UNTAMED: THE ALPHA

"I can help you to enter the border, but not this many people. I can only take five more people aside myself past the border without anyone noticing it."

"Five?" Sebastian was surprised. What could they do with five people when they had to face the whole armed forces from Artzees and East Draghar countries? "You should at least take half."

"That's the best I can do." That was the best offer that Ciara could give them. "Now, you can choose the people that you will take."

Ciara looked up at the night sky and narrowed her eyes. The Goddess had appeared apparently, but for what? She then looked at the battle in the distance, which still continued. If the Goddess came, why didn't she stop this chaotic situation?

"I will find another four men," Sebastian said, but before he went away, July interrupted him.

"Find three more." July then added when she noticed the way Sebastian was about to protest. "There is no way you will leave me behind, right?" she tilted her head. "I am going with or without your permission."

"July, you can't…"

"Of course, I can." She cut him off and looked at him sternly. "When Knox is not around, I am the leader here."

What July said was right, but for some reason Sebastian felt a pang in his heart. Not because July defied his leadership, but because he realized the depth of her concern and love for Knox.

He felt stupid, because he should have realized it far before this moment.

And now, what Sebastian could do was watch July's back, as she walked away. She would always be someone that he couldn't reach…

On the other hand, Ciara caught a glimpse of something that flew toward her. She raised her hand and pointed her finger for this little creature to perch on it. As it turned out, it was a butterfly, an Ageha butterfly at that.

She frowned a little and then looked in the direction from where this butterfly came from. She was surprised there was a supernatural creature that knew about this ancient way of communication.

Who could it be?

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Blood dripped from Nikolai's head and stained the dirty floor beneath him, as he shook his head to regain some consciousness.

He didn't remember how long he had been beaten, but the only question that was thrown at him was just one, which he couldn't answer.

"Tell me where your sister is and all the things that you know about her plan." They would change the way they phrase it, as if by doing so, they could get something out of him.

However, Nikolai could only answer them with one simple sentence that didn't satisfy them at all. "I don't know."

At first, Nikolai would insist on answering them with that, but in the end, he simply kept his mouth shut, since no one would listen to such a reply. There was no need for him to waste his breath when they refused to accept that Nikolai knew nothing about all of this.

He himself had the same question. What did Vanesha have done? What had she been planning? The only valuable information that Nikolai could give them was their last conversation about River, that the girl was Gael's daughter.

He remembered Gael, how could he not? But, that information…

Nikolai still had this idea in his mind regarding the supernatural creatures, his point of view was absolutely different from what this organization had tried to put in their heads.

Yet, this was not the right time for them to argue about it if he wanted to survive this, if there was even a way for Nikolai to survive this.

"Stop," Zach said when he entered this torture chamber. His steps echoed throughout the four walls of this room, aside from Nikolai's ragged breath.

He could hear, but he couldn't see what Zach was going to do with him, since his eyelids felt very heavy and sticky because of blood that covered his eyes.

Judging from his condition, he must have a few broken ribs and concussion right now.

Nikolai could feel Captain Zach stop right before him and then crouched down to flip his body over, so he could see his battered face, his blood must have stained his leather shoes with the distance between them.

"Leave us alone," Zach said in a grim tone when he noticed how bad Nikolai's condition was at this moment.

Not long after that, Nikolai heard a few steps echo in this room before the door closed, after that silence ensued.

It seemed the four people that beat him up to the verge of death had left, leaving Captain Zach and Nikolai alone.

"How are you feeling?" Zach asked, as he stood up and started walking to the other corner of the room, lit his cigarette after he shut down the smoke detector in this room.

"I had been better than this," Nikolai said, but then he coughed hard, as he curled his aching body, he felt like his lungs were going to burst because of this small movement.

"Have you decided to talk now?" Zach ignored the sarcasm in Nikolai's words.

"I have already said what I know." Nikolai tried to open his eyes, but the glaring light from the bulb above him prevented him from doing so. He was pissed at his current situation. His whole body was aching and he didn't want to be asked the same question anymore.

"All you said is; I don't know." Zach flicked the butt of his cigarette as the ashes fell to the floor. "Nothing else."

"Because that's all I know," Nikolai said with so much difficulty, because every time he finished talking he would cough and this rattled his body, putting him in more misery. He started to get lightheaded, probably this was a result of having a concussion coupled with excessive blood loss.

"You know that you need to try hard, right?" Zach asked, as he walked closer toward Nikolai again and resumed his earlier position. This time, he blew the smoke right in front of Nikolai's face, which caused him to cough more heavily.

This bastard!

"Try to recall more of it again." Zach took a long drag, which shortened the cigarette between his fingers. "Because as far as I know, you two had a small talk in the corridor, before you left Artzees country, am I wrong?"

The organization ran their investigation quick enough to know about this small detail after they learned about Vanesha's betrayal. Of course, the investigation would be extended to her brother.

"What are you going to say now?" Zach tilted his head, as he stared at Nikolai, who was still trying to open his eyes, as he tried to move away from him.

"Where is she?" Nikolai asked. He only knew that Vanesha had betrayed the organization, but he didn't hear anything about what happened next.

Whether she was caught or she managed to get away with whatever plan she cooked up with Gael.

"She escaped, unfortunately," Zach replied truthfully. "Even if we managed to catch her, I don't think you can see her again. You know… the organization doesn't do well with betrayal."

Nikolai didn't know whether he had to be glad or not at this news, at the very least, Vanesha survived.

"So, what do you have to say?" Zach took a towel from the table and wiped blood from Nikolai's face, as he grimaced in pain, since he was not so gracious when he did it. "Your sister is fine, wherever she is right now. Don't you think this is the right time for you to help yourself? Be smart if you want to live."

When the stickiness of blood on his face had been wiped away, Nikolai opened his eyes and looked at Zach, who was staring at him. He looked calm and dangerous at the same time. He held the record for killing supernatural creatures in the past few years.

He was right. Nikolai needed to be smart if he wanted to live.

"Gael. The man is the girl's father. His name is Gael." Vanesha was with Gael and he knew how strong he was and for him to be able to breach the organization base, he must have his own people to help him at every step.

There was no reason for Nikolai to save Vanesha when she was already in a safe place, for now, Nikolai needed to think about himself. He needed to survive from this first.

"Gael? A supernatural creature?" Zach narrowed his eyes.

"Of course, what do you think he is when his daughter holds such great power?" Nikolai said disdainfully.

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"I don't want you to go on this mission, July," Sebastian said. He couldn't let her go when the risk of them getting caught was very high.

Moreover, July didn't know the area better than he did, so there was no need for her to go too.

"I will go." July was being stubborn right now. She wanted to save Knox by risking her own life. She was being reckless and this made Sebastian behave more impulsively toward her.

There was a high probability that he wouldn't survive this mission, therefore, he didn't want to have any regrets in his life.

"What?" July asked, frowning when Sebastian took her hand and pulled her closer, as he hugged her very tightly. "What are you doing?"

July looked at her surroundings, but it was only the two of them.

Yet, when July tried to free herself, Sebastian caught her face and kissed her hard.

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*Read my new book: KISSED BY THE DARK ALPHA*

Alpha Micah Donovan's second chance mate.