Ch. 31..35: The Alpha Contract Chapter 31-35

Chapter 0031

"Has he said anything?"

"I haven't gotten any answers out of him yet." Eric sighs and looks at me. "I think this is what Moonshine Wolves look like."

"Take him to the dungeons. Make sure he is secured. We will ask questions. Until then, this goes no further!" I snap

"What about Neah?" Eric asks

""What about her?" I glare at him

He closes his mouth, choosing not to answer.

"Take the beast to the dungeons." I repeat.

Eric bows his head and they load the beast back into the vehicle, driving him off towards the dungeons.

'She can't look like that.' Aero mutters in my head. 'She just can't.'

'Why aren't you saying anything?' Aero demands as I move back through the house.

Things were starting to fall into place. The fact I had never heard of Moonshine until the call came. The secretiveness of the pack. How they suddenly disappeared and kept disappearing. How Neah has never seen them in Wolf form. How the beast had been hiding in a tree. The comments Neah had made about getting their Wolves at thirteen.

What if that was what we were missing? They didn't disappear, they went up and out of sight, hiding high in the trees, knowing that we wouldn't be able to find them.

I quietly sit in the chair in our bedroom, watching my mate sleep. Was she one of them and just didn't know it yet? If I find a way to unbind her, is that what she will become?

'She's our mate!' Aero mutters as though that answered all my questions.

I wake to the noise of the shower running. The bed is empty, and Neah's clothes are piled up on the end of the bed. Looking to the shower, I see her, sitting on the floor, the water cascading down over her small frame as she leans against the glass. "Neah?"

She doesn't move.

Ripping open the shower door, she has her knees pulled to her chest. "I...I don't really remember my parents." She mutters. "But I see their faces. I.... I see the blood running from their noses and the corners of their eyes. I see the way they claw at their throats as they splutter up blood. I remember how their eyes locked with mine as they took their last breaths."

I had been worried that she had felt the breaking of her bond with Kyle, when really, she was reliving the final moments of her parents' lives.

It wouldn't matter how many times I say it isn't her fault. She was haunted by the final image of them.

Pulling off my shirt, I step into the running water. Sliding myself down the cool tiles until I was sitting on the floor next to her. In one quick movement, I pull her naked body onto my lap and lock my arms around her, holding her tightly against me. Hoping it would be enough to make her feel a tiny bit better. To make her understand that she isn't alone.

She rests her cheek against my chest, taking a few deep breaths. Her rampant heart slows until it's beating regularly. I really wanted to fuck her and could feel my cock hardening beneath her.

"Let's get you dressed." I murmur, much to Aero's annoyance.

As much as I had needs, now was not the time. Though I was becoming more and more surprised by my own will power.

Neah stands completely still as I wrap a towel around her, she sits on the bed as I dig out some clothes for her to wear.

"The contract is void, right?" She mutters behind me. "You are done with my brother, right?"

"Yes."

"So I'm free to go without you killing me?"

Chapter 0032

Turning back to her, she is staring at me with those big blue eyes. Her bottom lip quivers a little as she waits for my answer. I didn't want her to go, but what if she was one of these beasts? What would I be letting myself in for? "Are....Are you going to kill me?" She asks again

""No." It didn't matter what she was.

She clings to the towel wrapped around her which was hitched up around her thighs and barely covering her.

"Put these on." I pass her the sweatshirt and joggers out of the cupboard. I would rather she wore less but it made it a little easier when she was covered up.

'Because that's going to stop you!' Aero muses

Turning away from her, I let her dress. "Why do you think I want you to leave?"

"I'm part of the contract." She doesn't stutter this time, almost like she found it easier to talk to me when I wasn't looking at her.

"You were." I agree, keeping my back to her. "But I don't plan on killing an innocent woman."

'Don't you dare!' Aero growls at me.

"If you want to leave, you can. I will ensure you are set up and will provide you with everything you need."

'You fucking idiot!' Aero yells. He wasn't the least bit bothered that Neah might not be a proper Wolf.

'I have to give her a chance to think for herself.' I snap at him. 'To let her make her own decisions.'

"Where would I go?" Neah asks quietly

"Wherever you want." I sigh, it sounded like she had already made her decision. "There are plenty of areas where no packs have control. Mutual zones."

'Stop telling her the good things!' Aero was pacing in frustration. And as much as I didn't want her to leave, I felt it was only fair to tell her options. 'Tell her she will be unprotected. That there are more dicks than Trey. Tell her to stay!' I hear her pad across the carpet and settle into the chair and turn to look at her. The soft blue sweatshirt made her blue eyes pop even more.

"Can I think about it?" She asks quietly

"Sure."

She brushes through her hair and I catch the scent of something different mixed in with her strange scent. Lavender. Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realised her strange scent wasn't as strong as it once was. 'Matebond!' Aero chuckles, 'About time you believe it!'

Sometimes, I really wished that Aero and I were separate beings, just so I could punch him.

'Hey!' He moans at me. 'I'm not the one who is pretending. Just fucking claim her.'

"I have to go and check on something." I mutter like some fucking school kid who had bumped into their crush. "If you need me, someone will be able to link me. Don't worry, I'm not leaving the backgrounds."

She nods her head at me while Aero continues to call me an idiot.

'Whatever, we have a beast to interrogate!' I tell him as I hurry from the bedroom and down the stairs.

Before descending the dungeon steps, I could already hear Eric demanding answers, but he wasn't getting very far, the beast was not talking back.

"What the fuck are you?!" Eric shouts just as I appear.

The man was in human form and Eric or someone had been decent enough to give him some basic clothes to wear. The man was huddled in the corner, but now, without the blood and the smeared mud, I could see that he wasn't that old. Maybe eighteen at a push. "What's your name?" I ask, keeping my tone level.

"He won't answer." Eric mutters. "I've been trying all night, he won't speak."

I turn to look at the young guy in the corner. They had strapped his legs down with chains, giving him little to no room to move.

"Are you injured?" I ask

The guys still doesn't look at me.

"Does Trey know we have you?"

He still sits in silence.

"Do you know Neah?"

His eyes flash my way. They are blue, exactly like Neah's. "Is she alright?"

"You are locked in a dungeon and your concern is if Neah is alright?"

"Please tell me you got her away? That you got her out of that house?"

Eric cocks his eyebrow at me.

"Who are you?" I ask, not giving him any information about Neah. "And what are you?"

"She doesn't know me, or at least I don't think she does. My name is Devon. I'm her true brother and I am what's called a Lycan, the same as Neah."

 

Chapter 0033

"What the fuck is a Lycan?" Eric snaps

"Exactly what you saw. Part Wolf, part human." His blue eyes move to mine. "Did you get her out?"

"What do you mean, true brother?" I demand

"Neah only has one brother and Trey isn't him."

"Don't bullshit me!"

"I will tell you everything." He stretches out his arms

"You would be the first." I snap, losing my patience

"I am not loyal to Moonshine. I am a Rogue." Devon tells us

'He's fucking nuts!' Eric links me

"Rogue?" It wasn't a term used among Wolves. You either belonged to a pack or you didn't.

"Rejected by my pack." Devon mutters unphased.

"Let's say you are telling the truth. How does Neah not know who you are?"

"The same way as she believes Trey is her older brother."

'I can't tell if he is lying or not.' Aero mutters.

Devon points to his eyes. "Our eyes. They are identical, passed down through our mother and her mother and her mother before."

"Anyone can have similar eyes." I mutter

"You are right, they can, but what colour were Trey's eyes?" He smirks at me. "Look, why would I bother telling you this?"

"To buy yourself time!" I snap.

"I'm in a dungeon, I can't go anywhere." He mutters with a sarcastic tone.

"Let me see if I can get this straight. You are something called a Lycan. A man that claims to be Neah's younger brother. Someone who she doesn't know. And Trey isn't related to her" "Nailed it. Well almost. I didn't say he wasn't related. I said he wasn't her brother!"

""Who is he?"

"Our uncle!"

'So she is an Alpha.' Aero murmurs in shock. 'Being bound twice was not just because she has the essence of powerful blood. She is an Alpha by birth right. The first born.'

'If it's even true.'

"He doesn't believe the Alpha role should go to a female." Devon continues, "He portrayed himself as an older brother because of the bigger age gap between him and my father. The pack agreed with him." "How do you know all this?"

"I had someone on the inside."

"Had?"

"They came here to check Neah had made it here, alive. I believe you killed him."

"He shouldn't have attacked my Wolves."

"Oh I know. I told him to be silent and unseen. It turns out, he did neither."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

Three years younger than Neah. If he had indeed been removed from Neah's memory. She wouldn't know.

"I know you don't believe me, but you saw me, you saw what I look like in Lycan form. My adopted parents got a massive shock when I turned thirteen. Bless their souls." He smiles, his blue eyes shifting back to me. "She doesn't know what she is, does she?" He checks his nails, picking dried blood from them.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Trey, I tried, several times. They got craftier. I couldn't even get near the house."

"They didn't kill you?"

"Oh they tried." He puffs out his cheeks. "Please tell me she is alive. I don't have to see her. I don't have to talk to her. I just want to know that my sister finally got out from under Trey's thumb and that she is safe." "She got out." I confirm

"Is she safe?"

"Yes."

"Can I talk to you?" Eric asks, using his head to gesture to the steps.

"Do you think he is telling the truth?" Eric asks me the moment we are outside.

"I don't know."

"He wouldn't say two words to me, yet the moment you come down, he tells you everything."

"Keep questioning him." I mutter. "I need to check out this Lycan shit. No violence," I warn him. "If he is truly her brother, I don't want her finding out that you beat him to a pulp." "No violence." He confirms, "As always."

In my office, Neah is slowly spinning in my desk chair. She doesn't even hear me walk in and jams her feet into the carpet when she spots me, stopping the chair from turning. "Are you looking for something?" I ask. The need to tear her clothes from her body was growing more and more intense.

She nods, "You."

"You should have got someone to link me."

"I could wait. I'm used to waiting." She gives me a tight lipped smile

"How can I help you?"

"If I give you your heir, will that mean I can stay?"

Chapter 0034

Neah

His face wrinkled up into a mixture of surprise and confusion. Maybe there was even a little hint of anger there. But I just wanted to know where I stood with him.

My life at Moonshine, although unbearable, was predictable. I knew what I was supposed to be doing and when I was supposed to be doing it. I knew people would come to my room to hit me. I knew that the only food I was allowed was leftovers, if there was any. Here, each and everything was a surprise. They spoke to me like I was actually one of them.

I had thought about it while I was alone. Pulling at every thread of conversation with Alpha Dane. He had said I was the only one he had ever wanted to mark and maybe now that the contract was over with my brother, he would be willing to make a new contract with me. "Is that what you want? You want to provide me with an heir, nothing more?" Now I could hear his annoyance.

I lower my eyes. "It's what you want isn't it? Someone to give you an heir. Wasn't that the idea of these contracts with female Wolves? So make a new contract with me, just me!" I had no idea where my confidence was coming from.

"You don't need a contract. I have already said you can stay."

I nod, but I knew what Wolves were like, especially the men from Moonshine. I heard them every night. I wanted to make sure that no one here would touch me.

"I see," He murmurs, "You want a contract for your safety."

"Y....yes." I knew I was pushing my luck. He was an Alpha, I had no right to request something from him.

I feel him staring at me and kept my eyes low and my mouth shut. I had said what I wanted to say. It was his move now.

"No."

"Oh."

"It's not fair for me to draw up a contract and expect you to sign it when you can't even read."

I feel my shoulders drop with disappointment. I was certain I was making the right move.

"I will make you a verbal agreement. One year. You stand by my side for one whole year, three hundred and sixty five days and then if we are happy, you carry my heir." "W...What's the catch?"

"No catch, Neah. It's as simple as that."

"What if you find your true mate?" A year was a long time, I was willing to carry his heir now and maybe then, the fantasies would stop creeping into my mind..

"I won't."

"You....you can't be sure."

"I've searched for ten years, Neah. I would know if I had found her. Do we have a deal?"

I glance at him and he is watching me, waiting for my answer.

"Isn't this why you wanted to see me, to make a deal?" He presses

"Why a year?" I whisper.

"I think a year serves its purpose. There are a lot of questions surrounding my ability to keep a woman. You know what happened to the others."

"Who decides when the year is up? What if something bad happens in that time? What if.... what if I do something wrong or can never be unbound?"

He smiles at me. "You ask a lot more questions than Trey ever did."

"I just....."

"You want to be sure." His smile turns into a grin. "You may not be able to read or write, Neah, but you are smart. You really should give yourself some more credit. So let's try it this way. You act as my mate or bride, whichever term you prefer, for an entire year. During which, you will be protected by the entire pack. I will teach you how to protect yourself. I will search for someone to unbind you. I will provide you with a life that you deserve. I will get you a tutor so you can learn to read and write. I will provide you with anything you need." A life that I deserve. It didn't seem possible. "Okay." I mutter in agreement

Alpha Dane was still smiling, pleased with himself about his new deal.

Chapter 0035

"Good. Now that is out of the way. You can come with me." He holds a hand out expectantly, patiently waiting as I take it.

"Where are you taking me?" I mutter, a sudden surge of panic races through me.

"I told you, training would start when you are healed."

Walking across the grounds, he keeps his hand on mine. I wasn't sure i f he was trying to make a point or not. Though I didn't care, his warm hand was comforting.

As we move, I spot Beta Eric, standing outside of a small building with no windows and a single door and quietly wondered where it went.

Alpha Dane pushes open a set of double doors that lead into a gym. It was already busy with sweaty men and women.

"Everyone out!" Alpha Dane orders.

One by one, they grab their things and exit the building until it is just us.

"Right," He guides me to the mats and turns me around. "Make a fist."

I ball up my hand and he shakes his head.

"Give me a thumbs up." He waits as I do what I'm told. "Now wrap your thumb around the outside." He grabs my newly formed fist, "If you punch someone with your thumb on the inside, you will break it. And while you can't heal, I would prefer it if we don't have any more hospital trips."

After watching me hit a punch bag a few times, Alpha Dane tells me that maybe it's better to teach me how to block attacks first. I would have been more frustrated if I hadn't agreed. The punch bag had barely moved.

He spends time teaching me how to defend myself from attacks that came from the front. But the moment he moves behind me and locks his arms around me, I don't move. Getting lost in the warmth that enveloped me.

"Neah, are you going to try and do something?" His minty breath grazes my skin as he whispers into my ear. A hand is pressed flat to my stomach while the other locks my shoulders in place.

"Earth to Neah?" He muses, releasing his grip a little.

"I.....I need..... I need to use the bathroom." I mutter, flustered.

He lets go of me and points to the end of the gym.

Running away, I don't look back. Hurling myself into the women's bathroom and shutting myself in a cubicle.

I had never felt like this around any man, ever. To the point I thought there was something wrong with me. Why did he make me feel this way?

"You don't have to be embarrassed." His deep voice comes from the otherside of the door. "I can help you with your....... needs."

I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"After all, you are mine for the year."

He pushes the unlocked door open. His crimson eyes seemed to be a little darker than usual, but they were heavily focussed on me and only me.

I thought I was ready. I thought I was certain when I said I was ready to carry his heir.

As he stared at me with a growing hunger, I knew I couldn't just give myself to him.

"I can help you release that frustration." He smiles. "Or I can teach you how to release your own frustrations."

I push the door closed in his face. "I'm not....I'm not ready."

"You are only going to suffer. It will only get worse and you will grow more and more restless, maybe even angry." Was he talking about himself?

I rip the door open and glare at him. "What does that mean? Are you just saying that to get in my pants?"

"You are part animal. It's a natural instinct. You may be able to ignore it for now, but it will start to consume you and will become part of your everyday thoughts. Even right now, I can still smell your arousal and it's only getting stronger." I clamp my thighs together and his eyes move down to them

"Your underwear is soaked. You feel a dull throb deep inside, an ache, a longing."