Ch. 386..390: The Alpha Contract Chapter 386-390

Chapter 0386

Blair

My heart races as the two men tower over me, they weren't in the cell with me and yet it felt like they were taking up all the space.

Dane with his strange crimson eyes, watches me as Abraxas talks but I don't even hear him over the rush of blood that's happening inside my head. I do nothing but stare back, trying to make sense of his mouth movements, still, nothing sinks in. The more I try, the more my head hurts and my lungs feel like they are working overtime. A panic attack Sammie had called it moments before I agreed to have the drip bag removed from my arm. Abraxas clicks his fingers, "Are you even listening?"

I wanted to say no, tell him that his words are not sinking in, but nothing moves. My muscles fail me in every way possible. I was pretty sure I would piss myself if there were any fluids left in my bladder.

Sammie had said that we have a fight or flight mode embedded in us. It's only now with no Lycan that I would learn the true meaning of it. But what did it mean when I found myself unable to move or speak to the men who had put me here? "......... fear." I only catch Abraxas's final word. Somehow and somewhere, it seemed like I had forgotten what he was capable of.

I force myself to lower my head and take a few deep breaths. Is this how everyone had felt moments before I killed them? Did they feel like everything was moving in slow motion as they faced their death? Or were they paralysed with fear?

The back of my eyes burn as I try to hold in the tears. I was already weak enough without them seeing me in a blubbering mess. Something that I would have laughed at if it were anyone else.

The cell door is pulled open and Dane moves towards me. He grabs my elbow and rips me up onto my feet.

"What...what are you doing?" I croak.

He smiles at me, but it looks forced, or maybe it has a hidden meaning. It's pointless for me to try and guess, he wouldn't tell me anyway.

A tear breaks free and I wish I was able to wipe it away without them seeing but with my hands still bound together, it's impossible and instead it runs freely down my cheek.

Abraxas brings a chair into my cell and Dane forces me on it. Abraxas holds a cup to my mouth, the cool liquid tickles my lips but I turn my head away. Poison would be a slow death even without my abilities.

"It's just water." He mutters

I peer up at his hazel eyes. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not and I certainly couldn't smell if there was any poison in the water.

My throat is dry, every swallow is like razor blades are making their way through my flesh. I hadn't had a drink in ages and take a chance.

Sipping it, I'm relieved. The cold water is the best thing I've tasted in hours and it beats that weird tasting juice that Sammie kept giving me. She kept insisting that my taste buds needed to adapt too, so I drank it, but each and every time I pulled a face because of the weird bitter after taste.

"I need you to answer some questions." Dane tells me and my eyes move to Abraxas. "He is merely here to make sure that I'm getting the truth from you."

I knew Abraxas was quick with a gun, less than a second and that bullet would be leaving its chamber and heading straight for me, again I wondered if I would hear the sound first. It's not something I had contemplated before, but for some reason, I couldn't let the idea go. My head moves up and down. I wasn't risking lying to them, not now and that strange knot appears where my stomach should be.

"So let's start with a few trial questions. What is your name?"

"Blair Everwood." I whisper. But I see the way they look at each other. They were expecting me to say Kitson.

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Thr... Four." I mutter almost forgetting my new half sibling, she must be five months old by now. "Two half sisters and two half brothers." I confirm

"How many people have you killed?"

I shrug my shoulders.

"An estimate."

I frown, keeping count was not something that bothered or interested me. I knew many did, but I was paid and counting was pointless. Once the job was done, I moved on to the next client. "Maybe a hundred."

 

Chapter 0387

"Why did you sell that toddler to a bunch of Humans?"

My eyes flicker to Abraxas. At the time, I felt no guilt about what I did to his daughter, it was purely payback. I had no problem tormenting someone in that way. It was just something that needed to be done. Now... Now I could see the cruelty of it. I had killed a mother and her unborn pup in the process and she wasn't the first. I had taken a child without a second thought and gave her to the most vile creatures on Earth. Humans. "Because I am a bitch." I whisper. I had become so cruel and not once had I stopped to think about it until now. I nod at them both. "I more than deserve to die. All I want to know is when."

Dane looks over his shoulder at Abraxas who nods his head

"Neah will make that call." Dane tells me, "Though personally, I would like my Wolves to hunt you."

Being ripped apart while I was still breathing was not something to look forward to. I was starting to wish that there was poison in the cup.

Dane squats down in front of me. "I want you to draw out any little bit of information you can from Samara."

I still couldn't believe she had set me up. Everything she said and did, made me think she was being truthful, but I could see it now, after everything Neah had said to me, I could see that Sammie was nothing more than a liar.

"I will try."

"You will more than try. Your life depends on it." Abraxas sneers

"Right." I lower my gaze. "And if I don't."

"I think you know the answer to that." Abraxas tells me

"So you will kill me if I don't do it and you still might kill me if I do dig out information."

"Correct." Abraxas smiles at me. "Glad you understand."

Dane unbinds my hands and pulls a protein bar out from his pocket. "Eat. If you are going to do this, I can't have you starving to death." His tone is hollow. I don't think he would actually care if I were to starve. I was his game piece and for now, that means I get to live. He takes it out of the wrapper and gives it to me. "Move."

I stand up and he takes the chair out of the cell. Abraxas swings the door closed and turns the lock. I take a tiny bite of the protein bar and stash the rest in my pocket. Who knows if I was going to get something to eat again.

"Wait, what do you want me to find out?"

"Use your brain." Abraxas smirks. "You've done this shit before, shouldn't be too hard for you to figure it out."

I'm shut in the dark. It was shocking to realise how blind Humans were when it came to the dark. Sammie had been letting me sleep with the light on, just to give me some comfort. And the night we left, there were street lights illuminating the road, but here, I could barely see my fingers in front of my face.

The door to the dungeons eventually opens, bringing rays of sunshine that briefly light up the dungeon. I see Sammie before I see Damien. Her hands are bound, just like mine were. Damien's dark eyes find mine and narrow.

He pushes Sammie into the cell opposite mine. She keeps her head down, but I could see that she had been crying. Fake tears? I wasn't sure. I knew that I had never seen her fully cry.

As he locks her cell, Sammie slides down the wall to the floor. I still couldn't see how she might be a Lycan, but Neah said they could smell her.

"Are you okay?" I ask quietly when Damien leaves. He had left the light on, was that for my benefit?

"We have to get out of here, Blair! You were right, we shouldn't have come here."

"What did Neah say to you?

"She was asking me about Cooper. I told her what I know but, I don't think she cares. I thought she was supposed to be a great Alpha."

"I guess she is just being cautious." I sigh

"You weren't in there for as long as I was." She stares into her lap as she talks.

"Maybe she just doesn't want to listen to me." I mutter with a frown. "Maybe she thought you might know more. I guess now, we just wait." "Screw that, I'm finding a way out of here."

 

Chapter 0388

Klaus

Tying my hair up, I grab the clipboard to check the stock of medicine. Raven had always kept a thorough check of everything and if anything was running low, she would have Dane order in some. I felt like it was something I could do to keep her memory alive. Being the new pack doctor was not in my plans, but I guess, out of everyone that Raven trained, I was the next best thing and the pack needed a doctor, especially with the amount of Wolves and Lycans here now.

Checking everything off, I make a list. I had used a lot of supplies with Mallory's gun wound and now Maddie.

I hear the front door swing open and close, sticking my head around the corner, I see no one. I smell no one else. It must have been the wind. I was used to being alone, but somehow this place just made me feel more lonely.

Grabbing a fresh IV bag, I head to Maddie's room, only to find her bed empty.

"Maddie?" I call out, maybe she had woken and was using the bathroom. "MADISON?"

It's deathly silent and for a brief moment, I wonder if it's her that went through the front door. That was until I heard the small moan. Pulling open the bathroom door, she scares the shit out of me.

She's passed out, with her face pressed against the side of the toilet, a smear of blood against the porcelain. Rolling her over, I see she has managed to rip some of her stitches. Brax is going to kill me at this rate, it wasn't the first time she had done it and last time he had threatened to cut my dick off.

Lifting her from the floor, I carry her back to bed and set up a new IV, clean up her wound and restitch her face, hopefully Brax wouldn't notice.

As I finish, she mutters Cooper's name. The guy that did this to her. It was worse than cruel. I thought being bound was bad enough. Then to learn that Neah was bound four times was just sickening, but this was.... There wasn't really a word to describe it. Though he definitely deserved to rot.

Maddie starts to cough and rolls on to her side, reaching for the jug of water.

"I've got it." I rush around the side of the bed before she knocks it over.

I fill the cup and pop in a straw for her. Helping her to sit up, she lets out a groan as her deep chestnut eyes find mine. "Where's Brax?" Her words come out in a croak.

"He just had to go and help Dane, he will be back in a little bit."

"I'm safe?"

"Yes."

"I made it?"

"Yes."

She nods and slurps on the straw. She was an odd person. Or was. To be a Lycan and yet not be able to shift. I hadn't had time to do any research but I knew she thought it was because her captors were drugging her with something. Though, from what I had learned in the last couple of years, I had a feeling it was not the truth.

Maddie closes her eyes, "I have a message."

"A message?"

"Cooper said that I am the message."

"You are the message?" I repeat and she sort of nods her head at me and lazily brushes her red hair out of her face.

"Where's Brax?" She asks again, her chestnuts peeking out of her sleepy eyes.

"He will be back soon." I reassure her. "Is there anything I can get you?"

She scratches her head. "I ran. I ran as fast as I could." Her fingers move to her neck where bruises still lingered. "Why am I not healing?"

I was sure Brax had already told her. Though it was starting to sound like her memory had been affected.

"Cooper took away your Lycan abilities. Do you remember that?"

She frowns at me as her lips part a little. Slowly she nods her head but then it turns into a shake.

"You can't heal anymore, Madison."

"You're wrong." She snaps in defence. "I can heal, I've always been able to heal.".

I lift her arm to show her the purple bruises that painted her skin. "You have been here for almost four days."

She rotates her arm and shifts her gaze to her other arm which is just as bad. "He pinned me down. I got away. I ran. I ran here."

It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.

 

Chapter 0389

"Damien found you just outside the gates." I confirm

Tears creep out the corner of her eyes. "Get some rest, Dane and Brax will probably want to ask more questions."

Lying back, her eyes close and I step out of the room. Sitting behind the small nurses station, I wait for Dane. I had already alerted him and when he arrives, Brax is right behind him. "She spoke to you?" Dane queries

"Yes. Though she didn't say much that's different from her previous conversations. She said she had a message and that she is the message but I get the impression she doesn't remember everything." "She is the message?" He asks

"A warning." Brax mutters. "So he is telling us how easy it was for him to do that to one Lycan, and how easy it would be to do it again?" His hazel eyes land on mine. "Is she still awake?"

"No. And I might as well tell you now that she got out of bed when I was doing a stock check. I found her in the bathroom and she had ripped her stitches. I've fixed her up, no harm done." "No harm done?" He glares at me. We had been getting on fairly well until he learned of my background, now it seems that anything I do or say tends to rub him up the wrong way. "She is fine, Klaus has confirmed that." Dane glares at him. He turns to me. "How much longer do you think it will be before we can have a proper conversation with her?" "Normally I would be able to answer that, but I've never dealt with anyone in this state. It could be days, it could be weeks."

Brax starts pacing while rubbing his temples. "We need more information on this Cooper guy!"

"Do you think you are the only one to think that?" Dane mocks him

"Neah can't link him?" I frown.

"No, somehow, he has no ties to her." Dane tells me

"Are you sure he is a Lycan?" It was a long shot, but I throw it out anyway. I was trying to add the pieces together and it was one of the things I could actually come up with. Both men stop to stare at me.

"Of course he is, I could smell him when he was here. Blair said she could scent him the night he took her." Brax tells me.

"But didn't you say that Samara completely masked her scent to the point you couldn't scent her." I reply and he scowls at me. He didn't like feeling outsmarted, he had told me that himself when we went out looking for answers for Neah. I ignore him and continue to speak to Dane. "So what if he has found a way to trick the mind, completely?"

Dane nods at me. "We did think Neah was just a bound Wolf. But Neah has confirmed there was a link to him before all this shit went down and now, it's gone."

"Think about it, what do we know? We know that Cooper has somehow managed to take Maddies Lycan abilities away and Blairs. We know he convinced Blair that he was her mate. We know Samara was able to conceal her scent to the point we thought she was Human. Is she a Lycan or a Wolf?"

"A Lycan."

"So she achieved something that is unheard of and we know that Cooper probably helped her achieve that. So what's to say that he hasn't figured out how to make his scent smell like something else? And also figured out a way to make Neah believe there was a link to him. For a moment I was thinking Witch, but what if he is part Witch? Or maybe a powerful Witch? He likes to punish Wolves and Lycans, it almost makes sense."

Dane grins while Brax looks like he has just chewed a wasp. He liked figuring things out and seeing what we couldn't see, but maybe that was the problem, he needed to use his brain more rather than rely on what his senses tell him.

Dane grabs my shoulder. "Come with me, I will call one of the nurses to take over here."

"Are you sure, Maddie is still out of it."

"I will stay." Brax mutters through gritted teeth.

I tell him that I've just changed her IV bag and that nothing else needs doing other than monitoring her.

He gives me a sharp nod and disappears into her room, though I'm pretty sure I have just become his new target.

 

Chapter 0390

Neah

"What you are saying sounds like a fantasy." I shake my head, trying to make sense of Klaus's words.

"There was a time when none of us believed in Lycans either." He gestures to the window where I could see Lycans training. Damien had ordered them to up their skills in order to protect me. "We have come to learn a lot since then."

"He's right." Dane tells me. "Can you remember what happened when a Lycan walked out of that forest, directly over there. You hid and we ripped it apart because none of us knew what it was."

'He's right.' Nyx mutters.

'How do you know? You weren't even here!'

'I have access to your memories.' She huffs

"So you think he's a Witch, and that he isn't working with a Witch?" I ask, the only one I had ever met was Madame Curie and she was no longer with us. But she was also not anything like this.

Dane nods, "Witches come in all forms. They are not uniform like Lycans or Wolves or so I've been told. They all have different strengths, abilities and they are really fucking hard to find. Some, like Madame Curie, will work for Wolves, but only for a price. Others, well others think they are a level above the rest. I don't know how when there are so few of them."

"Blair said they don't work with Lycans, but Samara is a Lycan." I was trying so hard to make it make sense, but it felt like there was still a huge piece of the puzzle missing. Something that none of us were seeing.

"Did Brax screw over any Witches, is that why Cooper is doing this?" I ask

"I asked." Dane tells me. "He said he doesn't deal with Witches, they are of no interest to him, until now."

"Because of Maddie?"

He nods.

"He's with Maddie at the hospital, right now." Klaus adds. "She's gradually becoming more lucid. Maybe when she is ready, we will get more answers."

I nod as I rock my body back and forth. Evrin continues to cling to me like he had done for most of the morning. Almost like he knew something was wrong. Dane offers to take him but Evrin just hugs me tighter.

"So he is a Witch that somehow faked being a Lycan, and someone that is also strong enough to create a link with me?"

"I know it sounds a bit far fetched." Klaus nods, "But it makes sense."

'No,' Nyx mutters, 'No it fucking doesn't.'

"What's our next step?" I ask, keeping mine and Nyx's thoughts to myself.

"We need Samara to break." Dane says as he leans over the side of the cot to check on a sleeping Logan.

"She didn't even realise I could scent her." I reply, "She carried on, continuing her story about what Cooper did to her even as her scent unravelled. I was waiting for her to shift, but she just continued acting like a victim, like we were the ones in the wrong for having her tied up."

"Blair is going to try and get the information out of her." Dane tells me

'Why?' Nyx mutters in my head

"Why would she do that?" I ask.

"I asked her. And because she feels just as screwed over by learning the truth about Samara. I don't think she is necessarily doing it to help us, but instead to satisfy her own anger at being tricked. She still knows that there is a chance she will die either way, and she still accepted my request." Dane's crimson eyes hover on me. "I thought you might have killed her."

"I thought about it, but with all that is going on, I figured we could use her as a resource. To do that though, we will need to feed and water her. Bring her out once a day so she can tell us whatever Samara is up to."

"If we bring her out, we will need to bring Samara out too. She will know something is up otherwise." Klaus adds. "It seems like Cooper has an attachment to Samara, am I right?"

"Possibly" I sigh, "or it might be the other way around and Brax thinks there is a good chance that Samara is running the show."

I could see the way Dane was looking at me. He had been a little iffy about Klaus since the car accident, but now, I hope he will feel a little better with Klaus sharing this information. He could have just kept it to himself, just as he could have kept the news of him being born a Hunter to himself, but he didn't.