Three

*SEBASTIAN*

"Where is the Raiser family?" Alpha Sebastian asked his beta, Theo.

"They're a few hours south of Ashford. They're having a lot of really bad sand storms down there right now. I know the Raiser daughter is in Ashford right now, as well as a member of another hunter family. Don't know which one."

"Find out. Do you know if they know about us yet?"

"I believe they do, sir."

"Which means they'll come after us hard."

"Not necessarily. The human that owns the bar down in Ashford, Sammy, said that another hunter was loudly talking about the branding and ceremony of the Raiser daughter and that she would be sent after you."

"Ha, a little girl? Really?"

"She's twenty-five, sir. And she has a reputation that matches yours. No offense. She is extremely tough. Very strong. Though very small, she is... she shouldn't be underestimated."

"I guess I can't laugh too hard now, can I? She is a raiser, after all. If you're comparing her reputation to mine as equals, well, now you just tickled me curious."

"Sir.... 'tickled me curious'?" Theo was trying to hide a laugh," Sebastian shrugged.

"Seemed fitting at the moment."

"Well, okay then. So, we know that the hunters probably know about us. We also know that the Raiser girl will be the first one to come after us. We know that a new governing society is being risen with plans that we haven't figured out yet, but we're trying to."

"Yeah, and we know that the Raiser girl is... tough. And very small." Sebastian teased, "and I think we need to kill off the society first before we worry about the Raiser girl. They can't do the ceremony for another few weeks until the full moon. So let's try and kill off some of the members. Do some damage."

"Okay, I'll get some guys together. Will you be joining us?"

"Of course, what kind of question is that? Have I ever not joined you all on things like this?"

"No. You've always joined, but I find it appropriate to ask."

"Yeah, because the previous alpha rarely joined in on the fights..." Sebastian nodded, "but I'm not him. I will not send you into battles, I will lead you."

"Good to know, sir."

"You don't need to keep calling me, sir. It's alright to call me by my name. You're my second, and thus the only one who can call me by my name."

"You have only been our alpha for a month, but already you far out succeed our previous. He was strong, tough, selfish, and cowardly. It's such a strange combination for an alpha. I thought about standing up against him, but I was never trained to fight like he was. He knew if I had skill to his level, I would be more likely to try and take him out."

"Well, I appreciate the compliment. And let's get you trained. A beta is meant to have my back as the alpha. And to take over if I die, I don't want a beta who can't protect the pack. Since I like you, you're wise, I'm gonna train you to fight and get you going. We will do that right after we go after society. We need to do that soon."

"Sounds like a plan... Sebastian." Theo smiled. His heart was filled with warmth because for the first time, it felt like the alpha was very possibly going to be his friend. Typically, alphas and betas were each others best friends. It was thought to be something to do with self-preservation and preservation of the pack. The two strongest stay loyal and bonded to each other, and so the entire pack would remain strong and bonded.

Sebastian's new pack adored him and loved him because he was the leader they'd always wanted and needed. He wasn't sure of it yet, but they were sure that they'd die for him. They would hang on every order he gave.

The following morning, in the very early hours of the morning, Sebastian went for a ten mile run like he always did in his human form. When he returned to his home, Theo and a few other veteran pack members were waiting for him. As well as a couple of the unmated girls who were just dying to be his mate. It didn't matter they were not his mates, and if they weren't by now, they never would be. They still hoped. They wanted him.

"What's up, everyone?"

"We are ready to go to the society when you are." Theo said with a big smile.

"Oh, okay, today? Right now?"

"You said we need to do it soon, and we know where they will be in an hour." Theo said, surprising his alpha.

"I did say that. And well, let me change into something more appropriate, and we can get going. Uh, not you three girls, though. You can't come with." They all groaned in unison.

"Why not? Do you have a problem with females as warriors?" Natalia, a veteran, snapped, standing up as if she were challenging Sebastian. He stood there a bit confused and looked to Theo to see if she was seriously doing what she was doing.

"No. I have no issues with female warriors... But they... they are not warriors. They're weak, and I don't want weak when we do important missions like that. You get to go, don't you? I've never once even insinuated a lack of trust in your abilities."

"They want to help their pack? Don't you girls?" She asked, keeping eye contact with Sebastian.

"Yes."

"Absolutely."

"We care."

"No... They want to try and impress me. Because they're as unmated as I. They're aren't doing any of this for you, for the pack, or for anyone other than themselves. My mother was a wonderfully strong and talented warrior, I've met many fierce women, but they are not them. They are not like you. If you want them to come, if you think they're strong enough, ready enough, then they can come... But they are completely your responsibility. Any injuries, any deaths...all your fault. So...tell me, are they ready? Should they go with us?" Natalia looked at the girls who stood there as if they were about to meet their favorite singer after a concert. She looked each one of them over carefully and sighed.

"Go home, girls. This isn't something you can do." They all began to moan and groan and argue.

"Now! Leave!" Sebastian boomed. All of the girls took off running as fast as they could. He leaned away from Natalia. "Don't challenge me like that again. This entire pack needs some training. In my last pack, the girls could take on any man by that age with no problems. This pack is weak and needs help. You all have a lot of potential, but your lazy ass alpha before me did all of you a disservice by keeping you from being more powerful than him."

"Yes, that is true, Sir. But what do you plan to do about it?" Natalia said, catching his expression again, his dark brown eyes narrowed at her for a moment.

"When we're done with the little mission of ours... You're going to all start training. I'll train you. I want my entire pack to be strong and tough enough that you could all take me on and have some semblance of a shot. I will not allow this pack to be weak anymore. You all deserve a strong leader who wants to make you all strong. I didn't realize how bad the leadership was until recently since we all just settled here, but damn."

"Okay, sir. Would you like to go now? We have the location, the time, and we even have a decent estimate of the number of people there. They even have one of their head scientists there, so you can get some information from him." Theo said, Sebastian looked at Theo then at Natalia.

"How many guys?"

"Eight."

"Since I am unsure of your skill sets, let's total up to sixteen. This is in case they have guns or other weapons. I don't want to lose anyone, but the head scientist you mentioned... He's to be left for me. Try to avoid shifting so that we don't draw too much attention to ourselves. Tell everyone. I wanna be ready to go in half an hour."

"Okay." Natalia said.

"Yes, sir." Theo replied.

"Theo...About the 'sir'." Sebastian said, looking at him sternly.

"Yes. Sorry sir...oh, uh, Sebastian." He chuckled to himself, "it will take some getting used to."

"I understand." Sebastian said, "Be ready."

Sebastian paced back and forth, waiting for those who were going with him. He was quite disappointed when he saw the lineup. It was apparent on his face.

"I know they're not much. But they are the best that we have right now. You'll turn that around." Theo said, looking down at his feet.

Sebastian was sickened by how weak and pathetic the pack he took over was. He wished he had more time to prepare them for this mission, but then again, it was partially his fault. He should have realized how weak they were when he got there. He'd been there a month. That was enough time to at least see signs of how bad it actually was.

"Alright. Try not to shift. We don't want anyone to know about us. Not until I get you trained. We can't afford a shift that leads hunters to our front door. The head scientist is mine. What is the name?" Sebastian willfully left out the fact that hunters, most likely, already knew about them and their location. He couldn't risk any of his pack being irresponsible.

"Dr. Samuel Stevens." Theo replied. "He looks like this." Theo held up a photo of the doctor for everyone to see.

"Good. Let's go now."

The lab they were heading to was only a half hour away. They parked a few miles away, out of sight, to watch the group of ten, not eight men and women walking into the secure building. From the distance, it didn't look like anyone had weapons.

"Alright. They're in, let's go." Sebastian led the way followed by his unsure beta and ambitious pack members.

They got to a steel door that was solid and heavily locked, Sebastian turned and looked at the group.

"Rip the lock off."

"Sir?" One of the members, Nico, asked, unsure.

"Rip. The. Lock. Off." Sebastian's tone got deeper and more terrifying.

"I'll give it a try." Norman said, stepping forward. He was the smallest of them all but looked the most hungry. Sebastian gave him a slight head nod and stepped out of the way. Norman gave it a solid try to rip it off. It creaked and moved slightly, but didn't give.

"Solid try." Sebastian grabbed the lock and ripped it off as if it were nothing. He just tossed it aside. "Let's go."

Sebastian took no time to rip one of the men apart, leaving the rest of his pack stunned. He wasn't even turned, just human.

"Let's go!" He yelled at them. His pack began to swarm everyone else, and he zeroed in on the scientist. He snatched him up and shoved him hard into the wall.

"Let me go!" Samual Stevens yelled, trying to rip away from him.

"You already know I want some information. And you know damn well what information I need to know."

"Go to hell."

Sebastian released an exaggerated sigh and grabbed the pointer finger on the man's right hand, and snapped it. He screamed but still refused to talk. So Sebastian whipped out a three-inch pocket knife and cut his shirt in half, revealing his bare chest and stomach. He pressed the tip of the knife to the right side of his stomach, a few inches below the ribs.

"If I pressed this knife in right about here and go in, I should hit your kidney. You know what the kidney's use is... It detoxifys the body. So if I puncture it, your body will be flooded with toxins. That's a painful death if you don't get help right away. And if I go here, I should hit the large intestines. If I go that way and I say twist, I could obliterate the large intestines."

"I have nothing to tell you."

"I want to know about the new virus thing you're wanting to spread. To expand the gene pool of hunters, or as such super humans."

"The files are in my brief case...down there."

"Theo...Check his case." Theo rushed over and popped it open and looked through it.

"The most I'm seeing here is that it's called virus X."

"Ha, very original. How are you going to release it?"

"I don't know." Sebastian slid the knife to the left side of his stomach.

"What about this kidney? Does the same thing, right?" He then angled the knife slightly upwards, "and here... I could hit the stomach. And up a little further, I should hit the spleen. If you're really lucky, I'll hit both."

"I don't know any of that."

"Really now?" Sebastian slowly pushed the knife through his abdomen. The guy let out a wail. "Do you remember now? Before I hit your stomach or spleen."

"I don't know... I was supposed to be briefed on it today. There is a meeting in the conference room, it's using satellite internet. The last guy who was heading the project got exposed to the virus before it had been fully processed and died. I was going to be the one taking over for him. I know nothing about it right now." Tears slid down his face. Sebastian stared into his eyes deeply, and the man's eyes said he was telling the truth.

"Okay. I believe you." Sebastian pulled the knife out and let the man go.

"Oh, thank god." He sighed, "thank you."

"Thank you for what?"

"For letting me live."

"Now who ever said I was going to let you live?" Sebastian raised an eye brow and bent down slightly to look the man in the eyes. They widened with realization, and before he could move, Sebastian was ripping his juggular from his throat. "Alright, let's go through this place and find all the information you can. If it says anything at all that might resemble some information about this current virus, lycans, vampires, hunters, super humans...uh or the original virus from a thousand years ago... grab it. I don't care how much it is. We're taking all of it. Go now. Quickly!"

Sebastian came across a glass case with older leather books inside. They weren't labeled with anything. He began to walk past but then stepped back and looked at them again. For whatever reason, he couldn't help but be naggingly curious, so he shattered the glass and grabbed a random book.

His eyes ran over the lines of a few pages. Then, he opened up the cover page and saw the name 'Jason Raisor' labeled 'Journal #1', and it clicked in Sebastian's head. These are the very first hunter's diaries. He knew there was no way in hell he was going to leave these behind. So he gathered them up in one of the duffle bags the scientists had carried in with them.

When all the papers and information they thought were relevant was collected, they went home.