Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“What?”
“It’s true. We share the same father. In fact, if you looked at us, you would think we were twins. We are not, we have different mothers.”
“Why have you waited until now to tell me this?”
“Would it have changed anything?”
She smiles at me, “Yes, I could have helped you get to her. She can put a stop to Cooper.”
I shake my head, going to her wasn’t an option. She would kill me and I couldn’t even defend myself.
“I tried to screw her over.” I blurt out
In the prison that Cooper was holding me in, I had nothing but time to think over every little movement I had made. At first I blamed Jenson, then myself for getting involved with him. And instead of cutting him loose, I had made him suffer every time he failed at something. Hoping that he would improve to my levels. I had fallen for him, yet anytime we argued, he would bring her up, comparing us. I had wondered if he told them that before he died. But ironically, none of that was what got me into trouble.
So many had tried to warn me that I was making the wrong move, trying to take something that isn’t mine. Even my own mother. But I had been hellbent on getting what I wanted, what I thought I deserved. Maybe this was what I deserved.
“I tried to take what was hers.” I mutter, keeping my gaze on the orange and yellow flames “But Cooper didn’t know about any of that. He punished me because I almost revealed our kind to the human eye. Apparently he has been cleaning up my mess for years.”
“I could go to her. I could tell her all of that. I can explain what happened.”
“And if she doesn’t believe you, or chooses not to believe you, she will kill you. Then who will look after your chickens?”
She rolls her grey eyes at me. “I don’t think she will kill me. She doesn’t know me. Maybe she will at least be reasonable and listen.”
“And what are we going to achieve by you doing that? We won’t be Lycans again. We will be stuck this way until the day we die.”
She creeps over to where I’m sitting. “At least your conscience will be clear.”
“How are you so optimistic?” I ask. Somehow, she saw the good side of everything.
She gently cups my face with her warm hand. “I’m free and you could be too. And we could be together.”
We stayed up until late into the night, talking. tell her as much as I can. I answer every single question she throws, at me, no matter how difficult it was to share. Sammie fills a glass of wine and hands it to me and shake my head, something that I wouldn’t have done before Cooper, but it turns out I now can’t stand the taste of alcohol, no matter the quality.
Sammie did have to keep reminding me that things are completely different now that I have lost my Lycan.
It’s almost seven in the morning when I think we are done. I’m tired. My brain hurts. I feel more exposed than when I was being watched in the showers. Sammie had hugged me multiple times, and I had cried more often than I liked.
I wouldn’t have done that before. I would have taken myself off, or forced the tears back.
“I have to go to her before Cooper gets a chance too.” She mutters
“You said he would go to these places. Places where he thinks he can find me. For all we know, he might already be there. He might be whispering things to Neah. He could get his hands on you.”
“She needs to know about him, Blair. She is his Alpha.”
“You can’t go alone. I’ve been there. They have guards. Let me come, I can show you where to go.”
“You can’t come with me. You are still weak and malnourished. I can’t risk you collapsing on me.”
“I won’t let you go alone.”
Mallory
I got shot. I got fucking shot. The bastard shot me in the stomach.
My head is fuzzy, yet being shot is the only thing that is clear.
“She’s waking up.” I hear Eric and I hear the relief in his tone.
Warm fingers lock around my wrist and another set presses against my neck. “Pulse is strong.”
I squint one eye and see Klaus smiling at me.
“I was shot.” I mutter, opening my eyes fully. I’m met with silence. My fingers move to my stomach. Bandages cover my entire torso. I start to pick at them. I needed to know how bad it was. I was pregnant.
“Mal stop.” Eric’s hands grab mine, pulling them back as I let out a whimper
“But I’m pregnant!” It wasn’t how I wanted to tell him. It was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to tell him tonight, when everyone is on the pack run.
It’s funny how silence can be deafening. It takes me seconds to connect the dots. I had been shot in the stomach. The bandages that wrapped around me suggested that my wounds were extensive. Which could only mean one thing, I had lost our pup.
“Mallory….” Klaus starts
“No. I already know. I was just….” I turn my head towards Eric. “I’m sorry.” I’m trying to hold it together but my chest is tight and my lungs burn with the need to scream.
I could see it on his face, there was something else he needed to tell me.
Eric squeezes my hand. “The shot did too much damage, Mal. It, um… it….” I had never seen him lost for words. The news was worse than me just losing a pup.
“It’s like Raven’s leg.” I whisper, knowing what he couldn’t say. “It can’t heal.” Not only had I lost the pup. I had lost the ability to have them. “Mal, I’m sor….”
“It’s fine.” My body was trembling. It wasn’t fine, but I had to focus on something else. “Is Brax dead?” He was the fucker that shot me.
“No.” Eric replies calmly. I was expecting him of Damient to have ripped Brax’s guts out for what he did to me.
“Why fucking not? He is why I’m here. He is why I lost the pup. He fucking shot me and he knew I was pregnant!”
“Mal, it wasn’t him!” Eric stops me
“What are you talking about? He is the only one with guns.”
“A Lycan was fighting him over it. The guy was going to shoot Neah. Brax tried to get it off of him, but when it went off, it hit you. Neah killed the guy.” Klaus tells me
I should feel better. The idiot that shot me was dead. But I don’t, I just feel sore and empty. How something so tiny could leave you feeling so empty was something I didn’t understand.
“You should go on the pack run.” I mutter to Eric. “I will be okay here. I will just…” I look around the room. “I guess I will just rest.”
“Mal, the pack run was two nights ago. Because of the damage, your body has been slow to heal.”
“Oh.”
“There is something else I need to tell you.”
How much worse could it get?
Eric runs his hands through his blonde hair. “Raven’s dead.”
I stare at him with my mouth hanging open as Eric and Klaus fill me in. I still didn’t fully understand what had happened and I almost felt like I was in some kind of dream or maybe an hallucination from all the drugs. What he was telling me didn’t seem real. A soul taking over another soul.
“How’s Damien?” This could be the very thing that tips him back into Rogue habits. He told me Raven was his light, that she kept him grounded. With her gone, it was a matter of time.
“That’s the thing everyone is worried about.” Klaus mutters
“Please tell me he hasn’t turned Rogue?!”
“That’s just it. He hasn’t. He is quiet but getting on with his Beta duties. He isn’t acting like someone who lost a mate. Brax is watching him constantly.”
“That’s going to make things worse.”
I sigh white shuffling in the bed. It would be so much easier if they just stood on the same side rather than making me turn my head back and forth.
“He’s also started carrying a gun.” Eric tells me.
“What?” I was certain I had misheard him.
“You don’t need to worry about what is going on out there. The rest of us have it handled. I just need you to rest.” Eric stares at me, waiting for me to agree.
“I need to speak to him.”
“Mal, you need to rest.”
“Please. I just… I know him better than anyone.”
“I will get him.” Klaus gives me a small smile and hurries out the room.
“We need to talk about this, Mal. I feel your pain and the ache in your heart.”
I shake my head at him, the tears already blurring my eyes. I can’t talk about it, not yet.
