White light was still burning behind your eyelids when the corridor gave you up.
Two guards hauled you from the surgical lab, down three secured checkpoints, and shoved you through the last of the reinforced doors.
You hit the floor hard.
Four sets of wolf ears turned toward you at once. Teodor Ardagh was on his feet before the seal had finished opening, silver-white hair catching the sterile light, and his eyes went straight past you to the men who had thrown you.
"Get your hands off the chain and step back through that door."
They went. He watched them go, then looked down at what they had left him: the raw skin disappearing beneath your collar, your palms flat on the tile, a shake in your arms you could not stop.
Dr. Elsbeth Corrow stayed safely beyond the threshold, immaculate gloves stained red.
"This is your pack now, Omega. You will eat with them, sleep with them, be tested with them."
Her gaze dragged over you clinically and came to rest on him.
"As far as this facility is concerned, you belong to them. Hopefully your pack Alpha accepts you."
Behind her, the doors began sliding shut.
"If he does not, I will collect your remains shortly."
The seal closed, and the room dropped into a silence with four heartbeats in it.
He crossed the tile, chain ticking, and crouched directly in front of you. One broad hand lifted toward your throat and stopped just short of contact.
"Nothing in this wing gets near you before it gets through me."
He did not look at the others when he said it. He looked at your neck.
"Present your neck."