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A flare of panic rises in my stomach at the thought of him laid out somewhere, suffering that kind of pain, and my mind rewinds to a few nights ago, when I woke to the sounds of his outcries.

“What was the point of it?”

“To measure out how the Alpha genes could regenerate bones.”

No, no, no. That’s not science. That’s torture.

Frowning, I bend the paperclip just enough to lodge it into the lock, then slide the pick alongside it, and push to wind the teeth. “Why the bands, if you were their prized soldiers?”

“To keep us from escaping. To track us down.”

“You escaped Calico?”

“Yes.”

“How? I heard they locked all the mutations behind an impenetrable steel door.”

“I escaped with my Alpha brothers and Cali. To a waterfall I knew as a boy. Then Legion tracked us down.”

“Cali?” My first thought is California, recalling that there was a time when the world was divided into territories—states, they called them.

“My brother’s woman.”

“She was a prisoner, as well?”

“Yes. She was part of the Alpha project.”

With one hard crank, the pick slips, nearly stabbing him in the throat, and I gasp. “I’m sorry. Jesus, I didn’t mean to turn so hard.” Going back to my work, I catch sight of him staring at my breasts out of the corner of his eye, before his gaze flicks upward again. “So, this Cali …” I go on. “What was her purpose in the Alpha project?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“I was born with a curious mind. It’s a curse at times. You don’t have to answer.”

“She was to be impregnated by an Alpha. She would also serve as a means of punishment, in case we got out of line.”

“How so?”

“They’d whip her in front of us. Because we were deeply bonded to her, it was as if they were whipping us.”

Us? As in, one woman bonded to more than one Alpha. I have to stifle a shiver at the thought of such a thing, given what I witnessed last night. “You were bonded to her as well?”

“Yes. But I knew Valdys wanted her. He made it clear from the start.” Band shifting with his swallow, he seems to focus on something beyond me, like he refuses to be taunted by the fact that I’m practically straddling him to examine this lock. "Probably for the best, anyway. I'd never let another touch what's mine.”

Ignoring the chiding of my head, I dare to ask the question swirling there. “You … wanted her, though?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I was drawn to her scent. I was made to be aroused by her presence.”

“What do you mean, made to be?” The groan that follows tells me I’m getting too personal, and I smile.

“I don’t understand all the science. Just that she was given injections that complimented our Alpha genes. Imagine craving something for so long, never satisfied with anything else. Then you’re finally given what you crave.”

I do try to imagine that, and somehow my thoughts swing back to the night before. I don’t even know if I’ve ever craved anything prior to then. The sight of him set off some kind of need I didn’t even realize was there to begin. “She’s the only woman you’ve ever craved that way?”

His eyes cut to my shirt and back. “No.”

“You’ve craved another, then?”

“I have. But I can’t take from another woman. I won’t.”