Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“I was, but I’m not like the other Lycans, I know that deep down. I’ve never been able to shift. I didn’t have that exciting moment when I turned thirteen. The only thing that changed for me was that I became a toy for assholes. Having my abilities but not being able to shift did nothing for mel was always convinced they were drugging me with something to keep my Lycan trapped, but up until Cooper, I have been here, knowing exactly what is being put into my body and I still couldn’t shift. So what’s the point of being bitten if I’m still not able to shift?”
Klaus
Cooper slept on a chair in the corner of the room. His jacket collar hiked up around his chin. His arms folded tightly across his chest, while his feet rested on the coffee table that he had placed in front of the door like a barricade.
We had made it to Blair’s house without any witnesses, but on the way here, each step seemed to make Cooper more and more agitated. He was frustrated with my calmness, and angry that I wasn’t angry. It was clear he got off on making people lose their sanity, but it didn’t work with me.
Leaning back against the corner he had dumped me in, I let out a sigh. He had pressed for more information about his sister. Something else he grew frustrated about when I didn’t answer him. I was fully expecting him to hit, to punish me, but other than keeping me tied up, he hasn’t hurt me.
I hear him stir and close my eyes, just as his boots hit the floor with a thud. After listening to his quiet movements in the forest, his paces now seemed incredibly loud.
He stops in front of me. “Can’t sleep?”
I don’t respond.
“Klaus, I know you are awake.” He doesn’t move and I keep my eyes closed. “You breathe a little heavier and you usually talk in your sleep.”
Crap, what had I been saying. My eyes snap open, “How do you know that?”
He smiles. “You have a lovely home in Black Shadow.” He drops onto the floor next me, his arm brushes mine. “I get it.” He mutters, “You want to protect your pack. But you are going to have to speak to me eventually and, well, I always get what I want.”
“I will talk to you about anything other than my pack.” Maybe I could find the real reason why he was doing this.
“Why do you love that pack so much?”
I press my lips together and turn away.
“You won’t even answer me?”
“That is talking about the pack.” I keep my tone light. He hadn’t beaten me so far and I would prefer to keep it that way. “You drive a hard bargain.” He winks at me. “I like that about you Klaus. Or maybe I like it because we are mates?” “We are not mates.”
“Just because you can’t scent me right now, it doesn’t mean we are not. You will scent me again when the drugs wear off.” “Only because you are doing something to trick my mind. We are not mated.” I state confidently. I wasn’t falling for his games. “Is that what you really believe?”
“It’s what you did to Blair, right? And probably many others too. Lure them into thinking that you are there for them when in reality, it’s all about yourself. Tricking them to come with you so you can take away their abilities.”
“Maybe you are right. Maybe you have me all wrong. Only time will tell.” He pats my leg, “Get some sleep. You are going to need it.”
He pushes himself up and pauses to look at me. “You are not like the others Klaus. They do not see you as an equal.”
I roll my eyes, “Do you think I’m going to fall for that? I won’t be roped into your little game. Keep me your prisoner. Starve me. Lock me in a tiny room. Do what you need to do. I won’t give you the answers you are looking for.”
“You must really care for them?”
I keep my gaze level with his, he wasn’t getting anything else out of me.
He moves back to the chair, his sage green eyes are bright in the darkness, something I couldn’t see yesterday. The drugs are wearing off. He had given me nothing elet and yet it was increasingly obvious that could scent him, not by much, but it was there. Maybe it isn’t in the drugs. Maybe he was doing something to himself, projecting the scent. After all, he is part Witch.
“Why do I need my sleep?”
“I would just like you to be well rested. Not everything about me makes me a prick, Klaus. There are some things I do care about. You just don’t see it yet.”
“Like Samara?”
“Thought you didn’t want to talk about the pack?”
“She isn’t a part of my pack.” There’s a moment of delight in his sage green eyes, I could tell by the way the blue flecks popped. His sister means a lot to him, probably more than anyone else on this pl.
“You don’t have any siblings, do you, Klaus?” My name rolls from his tongue.
“No and I’m grateful, siblings always seem to cause problems, especially younger ones.” Apart from Blair, she was a little older than Neah, but still, she was a sibling causing problems.
He smiles at me and bobs his head,
“They do, I used to believe that was why they were put on this Earth. Just to be a troublemaker to the older sibling. I couldn’t stand Samet when we were kids. She had her sticky hands in all my things and always wanted to be where I was. She’s the ultimate pain in the ass but I need her where I can keep an eye on her.”
“Exactly why I am grateful to be alone.”
“Do you always like being alone?”
“Yes.”
A small crinkle forms on his forehead. “Never been concerned about finding a mate?”
“No.”
“Isn’t that what all males want? To find their loved one and settle down.”
“Not me.” Now that my eyes could focus on the smaller details, I could see my comment frustrates him. “Life for me has never been about finding a mate. I was raised differently. What I like is knowledge.”
“Power?”
“No, knowledge. I like to know things, figure things out, find little secrets hidden among life.”
“That explains all the books.” A small smile flickers at the corners of his lips. “What else do you like to do?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“If you need to give it a name, call it curiosity.” He had twisted his body around to face me properly. His scent of leather and tobacco is strong, but it was a trick. A trick that I wasn’t going to fall for.
“I like to help people.”
“But you don’t want to help me?” He cocks an eyebrow at me.
“You found me in the hospital, what kind of help do you think I offer?!”
“You are right. But you could help me and I could help you.”
I roll my eyes
“Not open to that yet. That’s fine, but you will be. You will want to help me, because that’s what mates do.”
“Is that what you said to all the others?”
He laughs to himself, spinning back around in the chair and propping his feet up on the coffee table. “I don’t think I have enjoyed anyone’s company as much as yours, mate.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“I will call you mate until you finally see the truth.”
Cooper surprises me by going back to sleep. He could probably tell I was almost at full strength again and he had done nothing apart from block the front door. Pulling my wrists open, I’m able to break the rope. Quickly and quietly, I get to my feet, checking the windows for another exit.
All are locked. I could break the glass, but that limits my get away time. I stood in the middle of the room for what felt like an eternity, trying to decide on my very limited options. In the end I just raid the fridge and cupboards for something more than a piece of fruit.
Thankfully Blair had some tinned sausages stashed in the back of a cupboard. It wasn’t much, but it was protein and that was more important than fruit.
Moving through the house, I take a look in each of the two bedrooms. It was clear which one was Blair’s. Though her room is immaculate, there is a photo face down on the bedside table. I recognised her mother, and I assume the baby her mother is holding is Blair.
In the second bedroom, it was carnage. An open suitcase with clothes hanging out of it, clothes sprawled across the bed. Dirty plates and glasses were in odd places Broken perfume bottles littered the carpet by the side of her bed. If I didn’t know better would have said a teenager was living here, not Samara.
I smell Cooper coming up the stairs. His feet are heavy on the carpet from the running.
“I thought you had escaped!” He stares at me as the broken rope dangles from his hand.
“I thought about it. But I was hungry.”
“Why are you in here?” He asks quietly
“Trying to make sense of a few things.” I turn to face him properly. Shadows were cast across his face, but I could still see the way his eyes focussed on me. “You took away Samara’s abilities, didn’t you?”
“You don’t know what you are talking about!”
“She was the first one you tried it out on, right? But it was too strong and wasn’t supposed to last this long. She was the first one you had in that prison. You kept her there because you knew you had screwed up. She had to be close so you could keep aneye on her.” I use his own words against him.
“Is that what you did to Maddie and Blair? You gave them the same dose as you gave your sister? So it won’t be permanent, it will just take years to wear off?”
“Are you seriously suggesting I did this to my sister?”
“Yes. I think that you had enough of her touching your things. That you finally snapped and now, somehow, she helps you. What was she supposed to be? Some kind of guard for Blair?”
“You really are smart, Klaus.”
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?