completely with whatever pack finally accepted him?

The systematic nature of it, the careful orchestration, the way every piece has fallen into place exactly as needed… it all points to something much larger and more coordinated than we initially thought.

"Then we're fucked,” I finally push out, meeting my Alphas’ gazes. It’s obvious we’re all on the same wavelength at this point and the outlook isn’t great. “Especially if they're just going to start chucking other Ferals in here."

If we're just the first successful test case, then they'll want to replicate the results.

More packs, more forced bonds, more experiments using humans and shifters as lab rats.

The thought of other people going through what Slate went through, what we're all going through now, makes rage bubble up in my chest.

The worst part is how helpless we are to stop it. Even if we wanted to expose what's happening, who would we tell? Who would believe us? And what kind of proof do we have beyond our own suspicions and theories?

Just as I'm about to voice more of my frustration, the phone rings. The sound cuts through the tense atmosphere. We all freeze for a moment, staring at the device. The only calls we get here are from the council at this point and I really don’t want to fucking talk to them.

I move toward the phone, irritation still coursing through me before picking up the phone, not bothering to modulate my tone. "What?!"

Someone answers softly on the other end, their voice so quiet I can barely make out the words. The tone is familiar, but I can't quite place it over the poor connection and my own agitation.

I pull the phone from my ear, frowning at it for a moment before putting it on speaker so Kael and Thane can hear.

"Jules? Is that you? How the fuck are you calling here?

" Jules was someone who had been close to our operations but not close enough to get caught.

He was one of the only ones we still trusted after we were sentenced.

There's a pause on the other end, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat. When the voice comes through the speaker, it's clearer now, and definitely familiar.

"Thank fuck, I've been trying to get this fucker to work for ages."

I stare at the phone, trying to process what I just heard. "Jules, what the fuck are you talking about? No one is supposed to be able to call into Wolfscorge."

The security around this place is supposed to be airtight.

All our communications are monitored, recorded, filtered through official channels.

The idea that someone could just hack their way through the system seems impossible, but here Jules is, his voice coming through our kitchen speaker clear as day.

"Don't I know that," Jules replies, the exhaustion in his voice even crackling across the connection. "But a few back doors and hacking into the system got me through. It’s a pretty sloppy security system but it’s more annoying than anything.

Lots of redirects and bullshit that deters most people.

Not the point. I did it because Thane and Kael have done enough for me over the years and I had to return the favor. "

The fact that Jules is risking his own freedom for hacking into a government facility means that whatever information he has must be life-altering.

Kael stands up from the table, his chair scraping against the floor as he moves. He walks up behind me, placing his hands on either side of me against the counter, effectively caging me in. I can feel the heat of his body against my back, the tension radiating off him in waves. "Hello, brother."

Jules and Kael aren't actually brothers, but they might as well have been when they were younger.

I remember seeing them together constantly before their jobs took them in different directions.

They grew up in the same neighborhood, got into the same trouble, looked out for each other when no one else would.

Had things been different, Jules probably would have been in this compound right alongside us as part of our pack.

The familiarity in Kael's voice when he addresses Jules makes something twist in my chest. It's been months since we've had any real contact with the outside world, months since we've heard from anyone who knew us before all this started.

The connection to our old life feels both comforting and painful.

Jules huffs a laugh, but there's no real humor in it. "Hey, it's really nice to hear your voice, although I wish it were on better circumstances."

Thane moves toward us as well, his brows furrowed with concern. "I agree. What's going on out there?"

There's a pause on the other end, the kind of silence that comes before someone delivers information they know you're not going to want to hear.

When Jules speaks again, his tone is heavier.

"Nothing good. Ever since they sent you to Wolfscorge, The Collective has been cleaning house.

Everything's locked down, very few people know what's going on, and most of us have been shipped off to what I can only describe as a front company. "

A low growl vibrates through Thane’s chest as he steps closer. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that while I have no idea what the living conditions are in Wolfscorge, out here isn't all that great," Jules continues. "It's a very different place than you left, and whatever you were trying to find or uncover? It set them all off."

Kael's grip on the counter tightens, his knuckles going white. "So, they are hiding something."

Jules snorts, but again, there's no amusement in the sound.

"Kael, it's worse than that. Many of us didn't even fucking realize until recently how connected all this shit is, but there are a few Alphas on The Collective who are connected with the mayor and other political offices.

I couldn't tell you what's about to happen, but don't come out here. "

My throat feels tight as I respond, "We can't. Apparently, Wolfscorge is a life sentence. They lied to us—everyone, I guess."

"And maybe that's for the better," Jules says, his voice grim, "because out here? It's a shitshow and I'm pretty sure it's about to be a warzone."

Before any of us can respond, the line goes dead. Jules hangs up, leaving us with more questions than answers and a growing sense of dread about what's happening beyond these walls.

I stare at the phone for a moment, processing everything we just heard. "Wonderful, that makes me feel a lot better," I say, sarcasm dripping from every word.

I push away from the counter and into Kael’s chest, my Alpha’s arms gently wrapping around me. For a moment, I stay there, relishing in the warmth he provides but I need something different. Something warmer. Something softer.

"Someone else cook dinner," I announce, moving toward the kitchen doorway. "I'm going to go cuddle with our Omegas."

Kael snorts behind me. "Have fun crawling under the bed with all those blankets."

I just throw him a middle finger over my shoulder as I head down the hall. Right now, surrounding myself with the warmth and comfort of our pack bond feels like the only sane response to an increasingly insane situation.