Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
*You could have, but that blade was a little too close to your belly for my liking.”
She looks down at her top and frowns as she fingers the hole in the fabric.
“What do you want me to do with this one?” I purposely swing Kade through the air and he lets out a whimper instead of protesting.
Her eyes hover on the boy. She knew she had to punish him and yet, somehow, she felt sorry for him. Not something I was expecting to see.
“Dane is with Ryken.” She murmurs. “Letting him know what his son did.”
“Then we will go there.” I point to the dead body. “I will deal with him after.”
Dane answers the door to us. A deep growl rumbles through him as he locks eyes on Kade. “Bring him in.”
“Where’s my Dad?” Kade begs
“I’m right here.” Ryken replies, as we move through the house to the kitchen. I spot Blair, peeping through a door that is barely open. It quietly closes the moment she spots me.
Dropping the little brat into a chair, his gaze immediately lowers as his eyes harden and he requests his mum.
*She isn’t here right now, but she wants you to know that she is disgusted with your behaviour.” Ryken tells him, though he refuses to look directly at his son. “You blew up the packhouse. You blew up the home of the pack that we were welcomed into. What the hell were you thinking?”
“He wasn’t.” Neah mutters. I glance over to her and she is rubbing dried blood off of her fingers.
“I’m sorry.” Kade whispers. He wasn’t, not a single ounce of him was sorry for what he had done.
“Are you, Kade?” Dane asks
“Yes,” Kade whimpers
“You can’t stop lying, can you?” I ask as I sit up on the kitchen counter. “When I look at you, I see no truth. Just a ball of lies, where does it end and where does it begin? Because it’s almost impossible to tell.”
There’s a flash of anger in his brown eyes. He had his head lowered, but I still see it. “I suggest you start speaking the truth.”
“Asshole.” He mutters under his breath. His cockiness for his age was on another level
*KADE!” Ryken bellows at him
Kade folds his arms across his chest and huffs, slumping in the chair.
*What did Cooper want you to do?” I ask curiously.
He stares at me.
“Were you supposed to blow up the house with no one in it? Or was that a mistake that you made?”
He screws his face up, still refusing to look at me.
“Answer the question.” Neah snaps. She was ordering him to talk
*He just said when the time was right, I would know.”
“Was it the right time, or did you panic because you had been caught?” I press. My guess was he panicked. What would be the point of setting off a bomb or whatever it was if there was no one inside?
“I….” His eyes move to Neah. “I’m not meant to say.”
*Look around you, you little shit.” I snarl. “Do you think you are leaving here without telling us?*
*To teach you a lesson.” He blurts out and shakes his head making his blonde ringlets bounce. “He said to teach you a lesson. To show you that you don’t have all the power.” He starts crying. Finally, the fear was kicking in and all it had taken was a tiny little threat. I should have done it the day he upset my baby girl.
“Where were you going?” Neah asks him
“He said he would wait for me.” Kade mutters through sniffles. “He wasn’t there.”
*You were going to run away from your family?” Ryken demands. “Did you even think about us? Did you even care what me and your mother would think?”
*You said I’m just like Blair!” Kade snaps. I heard you and mum.”
“You are wrong. We said we didn’t want you to end up like your sister.”
Kade shakes his head as Dane moves over to a very pale Neah. She looks close to throwing up, but I keep my mouth shut.
*Dane, Neah,” Ryken mutters. “How do you wish to punish my son?”
*I have one more question.” Neah frowns, bringing her hand to her mouth as she pauses to breathe deeply. “How was Cooper talking to you?”
“He came to my room.” Kade whispers
“He was in my house?!” Ryken snaps
*Likely projection.” Dane replies. “Not physically here.”
“Only here?” Neah asks and Kade nods
*How many other kids has he been talking to, without anyone knowing?” Dane mutters in frustration.
“None.” Kade pipes up. “He told me they weren’t good enough.”
*Kade, that is what bastards like him say.” Ryken tells his son.
*He promised.”
“People like that, make promises that don’t mean anything.” Dane tells the little shit. “He only wants you to do his dirty work for him. He doesn’t care that you get in trouble.”
*No. No. He said I was strong. That I was good. That I could do this. I’m his favourite.”
“He doesn’t see it.” I tell the adults. “He doesn’t see what was being done to him as wrong. You are not going to get through to him.”
*Then what do you suggest?” Dane asks
“A few nights in the dungeon might do him some good.”
*You want to put my kid in the dungeons?” Ryken scoffs
“It worked for your other kid.”
“She is an adult. He is not.”
“Let me guess, your idea is to bind him. Something that won’t really affect him until he is actually old enough to gain his Lycan abilities? So by your thinking, we should punish him later for something he did now?”
Ryken stares at me, his brows slowly knitting together in anger. “You can’t put him in the dungeon. He is eight.” *Brax is right.” Neah tells Ryken. “I know what it’s like to be bound and honestly, I would rather have died. He will spend a few days in the dungeon and we will re-evaluate.” She looks at Ryken. “No visitors.”
He looks at his son, like properly looks at him for the first time since we walked in the house.
“Don’t say it.” Blair creeps out through the door that she had been peeking out of when we first arrived. “Don’t say it Ryken, because he will never be the same.”
“Go back to your room!” Ryken snaps.
“I’m just trying…”
“Room, this isn’t your business.” Blair retreats to her room as Ryken accepts Kade’s punishment.
Dane pulls a protesting Kade to his feet and with a hand on his shoulder, directs him to the front door. Ryken doesn’t say anything else, in fact he walks out of the room as Kade calls for him.
I follow Dane and Neah to the dungeons. The moment Samara catches sight of me, she takes a few steps back until she is pressed against the rear wall. Her eyes hover on me. Not out of fear, but anger. “Who is that?” She asks quietly.
“Cooper got to him.” Neah tells her as Dane locks Kade in a cell
“He’s a kid.” She mutters in disgust
*Not his style?” I ask
She steps forwards, her fingers curling around the bars as she frowns and shakes her head. “He doesn’t like children.”
I was almost surprised at how forward she is with her answer, but I see that she is telling the truth.
“Is this what he is doing now? Screwing up children?’ She asks
“He did it to you.” Neah comes to a stop next to me as she looks in at Samara. “And just like him, you couldn’t see what he was doing was wrong.”
“A part of me did. And I…I just let it happen. Maybe,” she drops to a whisper. “I can help. I can talk to him. Am I allowed to tell him who I am?”
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?