The process took less than two seconds. Very anti-climactic. Which didn’t stop me from elbowing the coffeepot and sending it flying to the floor with a loud bang when Dr. Urwin said, “Miss Dorne?”

“Oh, goddammit!” I groaned. Thankfully the pot didn’t shatter. “Sorry! Having a clumsy day here.” I shot the table my best “frazzled female” smile and bent for the pot.

“Happens to us all,” Dr. Urwin chuckled. “You all right?”

“Uh-huh.” I picked up the coffee pot and gave it a little shake. “And so’s our friend here. Can’t have a research team with no caffeine supply.”

“True,” Dr. Urwin said, a wide grin on his lips. “Once you’ve gotten your food and coffee, come over. We’re discussing a potential new plan for our alpha problem and would love your input. I reckon a naturally produced child will bind an alpha almost as tightly as a mate, but Dr. Axell says otherwise.”

The only thing the discussion about whether or not using a child against one of the imprisoned alphas did was strengthen my resolve to get 351 out as soon as possible. It was my hope that, once he was out, I would be able to somehow use his testimony to uncover what horrors SilverCorp committed in the government’s name. If he ever regained his full humanity again.

I knew he was able to speak a few words at night, when the drug they used on the alphas wore off a little, but I had no way of knowing the long-term effects. It seemed Dr. Axell and his team hadn’t been too bothered, seeing as all their male test subjects were on death row anyway.

Hopefully 351 would be able to find enough words to help me convince one of the big news networks to spread the word of the abuse going on in this lab.

It seemed like forever before the clock on my computer finally showed five o'clock, marking the time where most of the team went home. I waited two hours longer before I grabbed my clipboard and a pen and started down the hallway. Under the guise of needing to check up on numbers, I walked through the entire ground floor of the facility, ensuring no one was there except me, the locked up women, and the alphas.

Thankfully, it seemed no one else had decided to work overtime today. If I wanted to break 351 out, now was the time.

With my heart pounding in my throat, I hurried to my locker and got the bag of men's clothing out. I double checked my newly made copy of David’s swipe card was safe in my handbag, took a deep breath—and made my way back to the lab.

The alphas looked up at my arrival, a couple of them getting to their feet to pace, but most of them ignored me after they saw who I was. Clearly, after I’d been down here enough times that they’d gotten used to my scent, they’d all written me off as a non-threat.

351, however, got to his feet and walked to the front of his cell when he saw me, a pleased look on his handsome face.

“Hey,” I said as I stopped in front of his cage.

He didn’t answer, but he did reach one hand out between the bars, palm up. A clear encouragement for me to put my hand in his.

I bit my lip, fighting back the flush of heat in my cheeks at the gesture. I wasn’t entirely sure if he was just being friendly, or if me tending to him earlier in the week had given him some unfortunate ideas about my intentions.

It took everything I had not to glance down his naked body as I placed the bag of clothes in his outstretched hand rather than my own palm. “Here. Put this on.”

He didn’t move, staring at me rather than the bag in his hand.

“It’s clothes,” I explained, trying to fight back the adrenaline threatening to take over my nervous system. “Please, put it on. Quickly. You remember how, right?”

Those piercing green-blue eyes flickered from me to the bag. Slowly, he pulled it in through the bars and opened it.

“We have to hurry,” I said, even though no one would be down here until morning. But I wanted to get out of there as quickly as humanly possible, before my heart exploded from stress. The sooner I had SilverCorp’s facility in my rearview mirror, the sooner I could breathe again.

“Lab coat last,” I said as 351 pulled out the contents of the bag. “Pants first.” I hadn’t bothered with underwear or socks, deeming them unnecessary hindrances to a quick escape. If 351 cared or even noticed, he didn’t show it. Fumbling a bit, he managed to pull the gray pants on, even doing up the zipper and the button, though the shirt seemed to cause him more problems.

“Come here,” I said when it became obvious he had very little care for which button was meant to go in which button hole.

The alpha obeyed, and I reached through the bars to undo the crooked buttons and then slip them through the right holes. My fingers skimmed over his warm chest as I worked, and he made a humming noise deep in his throat in response that had my cheeks flushing again. I was suddenly aware of how near he was, despite the bars separating us. Close enough that I could smell his alpha scent. It wasn’t unpleasant, somewhat to my surprise. I’d always found the smell of alpha unsettling, my biology reacting to the primal notes of dominance without my consent.

But on 351, it was oddly comforting to my frayed nerves. I inhaled a little deeper, breathing in the calming scent of him to steady my racing heart.

The feral alpha’s humming noise turned deeper as he leaned his head closer to the bars until it was right above mine, and then he drew in a deep breath through his nose.

Scenting me.

I flew back from the bars, eyes wide. “Don’t you even think about it!”

He gave me a puzzled look, and I bit the inside of my cheek to force my focus back on what was important. He couldn’t help it—he was a feral alpha, and from his point of view, I was just a female trying to get close to him. It wasn’t odd that he would… scent me.

Even if such behavior was appallingly crude in civilized society.

Scenting a female was basically how alphas used to check if she was ready to mate. No civilized alpha would be so obvious about his instincts these days, though. We were all supposed to respect privacy and verbal consent, but as I looked at the feral alpha who’d only followed his basic instincts, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the supposed civilized alphas just pretended they didn’t do the same. How good was their control over their instincts, when it came down to it?

With an effort of will, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. Right now was really not the time to contemplate such issues.

“Put your shoes on,” I snapped at the alpha, and got a warning growl in return. Right. He didn’t like getting bossed around. “Please.”

His eyes narrowed as he watched me, without making any attempt at the shoes. Some of the softness in his gaze had disappeared, replaced by caution.

“I’m breaking you out of here,” I said, unable to control the urgency I felt from penetrating my voice. I fumbled in my bag for the key card and held it up. “I got a key that works. But we have to hurry.”

The change that came over him made my breath hitch in my throat. The same alpha who’d pulled me against the bars of his cell hard enough to leave bruises in order to get at my key card was back, and it wasn’t until I saw the cold, hard calculation in his icy gaze that I fully realized how different he’d been around me since that day. All of a sudden, the thought of actually letting this three-hundred-pound feral man out seemed a lot less appealing.

But I’d already committed to this.

Taking a deep breath, I motioned at the shoes once more before I reached out and swiped my new card over the lock.

It beeped, flashing green, and a mechanic clink rung through the air between us.

He pushed the door open in the blink of an eye, and I only barely managed to stumble back and out of harm's way from his huge bulk of muscle as he stepped out of the cell and into the lab, eyes glued to the far exit. Clearly locked on his target, he started toward it.