Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“Because he was here.” I nod.
“He didn’t attack. He didn’t threaten you. He didn’t introduce himself. But he gave you some information to try and win you over.”
“That’s a good thing, right. We can’t all have asshole siblings. Maybe he just wants answers.”
*Don’t fall for it, Neah.”
“I won’t. If anything, I was thrown by his….”
*Kindness?”
This time I hear jealousy. “How he casually provided me with information.” I add quietly.
“He already hates him.’ Nyx murmurs. ‘He doesn’t like how Silas spoke to you first or how he never made his presence known to Dane.’
‘I’m not blind.’ I murmur. ‘But Dane didn’t want to see who it was that we could scent.”
Dane
Neah pokes her food around her plate. She doesn’t think I’m watching, but I am. I’m always watching. Especially since she passed out
Her eyes flicker between blue and black as she speaks to Nyx. But this time, I stay out of her head, letting them vent to one another.
Her blues flash to me as I end my conversation with Aero. Tonight was supposed to be about me and my mate. We are supposed to be having time together, away with the constant noises of the pack. A break from the chaos of parenthood.
As usual, nothing is ever simple and now the brother I never knew is here. Too close to home for my liking.
“You need to eat.” I tell Neah
“If it’s not my bladder, it’s my stomach.” She replies, taking the tiniest bite of potato.
“Did you tell Silas that Cooper was dead?” I ask
“I didn’t think I needed to. I didn’t say anything, because it seemed like he already knew.” She puffs out her cheeks. “He called Cooper an asshole. It seems like he upset more people than just us.”
I nod. “Well, he has left now. So for the time being, we can forget his existence.”
She stares at me a little too long. An eyebrow raises as she nods. She knew I wouldn’t just let it go. But at the same time, I wanted her to have all my attention. It’s been spread a little thin lately.
I ask her the question that she has been dying to get the answer too She had asked Damien a couple of times now, but it was still too early. “Do you think they are Wolves or Lycans?” She wanted to know, but was yet to make it clear on what she thought about it.
“I thought I wanted to know. But does it really matter? As long as they are healthy, right?”
“Right.” I smile
“And I still don’t know if I’m ready for four.”
“You are more ready than you know.” I lift her hand off the table and bring it to my lips, kissing the back of it.
“Well, we could both be wrong.” She shrugs her shoulders at me. “Half breeds exist. Klaus told me so and then there was Cooper, Half Lycan, half Witch, What if I produce girls that are a combination of us. Will the world be ready for that?”
“I don’t even know if the world will be ready for Evrin.” I murmur.
She stares at me with wide eyes.
“Your parents were not ready for you. You didn’t get to experience the life you should have had. They stopped that from happening. Evrin is you. The difference is, he is allowed to live his life. Shifting and all.” I smile at her
Neah lowers her gaze. “Do you think there is something wrong with Logan? I thought he might have shifted by now. He was the first to crawl, to walk, to learn new things and it just seems like Evrin has suddenly flown by.”
“No, of course I don’t think anything is wrong with him. He will shift when he is ready, even if that means waiting until he is thirteen. Maybe the boys are both supposed to be Alphas. One as a leader of Wolves and the other as a leader of Lycans.”
“Maybe you are right.” She mutters with a scowl
“Only time will tell.” I glance at my watch. “To be honest, I was half expecting a panicked link from Athena or Sebastian by now.” I grin as she pushes another piece of food across her plate.
“Do you want to get out of here?” I ask. The evening was tainted and I could see she wasn’t as relaxed as when we left the pack.
“Home?”
“No, there is somewhere else I would like to take you.” I tell her. I was ninety nine percent sure she would never have been. I had searched her mind and couldn’t find even a hint of a memory of it.
I call for the bill and the waiter that had tried to convince Neah to get some wine hurries over. His cheeks are already the colour of beetroot. He could barely look us in the eye. Neah presses her lips into a thin line but I see her shoulders jigging up and down as she tries not to laugh.
As we walk to the car, Neah links her arm with mine, almost pestering me like a small child, asking me where we are going.
“You will see.”
I drive for another hour or so down to the coast. It had been a long time since I had been here. I used to take Jenson and Raven all the time when they were little, but as they grew up, the trip became just for me. A place where I could clear my head. A place of peace as I listened to the sea crash along the sand before it dragged itself out again.
It had been almost four years since I had been here.
Nesh is silent as the car comes to a stop. She slowly unclips her seatbelt and leans forward on the dash, smiling at the waves.
“The beach.” She whispers
“I haven’t been here for a while, but I thought you might appreciate it as much as I do.”
I’ve never been.” She starts pulling off the trainers. Excitement flooding through her and a strange pang of happiness hits my heart.
She gets out of the car before I have a chance to say anything and runs down onto the sand.
For a moment, she just stands there. Wiggling her toes in the soft sand as she stares up at the crescent and stars that light up the night sky.
Looking back at me, she smiles and stretches out her hand in my direction. “Coming?”
I take her hand and she pulls me towards the water. Stopping a few feet away. Nervousness radiates from her. It was different, new and not something that was purposely trying to cause her trouble.
She hikes the long black dress up to her knees and lets out a small giggle as she steps forward, letting the cold waves wash over her feet.
Slowly, she turns around to face me, laughing as a wave crashes into the back of her legs, sending her stumbling towards me.
“You’ve never told me about this place.” She looks up and down the deserted beach. “The boys will like it here.”
“My father used to bring me here. Before the twins came along. To teach me about the power of the ocean. After he died, I tried to do the same with Jenson and Raven, but they missed the point. Raven had her own ideas for her future and Jenson just wanted what everyone else had. Maybe that was part of their downfall.”
I wrap my arms around her, holding her flush to my chest. “Father used to tell me how easy it is to lose power. To keep it, you had to stay alert and own it. Constantly fight for it.”
“He used the sea to teach you a lesson?” She asks as the water licks our feet.
“He did.”
“You think that’s why Silas is really here. To take your place, just how Blair thought she could take mine?”
“I won’t let him. Black Shadow is mine. Always has been and always will be until the boys are ready to take over.”
“He called me family.” She mumbles into my chest. “I was just going to walk right past him and he asked me if I always ignore family. He didn’t want to interrupt us, that’s why he didn’t make himself known. Maybe I got the wrong impression” She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.
“To me, that doesn’t sound like he is coming for what he thinks is his. Not everyone we meet has to be bad. Not everyone can have a secret reason for showing up. I refuse to believe that, because otherwise, what kind of world are we bringing children into?”
Neah
He tips my head back and leaves a lingering kiss on my lips. “How is it that you can be so hopeful after everything that has happened in your life?”
“Because it’s not me I’m thinking about.” My hands sit on my small bump, “I know if there is a problem, we can handle it. Because that is what we do. That doesn’t mean I want that for any of our pups.”
“Which is why you are not keen on exploring the White Cliffs topic.” He softly combs his fingers through my curls. “It’s not about you, it’s about the ones who call you mum. You want to protect them.”
He presses his lips against mine once more. The waves that had barely been licking our feet, suddenly crash into me. Dane does everything in his power to hold on to me as we are both knocked over into the water.
He loses his grip on me and the waves drag me out from the beach and away from him. My heart races as panic sets in. I had no idea how to swim.
Just as my face clears the surface to take a breath. Another wave hits me and sucks me down. As I’m pulled beneath the surface, hands find my shoulders. They half drag me, half carry me from the sea and up the beach as I try to spit and cough out all the sea water I had swallowed.
“Are you good?” I look up at Dane. He’s leaning over me, his black hair is wet and stuck down to his forehead. Crimson eyes are etched with concern, but it wasn’t him. That odd accent rings in my ears as he repeats the words. Turning my head, I see Dane a few metres from us, hunched over and spitting up water
It takes a second for my senses to fall back into place as Nyx mutters ‘That’s Silas.’
“Silas?” I splutter at the man standing over me.
*I was waiting patiently by the car.” He points up the beach as if I didn’t know where the car was. “Neither of you were paying attention to the waves. Just because you are capable of healing, it does not mean that the ocean won’t take that power for itself. Many Wolves have been lost to treacherous waters.”
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?