Ch. 176..180: The Alpha Contract Chapter 176-180

Chapter 0176

Neah

I sit hunched over with my forehead on the cool wooden desk as Dane, Eric and Klaus try to come up with a plan. But every scenario was a waste of time. Salem was smart. He had outsmarted Raven, Jess, even his own brother. Turning my head to one side, I glance at Mallory who is asleep on the sofa. Klaus had said i I was unfair for her to be alone while in recovery and my mate had agreed for him to bring her to the office.

Her eyes are closed and her arm dangles over the side of the sofa, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't really asleep. That she just wanted to hear what was being said. 'We should say something?' Nyx mutters

'Not yet.' I reply. I still didn't trust Mallory. I may have helped save her life, but that didn't mean she was trustworthy.

Everything surrounding her seemed too good to be true. The others didn't see it yet and constantly reminded me that she was trying, but they will see what I see, it's just a matter of time.

Damien had told me more about his past then what she had. All she kept harping on about was what she had done to me and that made me suspicious.

I see her eyelashes move, but all she does is roll over, so that her face is towards the back of the sofa. I won't be able to know for certain if she is faking sleep.

"Are you okay?" Dane moves around the desk to me, partially blocking my view of Mallory.

"Tired." I mutter. It wasn't a lie. The movement of the twins inside me had been non stop all night, I had barely slept a wink.

"Do you want to lie down?"

I see Mallory tense, waiting for my answer, "No."

He leans down and kisses my cheek when there is a knock at the door, dragging my eyes away from Mallory.

Klaus opens it to Damien and Raven. Her cheeks are a little flush and my guess was that she had been in heat as they hadn't left her room for most of the day. "Now what's your problem." Dane mutters

"Salem has been trying to watch Raven."

"What do you mean?" I sit up.

"Bloody handprints on her windows and his scent." Damien replies.

"How?" I ask in surprise, "Your room doesn't even...."

"I know. We haven't figured that out yet."

"Please tell me I get to kill someone today!" Damien asks.

Dane had agreed to let Damien kill Roan.

"Well you are in luck, today is the day." Dane smiles. "We need to get him out of the picture."

'About damn time!' Nyx mutters.

Klaus wakes Mallory. Though she practically springs up from the sofa when he touches her, almost as if she wasn't really asleep like I suspected.

The seven of us head to the dungeon. Roan was supposed to be having his death sentence dealt in front of the entire pack, but given the circumstances, Dane decided it would be best if we got it over with in the dungeon.

Roan laughs as we stand in front of his cell. His eyes drifted across each of our faces as though he was reminding himself on who to haunt after his death.

"Go on then, do it!" He gloats.

Dane clears his throat, his crimson eyes lock on to the asshole in the cell. "I am sentencing you to death for your acts of crime against the Alpha and Luna known as Neah Kitson."

Roan laughs again. His smile takes up most of his face. He had lost a lot of weight since being locked up and it gave him even more of a creepier look than before.

"I assume the girl is dead." Roan asks as Dane unlocks the cell.

"Why would you assume that?"

"When she was down here he told her he would kill her. She still opened the cell anyway, but she wouldn't open mine." He spits on the floor. "She deserves to be dead."

"Deserves? After you had her kidnapped by your brother, you think she deserves to have her heart ripped out?" I was fuming.

"Careful now, Neah, you are carrying a precious load. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the twins."

"You will be dead soon. Those twins are nothing to you." Damien growls

"Rather invested, aren't you, Lycan?" Roan's grin seems to grow further, practically reaching his ears. "My pack is coming for me."

Dane bursts into laughter. "No. No they are not Roan. Your Beta has taken over Ashburn city. Your pack wants nothing to do with you. In fact, your Beta wants to be called when your heart has stopped beating." Dane unlocks the cell, moving in with Eric.

"You are a liar Dane. You know they will seek revenge for my death. They won't rest until you suffer."

Dane and Eric hold him still as Damien unlocks his chains. Raven slips an arm around mine, using me to steady herself.

"Go on then, kill me. You will never find out the truth about the young redhead."

'Neah,' Dane links me. 'He is just trying to get in your head. He is trying to buy himself time.'

"The truth," I mutter, removing Raven's arm from mine and stepping into the cell. I lock eyes with the gaunt looking man. "The truth is that she was just a girl, who had her life turned upside down. You don't know what that's like, but maybe if I rearrange your organs, you will feel what it's like, for just a few seconds. Damien move."

Damien glances at my hand that was already quickly becoming claws. He steps around me as one by one my claws pierce Roan's chest, like slicing into soft cheese.

He fights the screams. His body sweats profusely as he struggles against my claws but that only makes them sink deeper.

Slicing his flesh open, he struggles against Dane and Eric, who refuse to let him drop to his knees.

"Isn't this what you want, Roan?" I hear the darkness to my own words. I had so much rage surging through me.

"Please, please stop or kill me quicker." He begs.

"You don't deserve a quick death." I mutter, pulling my claws free of his flesh. The wounds partially knit together, just for me to slice through again.

I repeat the action three more times, putting all my anger into his slow and painful death.

His head drops low as he coughs up more blood. I knew my claws had penetrated his lungs this time. I could tell by the strange whistle that comes from his mouth.

Forcing my claws in deep, I squeeze the lungs and tear parts of them from his chest.

His entire body trembles until Eric and Dane let go of him, letting him fall face first in the pool of his own blood and piss.

Leaving the cell, I see Raven with her head buried against Damien's chest but his eyes are on me along with Mallory's. I hope they both could see that I was not worth fucking with. Not anymore.

I don't stop, and walk straight out of the dungeon, if Salem wanted to attack, I will be ready to rip him apart.

Chapter 0177

Damien

I would usually have been impressed by Neah's kill if I wasn't so worried.

Mallory nudges me, giving me the same look of concern. I knew what was going through her head and I slowly shook my own. We would need to be really careful.

Raven keeps her head buried against by chest, grossed out by how Neah had killed Roan. Neah had made him suffer over and over until she decided enough was enough. Or rather, she was done playing with her prey.

"Raven, go with Mallory, I need to speak to Dane."

Her dark eyes peer up at me. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I just need to confirm a few things, that's all." I reassure her, hoping it would be enough information to keep her from pushing. It wasn't that I wanted to keep secrets, but Dane was Neah's mate, he should hear the information from me first. "Come." Mallory smiles at her. "You are mated to my best friend, we should get to know each other."

Dane is looking at me suspiciously but Raven follows Mallory anyway. A few moments pass and he orders Eric and Klaus to go with them, just in case Salem was about. Salem wouldn't show himself yet, whatever he was planning, he was dragging it out, much like how Neah had killed Roan. I wonder if she knew she had spent hours torturing him.

"What?" He snaps when the dungeon door is closed and it was just us and a dismembered Roan.

"There was something you told me about her Lycan being a separate spirit."

"And? I know I said you could kill Roan, is that what this is about?"

"No. It's just, since I have been here, I have come to understand that when her Lycan is pushing forward her eyes are dark, almost black. It's her Lycan that helps her find the courage to kill." "Yes."

"They weren't black, Dane. They were her usual blue colour. She had no help from her Lycan. She wanted to kill. She wanted to torture him."

His strange crimson eyes lock with mine. "She has a lot of deep seeded anger. And it's not like any of us are angels. Not from what she told me."

I nod, half a smirk creeping across my lips. "She told you about my past."

He continues to stare back at me and I could see why so many were put off by him, but he didn't scare me. I had dealt with much worse.

"We all have a past Dane. Every single one of us, but I'm talking about the present. The one where you are at risk of losing your mate."

He slams me up against the wall, his arm pressing against my chest as he tries to hold me in place. "I suggest you take that back."

"I won't ever lay a finger on her." I shove him back and straighten out my shirt. "I made a promise to protect her. I am telling you that you need to stop her from killing anyone else. Now matter how much you agree with it."

"I'm not going to stop her from wanting to put things right. It's her right to hurt those who have hurt her."

"Then listen to me, Dane, because you will lose her and it won't be to death."

His brows fuse as he glares at me.

"How she is acting, is how I became a Rogue. It's how Salem became a Rogue as well as the others. Just now, she was completely oblivious to the rest of us. Like it was just her and the prick down here. She played with the body, slicing him open and letting him heal, over and over like it was a game. Exactly how the Rogues play with their food. I bet she doesn't even know how many times she did it."

He shakes his head. "You are wrong."

"Mallory saw it too."

"She was just getting revenge for Jess." He defends Neah, but I hear the scepticism that he tries to hide in his tone. Deep down he could see it too.

"Think about it, Dane. You grew up knowing how to punish people. Making them pay for their sins. Most Rogues didn't. The ability to kill with ease became a new adventure and I see that in Neah. You said it yourself. For the best part of sixteen years she was a slave. Her abilities were bound. Her true life was kept from her. And she has gained everything back in less than a year."

 

Chapter 0178

He shakes his head in denial.

"Roughly the same amount of time before a bitten Lycan turns fully Rogue if they don't control themselves."

"She wasn't bitten. And you still turned."

"Then maybe it's something to do with her being bound. I don't have everything figured out. All I see is that she is walking the same path as I did. Anger and hate fuels her." I turn around, resting my hands against the stone wall and hanging my head low. This was not a problem that I thought we would run into.

We were supposed to be starting afresh, not running into past problems

"She is your mate Dane. I can see that you love her. We can all see that, there is no question about it. But if we don't get ahead of this, Salem will be the least of your problems." I turn around to see his frown. "It's Neah." He mumbles. I knew my words were hitting home by the way he spoke with his jaw clenched.

"In theory, due to her being bound, I have been a Lycan for longer than she has. And trust me, I know what I see. Mallory brought me back from that, long after I had let myself go."

Dane snorts. "When we first learned what she was, do you know what she was afraid of?"

I shake my head.

"Becoming a monster. Ironic don't you think." He folds his arms across his chest. "Seeing as you came back from being a Rogue, can you help her?"

"I can try, but in truth, Mallory is probably the best one to help her. She was the one who helped me."

"Neah doesn't trust Mallory and that isn't going to change anytime soon."

"Then I suggest we find a way for Neah to accept Mallory."

He glances back at Roan's slumped body. "Do you really believe I'm losing her?"

I nod. "The thing is, she won't even realise it herself until it's too late."

****

Raven is sitting in the kitchen with Mallory by the time we head back to the house. Given the circumstances, they were both giggling and stuffing themselves with ice cream. "Where's Neah?" Dane asks

"She headed upstairs. She didn't want to see me." She sighs. Every day she was growing more and more desperate to find a way to please Neah. And still, Neah wanted none of it. Dane nods and leaves, hopefully to have an important conversation with his mate.

"Did you talk to Dane?" She asks as she shoves a spoon in her mouth.

"Yes."

"What am I missing?" Raven frowns. "We were having a laugh until Damien walked in and now, now you are acting like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders." "It's fine." I tell Mallory. "Dane knows so you can tell her."

Raven's eyes round as she listens to Mallory. Her lips part until her mouth is wide open and I can see her tonsils. She was terrible at hiding her feelings, but I love the fact that she thought she could. "Does she know?" Mallory asks

"Not yet. Dane doesn't want anyone to say anything to her. Which, in my opinion is fucked up, but she is his mate."

"He wants to protect her." Raven sighs. "She has spent most of her life fighting for it and now she has to do it all again." ""It's different."

"How?" Raven's dark eyes rise to mine. "How is it different?"

"Because that life was something she never wanted. This is something she is slowly choosing. She just doesn't know it yet." "Why?" Raven mutters with a whisper

"It makes her feel strong and powerful. It gives her the feeling of satisfaction."

"The sad thing is, if she had been raised a Lycan, she would never have this need inside her." Mallory gives Raven a sad smile. "We both know that is hearsay. Neither of us knows what her life could have been." I snap

"I can't lose her too, Damien." Raven pleads with me. "I can't, it will break me."

As she stared at me, I felt it. Every little glimmer of emotion that she was trying so hard to keep bottled up inside.

Mallory reaches a hand across the table to her. "Neah will need to want the help. It's the only way it will work."

Chapter 0179

Raven

Damien is tense as he moves around my room. He had checked the windows several times before closing the curtains. Thankfully, there were no more bloody handprints.

'He looks so tired.' Midnight murmurs 'There's a lot going on' I mutter back

I knew better than to ask him if he was okay. It was obvious he wasn't, but I wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to me being reassuring. I tried to be reassuring to Neah when she first came here, and all I did was stick my foot in it about Dane having other brides. Though that was a combination of me trying to warn her.

Jenson told me once that I was too truthful for my own good. That it would get me in trouble one day.

'You always have been a shit liar.' Midnight snorts. It was pretty much the only thing she agreed with Jenson on.

Damien checks the hallway and even checks the bathroom, which has a window that even Neah couldn't fit through. It was like he was expecting Salem to jump out at any second and attack us. There was even a moment where I thought he was actually going to check under the bed.

I knew he was just doing it to gain some level of control.

"If he's in human form, we would be able to scent him. If he is in Lycan form, you will be able to scent him." I remind him.

"You're right." He stops in front of me and leans down to kiss me

He pulls back, resting his forehead against mine.

"You think it's too late, don't you?" It was a question that I had been desperate to ask. But I had managed to keep it out of my thoughts so that it didn't bother him if he read my mind.

"No." It was a heavy no. Almost like he wasn't convinced of his own answer.

"You don't have to lie to me. I can see it in your face. You warned Dane, but deep down, you think it's too late."

"It's impossible to know. Not a single one of us is the exact same. For example, you and Jenson. You are twins, your wolves are twins too, but you are not in any way alike. There's no way of knowing that if she crosses over, we can bring her back. If she doesn't want to...." He trails off as he shakes his head at me.

"I know Neah is your friend Raven, but there is only so much we can do. Only so much any of us can do."

He sits on the bed next to me.

"You will try?" I ask

"I won't stop trying."

"What about the pups?"

He keeps his eyes averted.

"Will they survive?" I push. Maybe if Neah knew what would happen to her pups, it would keep her from becoming something she is not.

Damien clenches his jaw.

"Tell me, I can handle it."

"There was a female in our group of Rogues, who was pregnant when she became fully Lycan."

"The pup died in birth?"

"She ate it." His eyes flicker to me and my shocked face. "It's not black and white, Raven. Everything is food to them unless...."

I cut him off as I add up the information "Unless it's in Lycan form. The pup was born in human form, so she ate her own pup."

He nods. "I warned you Raven, we are dark. Everything about being Rogue, is food and games. It's like.... It's like nothing else matters. The world could be crumbling around you, but as long as you have food, you don't care."

"It took me a long time to understand why we become so obsessed with food and the simple answer is the same as why you eat so much after you shift. It makes you so hungry, but for a Rogue, the hunger doesn't go away, ever."

I swing my good leg around the back of him, coiling my arms around to his chest and hooking my legs over his, and hug his large back. The others didn't see how much he carried. They didn't see how the past weighed heavily on his shoulders. Or maybe it was just me that could see through his hardened exterior.

"As hard as it seems, you need to tell her." I whisper quietly. "Those pups mean a lot to her, this pack, to Dane, to me and to you too. Maybe it will keep her from killing anyone else. Maybe it will stop her changing." I hear the pleading in my own tone. I was afraid of losing her. And in that second, I knew there was more to what Damien speaks of.

Chapter 0180

The constant warnings. Telling me he is dark, that I should be scared of him. That I will one day hate him. How he talks about Neah changing.

I let go of him. "You think you will be dragged back to that life?"

I hold my breath, waiting for his answer.

"I used to. Everyday was a fight."

"You don't anymore?" I ask in a whispered tone.

"Not since you."

I feel my heart skip a beat. The only other person that said something was because of me, was Salem. He had wanted a blood bond. To align himself with my pack. Only he wasn't a Wolf. How would that have worked? I mean I knew Lycans could blood tie themselves to each other, because of Neah and her first mate. But between a Wolf and a Lycan? Was that even possible?

I let go of Dane, shuffling myself off the bed and holding on to the dresser to keep myself upright.

"Really? You are thinking about my brother now?" He mutters, having read my mind

"He wanted a blood bond. We were supposed to have completed it but then... then he found out about Dane." I shake my head. "I would have had to bow to Trey and Cassandra. They really fucked things up for us all." "Then you had a lucky escape and for that, I am extremely grateful."

I see the lustrous look in his eyes. The desire to prove that I'm his and his alone.

"And let me remind you why."

His lips graze mine as his hands grip my waist. He lifts me up onto the dresser, nuzzling in against my neck as he positions himself between my thighs.

"You smell so good." He murmurs against my skin before nipping me, "But you will have to wait."

"For what?" I gasp in annoyance.

Less than a second later, there is a thundering knock on the door and I catch my brother's scent. His timing was absolutely shite.

"I know you are in there Damien!"

Damien gives me another quick kiss and moves to the door, letting in Dane. "How can I help?" Damien muses, looking back at me as I desperately clamp my thighs together, waiting for my arousal to disappear. "I need you to talk to Neah."

"The conversation didn't go well then?" Damien asks

"She is hormonal, she is angry, she thinks I'm bullshitting her or rather Nyx does. She has always been one to listen to me. To accept my word as what it is. But this, she doesn't want to know."

I watch Damien's face harden. It was subtle, but it was there. I couldn't read his mind yet, but I knew what he was thinking. It was the one thing he was worried about, that we were too late. "Where is she?"

"Down the hall in our room."

Damien begins to head in her direction when Eric starts shouting from downstairs, calling for help.

"I will go to Neah." I murmur, getting off the dresser and reaching for my crutches. "Go see what's wrong with Eric."

The men hurry towards the stairs as I make my way to Neah's room. She is curled up in the big chair in front of the window, cradling her small bump. She gives me a small smile. "Did you hear Eric?"

She shakes her head, her blue eyes are full of that same sadness I saw when she first arrived in Black Shadow.

"Dane told you?"

"He's wrong, right. He has to be wrong. I wasn't bitten. I....." she sighs heavily

"Damien has spoken a little bit of it." I mutter quietly, pulling the stool from her dresser over to her. "He is worried."

She frowns. "Dane said I sliced Roan open over and over."

"You...you did?!" I was confused, we had all been there. We had all seen what she had done to him and no one had stopped her. It had gotten too much for me that I buried my face into Damien's armpit so I wouldn't have to watch it. "No. It was just three times."

"Neah, we were down there for hours."

She shuffles herself around on the chair until she is facing me properly. "Hours?"

"You don't remember?"