Ch. 321..325: The Alpha Contract Chapter 321-325
Chapter 0321
Mallory
"Can you go and get Neah and Dane, please." Eric tells me
"I can just link her."
"I think it's better if you go in person." He stares through the gates at the group of people walking towards us. A huge amounnt of Lycans.
"Fine." I roll my eyes at him, I still hadn't had a chance to tell him I was pregnant. Or maybe secretly he already had guessed it. He hadn't questioned me at all when I told him I wasn't going on the pack run tonight.
I move quickly, but don't run as I didn't want to draw attention to myself. There were at least a hundred Lycans walking towards the gate and I don't care what Abraxas says, he can't kill that many in one go. Damien and Dane are in the office. "Where's Neah?"
"Upstairs with the boys. Why?"
"More Lycans." They both start to leave. "You might want more backup."
Dane turns to Damien and instructs him to round up some Wolves and Lycans and meet him at the gates.
Neah was easy to find, I follow the sound of her voice and she seems to be having a bit of a heated conversation with Raven.
"So you think that I should let you kill Blair because of Jenson?" The irritation was very clear.
"Look what she did to him!" Raven snaps back
"Raven, you are not the only one that wants to kill her." Neah starts reeling off names of who wanted Blair dead.
"I can't help but notice you didn't mention yourself." Raven pushes
"Sorry, I didn't realise I needed too." Weirdly, it was nice to hear Neah stick up for herself.
"You've changed!" Raven snaps and Logan and Evrin start to cry.
"A lot has changed since you have trapped yourself in a hospital with your traitor brother."
I walk in to find Evrin clinging to Neah while Neah is glaring at Raven. Logan was trying to push himself away from Raven. The pups could feel the tension and I'm quick to free Logan only to be met with a growl from Raven. "You have no right to take my nephew from me."
"I do when you are acting like this. I will protect them with my life." Logan buries his face in my hair, his tiny hands pawing at me and as soon as he stops crying, Evrin does too. They certainly worked together.
I turn and face Neah, "There are more Lycans at the gate."
"Is Blair one of them?" Raven demands
"I don't know, I didn't see her. But I will say this to you. You are blaming Blair, and you are right in the sense that she is a royal pain in the ass. Though if you remember, Jenson was the one who went to her. If he hadn't, she might not even be on our radar." Raven scoffs and takes a few steps back, shaking her head. "You were my friend."
"And I'm trying to be now. But you are stuck. You said it yourself, you have missed out on so much. A lot has changed in a short space of time and you have missed it all."
Her head turns between Neah and I. "You are supposed to be on my side. I helped both of you. I..."
"That's what we are doing now." Neah tells her. "You have been stuck and you have forgotten everything that led Jenson down this path. He is gone, Raven and that is something he did to himself."
She claps her hands. "Some friends you are." She storms out of the room and I feel a little bad for her, but she was forgetting everything and she needed reminding of that.
Neah sighs and I watch her squeeze Evrin a little tighter.
"She will come round, Neah."
"I'm not sure if she will and I think that will get her into trouble. Trouble that none of us will be able to fix."
The sad thing is, I think she is right.
I help her with the twins and we take them over to Eric's parents house, it was on the way to the gates anyway. Athena gives me a quick hug and a wink which was a little different to her usual greeting. Could they know? Surely they couldn't know if I hadn't told Eric? At the gates. Abraxas is already vetting the Lycans one by one and the crowd of Lycans are growing rowdy.
Chapter 0322
Neah grabs my hand. Her eyes are a little wider than usual. "I can do this, right?"
Up until now, the amount of Lycans turning up had been smallish, some on their own, others in small groups except for Everwood, but their numbers weren't exactly big. "Yes, you have more than got this, Alpha Neah."
She gives me a small smile and walks down to them and gives them her talk. It's the same one that she said to everyone, well rehearsed but it worked for her and that was what she needed.
Damien keeps his eyes on the Lycans as he makes his way over to me. "I thought Raven might have followed you two down here. I hoped that maybe she would want to see how Neah is handling all this." "Have you spoken to her?"
"Of course I have, she is my mate."
"That's not what I mean and you know it. Have you spoken to her about how she is feeling?"
"She's shut down."
"I walked in on her arguing with Neah." His eyes widen at my statement. "Neah was telling her that she had failed to remember what actually happened with Jenson. Raven wasn't happy." "And where is she now?" He frowns
"She stormed off. Damien I know she lost her brother, but Dane did too. She is so fixated on how Blair wronged him she has forgotten that Jenson went to Blair. She doesn't seem to remember that Jenson sought her out or maybe she is in some form of denial still? Though she shouldn't be, should she?"
"I will talk to her?"
"Do you think she is responsible for the fire?"
"No. I think she knows that the pack would turn against her if she did that." He sighs. "What has Neah said about my mate?"
"She thinks Raven is going to end up in a position where no one could help her."
I wince as Abraxas shoots someone. It was still not a sound that I could get used to. But it silences the bickering Lycans. They all stare at the woman bleeding out on the ground and one by one, they drop to their knees in submission all except two and they are dead before they even know they've been caught out.
I had been surrounded by death for years. I had killed, I had watched others kill, but when Abraxas did it, it was as easy as him picking out a beer from the fridge. It meant nothing to him.
Ryken and another couple of Lycans that had been here for a while, move through the crowd and collect the bodies. They will take them to the far end of the pack and burn them just like all the others.
It was a tiring process. An idea that was mine. But I guess I thought there would be less Lycans that would lose their lives. The thing though that no one had questioned is that no other bitten Lycans had turned up yet. Each and everyone except for me and Damien, were pure bloods. "Do you think it's weird?"
"Normally, I know where you are going, but you will have to give me a little more than that." Damien smirks
"We haven't seen any bitten Lycans. There has been none like us. Like not even the ones killed."
"Neah didn't put out an order. It was just a request. I'm guessing they haven't come because they probably think they will be killed for not being pureblood. And that's if they are even still alive. We don't know if he has taken down any." He nods in Abraxas direction. "He doesn't mention them. I'm sure if Neah decides to make it an order, they will come. Why, feeling left out?" He muses
"No, just curious, I guess." I inwardly sigh. There was always something that didn't make sense. "Where are all these going to stay? We are out of cabins. And what about the packrun tonight?"
"It's taken care of."
The gun goes off again and a sharp pain radiates through my stomach. I see horror on Damien's face and Eric rushing towards me. The sky rotates until I'm facing it and the men are standing over me. Eric presses his hands to my stomach. I see the sheer panic on his face as I hear Neah order the Lycans drop to their stomachs. What about Abraxas, he had shot me?
Chapter 0323
**** TRIGGER WARNING: MISCARRIAGE ****
Neah
"Everyone needs to stay fucking still!" Dane roars as I look over at Mallory.
Eric is desperately trying to stop her from bleeding as he slams his hands against her stomach. Damien cups her face, forcing her to look at him rather than down at Eric and talks to her, trying to keep her calm. From here, I can see her body trembling, blood already pooling around her.
Dane grabs hold of my face and turns it to his. "You need to get them under control. You can't help Mallory otherwise."
'He's right. We have to do this.' Nyx mutters
'I'm not sure I'm ready.' I whisper back
'You've got this. Just like we practised.'
I take a deep breath, letting my lungs fill to capacity as I tune into my Alpha abilities. I only needed this lot to listen, not the others in the pack and definitely not Damien as he tries to help Mallory.
Homing in on the connections to every Lycan in front of me. "Everyone, face down on the ground, now!"
Everyone drops and Nyx is bouncing around in pure happiness that I was gaining more and more control.
Only two men were left not listening. Abraxas and another male Lycan who was still on his knees. They were fighting. And I see what they are fighting over, a gun. It hadn't been Abaraxas that shot Mallory, it had been the dickhead he was fighting with and Abraxas had already managed to get a few punches in.
Moving forward, I step between the face down Lycans. They were silent, including the kids while their hearts ran rampant in their chests. Not a single soul was trying to defend the bastard that had shot Mallory.
Abraxas manages to free the gun and points it directly at the shooter's head. "She is pregnant, you dumb fuck!"
'A pup won't survive that.' Nyx mutters
Anger floods through me and I see Brax's finger twitching on the trigger. I had let him kill whoever was a threat up until this point. But he does not get to kill this asshole. "Stop!"
Abraxas shifts his hazel eyes to me in confusion. "He is a threat! He shot Mallory!"
"She's a Lycan Alpha, not a Wolf Alpha. And you are a dirty fucking Hunter. A disgrace to your own kind." The shooter sneers like he somehow thought I was on his side "You're right. I am the Lycan Alpha. But you didn't obey my order. And the one you shot was a Lycan. You won't get a chance to try that again."
The shooter slowly turns to face me. His piercing green eyes stare into mine with disgust. "You're going..."
"Who do you think let the Hunter in?!" There is a darkness to my voice. But unlike the other times, it brings a level of comfort. Nyx was standing with me and not against me. "Trai...." He doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence as my claws sink into his chest.
His lips part and he lets out a breathy gasp. Shock and surprise linger on his face as his eyes drift down to the penetrating wound. "You...you can partially shift."
His words are barely a whisper as my claws sink deeper, slicing holes into his lungs. A gargled sound rises up through his throat as he no longer gets the oxygen he needs. Blood appears in the corner of his mouth, slowly making its way down over his chin. Immense satisfaction floods through me as I watch the life drain from him which is quickly washed away and replaced with guilt.
'You are just punishing a crime.' Nyx murmurs. 'He deserved this. He hurt Mallory. It doesn't mean anything else and you know it's the right thing to do. There would be too many put in danger if you allowed him to live. And we need them to know you don't mess around!' The guy's knees buckle, forcing my claws up through his chest and into his heart. His eyes bulge from his head as he realises this was the end for him.
"It should have been you." He mutters with a final breath. Retracting my claws from his chest, he drops to the ground, dead before he even hits it.
I pause for a moment to look at my blood covered claws. It had felt so good to end someone who deserved it. Good and right, but guilt still sat heavily in my chest.
Turning around, I see all the Lycans still face down on the ground. Dane is watching me, his lips curved up into a smile. My eyes move to Mallory. But she had been moved. I needed to go and see her. The bullet had been meant for me not her and now she might have lost a pup because of it. "Get rid of the body." I tell Abraxas
"Are you going to kill any others?" He asks amused.
"I don't know, do you want to join him?" Nyx bursts into laughter at my sarcastic response
Chapter 0324
Abraxas doesn't answer and I knew without looking he was probably holding in a laugh, but I do hear him hoist the body up on his shoulder and trudge away.
I walk back through the Lycans to Dane. Not a single one tries to move. Fear or maybe shame that they had brought someone like that here. Whatever it was, I didn't care. Dane slips his hand in mine 'How did it feel?' He links me
'It was the right thing to do.'
'You know that is not what I'm asking.'
I turn my eyes to his crimson ones. "It felt... right." I look at the Lycans and then over to where Mallory had been. Her blood still remained. "I need to check on her."
"What do you want to do with them?" Dane nods in the direction of the Lycans still flat on the ground.
I shrug my shoulders. I hadn't thought that far ahead.
"Let me handle it. Just release them from the order." He presses his lips to my cheek
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. I've got a bit more experience."
I let everyone up and run over to the hospital, expecting to find Raven, but it's Klaus shouting out demands and instructions.
Damien is sitting on a chair outside the room, his hands clasped together between his knees.
"Are you praying?"
His dark eyes flash up to me. "Someone's got to listen, right?"
"The pup?" I ask quietly. He shakes his head and doesn't quite meet my gaze.
"Klaus is fighting to save her." He whispers
"Where's Raven?"
"Raven wouldn't help." I see a flash of anger in his eyes.
"What? Why wouldn't she help?"
"Klaus is in there with a couple of others that Raven has helped train before. All we can do is wait."
That didn't answer my question
"Why did Abraxas do this to her, Neah? She told me he knew." He asks. I think if it had been anyone else that had been shot, Damien would be ripping the Hunter's throat out. "It wasn't him."
"Of course it was. He's been waiting, biding his time."
"It wasn't him." I repeat. "One of the Lycans got the gun from him or almost did. I'm not entirely sure. I think Abraxas was trying to get it off of him when the gun went off. That bullet was not for Mallory. The Lycan was aiming for me." "You don't need to defend him." He growls
"I'm not. Ask Dane, he witnessed it."
His jaw clenches, "Where's the guy?" "Dead."
"Abraxas killed him?"
"No, I did."
His eyes drop to my blood stained hand before flashing back up to my face. "Thank you."
I nod as I listen to Klaus fire out more instructions. It sounded bad, otherwise, she would be healing.
"Where's Eric?" I ask quietly.
He points to the nurses station. I could see a hand sticking out from the end. He is still, sat on the floor with his back pressed up against the counter. There's no sound, no tears, just the steady rhythm of his heart. If he loses Mallory, I'm certain he will go right back to drinking again.
Eric has his knees pulled up to his chest. His shirt is covered in Mallory's blood. His eyes raise to meet mine, but they are hollow, like he had already given up.
"Klaus will find a way." I whisper and sit on the floor in front of him.
"She was pregnant."
"I know, I'm sorry."
He snorts. "She hadn't even told me."
"How did you know?"
"The fire. I did a sweep of her home after we put out the flames. There was an untouched test on her table. Several others too by the looks of it. But they were unreadable."
"That's why you didn't question her about the pack run?"
He gives me a sad smile. "I figured tonight would be the night she told me. But now, if she survives this, I'm going to have to be the one to tell her there is no pup and that there might not ever be a pup."
"I don't understand."
"The bullet blew her stomach apart. Much like Raven's leg, it can't heal what isn't there." His shoulders drop even lower which I didn't think was possible
"You can feel her." I try to hold back my tears. I got the impression that Mallory had always wanted her own family, to raise her children differently to what her father did. What she had been most concerned about was if it was too early for Eric to handle. "Listen to her body. You know her better than anyone else because you can feel her."
He shakes his head at me, "She's barely hanging on. I don't need to be in that room to know that Klaus had already restarted her heart twice."
Chapter 0325
Damien
I listen to them talk. Neah tries to keep herself calm as Eric tells her that Klaus has already restarted Mallory's heart twice.
Twice.
It wasn't a good sign.
We could heal to a certain extent, but if the heart decides to give up. It is rare anyone can come back from that.
Raven should be helping. She is the pack's main doctor. Not Klaus and not the others that she had trained. I had seen her work. She was precise, never missed a step, but she had point blank refused to come when I had linked her and now she is ignoring me. I rise to my feet and Neah's blue eyes flash in my direction.
"Please tell me what happens as soon as you hear it." I almost choke on my own words. Mallory is my best friend, we had been through a lot together. I couldn't lose her because some fucking prick shot her by accident.
Neah nods at me.
I come to a stop outside the hospital. Trying to decide if I wanted to speak to Dane about his sister, or speak to my mate directly. She should be helping. I had to find a way to make her help.
Making my way across the grounds, I pause outside the packhouse, preparing myself for the argument that is already brewing.
Pulling open the door, Dorothy come's hurtling towards me from the stairs. Fear written all over her chubby little face as she throws herself into my arms.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong?"
"There's something bad in the house Daddy."
"What do you mean?"
"It's dark upstairs."
I look up the stairs where sunlight is flooding in through the large windows.
"Don't go up there Daddy." Her bright green eyes are filled with tears as she glances up the stairs.
"Who is upstairs, Dottie?"
Her eyes find mine and quickly drop. She squeezes herself against my chest and whispers, "Raven." "Anyone else?"
Dottie shakes her head and shudders. "Daddy, can we leave?"
I back out of the house. I couldn't feel anything but the pain Raven was still feeling.
"Logan and Evrin are with Athena and Sebastian, would you like to go there?" I was trying to keep her calm, but whether she believed it or not was a different matter. "Yes please." She nods her head frantically.
On some level, I hoped that she had just been napping and had woken from a bad dream. But the silent treatment from Raven and the lack of interest in helping Mallory had me concerned. Sebastian opens the door, he looks surprised to see us, but beams at Dottie.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you today." The comment makes Dottie laugh and for a moment her fear is gone.
"I'm really sorry Sebastian, is there any chance you can watch her for a little while?"
He looks at my face. "No problem, she will be perfectly fine here and I do believe the twins are due to wake up. Why don't you come in, Athena is going to make some cakes."
She runs in without a second thought to me.
"How bad is it?" Sebastian asks
"Mallory is in critical condition. Eric and Neah are waiting with her."
"He can't lose anything else." He sighs, "But that's not what I'm talking about." He glances down his hallway to make sure Dorothy was out of sight. "Dorothy mentioned something about Raven when she was here yesterday. She was half asleep so it didn't make much sense."
"She came running down the stairs, with more fear in her than what I saw when I rescued her from that bar. The only other person upstairs apart from her was Raven."
"If she needs to, she can stay here the night." Sebastian replies, "Besides, Athena and I love having kids in the house again."
I didn't have it in me to tell him that there would be no chance of grandkids.
"I will let you know if I need her to stay the night."
I look around. Normally, I would quite happily handle this myself. Raven was my mate, but the fact that Dorothy had called her dark, has pushed me out of my comfort zone. Wolves didn't go dark. That was a Lycan trait. "Is my daughter okay?"
I look over my shoulder to see Abraxas coming my way.
"Did you shoot Mallory?" I had to hear it from him
"I may be sadistic at times, and I love to kill Lycans, but I don't kill pups. They are still pure. And if you hadn't noticed, I could have taken any of you out at any time and I haven't. So I will ask you again, how is my daughter?" "Scared."
"I know that, dumbass. What is she scared of?"
"My mate."
His brows knit together. "She's helping Mallory, right?"
Did I just see a hint of concern? Did he actually like Mallory
""No, Klaus is."
As much as I despised him, maybe he was the one who could help me. After all, he claimed to see this darkness in people and I couldn't lose my best friend and my mate in one day.
I tell him what happened with Dottie. The fear, the panic and the need to get out of the house like she knew she was in danger.
"You think Ravens lost it?" He asks me carefully.
"I don't know what to think. I know she is not the same woman I fell for. I know she has shut down. I know she is still in pain, which she refuses to talk about. I can barely get inside her head and when I do....."