Page 5 of Mating Mia (The Alphas’ Perfect Prey #2)

three

. . .

Mia

I force myself to nibble on the stale piece of bread they’ve given me, trying not to gag on its dry, cardboard texture. My stomach growls demandingly despite the pathetic offering, reminding me that I’m eating for two now.

A wave of despair goes through me as I lean against the cold concrete wall, watching dust motes dance in the weak beam of morning light filtering through the tiny window near the ceiling. I need to keep my strength up, for the baby, for myself, for whatever nightmare awaits me in this prison.

A faint groan from the neighboring cell reminds me that I’m not entirely alone. My father, Liam, is there, and he’s still recovering from yesterday’s brutal punishment.

“Are you awake?” I call softly through the crack in the wall.

“Yes,” he replies, his voice raspy. “How are you feeling, Mia?”

“I’m okay. Did they bring you any food?”

“No,” he says, and I can hear the chains rattle as he shifts position. “They usually feed me every other day. Keeps me weak but alive.”

What kind of monsters are these people?

I’m about to respond when heavy footsteps echo down the corridor, making my heart stutter with dread.

“Oh no,” I say out loud.

“Remember what I told you. Don’t react. Don’t give them anything.”

I stuff the last of the bread into my mouth, chewing frantically. I don’t know why, but some instinct tells me not to let them see me leaving food, not to give them any reason to withhold future meals.

To my dread, the footsteps stop directly in front of my cell.

I look up to see a tall figure flanked by two guards—the same men who held the whip yesterday.

The third man is older, perhaps in his sixties, but his posture reveals no signs of age or weakness. His shoulders are broad, his stance commanding. Power radiates from him, and his scent—dark and threatening, like thunderclouds fills the narrow space.

“So,” he says, his voice surprisingly soft for someone with such an intimidating presence. “This is Sarah’s little girl. All grown up.”

My skin prickles at the mention of my mother’s name, but I force my expression to remain neutral, just as Liam advised.

“Who are you?” I ask, my heart pounding.

He smiles, revealing teeth that seem too white, too sharp. “My name is Orion. I’m the leader of the Silvertooth Pack.”

“Why am I here?”

He steps closer to the bars, studying me with cold eyes that remind me of a predator assessing its prey.

“I’m the alpha your mother was promised to before she ran away with that…” he gestures dismissively toward Liam’s cell, “this weakling.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, pressing my back against the wall. “I was adopted. I never knew my birth parents.”

Orion turns to one of the guards and says, “Open the door.”

Panic flutters in my chest as the guard unlocks my cell. Orion steps inside, bringing his overwhelming scent with him. The space suddenly feels impossibly small with his large frame dominating it.

“Stand up,” he commands, and to my horror, my body responds before I can control it. I’m suddenly standing before him without my conscious decision.

He circles me slowly, taking in every detail of my appearance. I fight the urge to cover myself, to shrink away from his assessing gaze.

“You look exactly like her,” he says slowly. “Same eyes. She was promised to me since birth, and then she ran to three alphas who stole her from me. My pack and I had the pleasure of killing two. So now there’s just one remaining…”

“Please don’t hurt him. Let him go,” I say, practically begging him not to torture my father anymore. I can’t stand it, and I won’t stand for it.

“I don’t know about that,” says Orion with a dark look as he grips my chin. “If you tell me where your mother is, then I might just let him go free. And you as well.”

“I don’t know where she is. I was given up for adoption as a baby. I never met her.”

“I don’t believe you,” Orion says, his voice still eerily calm despite the anger I can smell rolling off him in waves. “A mother doesn’t abandon her child completely. There would have been contact. Letters. Phone calls. Something.”

“There was nothing,” I tell him, and this at least is the truth. “I know nothing about her except that she gave me up.”

Orion finally releases my chin, stepping back to study me from a different angle.

“We’ll see,” he says. “We have ways of getting to the truth.”

I gasp, suddenly doubling over in pain. What the hell? Is something wrong with the baby?

“What’s this?” Orion asks, his head tilting with curiosity.

Another cramp hits me, this one accompanied by a rush of heat that floods my skin, making me dizzy. My inner thighs suddenly feel slick, and a familiar scent—my scent—fills the small cell, honey-sweet but amplified a hundred times over.

No. No. No.

It can’t be. It’s impossible.

“She’s in heat,” one of the guards says, his voice rough with sudden interest. “Fuck, she smells good.”

“Impossible,” Orion says. “She’s already pregnant.”

I stumble back against the wall, legs trembling as another wave of heat crashes through me. This can’t be happening. I’m already carrying my pack’s pup. I shouldn’t be going into heat. It doesn’t make sense.

“Leave her alone!” Liam’s voice echoes from the next cell, the chains rattling loudly as he struggles against his bonds. “Don’t touch her!”

The guards move closer to the bars, their eyes fixed on me with predatory intensity.

I can see the bulges growing in their pants, can smell their arousal mixing with mine in the confined space. One of them grips the bars, knuckles white, claws beginning to extend as his control slips.

“Alpha,” he growls to Orion, “let me have her. Just for a minute. She needs it. Look at her.”

I press myself into the corner, trying to make myself as small as possible, but there’s nowhere to hide from my own biology. My skin feels too tight, too hot. Every nerve ending screams for relief, for the touch of any alpha to quench this unexpected fire.

“What’s happening to me?” I gasp, sliding down the wall as my legs give out. “I’m already pregnant. This isn’t possible.”

“Stress can trigger unusual responses in omegas,” Orion says. “Perhaps your body thinks it’s in danger of losing the pup and is preparing to conceive again immediately.” A slow smile spreads across his face. “How fascinating.”

The guards are panting now, rutting against the bars like animals, eyes fixed on me with single-minded hunger to rut. Their erections strain against their uniform pants, visible evidence of what they want to do to me.

“Don’t let them in,” I moan, clutching my stomach while slick runs down my thighs.

“Tell me where my mate is,” Orion demands, crouching down to my level, “and I’ll have you moved to more comfortable quarters. I’ll keep these animals away from you.”

“I don’t know,” I sob, another wave of heat making me shudder violently. “I swear to God, I don’t know anything about her. If I knew, I would tell you. I’d be with her right now instead of here.”

Slick gushes between my thighs, soaking through my skirt. The scent drives the guards into a frenzy, their growls becoming more desperate, more threatening.

“You’re lying,” Orion says, though there’s doubt in his eyes now. “You must know something.”

“A human family adopted me,” I plead, tears streaming down my face. “I didn’t even know what an omega was until a few months ago. I didn’t know werewolves existed. Please, please believe me.”

Orion studies me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he stands, brushing off his pants as if touching me has somehow soiled him.

“What a disappointment,” he says softly. “I had such hopes for this reunion. But it seems you’re as useless as your father after all.”

“Please let me go!”

He turns to the guards, who are now snarling and drooling, eyes glowing with primal hunger.

“Have your fun,” he tells them. “But don’t kill her and don’t damage the pup. We may still find uses for both of them.”

“Don’t do this, please,” I beg as Orion walks towards the cell door to open it for them as he leaves.

“Maybe a knot or two will make you remember something,” he says, stepping out of the cell. He pauses, looking back at me with cold eyes. “Or perhaps not. Either way, the daughter of a traitor will be punished.”

The guards rush in the moment Orion moves aside, their hands already tearing at their belts, their faces twisted with lust and aggression.

I scramble backwards.

There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

“Please don’t,” I beg, crossing my arms over my chest as one of them reaches for me. “I’m pregnant. I’m carrying another alpha’s pup.”

“Don’t care,” the guard growls, grabbing my ankle and yanking me toward him. “Need to fuck you. Need to breed you.”

“No!” I scream, kicking out with my free leg, connecting with his jaw. He snarls in pain and anger, his grip tightening painfully.

The second guard grabs my arms, pinning them above my head while the first tears at my clothes, ripping my blouse open with a single violent motion.

Buttons scatter across the concrete floor, and cool air hits my exposed skin.

“Get off her!” Liam roars from the next cell, as the sound of metal rattles against metal. “I’ll kill you! I’ll tear your fucking throats out!”

But his threats mean nothing to the guards who are lost in the haze of my heat scent. My scent is all around us, filling the air like a drug. I’ve never seen anything like this.

Kane and his pack were gentle with me. Nothing this feral.

They paw at me, rough hands squeezing my breasts, yanking at my skirt, trying to spread my legs. I fight with everything I have, scratching, biting, kicking, but there are two of them and only one of me, and they’re stronger. Much stronger.

Then, suddenly, a different scent cuts through the confusion of heat and fear. Three familiar scents, mingling together. No, this can’t be real.

My alphas are here .

A crash echoes from somewhere down the corridor, followed by shouts and snarls and the unmistakable sounds of fighting. The guards pause, momentarily distracted by the commotion.

A massive black wolf, Finn, bursts into the cell, launching himself at the guard pinning my arms. They tumble across the floor in a blur of fur and limbs and blood.

Jace appears next, fully shifted, his golden fur bristling as he attacks the second guard, teeth closing around the man’s throat with deadly precision.

And then Kane is there, human-formed but with claws extended, his eyes glowing alpha-red with rage. He pulls me into his arms, cradling me against his chest, his scent wrapping around me as tears come to my eyes.

He’s real . As real as can be.

His arms are strong and my heart pit-patters against my chest underneath my tattered blouse.

“I’ve got you,” he growls. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe now.”

I cling to him as he carries me, preparing to sprint with me out of the cell.

“Wait, Kane,” I say through my tears. The overwhelming sensation of the bond snapping into place makes the hollow ache in my chest disappear, but my pussy is throbbing uncontrollably from my heat.

“Yes, sweetheart? We need to leave immediately before their pack leader gets back.”

“I’m in heat and my father is in the next cell.”

“Wait, what? And your father? What are you talking about?”

“Please,” I beg, clutching at his shirt. “He’s chained up in there. We have to take him with us. I just found him. I can’t lose him again.”

Kane hesitates, clearly trying to process this new information in the midst of chaos. But then he nods, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead.

“Jace,” he calls, and the golden wolf looks up from the motionless body beneath him, muzzle stained red. “Check the next cell. There’s someone we need to bring with us.”

Jace shifts smoothly back to human form, naked and blood-spattered but focused on the task. He moves to the neighboring cell, peering through the bars.

“Shit,” he says, eyes widening. “Kane, you need to see this.”

Kane’s grip on me tightens as he takes in the sight of the emaciated man hanging from chains on the wall.

“This is your father?” he asks, disbelief coloring his tone.

I nod, swallowing hard. “His name is Liam. I just found out... they’ve had him prisoner for over twenty years. Please, we have to take him with us.”

Kane studies Liam for a long moment, his alpha instincts warring with the unexpected complication. But then Finn joins us, shifted back to human form, his expression grim but resolved.

“The rest of the guards are down,” he reports. “But more will be coming. We need to move.”

Kane nods sharply.

“Get him down,” he orders, and Finn and Jace move immediately to obey, breaking the lock on Liam’s cell with combined strength before entering to deal with his chains.

“I appreciate this,” Liam croaks.

Behind us, I hear the rattle of chains giving way, the collective grunt of effort as Finn and Jace support Liam’s weakened body between them. My heart suddenly soars when I realize that we’re all getting out of here.

Together.