Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
‘I just want my eyes to open.’ I murmur back. I just want them to know that I can hear them.’
I keep trying to lift my eyelids, to just show a hint of my blue eyes to whoever was in the room. The pitch black doesn’t change and I let out a sigh.
The door to my room opens and Damien’s scent invades the space. His footsteps move towards me along with the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor. If I could move, I would be wincing at the sound. Maybe that’s why he was doing it, because he knew it irritated me. He sits down next to me with a sigh.
“I need you to wake up Neah. I need some advice and Mallory still has her head up her butt.”
I wanted to scream at him, to tell him that I could hear every word, that the only thing wrong with me was that I was trapped in some sort of paralysis.
“I’ve talked to Silas, he is confused. I don’t know if it is a spell or just pure denial. I’ve tried to help him make sense. We’ve gone over it hypothetically but… I don’t know if we will be able to help him.”
Dane had spoken about Silas. About how Thalia was tricking him. That Brax had found out much more than we expected. We knew she was a Witch. Silas had already told us, and from what I understood, Thalia did the same thing to him as what Cooper did to everyone else. It made sense. Cooper was doing work for Serkan so why not Thalia.
“But that isn’t why I am here.” He mumbles. I didn’t need to have my eyes open to know he was frowning. Mallory had called it his resting bitch face. “I have tried to mark Samara several times, each time, Dane interrupts and it pisses me off. Samara has been okay with it, to a point which I’m really surprised about. But is it divine intervention? Could the higher powers that Brax speaks of, be stopping me?”
He snorts. “Actually, I know what you would say. You would tell me to screw the higher powers and do what makes me happy.”
He is right, I would. I had watched him fall for Samara, I was slowly getting used to her but it wouldn’t stop me telling him who he should or shouldn’t be with.
His warm hands wrap around mine. “Enough about me. You need to wake up. I don’t know if anyone has told you, but you look like you are going to give birth any day now.”
Mallory had told Dane the same. I had also heard the nurses mention it. Has my bump really grown that much?
‘I’m sure he is exaggerating.’ Nyx sighs
They all keep saying it.”
“I do think the others might be onto something.” Damien continues. “The extra scents that you carry flicker between Wolf and Lycan. Maybe you are carrying the unexpected. Something that is neither Dane or you. Something that combines both of you.” He half laughs. “And it would be your children wouldn’t it?”
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Nyx scoffs
‘I think it is his way of telling us that drama follows us everywhere.”
A steady growing ache makes its way through my hips. I knew what was happening. I had felt it before with the boys. My waters break, but I couldn’t speak to tell Damien.
‘It’s happening!’ Nyx murmurs
*Something has changed.” I hear Damien mutter as my insides contract. The chair legs scrape the floor as it’s pushed back. I feel the blanket as it’s dragged off of me. “Shit your waters have broken. This can’t be happening now. BETH!” He yells out to the nurse.
Internally I scream, unlike with the boys, it felt as though these girls were trying to claw their way out of me.
Something inside me splits and a scream leaves my throat as my eyes fly open. Damien stares at me in shock, but he grabs my hand telling me Dane is coming.
“You are in labour.” He tells me.
I didn’t want to believe him but my bump was huge, it had easily doubled in size since I had blacked out.
Tears burn my face as I squeeze Damien’s hand. I hear cracks, but Damien doesn’t make a sound and when I glance at his hand, I see how crushed it is between my fingers, and also how my claws had pierced his hand.
“I’m sorry.” I cry, I didn’t mean for it to happen.
*Keep going!” He tells me as blood drips from his hand to the floor. “I can heal.”
The girls come quickly, one after the other with no problems. Dane crashes in through the door, just as both girls are placed in my arms. His crimson eyes move between the girls and me, “You’re awake? I missed it!”
“It seems like labour will bring anyone out of a deep sleep.” Damien mutters, flexing his hand as his fingers realign and the wounds heal. “And now you are here, I will leave you to it.”
He heads towards the door. “Damien, do it now.” I tell him
He looks over his shoulder, then slowly turns to face me. “You heard what I said?”
“Everything.” I offer him a smile. “You won’t be interrupted. I promise”
He nods. “I will come back later to check on my nieces. Stay awake.”
As Damien leaves, Dane leans over me and kisses me on the top of my head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
“I had the next best thing.”
Looking down at the girls, they are just like Logan and Evrin. One has crimson eyes, the other has blue eyes. They had come along so quickly that we hadn’t even discussed names.
“There’s time for that.” Dane tells me. “Are you okay? It’s so good to be able to listen to your mind again.”
“A little confused, but I’m okay.” I stare at the girls, they were tiny, but I was certain they had been trying to dig their way out of me.
“Mallory said she thinks…”
“I know, I heard. And I think she is right. I’m done Dane. No more. I want to be here for the pups we have. Not die because my insides can’t cope.”
He presses his lips to mine. “I agree, I’m not willing to lose you for the sake of growing my family.”
He takes the twins, cradling one in each arm as the nurse checks me over. Apart from a few questions, they give me the all clear, though they want me to stay in for the night just to be sure.
“I don’t know what happened? I just remember going to bed.” I whisper. I had tried to make sense of it. I was tired. I briefly remember Dane joining me in bed and then nothing but darkness.
“And you didn’t wake up again.” He sighs. “A little over a week you have been in the hospital.”
“Oh.” Time operates differently when all you see is darkness. I didn’t sleep, I was just trapped by my own body. I had effectively shut down to allow the twins to develop through their final stage. “Are the boys okay?”
*Evrin has had a few bad days, but otherwise, they are both good. Shall I ask Damien to go get them.” “No no, ask Eric.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me as the girls start fussing.
“You keep interrupting Damien when he wants to mark Samara.”
He shakes his head, “He hasn’t said anything.”
“He shouldn’t have to.”
“I will link Eric.” He winks at me.
Ten minutes later, amid the discussion of names. Eric and Mallory appear with Luca, Evrin and Logan.
“Up up up!” Evrin demands while holding his arms up. Dane lifts him on the bed followed by Logan.
They sit quietly, staring at the girls, unsure of what to make of them. I was curious to know if there was a sibling bond in place between them already.
Eventually the boys crawl up next to me, trying to get on my lap with the girls.
*Boys, these are your sisters.” Dane tells them. “You must always look after them.”
Evrin lies down next to them, his head partially propped on my belly as he watches. Logan had already lost interest and was trying to fling himself off the bed at Eric. Again it was as if Evrin was far more aware of what we were saying. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but he seemed to be more in tune with everything.
“Congratulations.” Mallory smiles at us as she turns Luca around to see the twins. “Do you have names?”
“Aderyn has blue eyes.” I smile, “And Willa has crimson eyes.”
Silas
Orion lifts the little wooden door from above my head. Daylight almost blinds me after being sat in the darkness for several hours, listening to the sounds of the crashing river echoing through the tunnel. He reaches in a hand and pulls me out with ease. Casting a glance around the room, I see that we are in someone’s lounge.
As the wooden hatch shuts, Indy quickly flattens a worn rug back over it. “Sorry” she mutters. “I didn’t think I would be so long. This is my home. You should be safe here.”
I stare at her. “If I didn’t believe what I had seen, I would have thought you were setting me up.”
“I’m sorry. Thalia’s guards were on the move. The problem with you is that your scent is quite strong, but luckily for you,” She gestures to the floor, “It’s blocked down there. I went to the healer a few days ago and stole something that hides it and now we need to hide yours while you are out and about.”
She pulls a necklace out from under her sweatshirt. A small key dangles from the thin leather. She tugs it over her head as Orion removes a few books from a bookshelf. The books conceal a keyhole. Indy slots the key in easily, opening up a small trapdoor. Inside were a few vials with different coloured liquids.
“I thought that side of you was weak.” I watch her soul, ready for a lie
“It is, these are all stolen.” She mutters as she checks each one, “You never know when you might need something.” She glances at Orion, “Don’t judge, it’s helped us both out.”
Orion rolls his eyes. But I liked her honesty, though I’m surprised she had lasted this long with being so truthful. If you are in a pack where someone is trying to gain all the power, you weed out the problems first. Maybe she had been overlooked because her Witch side wasn’t strong. But she was smart.
She continues to rummage through the small vials and finds one with a blue liquid. “This hides your scent.” She holds it up between her thumb and forefinger. “You should be able to move around without a problem. But you need to place a drop on your tongue every hour.”
“Unless they are all blind, it is no help at all.” I tut
“Well… That’s the thing, they are pretty much blind.”