Page 51 of Wild Omega

The other male makes a sharp sound as they push me toward the open cell door.

Terror crawls up my neck. If I’m sent out to fight with my limbs bound like this, how can I win? I try to spin around and head back to the safety of my cell, but they force my shoulders. The other alphas in the cells roar, adding to the pressure throbbing inside my head. I duck and wince.

The gruff alphas push me along the corridor and out through the entrance. The only reason I’m not screaming and clinging to the walls is that out here is the Other Place, the one that smells alive and swims with light.

I stumble down a different hallway, trying to manage walking with tiny steps. The sound the alphas made,pack, winds through the throbbing in my head. Are these two menpackbecause they’re always together? Is a pack a group, and if so, does that make my territory brothers a pack?

“All right, Zazu, this is the exercise area. Enjoy your day out because we can only give you one a month.”

Sunlight floods over me and for a moment I forget the danger as I lift my face. The light soaks into my skin, which never happens in cells or fighting caves. A murmur of awe slips through me as the alphas unbuckle my restraints.

But it only lasts a few seconds before my nose fills with strange intruder scents and alarm grips my senses. This is another fight. Separated by a single fence stand a large group of challengers, many of them dotted with dark skin marks. They stare at me.

A quiver runs down my throat and into my chest. Am I to fight all of them? This must be a pack, because they mill there together without fighting each other.

Well, pack or not, I won’t back down.

I throw myself toward the fence, snarling a challenge. The metal pings as I bounce off it, but it doesn’t attack me like the time I escaped.

A whistle splits the air and a big alpha with no hair on top looks me over. “Fuck me, they really are like wild animals.”

The smaller one next to him nods. “Told ya, boss. They had a big intake out of the underground fight rings while you were in solitary.”

The big one holds my gaze as he draws closer. I pace up and down, searching for the flashing lights that will change when the gate’s about to open. Nothing else is out here, except for a huge golden bulb hanging in that endless blue roof.

Darkness creeps into the corners of my eyes as I swing around, watching for the guard alphas at my back as well as the pack on the other side of the fence. But the three guards disappear inside the giant building we came out of, slamming the door shut behind them. I sidle along the chain mesh, putting some distance between me and the doorway.

One of the pack members puts his arm through the fence and waves it. “Here, doggie!”

I leap, my fingers grazing his skin as he yanks it away.

“Fuck, he’s fast.” The stench of fear wafts through the air, and I growl again. “Fucking stinks too.”

The biggest alpha chuckles. “Damn! Imagine having a couple of those on your side. Do you reckon we could train one to guard a warehouse?”

One of the other alphas shrugs. I lift my nose, vibrating with alertness. Alphas.Others. Females. I can tell them apart by scent.

“Maybe, but would take a long time. The kennels train these boys for years to become feral killers, so you’d have to recondition that.”

Kill. That’s a sound I know. I roar, digging my fingers into the metal links and exposing my chest in a challenge. When the fuck is this gate going to open? I’ll show them the meaning of the wordkill.

We hang there, locked in a standoff, the alphas watching me with a strange look in their gazes. Like they don’t think I’m the same as them.

It pisses me off even more.

Sweat trickles down my back as my skin heats. I can’t recall ever being this warm. I’d like to enjoy it, but I can’t with this huge threat staring at me. Eventually the energy builds up so tight inside I pace so it doesn’t rip my skin apart. It gives me the opportunity to take a good look around.

The alphas on the other side drift around their open area. Some kick a small round object back and forth along the ground. Others do strange movements with their arms. Not all of them seem to be part of the pack, because some stay near the corners, sitting on lumps of wood and looking at paper.

I take a second glance as an unfamiliar sensation trickles down my back. They aren’t preparing to fight. What’s going on for these alphas to have a challenger within a few paces, but not even look my way? Is this gate never going to open? I can’t fall for a trap. Can’t let my guard down.

I growl.

Beyond the fencing on their side stands the giant stone wall I saw the last time I was in the Other Space. The height looms, throwing shadows across the ground that move slowly. It’s capped with rolls of shining gray stuff with teeth attached. Maybe the sharpened bones of those who lose? I shake off the chilling thought.

The entire set of challenges would have been fought by now, in the time I’ve been out here walking the fence line, and still the gate hasn’t opened.

The alpha missing hair drags a wooden block near the fence and snaps his fingers at one of the others. “Do they pace and snarl like this all day?”

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