Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West
“You’re up.” Klaus mutters to me.
I repeat the process and as I disappear into the shadow, hands settle around my ankles, pulling me down into a thick swamp. The smell of shit lingers in the air.
“Are you seriously telling me this is the way into the dungeons?” I snap
“Do you want to find her or not?” She whispers
Klaus crashes into me before I have a chance to answer
“It’s just rotting food.” Indy tells me as I’m splattered with something rancid. This time, I know she isdying, but it’s not to hide a secret. It’s to keep me quiet.
The white Wolf and Orion join us as Indy leads us through the rotting sewage.
“This way.” She whispers
“How do you know this?”
“Silas.” She mutters. “He used to sneak out at night before he was moved out of the castle.”
The spell on him is strong if he cannot remember the connection they had. From what she tells me, it sounds like their connection is similar to Neah and Danes.
“I don’t know exactly where the dungeons are.” She adds, “But I know they are not far. Silas used to Ito visit the prisoners when he was younger. Take them food and water. He didn’t agree with them being locked up. Then he would sneak out to meet me.”
She hops out of the sewage and offers me a hand. I roll my eyes and jump up with ease.
We stand in the doorway. A corridor built out of stone with no windows heads in either direction. We could go either way. “Split up.” I suggest
Xavi, Orion and Klaus take the left while Indy and I head right. The place was a maze. Dead ends, loops and somehow twice we ended back right by the sewage.
“This shouldn’t be that hard.” She sighs as she leans against the wall. “Silas did it all the time.”
“You are right. It shouldn’t be.”
Somehow with all the turns we took, we never bumped into the others.
Thalia knows we are here.
Klaus
‘Stop Klaus. Just stop for a moment.’ I could sense the concern in Xavi’s tone
“I know.’ I mutter through our link. ‘I feel it. Something is off.
‘Retrace our steps.’ He suggests.
Turning around, Orion is staring at us. He gestures forward.
I shake my head, “No, we need to go back. Something is not quite right.”
Orion quickly jabs his finger over my shoulder in the direction we had been walking as he makes a weird noise. His lack of tongue stops him from telling us what it is he wants. His deep blue eyes are wide and I see a hint of fear.
‘He can’t be in on this.” Xavi mutters, ‘Can he?’
‘I don’t think he is. Look at his eyes. That’s fear.’
Orion looks behind him then tries to squeeze by, beckoning for us to follow.
*Is it Indy, is she in trouble?”
He frantically nodded at me and looked around, like he was searching for something, but there was nothing other than dimly lit, stone corridors. In the end, he bites his own finger until blood appears. He quickly writes on the wall Thalia has them both. I have to find Indy.”
“Okay, we will. Brax will try his best to keep Indy safe.” I offer. I hoped he would, he had made it more than clear that Xavi wasn’t allowed to touch a hair on her head. I’m certain he is not going to just let her die.
What do you want to do?’ Xavi asks as he gazes at me.
‘I know you don’t like either of them, but Orion is right, we need to find them.’
He rubs his large white head against my leg. Then we will find them. You know I will always help you.’
We quietly move through the labyrinth of corridors. There were never any doors or windows, or even steps, just solid stone walls that run in all directions with a few torches lighting the place up. Eventually we stumble upon Orion’s message that he had written in his own blood. We had somehow gone full circle without realising it.
We hadn’t been able to scent ourselves because of that potion we took.
This place is a minefield.’ Xavi mutters. “How the hell are we supposed to find our way out of here!’
‘I don’t know, but we have to try. Brax asked me here to help. I can’t just abandon him.’
Orion’s hands are balled into fists at his side. He randomly punches the wall in frustration and a small gap appears in the wall. Pushing against it, a secret door opens up. The three of us stare at it. It was a lucky punch.
‘Secret doors?’ I murmured to Xavi, wondering how many others there were.
I moved through the new door and once I saw that it was clear, waved them through. I finally understood that where we entered the castle, it had been designed to throw people off. Walking around in circles, completely lost. Anyone coming down here needed to know exactly where they were going.
It wasn’t a Witch’s spell. It was a clever defence method.
Orion quietly pushes the door shut and leans against it. His deep blue eyes are full of worry. It must be hard when the only person he can properly communicate with is Indy.
He puffs out his cheeks as he looks around
“We will find her.” I reassure him. Whether she is dead or alive, we will find her.
Looking down the newly found corridor. Lit torches lined the walls, closer together than the labyrinth we had been struck in. They removed all shadows. Halfway down, there are stone steps and even further than that, to the naked eye, the torches appear to have burned out, plunging the rest of the corridor into darkness.
‘What do you see?’ Xavi asks me as he stares at the darkness
‘Magic.’ I mutter. The darkness was not because the torches ended. They continued right the way down, yet a dark cloud filled the space. Confusing those that couldn’t see past it.
I move forwards, passing the stone steps. Orion lets out a gargled groan. I look back to see him ready to climb the steps but something was hidden down here. Something that only Xavi and I could see.
‘It probably looks like a wall to him.’ Xavi suggests
Locking my fingers around Orion’s wrist, I pull his protesting body through the thick cloud.
On the other side of the cloud are rusty bars, separating us from her. A small hole at the bottom just big enough to slide a plate of food through.
Curled up on the stone floor with a chain around her neck is a frail woman.
At a quick glance, I would have thought it was Samara, only this woman’s blonde hair is waist length. Wrinkles on her forehead and the creases at the corner of her eyes give her age away.
Her eyes flicker open and she scurries back across the stone floor. Pulling her thin legs up to her chest. She trembles as she places her hands on either side of her head. She begins to rock. Whispers leave her lips, but they are nothing more than sounds.
“Amelia?”
She doesn’t acknowledge us.
*Amelia Kitson?”
The rocking stops and she temporarily looks up at us.
*Amelia, we are here to help you.” I tell her.
She shakes her head and pushes herself further back against the wall. Like she is trying to make herself disappear.
‘Didn’t you tell me that everyone got their abilities back after Cooper was killed?’ Xavi asks
‘Yes.’ I stare in through the metal bars at the frail woman
‘So if Cooper did this, the moment he died, she should have had her Lycan back?’
‘Not necessarily. We don’t know what else has been done to her.’ I frown. They could have done anything to her.
Her skin was thin and looked as though it had been pulled tight over her thin frame. The raggy clothes she is wearing are barely staying together. Her hair is matted and her eyes look excessively big for her face, yet at the same time, they are sunken.
Amelia covers her ears. “No, no, no.” She taps her chest, “Amy,”
‘Maybe Amelia is a trigger to her.’ Xavi suggests
I look in through the door and study her. Crazy. That had been the word Indy had used to describe her. She had gone crazy. I hadn’t believed her, though not entirely. Being locked up for years in this tiny hole would probably do that to a person. Even Dane would have killed them rather than letting them suffer for this long.
On the floor of her cell are rat carcasses, a pan with a dribble of water. A bucket lingers in the corner.
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?