Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“No. I don’t want Cooper finding out that my son can shift. I have been working all day, chasing up possible leads, looking for the problems in my pack. Shutting down anyone that thinks they know something.”
“You’re worried?”
“Wouldn’t you be if Luca started shifting? I’m not worried about who Evrin is. I’m worried about the assholes that think they can take advantage of it.”
“Then you should tell Neah before she spontaneously combusts from all the ideas going around her head.”
Dane
The pack house is quiet. No sound comes from Neah or the twins. Damien must have settled Dorothy because I don’t hear them either.
Following Neahs lavender scent, I find her sitting in the attic, surrounded by all the twins’ baby things. Her tired blue eyes flicker up to mine and she lets out a sigh but does not speak and continues to fold up clothes.
“I’m not upset.” I move further into the light. “I just needed to put some arrangements in place to protect him. To protect them. If Evrin can shift then Logan probably isn’t that far behind and I need to make sure no one thinks they can take advantage of them.”
“Okay.”
She wasn’t saying how she really felt and I didn’t even have to read her mind to know that.
‘She is angry.’ Aero murmurs
‘I can see that.’
I sit on one of the boxes and it dips from my weight. “I wasn’t running away from it. That’s not who I am.”
“Okay.”
I hated the one word answers. I thought we were long past that.
“Neah?” My voice drops lower and she stops folding. I watch her shoulders drop as another heavy sigh leaves her mouth.
“I can’t remember it, but I reckon what Evrin saw when you handed him back to me, was exactly what I saw when I first shifted. A smile that vanishes just as quickly as it appeared and the need to get away.”
“You are comparing me to your father?”
“Not to him exactly, but his response. They had me bound because I was able to shift early. They tried to abandon me when they realised it didn’t work and when they still couldn’t get rid of me, they bound me again. And you…you just handed him to me and left and all day, you have ignored us and made excuses to not come home.”
‘You’ve triggered her trauma.’ Aero whispers as though Neah could hear him
I step towards her as her pain grows, but she pulls back, tears creeping down her face as she eagerly wipes them away.
“I didn’t expect…..”
“I didn’t either, but you don’t see me running away from our sons!” She snaps at me
“I didn’t run away.”
“You’ve been gone all day.” The tears stop and all I feel is her anger.
“I was making sure Klaus hadn’t told anyone. Brax knows to keep his mouth shut but we both know Klaus has a loose tongue and likes to overshare. Something like this is exciting news to him and he will think it’s a great idea to tell the pack, but only want the pack to know when you are ready to tell them, I want to keep the boys safe, I don’t want them to become new targets for Cooper. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left like I did and not tell you.”
I felt bad and Aero tells me I should feel bad.
I had always made it clear with Neah not to keep secrets from me and I had done just that and I was still holding something back. But she was not in the rioght frame of mind for me to tell her. Not yet.
“I assume the twins are asleep.”
She bobs her head up and down and wipes away another tear. I hated and loved seeing her like this. I hated it because was the reason for it, but loved how protective she is over the boys and I hoped that part will never change.
S
“Has Logan shifted?” I ask quietly as I take another step towards her.
“No.” She puts a lid on the box that she had finished sorting, “Evrin hasn’t either, he’s been mostly asleep.”
“Have you slept?”
She shakes her head at me. I hold out my hand. Reluctantly, she takes it, letting me pull her to her feet. We head down to our bedroom where she barely makes it to our bed before crashing out. She doesn’t even wake as I take her boots and her jeans off.
Stripping off, I climb into bed and pull her against me. She’s dead to the world yet her body automatically presses in against mine, like it did almost every night.
‘You didn’t tell her!’ Aero mutters
‘I will, in the morning.’
‘It isn’t going to go down well.’
‘I know, but there is no good way to tell her that one member of the pack is missing.’
‘She needs to know.’
‘And she will, in the morning. It’s no good telling her now when she is already sleep deprived.’
I glance down at my mates face resting on my chest. She looked so peaceful and all that was about to change.
When I wake, she is still fast asleep. She has stripped off her remaining clothes and is sleeping on her stomach with the blanket barely covering her ass. I wish I could stay with her, but I could hear the boys stirring in the nursery.
Dressing first, I head into the nursery where both boys are wide awake and standing in their cots. They are both really happy to see me, but I do notice how Evrin looks to the door, looking for his mother.
It was definitely easier to get them ready before they learned to walk and squirm out of any hold. Now it felt like I was wrestling two octopuses anytime I got them ready for the day.
Taking them downstairs, Damien is already waiting for me. “Dottie is having breakfast. Have you told Neah?”
I shake my head. “She was exhausted last night and telling her would not have been helpful at all. She will have a clear head when she wakes up. Though he isn’t a Lycan so it’s unlikely that she will be able to do anything.”
He nods and takes a squirming Logan from me while pulling faces at him. “You’re certain he didn’t just leave?”
“Positive, I can’t sense him at all. It’s like he has just fallen off the face of the Earth.”
“I know I have already asked this, but do you think Brax….”
“No.” I cut him off. “I know Brax has issues, but I don’t believe he would do this. Besides, he hasn’t got the ability to take away someone else’s abilities. There is only one person that we know of who is capable of that.”
“But why Klaus?” Damien questions. “Klaus never puts a foot out of line. From what we have learned from Blair and Maddie, Cooper punishes those who are ‘bad’. And Klaus, he just isn’t like that.”
“I know, and that’s what makes it more frustrating.”
We take the boys to the kitchen for some breakfast and Dorothy quickly runs past us.
“You don’t think he has done something like those Wolves that attacked Neah and Brax, do you?”
“If you had asked me a couple of days ago, that’s exactly what I would think. But Klaus has been a part of this pack for a long time. He has helped out in a lot of ways, he wouldn’t just turn his back.”
“I hope you are right.”
Brax walks past the window with Maddie in tow. A heavy set frown plastered on his face while she looks like she is on the verge of crying. Unexpectedly, he knocks on the door instead of barging in like he normally does. Even Damien raises an eyebrow at me.
Opening the back door, I see how Brax’s fingers are tightly coiled around Maddie’s wrist.
“Tell them!” Brax orders
I watch her tremble. “Should you be out of the hospital?”
Her eyes move to Brax, “I don’t even know if it was real.”
“If what was real?” Damien ushers her to a chair much to Brax’s annoyance
“I think… I think Cooper was in the hospital.”
“When?” I demand.
“I’m not sure. kwas tired. I was in and out of sleep.” Her fingers run over her neck. “I don’t know if I was dreaming or if it was real.” Her chestnut eyes move between all of us. “Theard voices. Angry voices but they were quiet, like a whispered disagreement.”
“Who?”
“Cooper and Klaus.” Brax glares at me
“Klaus was helping Cooper?” Damien asks, disgusted by the idea and after I had just said he wouldn’t turn against us.
Maddie shakes her head at me and keeps her gaze low. “He offered to go with Cooper if Cooper promised to leave everyone alone.” “Why are you only telling us now?”
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?