“Let us go!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, still trying to fight these alphas, even though I couldn’t do shit to them, especially while I tried so hard not to pass out from pain. My arm… Holy shit, it hurt… “Let us fucking GO!!!”

“Calm down! Argh!! Stop biting me…!”

My alpha was terrified, but tried to help me fight them. I couldn’t see Alex, but I heard him fighting and screeching somewhere behind the guy who was keeping me pinned. There was another guy at my feet, trying to get up, but the van kept swinging from side to side as the driver kept speeding through the city, so the dude couldn’t get his feet in order. I wasn’t helping, either. I leaned hard against the man holding me and kicked the guy in the chest with both feet when he’d managed to get on his knees. He shouted dramatically, which warmed my heart. I hoped it hurt when he hit the wall.

“Stop that! Hold still and listen, you brat!” the man holding me shouted, and tried to push me against the wall to stop me from using my legs.

“Let go of my brother! Jerk!” Alex shouted somewhere, and the man holding me against his chest shouted in agony again.

“Stop! Just listen! Stop fighting! ARGH! STOP BITING ME, YOU BRAT!!!”

“You don’t fucking touch my brother!” I shouted and swung my head back, hitting the guy on the chin. He groaned again, and his friend finally managed to get up to help hold me still.

“Come on! Just calm down!” he said, trying to sound friendly, but they couldn’t fool me.

I knew what this was… Either Zach had sent his True Order buddies after us to silence us or something, or this was those people who kidnapped kids off the streets, never to be seen again. I’d heard too many stories about the latter…

I was not giving up without a fight. I’d make these men regret coming anywhere near us.

I got my uninjured arm free from the guy’s grip and took a swing at the dude in front of me. He didn’t really seem to feel getting hit by me in the chest, but I couldn’t reach his face… I kicked again when his attention was on my hand, hitting the jackpot between his legs.

“AH-HA!! Fuck! Just… Just stop… Man… We won’t hurt you…” the guy whimpered as he stepped away and fell on his knees, holding his family jewels.

“Fuck you!!!” I shouted and tried to kick him again, but the man pulled me away.

In the meantime, Alex was fighting the other two, but he was so much smaller and weaker that they had no trouble keeping him under control. I did see plenty of harsh bite marks on their hands and arms, even on one guy’s cheek.

I was proud of my little brother.

But we couldn’t do much, no matter how hard we kept fighting. I couldn’t tell how long it took, but at some point, the driver stopped speeding and continued driving at a calmer pace. The van still kept swinging around because I refused to calm down, no matter how many times they told me to.

Then we slowed down, and soon, we came to a complete halt. We couldn’t be too far… Somewhere just outside the city… If we could escape, we could make it back home by foot… We just had to get away from these people…

The two at the front of the van jumped out while Alex and I kicked up a storm. There was a lot of shouting and screaming and biting and kicking going on until the side door was opened, and the guys suddenly let go of us.

“Alex! Run!” I shouted, and we dashed out of the van… Only to run into a sturdy chain-link fence. The van’s doors were closed behind us, and silence fell. I quickly looked around and understood we were in an outdoor cage of some kind, right next to an old building. There were doors at both ends, but the way to freedom was closed. The other door led into the building.

I took Alex’s hand in mine and glared at the driver and his friend, the guy who had first spoken to us. They’d exited the cage as soon as they’d opened the van’s door, and were already locking the cage behind them. The rest of them were still hiding in the van, licking their wounds.

I turned to my alpha, asking if it could sense anything, but it was getting way too scared to listen. I breathed out, trying to find my own courage, but this was looking bad. Really bad… And my arm… I could barely stay up on my feet because of how badly my arm and knee hurt now…

“Look,” the tall man with black hair said calmly and stepped closer to the cage. “We don’t want to hurt you. We’re actually trying to help you guys. If you could step inside, we can treat your injuries and have a little chat. We have plenty of food, too. I know this is scary, but–”

“I’m not scared,” I growled at him. “You’re more afraid of me than I am of you.”

He chuckled a little. “Maybe. Still, we’d like to help.”

“And who the fuck are you, huh?” I spat at him.

His smile widened a little. “My name is Trouble,” he said, stepping closer to the door without turning his back on me. “And this is Michael Mercer’s East Creek Youth Center.”

“Michael…?” I muttered.

“…Mercer?” Alex added and turned to look at me with wide eyes.

I stared at this dude, Trouble, then snorted. “And why would the mafia want to help us?”

“It’s our new little hobby,” he said. “Like I said, we can have a little chat if you step inside. You really need to get that arm checked, and that skin condition your friend–”

“He’s my brother,” I spat at him, getting pissed again.

He bowed a little. “Your brother. We’ve been watching you for a while. We want to help you guys, if you’ll let us.”

“Guess what my answer will be,” I told him. “We don’t want to have anything to do with your dirty fucking mafia!”

“Josh…” Alex whispered, and I turned to stare at him.

He watched me with a sad, worried frown, then took a breath and stepped toward the doors.

“What are you…?” I asked in shock.

“It’s the mafia,” he said quietly.

“We don’t fucking know that! Besides, if they really are the mafia, then there’s no way in fucking hell–!”

His expression dropped even more, and he looked away from me with pain in his eyes. I stared at him, then understood…

Right… Alex was on their side… He trusted these… these…

To him and people who hated True Order, the mafiosos were heroes.

I didn’t like this at all… I glared at Trouble and his friend, then turned to glare at the doorway.

“They’re probably lying to us,” I told Alex, keeping my voice down. “Why would the mafia want to help us?”

“Because that’s what they do,” Alex said quietly. “They are trying to take care of this city.”

“They’re a bunch of…!” I managed to snap my mouth shut just in time to not make matters any worse. I took a deep breath, then turned to him. “I don’t think they’re the mafia. Look at them! None of them have vests! The mafiosos always have vests!”

“What else can we do?” Alex whispered. “There’s no way we can escape. And look…”

He showed me his hands. His wounds were bleeding after he’d fought so hard against these people. I growled at the sight, but he kept his eyes turned away from me. He was disappointed with me…

“It hurts, Josh…” he whispered, shaking a little.

I stared at him for a moment longer, then turned to glare at Trouble.

“I swear to the fucking lords above, if you do anything to my brother, if you hurt him in any fucking way, I will rip you to shreds!” I growled at him.

“We just want to help,” he said, his hands up as a sign of peace.

I didn’t trust him, not at all. Why would they want to help us? They kidnapped us, for fuck’s sake! They could’ve just asked us if we needed help, not fucking shove us in their van and drive off!

I didn’t like this at all…

“Alex…” I tried again, but he still wouldn’t look at me.

“They promised to help… It hurts, Josh… I can feel my feet bleeding again…” he spoke, his voice small and pained. “They didn’t even try to hurt us.”

I gritted my teeth together, then glanced at the open doorway. I hated this so much… But… There was no way out… My arm ached so much I was getting dizzy and nauseated, and even my knee throbbed in pain. I had to do as they said…

For now.

But this wasn’t over.

“Okay… Okay… Let’s… Let’s see what they have to say,” I finally agreed just so Alex wouldn’t hate me, but it didn’t mean I trusted these people.

I’d find a way to save us.

Alex finally looked at me, his disappointment fading. It eased my soul even more when he stepped back to me and took my hand in his.

“We’ll be fine,” he whispered. “If they really are the mafia, we’ll be fine.”

I wanted to argue back, but instead, I squeezed his hand very gently, then took a step toward the doors. I hated this so much… But I followed Alex, trying to hide my limp, but it was getting really painful to walk. Soon, we walked past the open doors and entered the short hallway with white walls, gray floors, and bright lights. There were only a few doors on both sides, nothing else. Absolutely nothing. It smelled like chemicals… It was silent, too, but my alpha could detect people, smells, noises.

After taking a few steps down the hallway, I stopped and turned to look back. The doors were still open, but the men were coming out of the van, heading to the gate at the back. I really wanted to attack them and steal the keys and run… But Alex’s hold on my hand grew, and slowly, I turned back to him and continued walking. Limping.

How would I attack them…? I couldn’t even run in my condition…

We reached the end of the hallway. It crossed with another one. To our right, the hallway was blocked with sturdy iron bars and closed double doors right behind them. There was another set of bars and doors to our left, but those were open.

“This is a jail,” I muttered when I realized it.

“Y-yeah…” Alex agreed, shifting closer to me.

I had several horrible thoughts about us being sold as slaves crossing my mind, but before I could voice any of them, two men stepped around the corner behind the open doors on our left. An older alpha in his fifties, and a tall omega in his thirties. They both stopped to stare at us, like they’d come to check if we were still coming. Both of them tried to look friendly, and both of them wore long white coats over their clothes.

Doctors.