Ex-con Alpha (Alpha Meets Omega 3)

CHAPTER ONETravis

“You aren’t so powerful in here, are you, Alpha?” Rybeck snarled.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. I’m almost done here. I’ll be out of your hair in a matter of days,” Travis replied, disinterested.

“Ya think? I think different. You were all badass on the outside, selling guns to whoever wanted them. You got my brother killed, and I aim to make sure you pay for that.”

“I didn’t sell guns to the guy that killed your brother. Your pack is on the other side of the country,” Travis sighed, stabbing another tasteless piece of pasta covered in bright yellow cheese. It looked like it had been processed in a nuclear plant.

“You think those guns don’t travel? You think they stay in your little shithole county?”

Rybeck was standing over his table, trying to force a conflict, trying to goad him into throwing the first punch. Before he’d come here, he’d have put him down right then and there for that shit. Even in human form, Rybeck was scrawny. He had no doubt that his wolf looked more like a starving coyote than an Alpha predator. In here, though, there was no shifting. The warden saw to that.

“Rybeck! Get the fuck back to your table or go to your cell,” a guard barked from behind them.

“This conversation ain’t over, Alpha Bitch. You and I are going to dance. Only way you’re going out them gates is in the back of a hearse.”

“Right. I’ll look forward to the sleep,” Travis snorted, taking another bite of his food.

Rybeck slapped the fork out of his hand, sending it scattering across the floor and sending Travis to his feet to stare him down. He didn’t want a fight, but he sure as fuck wasn’t going to let this yapping poodle make him look weak. The guards were immediately on hand, pushing them apart.

“Rybeck, I warned you,” the guard barked, cracking him across the head with his club.

Travis put up his hands to either side, backing away to indicate he was non-combative. He could take a blow if he needed to, but why suffer if it wasn’t necessary?

“Finish your lunch, Porter,” the guard snapped, pushing Rybeck ahead of him toward the exit. “Come on, Rybeck, lunch is over for you. We’re gonna toss you in solitary for a few days to cool you off.”

“I’m not going to solitary,” Rybeck protested, attempting to land a punch on the guard, but his partner drove his stick in from the side, doubling him over with a howl. They chained him and dragged him out as he cursed and spat at them.

Travis glanced around him. No one was looking. They all ate their food as if nothing was happening. That’s the way it was on the inside. You minded your business and hoped everyone else minded theirs, as well. Rybeck was an agitator. He let his anger rule him. Travis used to be quick-tempered himself, but he’d learned to control himself since arriving on gun smuggling charges five years ago. He’d been lucky only to get that, a great deal of what they could have charged him for being missed by the authorities.

It was a small prison, hidden in a remote part of Montana. There were no visitors and no time off for good behavior. You kept your nose down, did your time, and you got out. You weren’t allowed visitors, and you didn’t get mail. They strapped on a device that made it impossible to shift and took it off when you left, hopefully a better human being.

Travis finished lunch and returned to his cell with his block. He rarely spoke to the others. It was lonely, but it kept him out of trouble with different packs. He was the only one from his pack, so he had no one to keep his back in a fight. Travis was good with that, as it meant no one else had gone down with him, and he was scared of nothing—but he did miss the fresh air and running free. His goal inside wasn’t to be the strongest Alpha, but just to get back home.

Luckily, that was the ambition of most of these guys. There were a few like Rybeck, but most of them steered clear of him. They had no beef with him and no interest in starting one. Rybeck, on the other hand, started shit with everyone, and he still had a good decade to go. If he kept it up, he’d be in there for a long time. He was a sexual predator, a rapist who’d attacked the wrong woman. He’s lucky he’d survived her father’s assault, spending months in traction only to be released to be put in prison without so much as a single day in court thanks to a backdoor deal the father made with some important friends.