Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
Images of how we met replay in my head. How I saw her from the gates. How I followed her into the forest and watched her talk to herself, though that turned out to be her Wolf. The first time I kissed her. How her skin was so soft under my fingers. The way she would snore yet insist she didn’t. She had opened herself to me and now, I could feel her slipping.
My lungs grow tight until I can barely breathe. She is supposed to be my mate for life, but she had lost herself in her grief. She had been forced out. She had given up on us.
I drop the gun and back out of the room. She was dead. She was gone. It wasn’t her.
Neah shouts something about not letting Raven out of their sight. She appears in the hallway seconds later. “You shot her.”
“It’s not her.” I look up into my Alpha’s blue eyes. Somehow, through it all, she had kept a level of calmness. She had seen something that we hadn’t. “What do you think we should do?”
“Abraxas said she was gone. Do you feel it?”
I nod. I had never had a need to curl up in a ball and hide from the word. I always faced it head on. But losing a mate was like nothing I had ever felt. It is painful. It is full of sorrow. And everything no longer feels straight forward.
“She gave up.” I slam my fist against the wall. “She fucking gave up after everything!”
Neah doesn’t say anything. She lets me hit the wall over and over without so much as a flinch.
When I stop, my busted up knuckles are already healing which just irritates me more. I turn to face Neah. “Why haven’t you said anything?” “I’m not feeling what you are feeling.”
“Why would he do this to his own sister?” I ask, trying to understand even a little of what has happened.
“You won’t like my answer and you already know what I’m going to say.”
“Jenson is a self centred bastard?”
“Among many other things. It’s like Dane said, he couldn’t ever cope with not getting what he wanted. He always had some kind of hissy fit. thought that he might change, but that was a long time ago. And if anything, he is worse.” S
“How are you so calm?”
“Give me your hand.”
She takes my hand and presses it on her chest. Dane would have a fucking field day if he saw what was happening.
“The exterior doesn’t always match the interior.” It was a phrase I had used. A way to tell her that not everything is exactly what you see. And now she was using the same phrase on me for Raven.
I feel her heart beating below my hand, but it’s doing more than just beating, Neah’s heart is practically humming, yet to look at her, you would think there was nothing going on beneath the surface.
“I feel Dane’s pain even though he will never admit it.” She sighs, “I feel the loss of a friend. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place et when the decision that needs to b be made will affect everyone. You are not capable of making this decision about Raven or… Jenson.” She frowns “Neither is Dane. It should be me.”
She turns from me and faces the closed door where Raven’s voice could be heard, demanding to be let out of the room. “I am Dane’s Luna. I am the Lycan Alpha. It has to be me that puts an end to the suffering.”
“Do you think this was always his plan?”
“How could it be? He didn’t know it be?
until he heard Abraxas talking about souls. If he had been anyone else, he would be long dead. Raven kept him hanging on long enough so that he could force his way in. And we all fell for it except Dorothy.”
Neah
The room is oddly quiet as I step back inside. Abraxas has his hazel eyes firmly set on Raven. Dane is silently pacing, deep in thought.
It hurts to feel how much pain he is in. You wouldn’t think it if you looked at him. His crimson eyes are full of rage instead of hurt. A frown sits on his face, but that’s all. No clenched fists. No heavy breathing, he was…a certain level of calm. The kind of calm before a storm.
His eyes flash over to me and it stops him in his tracks, he knew what I was going to do. I feel Damien step in behind me. He closes the door quietly, a gentle click is the only thing that could be heard as the handle slots back in place.
‘We’ve got this.’ Nyx whispers as though the others could hear us. ‘It’s the right thing to do. We both know it.’
That didn’t mean it was any less difficult.
“You won’t kill me, Neah.” Raven mocks. “I’m your best friend.” I stare at her familiar face. I had to remember it wasn’t her anymore. That she was gone.
“You’re just a soul, trying to survive in someone else’s body.” I spit back
She smiles and I hear a subtle crack, Jenson was forcing Raven’s body to shift. I wasn’t going to let that happen. My hand wraps around Raven’s arm as the bones crack beneath my fingers. If he thinks he can shift and run, he has another thing coming.
I start shifting too. My hand is first. Claws appear as fur spreads up the length of my arm. My own shift seems to slow Jenson down. Maybe it wasn’t what he was expecting.
Though for someone who had a knack for war, he should have expected this. He should know that he wouldn’t get away with this. Or maybe it was because he didn’t know me, not like he thought he did.
Familiar dark eyes find mine. So much hate. So much anger.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you Raven.
Sutter just as my
My claws sink into her the pounding heart.
I keep my eyes in front of me, if I look at any one of the men, the tears that I’m holding back will errupt like lava.
Her dark eyes move down to my sunken claws. Jenson probably thought I wouldn’t go through with it because it was her body, not his
Retracting my claws free’s her body and Jenson stumbles back against the wall. A hand clutches at the wound as the other slams against t n
the wall, trying to keep the body upright, but it’s no use and she ends up on her ass. Blood pours down the front of her half shifted body, spilling out over her legs and onto the carpet. Her dark eyes stare up at me until she slopes over onto the floor, still and as silent as the room.
My heart thunders in my chest as the room becomes hazy. I had killed my friend. I had killed Dane’s sister. I had killed Damien’s mate.
‘It wasn’t Raven.’ Nyx reminds me ‘And it was the right thing to do. He was out of control.’
‘I need…. I need air.’
I back up and crash into Damien. He just stares at me as I spin around to face him. He knew it was what was going to do and yet somehow, I felt
I
like I had betrayed him and Dane.
Pushing him out the way, I power through the door. Feeling the pounding of blood between my ears.
‘It was the right thing to do.’ I mutter to myself, repeating Nyx’s words over and over as I crash through my bedroom door.
‘It was.’ Nyx confirms.
I knew it was, I knew Jenson had to be dealt with, but then why did I feel so sick?
‘Neah, you are panicking.’ Nyx is calm, to calm
“I killed Raven.” I mutter as I shift back to human form.
‘No, you killed Jenson. Raven was already dead. Damien confirmed it and you can feel what Dane is feeling. Her body was just a shell!’
I knew I was panicking. I don’t know why I am panicking. I had already made it clear to Damien what I was going to do and no one tried stopping me. They all wanted it too, right?
‘Yes.’ Nyx agrees even though I wasn’t asking her.
Quickly, I pull on some leggings and a sweatshirt and jam my feet into some boots. I needed to get out. I needed to think.
My legs power me out of the house, or maybe it was Nyx. I’m not entirely sure. It was hard enough for me to focus and I didn’t really care as long as I could get some air.
Killing people that had harmed me or were a threat had been easy up until now. I keep telling myself it was Jenson as I run into the forest, yet all I see is Raven.
‘Neah, we have to stop.’ Nyx mutters.
I can’t, but I wasn’t trying to run away either. I just needed to keep moving.
‘NEAH!’ My own name roars out inside my head and I come to a complete stop. ‘Neah, it’s okay to feel like this. I liked Raven too but there was nothing you could do to save her. She was already gone.’ Nyx continues to remind me.
I slump down on a fallen tree trunk and the tears break free. I look around, half expecting to see Dane or even Damien, but neither one had followed me. I was alone.
‘You are not alone. I am right here. This is a new feeling.’
‘Right.’ I swallow the lump in my throat
‘We couldn’t let him parade around as Raven. Not after everything. Not after every lie he has told.’ Nyx tells me. ‘You know this, Neah.’
Nodding, I take a deep breath and I hear a twig crack not too far behind me. Wiping my tears away, I’m on my feet and sniff the air. A Lycan was heading towards me, someone from the pack that I didn’t know that well.
“Neah?” The voice calls out. “Neah, it’s Ryken, is everything okay? I saw you running and I wanted to check….”
“I’m fine.” I mutter back but he steps through the trees anyway. He somehow looked odd in the middle of the trees, like he didn’t quite fit.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?