Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“Neah knows.”
“Is she okay with it?”
“She thinks it’s a great idea.”
“Damien Black.” I mutter to myself
“Suits you perfectly.” Eric smiles
Mallory had always been my family. No one else, just me and her until…. And then it was just me and her again, surrounded by those I had become good friends with.
“You don’t have to decide right…..”
“I will do it. I want to do it.”
Dane holds his hand out to me and shakes mine. “Welcome to the family.”
He sends Eric to go and get Neah and Mallory, so they can be here to witness both the oath and my acceptance into the family.
Mallory loops her arms around me and apologises for snapping at me earlier while Neah makes a joke about putting me on uncle duties.
“First, I need you to formally accept the name.” Dane tells me. “Give me your hand.”
“You know what you are doing?”
“Yes. I had to do it when my stepmother accepted me as her own.” He tells me.
I hold my hand back out and he takes it in his like he was going to shake it again. Eric steps forward with a rope, tying it around both of our wrists but leaves the back of our hands uncovered. He takes out a knife and positions the tip against the back of Dane’s hand. He pushes the tip into Dane’s flesh and starts dragging it towards my hand, splitting his skin open.
“Do you, Damien, relinquish all past ties and accept the Black family name as your own?”
“I do.”
“Do you, Damien Black, accept me, Alpha Dane Black as your brother?”
“I do.” Eric’s knife pierces my flesh, splitting the skin across the back of my hand, mixing Danes blood with mine.
“Do you, Damien Black, understand that you will forever carry the Black surname and that you will represent Black Shadow for as long as you shall live?”
I couldn’t help but smile. I could already feel a connection building with Dane that wasn’t there previously.
His hand squeezes mine and his crimson eyes are wide as he waits for my answer.
“Yes, I do.”
“And finally, do you, Damien Black, accept the position of Black Shadows Beta?”
“Get ready.” Eric warns me with a smirk
“I do.”
Eric rips the blade back up to Dane’s hand, spilling even more of my blood. As it slices through Dane’s skin, I feel more connections to people than I had ever felt before.
Dane’s hand heals quicker than mine and Eric slowly unbinds the ropes. His eyes meet mine. ‘And now you can hear all of us when needed.’ His voice rattles through my head.
It was an odd feeling to hear a Wolf. But what’s even stranger is the strength that I feel. Is that how Dane feels all the time?
The back of my hand begins to heal until a thin pink line remains, but even that fades more quickly than usual.
“How do you feel?” Dane asks.
“Different. How is that possible?”
“My blood.” He murmurs
“But it’s not a Blood Tie?” Neah asks with concern
“No. It’s nothing like what Kyle did to you.” Dane tells her.
“Why now?” I ask
“Shouldn’t you have asked that before agreeing?” Eric laughs and Mallory elbows him.
“You made it sound like it’s something you have been considering for a while,” I say to Dane. “So why now?”
“You are right. It is something I have been thinking about for several months. But there has never been what I would consider the right time to ask. And right now, it doesn’t seem like there is ever going to be a righttime, except for right in the moment. You were going to take the Béta Oath anyway, so why not offer you what I was hoping you would say yes too!”
“Now you will know if I’m in trouble, and I can link you if needed.” He adds
I glance over to Mallory who winks at me. Neither of us had expected anything to come out of living here My goal was simply to get her somewhere where she could actually live the life she wante
I
just had a simple goal of protecting the Alpha. Never did I think anything like this would happen.
“So now I’m officially a part of the pack, what are we doing next? I assume you want us to carry on as normal?”
“Exactly that. We will stick with Neah’s plan unless something changes. We will re-evaluate when and if something happens. But everyone needs to be vigilant. I’m not letting some fucker destroy what I have spent years building. Dane scowls but his eyes are on his twins.
And even I had this strange need to protect them more than I ever did before.
The twins start getting grumpy and Neah tells us she is taking them to get some food. Eric and Mallory head off home leaving Dane and I alone.
“There’s more isn’t there?” I ask
“I’m putting precautions in place.”
“In case something happens to you, right?”
He sighs. “There has always been a plan. I had siblings. But if something happens to me and Neah now, the boys are not anywhere near old enough to step up. I need a Black that can hold the position until they come of age. And you are more than capable of running a pack.”
“It’s not going to come to that.”
“Still, precautions.” He mutters.
I nod. If I had known about his precautions beforehand, it wouldn’t have made a difference. I still would have accepted.
“I also need to go through our history with you.” He adds, “Just in case. But first, I want to check on Ryken.”
We head down to the gates. The last place I expected to find Ryken. Dane informs me that the other guard had to leave because his wife went into labour.
Ryken is busy chatting to the second guard, but puts a hand up to acknowledge us heading towards him.
“What’s that?” I could see something further up the road towards the main road. A dark object sprawled across the ground, almost hidden by the shadows of the trees.
I couldn’t smell anything.
“Open the gates.” I yell as I get closer.
Ryken gives me an obscure look but pulls the gate back just enough to let me through.
I tell Dane to stay back. If it was a trap, it was better for just one of us to get caught in it. I move forward until I catch the subtle scent of a Human. Slowing my steps, I scan the nearby trees, sniffing the air. But there’s nothing other than familiar scents from the pack and the Human.
“Shit.” Red waves peak out under the hood over her head.
“What is it?” Dane calls out.
“Get Brax.” I yell back and roll the person on their back.
Maddie’s eyes are closed. A large gash runs from her temple, over her right eye and down to her chin. She needed stitches and probably antibiotics.
I lift her off the ground, and hurry her back inside the gates. “Don’t just fucking stand there!” I snap at Ryken and the other guard. “Close the gates!” How had they not seen her? How had they not seen whoever was responsible for this?
“Klaus is at the hospital.” Dane tells me. I don’t hesitate and charge across the grounds.
“Maddie?” Klaus mutters as I burst through the doors. “You found her?”
“She was outside the gates, like this. Dane is finding Brax. She doesn’t smell like a Lycan anymore.”
He ignores me and investigates the wound on her face. “She’s not healing either.”
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?