Bodyguard, Reluctantly Yours || ONC2022

Chapter 15.5

[A few hours ago: Katakam Wildlife Reserve]

Heaving, the shifter, who also went by the name: Alpha1, sat with his back pressed against an ancient cypresses tree close to the southern border of the Katakam Wildlife Reserve: the place that had held him in its confines, as a prisoner, until seven months ago.

Though bleeding from his forearm and left calf, he had never felt so free as he did now.

Zeng Liqin's dog had tried to take him down and failed. The stupid mutt had forgotten that he, Alpha1, was immune to silver.

The shifter closed his eyes and thought of his sister, his precious Ai-Jiejie. After abducting him, Liqin had told him that The Reach had not left a single one alive, but that had turned out to be a lie. Similarly, the alleged involvement of the Huangs in the fate that had befallen his family was a lie as well.

"You deserve to die, Liqin. And I will be the one to push you towards it." The wounded man muttered, shedding his worn-out T-shirt and turns-up shorts.

As the gashes left on him by Fangxi began to close, new, healthy skin replaced it. His mind conjured up images from the worse time in his life.
Even after ten years, all he could recall of the incident was blood, screams, and tears. He tried to erase the memory of the pain and torture that had followed right after.

'You have no choice, boy. Your kind has turned their backs on you. Who do you think The Reach belongs to, Hum?'

'I won't cooperate. You can't make me!'

Alpha1 chuckled mirthlessly. "I was such a fool. I shouldn't have believed that son of a bitch!"

The joy from moments ago turned to dust, and raw rage burned him up from within as he recalled the conversation he had heard between Fangxi and Cho, Liqin's assistant, almost a year ago.

'Zeng-Dage, your uncle wants to know how much longer until it's ready?'

'Damn it, Cho! We have just one purebred. A very reluctant one at that. It takes ten of us to contain him and a couple more to extract his blood.'

'Dage, why don't you ask your Shu-shu to send men for Haojun? He hasn't reached maturity and is, as of yet, unbound. With the two of them, our sales will skyrocket.'

'Do you think me a fool, Cho?'

'No, Dage.'

'Leave the thinking to those with a brain that they can count on, alright?'

'Yes.'

'Good. Now get the fuck out of my lab and tell Shu-shu that it will take a week before I can deliver Gshift to him.'

It then that the shifter had realized that his captor had lied to him. How Cho had spoken about the younger Huang heir seemed to suggest that the Huangs were not in league with Zengs.

The shifter had wondered what other lies he had been told, and the possibilities of what he might find outside his cage if he could just escape had renewed his drive to break free of the shackles binding him to the dungeon he spent most of the time in.

He thought long and hard about how he could make Fangxi lower his guard. The answer came to him a few days later.

He needed to change his attitude.

The shifter realized that he was chained, sedated, and kept in the deepest corner of the dungeon because he was adamant. Since the beginning, he had done everything he could to not get touched by The Reach's filthy hands. Everyone who had interacted with him was scared to approach him the second time around. He had maimed tens, if not hundreds, of The Reach's goons responsible for extracting his blood.