“They’re… they’re all in cages?” I asked, not quite believing my own eyes.

“Well, cells. Trust me, things would go south rather quickly if they weren’t safely detained. Have you ever seen a feral alpha?”

I shook my head, mutely watching the nearest caged and buck naked man pace restlessly behind the bars of his prison, his muscles flexing as he stared at the nearby lab-coated staff member scribbling notes on his chart. He looked like a wild animal searching for a way to get at his captor.

“And they agreed to this… this arrangement?”

Dr. Axell glanced at me, for a moment appearing startled. Then his trademark smile spread across his face once more. “Oh, of course. Forgive me, I didn’t consider how this would look to a newcomer. These test subjects were all imprisoned on death row—their lives were forfeit. Instead of getting the needle, they come here and help the society they turned their backs on learn how to better defend our borders. I’m sure you agree that this is far the better option for these wretched souls?”

Hesitantly, I nodded. If the only other option for these men was death, there wasn’t much of a choice.

“Come, I want to show you our most promising subject.” Dr. Axell walked down the few steps to the concrete floor below, leaving me to follow. “He was a Navy SEAL before he came here, and his physical tests are off the charts. They all become superior fighters once they’re feral, but Subject 351 is something else entirely. We’ve shown his results to the Minister of Defense, and they are very hopeful he will be the key to improving the armed forces.”

We walked to the far end of the large room, past cell after cell of naked and pacing alphas. Each and every one of them snarled when Dr. Axell passed, the sound and overwhelming scent of them making every hair on my body stand on end as I fought back my own primal instincts to show my throat in submission.

It was a ridiculous urge, of course, a leftover defense from before civilization made us all rein in our animal instincts and substitute them with rules and manners. I’d felt the brush of those instincts before—of course I had. Every man, woman, and child who’d ever been around an alpha had, but I’d never experienced anything as strong as this. The sheer density of testosterone in the air made my heart pick up speed, preparing my body to flee.

“It’s a bit overwhelming in the beginning,” Dr. Axell said, undoubtedly when he picked up on my scent of fear. “Every beta male on the team has been through it. It gets easier. Just remember they’re behind bars—there’s nothing they can do to you. You’re the one in charge.”

I gave him a grateful, but fleeting smile in acknowledgement, yet didn’t manage to keep my eyes off the predators we passed. That’s what they were, I realized. Predators. No longer fully human.

“What have you done to them to… to turn them feral?” I asked, aware my voice was squeaky with pent-up anxiety. Dr. Axell was polite enough to ignore it.

“Once a day, we give them a serum we’ve developed specifically for this purpose. It increases the activity in the medulla oblongata, forcing their primal instincts to the forefront. It doesn’t fully erase their humanity—they’re still capable of using tools, and to some degree, solving puzzles and performing simple tasks like showering and opening doors. We’ve yet to have anyone speak while the serum is still strong in their veins, but toward nighttime when it begins to wear off, most are capable of expressing basic needs and wants using some language.” He stopped in front of the last cell on the left side of the room, smiling broadly at its occupant. “Ah, and here he is. Our most prized specimen. Miss Dorne, this is Subject 351. He’s twenty-six, and a former Navy SEAL at six foot ten and two-hundred ninety-one pounds.”

I peeked in the cell from my hiding-spot behind Dr. Axell’s shoulder, and bit my lip at the sight of the man inside. All alphas were larger than beta males, but it was quite obvious even from a quick glance that the nearly three hundred pounds on this one was pure muscle. His body looked like it’d been carved from granite, with bulging muscles from his shoulders down his arms and pecs leading down to two hard rows of stacked abs and a prominent “V.” I quickly averted my gaze when my eyes caught sight of what hung below his hips, forcing back my immediate blush.

Instead of pacing like the other alphas, he was sitting at the far concrete wall of his cell, his head leaned back and his eyes closed. When I looked closer, I could see several scars crisscrossing his skin. A few of them looked fresh.

“What’s happened to him?” I asked, indicating the scars.

The moment I spoke, the alpha’s eyes snapped open. His icy, blue-green eyes swept from me to Dr. Axell, and his lip curled up in a snarl that had me retreating a step before I caught myself.

“We have to test their fighting prowess on a regular basis,” Dr. Axell explained. “Sometimes they sustain injuries, but they are of course treated instantly.”

“Oh.” That sounded plausible enough. I forced my eyes away from the scars and pressed down the sense of discomfort churning in my gut. He wasn’t a good man, I reminded myself. And a few scars were a far better option than getting the needle, even for a former soldier of his obvious ability.

“You said the serum has drawbacks?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the alpha as he slowly got to his feet. His gaze was locked on Dr. Axell, and his stance was obviously defensive. How the alpha researcher reined in his own instincts was a mystery to me, but apart from a slight scent of aggression emanating from the man by my side, he didn’t seem to be fazed in the slightest.

“Yes. As much as it purifies their alpha nature, it obviously also enhances their dominance and disregard for following orders. Not exactly prized qualities in what we hope will be the nation’s most elite soldiers.” Dr. Axell took a step closer to the cage and the alpha within reacted instantly. His snarl grew to a roar as he launched himself at the bars, barging against them with his shoulder so hard they shook. When unsuccessful, he started pacing instead, as close to the bars as he could without touching them, a look of absolute murder in his eyes as he stared Dr. Axell down.

“W-what are you working on to pacify them?” I asked, doing my best not to let on how hard my heart was pounding after the feral alpha’s display of aggression.

“It’s more about control than pacification,” Dr. Axell said. He cocked his head while he watched the alpha pace, still seemingly unfazed by the threat of violence emanating from the man. “We’ve worked on a lot of solutions, but when it comes right down to it, there is only one thing that can be used to control any alpha on the planet. Even a feral one. A mate.”

I blinked and finally wrested my gaze from the feral alpha to stare dumbfounded at Dr. Axell. “W-what? He has a mate? There are rules for mated pairings, even in cases of violent crime.” Only in the most extreme cases was a criminal sentenced to death row if he’d taken a mate, because it was deemed too cruel a punishment for the—often innocent—surviving spouse to lose her mate before his time. There’d only been three cases in the past decade where a mated alpha had been sentenced to death, as far as I could recall, and that’d made waves across the country because in all three cases, their mates had been accomplices.

“No, he does not. None of them do.” Dr. Axell returned my gaze with a calming smile. “Not yet. But it is our working theory that if we can get them to claim a mate while in this state, they will be much easier to control. We keep the woman with us, safe and sound, and her alpha will obey every command given.”

“But…” About a thousand questions tumbled through my brain, but I found it hard to word any of them. An esteemed researcher like Dr. Simon Axell would never break the strict codes of conduct every person employed within the sciences swore an oath to uphold, and I didn’t want him to think I was accusing him of doing anything of the sort. Yet this…

“How will you find the women to bond with these men?” I finally asked.

“We already have.” Dr. Axell nodded toward where the central, glass-paned room curved around. When we’d entered, I’d noticed a door leading out of the room on that side. “Inmates at several women’s prisons across the country were given the option of shortening their sentences by taking part in this research. Those who accepted were given a physical before they arrived. Every one was deemed in a fitting physical state to participate. Don’t worry, Miss Dorne. Everything is above board. I would never ask fellow researchers to partake in anything that could harm their careers.”

“I wasn’t implying that—“

He put a hand on my shoulder. “I know, my dear. And I want you to feel safe in confiding any concerns that may arise during your employment here. We take the welfare of our employees, as well as our test subjects, seriously.”

I offered him a brief smile of gratitude that he responded to with a quick squeeze before he removed his hand and turned away from the caged alpha still pacing in his cell. “Now, if you will come with me. I’ll show you your work station. You won’t often have need to come down to the lab, but on occasion, someone will forget to jot down the relevant numbers in the reports you’ll be given. If that’s the case, you can always come down and read them off the cells. Just be careful not to come within reach of the bars.”

I nodded shakily, my gut clenching at the thought of being close enough to one of the feral alphas that they might reach through the bars and grab me. One final look at the still-pacing 351 made it very obvious I wouldn’t like the outcome of an encounter like that.