UNTAMED: THE ALPHA

Zuri was sure that a moment ago she was still staring at the alpha of the black wolf pack, a man with long red hair and a scar on his left cheek, probably a result of a battle or a fight.

It was rare to see a shifter with a scar, since their healing ability was top notch.

However, a second later, Zuri was no longer there. She was in a completely different place. She was staring at a river, while opposite of this calm river someone was holding a ceremony.

Zuri looked around her, but she couldn't find Knox nor Gael, not even Chaos. Where did they go? She looked confused.

They were surrounded by dozens of warriors and beasts from the black wolf pack only a second ago, but right now she was alone on the other side of the river, while she was staring at a strange, but familiar ceremony before her eyes.

There were a lot of people there, who didn't notice her presence at all. Probably because the wind didn't blow from her direction, they didn't sense her presence until now. After all, she could be counted as an intruder. So, there was no way that no one had not approached her yet.

But then, Zuri realized that the wind didn't actually blow, though the leaves swayed and the branches rattled, but there was no wind that she could feel, as if time went still just for her.

Gradually, the voices of people from the opposite side of the river could be heard and the tension became more palpable in this peaceful night, with the moon in full shape in the clear sky.

Zuri felt this weird feeling about her surroundings. She knew this place and for some odd reason that she thought was not possible… she knew what the ceremony was.

They looked so young. Was this how the ceremony looked like in someone else's eyes?

The tension was so thick and fear hung in the air, which made Zuri step closer. She walked across the river, but her pants didn't get soaked and she didn't have trouble going near them. No one noticed her either.

This was weird, but she was not surprised, as if she had expected it. Zuri could even smell their restlessness and felt their anxiety about what would happen at the end of the night.

"Put her down," Alpha Xerxes told Liam, as a few people reached the sacred river with a girl with white hair being carried by one of them, where the ceremony would be held and Emmet would mark his chosen mate in front of the rest of the pack.

Zuri didn't realize it when she balled her fists so tight her knuckles turned red.

The girl was Blue, her younger self, the younger she wolf, who couldn't protect herself and was ultimately forced to succumb to their will.

Something in her stirred when she watched her younger and helpless self, as if the demons from the past hunted her down again. She was having a hard time breathing.

Liam frowned, his expression was troubled, but he didn't do what his father wanted him to do immediately. "Father," he said, hesitation clear in his voice. "Why don't we postpone this and do it again next time? You just killed someone tonight, it will jinx the mating ceremony."

Zuri scoffed when she heard that. Wasn't he the one who had planned it all? And here he was, pretending to be innocent and concerned about Blue.

Poor girl… she was being toyed and her trust was being broken at that time. She thought among those crazy people in that pack, he was the only one she could trust, someone that she could call as a friend…

"What do you mean it will jinx the ceremony?" Alpha Xerxes was not in the right mood to have someone object to him time and again after doing everything he had done.

This was the time when they took Mateo's life. Her uncle's beta. The person who kept his former pack safe and kept them together.

"There was a death today, so you shouldn't have planned the mating ceremony on the same day." Liam was trying to convince his father, but it was hard when he used his power to intimidate his son or anyone who opposed him.

A smile tugged on the corners of Blue's lips when she stabbed Emmet with the onlace that Chaos gave to her, yet it didn't last for long.

Zuri watched the whole thing again and her blood ran cold when Emmet forcefully marked her. She touched her own neck, as she remembered the pain.

Even now, she still could feel the pain and the mark was still there, since she had never accepted that and Chaos was not able to completely erase it. He could only make the mark not as glaring as it was supposed to be, but not get rid of it entirely.

She knew what would happen next as everything unfolded before her eyes again, just like a movie and every scene broke Zuri's heart even more. How she remembered the pain that they had inflicted on her and how they ruined her innocence.

Blue was dead at that time, she was dead when she gave in to the wave of heat that made her surrender under Emmet's touch.

The repulsion came so strong, Zuri felt like she was going to throw up, but no matter what she did to get away from this place, from the scene when Emmet took her in that rickety hut, she couldn't escape from this.

There was this vicious power that forced her to relive all of her nightmare all over again, no matter how much she cried and screamed to stop, nothing happened.

Zuri watched Blue in desperation and despair.

Chaos…

Zuri called his name again and again, she was helpless, just like the girl, Blue before her eyes…

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

Alpha Micah Donovan's second chance mate.