Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
She wraps her fingers around my wrist, pulling my hand from her face. “I’m not giving up.” She whispers as her frown deepens. “But I’m not stupid. We are going up against another powerful Kitson. It would be stupid to go in with an expectation that we will succeed. Of course it’s what I want. But that’s how people lose. They get cocky. they make mistakes. Cassandra, Trey, Kyle, Devon, Cooper even Jenson and they are just some of the ones that have died, but they all have the same thing in common. I’m just preparing for the possibility.”
‘As if she thinks we will let her die.’ Aero mutters in anger. But the anger isn’t aimed at Neah, it’s the situation.
She leans into me, looping her arms around my shoulders and pressing her nose into my neck. Her bump presses against my stomach as she sighs and I feel a few half hearted kicks.
*The thing I am worried about.” Her warm breath fans across my skin as she sighs. “What if he becomes aware of the boys, especially Evrin?”
*The boys will be nowhere near. Just like before, the kids and the vulnerable will be moved to another location. Just in case, they will be moved further south. Mallory will likely be with them because she has Luca. And several other new parents plus guards. They will be more than protected.”
She doesn’t answer me.
“I will always protect them with my life.” I tell her exactly what she wants to hear. Though I will do more than that. If it ever came to her or me. I would sacrifice myself so that she could live.
Most of the way home, she is quiet. Nyx had let her guard down and I was able to search her mind again. She was thinking about how many times she had come close to death. And as much as I hated it, she was trying to be realistic about the situation.
I smile at her and reach over to rest my hand on her thigh. At least this time she doesn’t pull away. Hearing me confirm that I will keep the boys safe, seems to have reassured her on one level.
“Can we stop?” She mutters a few miles away from home. “I need the bathroom.”
Pulling into the local fuel station. She practically jumps out the car before it comes to a complete stop and charges towards the building.
As I begin fuelling up, a car pulls in at the pump behind. A large Wolf gets out and nods his head to me as he starts to fuel up. I return the gesture, though he wasn’t a Wolf from my pack. There was a good chance he was just passing through the area.
Glancing up to the building, I could see Neah through the window as she tries to decide on a snack. When I look back at the Wolf, he is staring at her. And then I see him. An older man, sitting in the back of the car. The darkness almost shields him except for the whites of his eyes.
‘Is that Serkan, in the car?’ Aero growls
‘Silas said he was still back home.’ I mutter back, returning my attention to Neah.
“Is that her?” The Wolf asks me. He speaks like he knows me.
“Yes.” I try to replicate Silas’s accent. If it is a guard of Serkan’s, he must think I’m my twin. I could play along.
Lowering my head. I link Damien and Eric. “Four miles out at the fuel station. Bring back up.” I cut the link before they would have time to realise what I was doing. We were only a few miles from home, I could buy time if I needed to.
Sniffing the air, I couldn’t be certain if there were others. The Alpha of White Cliffs being out and about with one guard was unlikely.
I cast a glance at my mate. She’s waving at me to come in.
‘He’s here.’ I mutter through our link. I watch her drop whatever she is holding. ‘Go back to the bathroom.”
She smiles at the worker, like nothing strange is happening and hurries out of sight.
*She’s pregnant and has a bladder the size of a pea.” I tell the Wolf with a roll of my eyes.
He smirks at me, “The Kitson line grows stronger.” He comes to me and punches me in the arm. “Good job, Si.”
“It took some convincing. You didn’t need to bring Serkan here. I’m on my way home.”
“You are further south than we expected.”
“Ran into a few difficulties, nothing I couldn’t handle.”
He nods, “Between you and me, he didn’t think you would follow through. But now that you have, we can go home and you can see that fire kissed mate of yours.”
*When have I not followed through?”
He smiles at me and smacks me in the arm again. “You are right as always. We will wait until she gets back in the car and just in case, we will follow you.”
“Don’t you need to pay?” I gesture to the pump.
“Right as always, Si.” He pulls his wallet from his back pocket and starts to walk away. Grabbing the back of him, I force his head through the rear passenger window. Spraying the back seats with shards of glass.
For a brief second, I see the old man lean forward between the gap of the front seats. His eyes on me as I slam the Wolf’s head into the car door again.
He knows I’m not Silas, yet he does nothing but watch me slam the guards head into my car over and over.
The Wolf tries to get out of my grip, gasping for breath at the unexpected beating.
Listening to the crunch as his skull starts to cave in, I slam him into my car once more, splitting his head open and making his brain matter seep out.
Letting go, his body slides down the side of my car, leaving blood and other bodily fluids behind.
I look up to the old man who is climbing into the driver’s seat. His dark chocolate eyes ablaze as he starts revving the car.
He pulls past me at speed, running over his own guard. If I hadn’t killed him, that certainly would have.
Brax
“Keep going.” Damien yells at me while we try to catch up with the car that had just left the station.
“My fucking foot is on the floor.” I yell back at him. “This piece of shit can’t go much faster!*
The car in front jumps the lights and I have to slam on the brakes to stop anyone colliding into the side of us. *Fucking go!” Damien yells as the green light comes on.
I speed forward, barely missing the pedestrian running across the road as I cut another driver off. We couldn’t lose this guy.
Damien had filled me in on the plan before he received a link from Dane.
He had been telling me that we would prepare for Serkan to come here. And in the blink of an eye, everything had changed. The threat was already here and we barely had a clue of what we were dealing with.
I round the corner, lifting off on two wheels. From the corner of my eye I see Damien grab the dash. He wanted me to hurry and this was the only way.
“We can’t let him get away!”
“Don’t you think I know that!” I shout back over the screaming engine.
“I knew I should have gotten behind the wheel.”
“I’ve seen your driving, we wouldn’t even be this close.” I snap, watching the car in front drift around another bend. We round the bend and slam on the brakes. In front of us is the car, only it’s abandoned.
*Shit!”
The car is forced into a skid. It stops inches away from the abandoned car.
“He couldn’t have gotten far!” Damien yells as he jumps out the car. He’s quick to scan the area as I check out the car.
“Do you smell that?” He asks as he comes to a stop next to me.
“Of course I do. It’s what I was raised to deal with!” I snap. It was even worse than we thought. Serkan was borderline Rogue.
*Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
I glance at Damien. This was something we agreed on.
“We can both smell him. Split up, let’s see what else there is.” I mutter. “Link Dane and call the clone because the clock is ticking.” If he wanted his mate out, he had to get her to leave now.
Damien dips his chin and we move in opposite directions. The mixture of tall trees and tall buildings cast large eerie shadows across the ground. Serkan could be hiding anywhere. He could be watching and we were running out of time to find him.
I slowed my movements, listening to signs of breathing, but wherever this guy was, he was good. The scent of a Rogue was quickly fading, but not as though he was moving away. More like the scent was being sucked out of the air that surrounds us. Definitely the work of a Witch, definitely the work of Cooper. The fucker was dead and he still had a hand at play.
*Come out, come out, wherever you are!” I call out. I wanted to know exactly what we were dealing with before put a bullet in him. Was it just him? Were there more cunts like him?
I looked over my shoulder and couldn’t see Damien. A good sign, I hope.
A small movement drags my eyes over to the left, only for a bird to fly out of the darkness. Stepping forward, I focus on the spot, letting my eyes draw out anything that didn’t fit as my hand sits on my gun, but there was nothing. Wherever he went, he was gone.
“There are other tracks.” Damien calls out as I tum back to the cars. “He got out and got in another vehicle.” He growls. It explained why the scent was fading fast.
“Come on, this is pointless. We’ve lost him.” I mutter in frustration. “I don’t say this often, but we need to regroup and pass the information to Neah and Dane.”
****
“He’s a Rogue?” Neah mutters from the car. She is in the passenger seat with Dane partially blocking her. Though she looks a little off.
*Borderline or a Rogue in Human form.” I tell her and she just gazes at me as though the information went right over her head.
I go to repeat my words.
“I heard you.” She frowns. “This is why he wants me dead. Rogues have issues with authority. I’m his descendant. I’m a problem that he needs to deal with.”