Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
In the cell opposite me, I see Sammie shuffle to the back, the shadows plunge her into darkness, but her soft cries give her presence away. “You can relax, baldy. I’m not here for you.” He spins around to Sammie’s cell and repeats the process, running his gun against the bars, while laughing to himself. “It’s your turn, princess.”
“No.” Sammie cries. “I haven’t done anything.”
“We just have a few more questions. Answer them and you can come back here and rest your pretty little head.”
“I’ve told you everything!” She’s getting annoyed.
“Sammie just answer them. You will only make it worse for yourself, for us.” I mutter and Abraxas looks over his shoulder and gives me a wink. Just because I wanted the truth and didn’t want to die, it did not mean we were on the same side.
Half of Sammie’s face appears, the shadows still cover the majority of her. She had been crying. I had spent all night listening to her sob. She would stop and start again, over and over until I wished I was deaf. It was worse torture than being starved. Until I realised that each sob sounded different. Forced. Laboured. But I don’t think it was for me, she was likely hoping a guard would come down. And even now, with just one grey eye visible, I could see anger not sadness. Nothing was going the way she wanted it too.
I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I had not spent so much time with her. And I had nothing but time.
There were massive downsides to being Human, but you do get to know the people you spend time with, if you pay attention.
“Does Dane want to speak to me?” She asks quietly.
“No, not today. Today is all about my fun.” Abraxas grins at her. He is a fucking mad man and I still don’t understand how he ended up here. Hunters work alone.
He opens her cell and grabs her by the throat, pulling her protesting body close to him. “Don’t try anything stupid. I’m not in the mood for stupidity. Understand?”
“Yes.” She croaks
I see it then, actual panic. And she should panic.
A few minutes after they leave, I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs. Retreating to the back of my cell, I wait. Was this it? Was Dane tired of waiting and had just decided to kill us? It would be the only reason both of us are leaving our cells.
My lungs tighten until I’m struggling to breathe. Strange black spots start forming in my vision and I find myself slipping down the wall as my chest starts to hurt.
“Shit, kid. Breathe.”
Ryken’s large hands wrap around the cell bars. His piercing blue eyes wide as he studies me.
“What…what are you doing down here?”
“Your mother is asking questions. I said if I could get permission, I would come and see you. Find out how you are.”
The black spots fade from my vision and I take a deep breath. I never want to feel that again.
“Just peachy.” I mutter. “Why didn’t she come?”
“The pup is a little restless today,”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“Yes I did, because I love your mother.” He walks away and grabs the stool from the far end of the dungeon and plonks it in front of me. “Sometimes, we do stuff for our loved ones no matter how ridiculous it is. How did you end up here, Blair?”
“Let’s see. I went on a one woman mission to take something that was mine, that failed miserably. Met someone who I let mark me that I was also a complete bitch too. Ended up in a shit situation where I was locked up for months by a man who thinks he is a fucking God. And then my lack of any Lycan abilities let me trust someone that brought me back to this place, and now I am a prisoner until they decide the day of my execution.
His brow dip. “Do you regret any of it?”
I drop my head and snort. “Do you think I’m enjoying this?”
He rolls his eyes at me and sits up a little straighter, folding his arms across his chest. “I was certain Alpha Neah was not going to let us exist, purely based on who you are and what you did, but she did, she gave us a chance. And your mother and brothers are thriving here, your little sister will too.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“You could too, Blair. You could put everything behind you and start afresh.”
“So we can be one big happy family, right?” I mock
He rises to his feet, shaking his head. “I knew this would be a mistake. You are such an ungrateful brat. You can’t even accept the help you are being offered.”
“What help? Reminding me that my mum moved on and had more kids so she could replace me?”
“You know that is not what I mean and you know that is not true. For once in your life, pull your head out of your ass and look at the bigger picture.”
“You can go now.” I fish in my pocket for the remaining bite of my protein bar, Only to find it had taken a hit when I crashed on the floor and all that remained were crumbs.
“We are trying, Blair. We want a life here. The Wolves are not bad people, well, maybe the odd one, but most of them are happy with the way things are run here. The boys go to school. Your mum helps out at the bakery when she hasn’t got Braelyn attached to her. Alpha Dane lets me work on the gate now.”
“Braelyn?”
“Your sister.” He smiles to himself.
“Can I meet her?”
He shakes his head, “Not while you are down here and not until you are no longer considered a threat.”
“A threat? I can’t smell anything other than my own stench. I can’t hear anything other than your words. I can’t heal. I almost passed out and I get this weird feeling in my stomach, yet you think I’m a threat.”
“Then prove everyone wrong.”
He turns to leave and then turns back, taking an apple out of his jacket. Placing it just inside of my bars, he sighs. “Here, it’s not much, but I could hear your stomach from the top of the steps. If you want a chance Blair, I suggest you do everything they ask of you.”
He didn’t know I already had a job.
“What if that isn’t enough?”
“Then I guess you didn’t try hard enough.”
I stare at the apple for sometime. Ryken had no reason to be kind to me. No reason to tell me to prove myself. If anything, I thought he would be grateful that I was going to be killed.
Taking the apple, I retreat to the back of my cell, letting the shadows wash over me. I don’t eat the apple, but I do roll it in my fingers, trying to figure out what I can do to get something useful out of Sammie.
Time passes differently down here. It’s dark all the time unless they leave a light on. The only way I could tell if it was night or day is when one of us was taken out. So I had no idea how long it was before Sammie returned.
She is full on crying as Abraxas shoves her down the stairs. And this time, it didn’t sound fake. As she comes into view, my mouth drops open. He had shaved her head right down to the skin. Sammie is balder than I am.
Strands of her long blonde hair still clung to the dirty sweatshirt she is wearing and as Abraxas pushes her into the cell, she rushes to her own dark corner.
“Maybe next time you won’t lie.” He sneers as he turns away, not bothering to stop to look at me.
“Sammie?” I whisper when the door closes and we are left alone.
Her cries fill the air. “He shaved my head. He took it all.”
“Why?”
“He kept saying I was lying. That I’m hiding things. He shaved it as punishment.”
“It will grow back.” It was what she had always said to me when I found myself mindlessly running my hands through the fluff that was my hair. “He’s cruel.” She snarls.
“He’s punishing us. He can’t shave my hair because it’s already gone.”
“Do… do you have any food?” She whispers
I I look at the apple. She could smell it, just like she had scented the protein bar, if I kept withholding my treats, she might become suspicious and stop talking to me. Then, I would really be writing my death sentence.
“My stepdad was here. He brought me an apple. Do you want it?”
“An apple?”
I nod and step into the light to show her. “I can roll it to you.”
“Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me. My stomach is so sore.”
I take a bite and then slip it through the cell bars, pushing it hard enough so that it rolls to her.
She devours that thing in seconds, stupid girl. She should have made it last.
“What did he ask you?” I needed to know everything.
“He wanted to know if there was anyone else?”
“Anyone else? Like someone else that has been made Human?”
She hesitates. “He thinks I’m working with Cooper. They all doz They don’t believe me. It doesn’t matter what I say, they are dead set on the idea. You have to tell them they are wrong!”
“Did you tell them they are wrong?”
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?