Ch. 396..400: The Alpha Contract Chapter 396-400

Chapter 0396

Mallory

I am more than overwhelmed.

Neah keeps her eyes on me. I don't think she is waiting for an answer, instead I think she is watching to see how I process her words.

My mouth opens and closes several times as I struggle to form any words. I'm also pretty certain that if I had been holding anything but Luca, I would have dropped it.

Forgiveness was something I was never expecting. Never. She had made that very clear that day she finally heard me out.

I clear my throat, hoping that my brain will engage my mouth muscles. "You do?"

She bobs her head at me.

"Why now?" I could feel more tears creeping along my eyelids

"You are not who you were. I'm not who I was. We have both come a long way." She shrugs her shoulders at me like it's no big deal. "The person you were back then, she only ever cared about herself." She smiles to herself. "I killed the man who shot you because it made me so angry that I thought I had lost you too."

I hadn't thought about it like that and she had never mentioned anything about it. Brax had told me that the guy was aiming for Neah and that was why I assumed she killed the guy. Not because he had hurt me.

"You have no idea what it means to hear you say that." I whisper, still trying to process the weird sense of relief that I'm feeling. I had no idea of the guilt I had been holding on to. I guess I had just grown so used to it, that now it's gone, I feel strange, but in a good way. "It's funny." Neah shifts her gaze to the window. "I never thought I would see you again, I definitely didn't think we would be living in the same pack."

"Or that you outrank me, big style." I add and see her lips curve up

"I never had a friend until Raven, and even if she were still alive, I don't think we would be as friendly as you and I have become."

"She cared about you." I offer

"For a while, but then.....Anyway, do you accept?"

"Hell fucking yeah!" My response makes Luca jump, causing him to cry as Neah laughs.

I stay with Neah for a few hours while she mulls over Dane's reaction to Evrin shifting. Though I'm certain it's just because it's something he wasn't expecting. In the moment he was probably excited and then reality set in. It will be harder to protect him now and some people may not like it.

Leaving the house, I find Dorothy sitting behind a bush, her back pressed up against a side wall, hidden from most people's view. She's doodling on a piece of paper and by the looks of it the discarded food wrappers, she had been here for sometime.

Slipping in behind the bushes, she stares at me with bright green eyes, waiting for me to tell her off.

"Dorothy?" I say softly. "Why are you sitting behind the bush?"

"I don't want my Dad's to find me."

I lower Luca and myself until I'm sitting with my knees touching hers. "You know they can smell you, right?"

"I didn't think of that." Her shoulders drop and her bottom lip sticks out. "They are mad at me."

"Because of what happened at school?" It had to be the only reason.

She bobs her head and the bottom lip comes out further.

"Something made you angry?"

She doesn't answer me and refuses to meet my gaze.

"Everyone gets angry." I tell her, "Lot's of different things make people angry and do you know what I've learned over the years?"

She shakes her head.

"It's always better to talk about it."

"But they will be angry."

"Maybe, but if we don't know why you are, we can't help you." I'm hoping that she will find it easier to talk to someone that's not one of her Dads.

"He said I was different. That there is something wrong with me."

"Kade?"

She bobs her head and I notice how hard she is pushing the pencil into the paper. "I'm not bad. I help Neah. He called me poison. I don't even know what that is. Then he said.... He said someone will kill me in my sleep because I deserve it."

 

Chapter 0397

Her fingers curl tightly around the pencil until it snaps, "but I'm not the one who is bad." "You think Kade is bad?"

Her head moves up and down making her braids swing. "Not right now, but he will be."

Surely it wouldn't be possible to know if a child is going to be a problem when they are older. They haven't even experienced life.

"Have you spoken to either of your Dad's about it?"

"Daddy Damien was angry and Daddy didn't listen. I had to stop Kade, Mallory. Everything he said made me sad. He's mean and only to me" She smiles at Luca sleeping in my arms. "Can't I just stay here and play with Logan and Evrin? They like me." "That's not up to me. But school is really important. Have you made any friends?"

"One girl talks to me. Her name is Lyrah."

""She's a Wolf?"

"Uh huh, she's the one who told me to stick up for myself. So I did."

"I want you to do something for me."

Her green eyes are unsure as she studies me.

"When you go back to school, if anything happens, I want you to tell the teacher. I don't want you doing something that will get you into trouble."

"That's what Daddy Damien said."

"Because he is right." Although if she had asked me when I was younger, I probably would have told her to beat the crap out of Kade.

She pouts at me as a tiny crease appears between her brows. "I can't wait to be a grown up."

I laugh, "Come on, you can stay with me and Luca. One of your Dad's can collect you later."

"Are you going to tell them?"

"I think you should, but I can be there with you."

****

It's late when Damien and Dane arrive. I wasn't expecting both of them, but maybe I could talk sense into both of them.

"Dorothy is asleep. She can stay for the night. We need to talk." I wanted Dorothy to tell him, but I wasn't waking her up after it took me so long to convince her to sleep. She was one hundred percent positive that Kade was going to kill her and I wouldn't notice "Has she said anything?" Damien mutters as he takes a seat at my small dining table.

I tell them the conversation I had with Dorothy.

"He called her poison?!" Dane asks in disgust

"She even said she doesn't know what that means so it's unlikely she made it up. I don't know if it's because she is a Hunter by birthright or if there is something else going on, but...."

"I will handle it." Dane replies. "She is part of this pack whether they like it or not."

"That's not going to put her mind at rest. That girl cried herself to sleep tonight. She's probably gone right back to square one." Right on cue, she starts crying.

"I'm going to take her home. Maybe a familiar bed will help." Damien frowns and disappears up the stairs to find her.

I sigh and glance up at Dane, "You haven't said anything about Evrin."

""Neah told you?"

I nod, knowing I was crossing over into dangerous territory by challenging him. "Is that why you haven't spent any time with them today? Is that why you have been making excuses about going home? Because he can shift?" I don't wait for an answer.

"She's sad and I know you feel her sadness. She thinks you are disgusted by Evrin being able to shift."

""Not true."

"But you came here with Damien when you didn't need to. You could have gone home to her. Home to your boys."

Dane shakes his head at me. "I've been on duty, I don't want the news of Evrin getting out."

"That's why you have been avoiding going home?"

"No. I don't want Cooper finding out that my son can shift. I have been working all day, chasing up possible leads, looking for the problems in my pack. Shutting down anyone that thinks they know something." ""You're worried?"

"Wouldn't you be if Luca started shifting? I'm not worried about who Evrin is. I'm worried about the assholes that think they can take advantage of it."

"Then you should tell Neah before she spontaneously combusts from all the ideas going around her head."

Chapter 0398

Dane

The pack house is quiet. No sound comes from Neah or the twins. Damien must have settled Dorothy because I don't hear them either.

Following Neahs lavender scent, I find her sitting in the attic, surrounded by all the twins' baby things. Her tired blue eyes flicker up to mine and she lets out a sigh but does not speak and continues to fold up clothes.

"I'm not upset." I move further into the light. "I just needed to put some arrangements in place to protect him. To protect them. If Evrin can shift then Logan probably isn't that far behind and I need to make sure no one thinks they can take advantage of them." "Okay."

She wasn't saying how she really felt and I didn't even have to read her mind to know that.

'She is angry.' Aero murmurs

'I can see that.'

I sit on one of the boxes and it dips from my weight. "I wasn't running away from it. That's not who I am."

"Okay."

I hated the one word answers. I thought we were long past that.

"Neah?" My voice drops lower and she stops folding. I watch her shoulders drop as another heavy sigh leaves her mouth.

"I can't remember it, but I reckon what Evrin saw when you handed him back to me, was exactly what I saw when I first shifted. A smile that vanishes just as quickly as it appeared and the need to get away."

"You are comparing me to your father?"

"Not to him exactly, but his response. They had me bound because I was able to shift early. They tried to abandon me when they realised it didn't work and when they still couldn't get rid of me, they bound me again. And you...you just handed him to me and left and all day, you have ignored us and made excuses to not come home."

'You've triggered her trauma.' Aero whispers as though Neah could hear him

I step towards her as her pain grows, but she pulls back, tears creeping down her face as she eagerly wipes them away.

"I didn't expect....."

"I didn't either, but you don't see me running away from our sons!" She snaps at me

"I didn't run away."

"You've been gone all day." The tears stop and all I feel is her anger.

"I was making sure Klaus hadn't told anyone. Brax knows to keep his mouth shut but we both know Klaus has a loose tongue and likes to overshare. Something like this is exciting news to him and he will think it's a great idea to tell the pack, but I only want the pack to know when you are ready to tell them, I want to keep the boys safe, I don't want them to become new targets for Cooper. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left like I did and not tell you."

I felt bad and Aero tells me I should feel bad.

I had always made it clear with Neah not to keep secrets from me and I had done just that and I was still holding something back. But she was not in the rioght frame of mind for me to tell her. Not yet.

"I assume the twins are asleep."

She bobs her head up and down and wipes away another tear. I hated and loved seeing her like this. I hated it because I was the reason for it, but loved how protective she is over the boys and I hoped that part will never change.

"Has Logan shifted?" I ask quietly as I take another step towards her.

"No." She puts a lid on the box that she had finished sorting, "Evrin hasn't either, he's been mostly asleep."

"Have you slept?"

She shakes her head at me. I hold out my hand. Reluctantly, she takes it, letting me pull her to her feet. We head down to our bedroom where she barely makes it to our bed before crashing out. She doesn't even wake as I take her boots and her jeans off. Stripping off, I climb into bed and pull her against me. She's dead to the world yet her body automatically presses in against mine, like it did almost every night.

'You didn't tell her!' Aero mutters

'I will, in the morning.'

'It isn't going to go down well.'

'I know, but there is no good way to tell her that one member of the pack is missing.'

 

Chapter 0399

'She needs to know.'

'And she will, in the morning. It's no good telling her now when she is already sleep deprived.'

I glance down at my mates face resting on my chest. She looked so peaceful and all that was about to change.

When I wake, she is still fast asleep. She has stripped off her remaining clothes and is sleeping on her stomach with the blanket barely covering her ass. I wish I could stay with her, but I could hear the boys stirring in the nursery. Dressing first, I head into the nursery where both boys are wide awake and standing in their cots. They are both really happy to see me, but I do notice how Evrin looks to the door, looking for his mother.

It was definitely easier to get them ready before they learned to walk and squirm out of any hold. Now it felt like I was wrestling two octopuses anytime I got them ready for the day.

Taking them downstairs, Damien is already waiting for me. "Dottie is having breakfast. Have you told Neah?"

I shake my head. "She was exhausted last night and telling her would not have been helpful at all. She will have a clear head when she wakes up. Though he isn't a Lycan so it's unlikely that she will be able to do anything." He nods and takes a squirming Logan from me while pulling faces at him. "You're certain he didn't just leave?"

"Positive, I can't sense him at all. It's like he has just fallen off the face of the Earth."

"I know I have already asked this, but do you think Brax...."

"No." I cut him off. "I know Brax has issues, but I don't believe he would do this. Besides, he hasn't got the ability to take away someone else's abilities. There is only one person that we know of who is capable of that."

"But why Klaus?" Damien questions. "Klaus never puts a foot out of line. From what we have learned from Blair and Maddie, Cooper punishes those who are 'bad'. And Klaus, he just isn't like that."

"I know, and that's what makes it more frustrating."

We take the boys to the kitchen for some breakfast and Dorothy quickly runs past us.

"You don't think he has done something like those Wolves that attacked Neah and Brax, do you?"

"If you had asked me a couple of days ago, that's exactly what I would think. But Klaus has been a part of this pack for a long time. He has helped out in a lot of ways, he wouldn't just turn his back."

"I hope you are right."

Brax walks past the window with Maddie in tow. A heavy set frown plastered on his face while she looks like she is on the verge of crying. Unexpectedly, he knocks on the door instead of barging in like he normally does. Even Damien raises an eyebrow at me. Opening the back door, I see how Brax's fingers are tightly coiled around Maddie's wrist.

"Tell them!" Brax orders

I watch her tremble. "Should you be out of the hospital?"

Her eyes move to Brax, "I don't even know if it was real."

"If what was real?" Damien ushers her to a chair much to Brax's annoyance

"I think... I think Cooper was in the hospital."

"When?" I demand.

"I'm not sure. I was tired. I was in and out of sleep." Her fingers run over her neck. "I don't know if I was dreaming or if it was real." Her chestnut eyes move between all of us. "I heard voices. Angry voices but they were quiet, like a whispered disagreement." "Who?"

"Cooper and Klaus." Brax glares at me

"Klaus was helping Cooper?" Damien asks, disgusted by the idea and after I had just said he wouldn't turn against us.

Maddie shakes her head at me and keeps her gaze low. "He offered to go with Cooper if Cooper promised to leave everyone alone."

"Why are you only telling us now?"

"Because yesterday, she was mostly asleep again. I think the bastard drugged her." Brax seethes

I glance at the door that leads out to the bottom of the stairs. "Shit!" I hadn't been paying attention to my mates movements and as I move to the door and pull it open, I find Neah standing on the other side. "Klaus is gone?"

Klaus

"Why are you doing this?" I stare up at him as he strides back and forth. I still felt a little dizzy, but it was just like when I was a kid and my parents had me bound. I was just a little weaker. It was fine, nothing I couldn't handle.

"Do you always ask so many questions?" He growls. He keeps checking the window of the old cabin, as though he was expecting someone to be following us. No one knew that I had left, though it would only be a matter of time before someone figures it out. "Pretty much. It's what I'm known for in Black Shadow. I like knowledge. My entire house is full of books." I fidget with my bound hands, trying to create a little wiggle room so I didn't have to feel the rope burning my skin with each movement. "Okay then, Mr knowledge. Tell me how I get Samara and Blair out of the dungeons."

"You don't. They are too heavily guarded. They will see you coming from all angles. You would be stupid to think that Dane would have just one guard. Why do you want them back, surely they are usless to you now?"

"They didn't see me coming to the hospital though, did they?" He smiles, ignoring my question.

"Because it wasn't a priority."

He runs a hand through his cropped blonde hair. "You are going to help me get them back."

"The agreement was that if I came with you, you won't touch anyone inside the pack."

"They are not part of the pack."

I laugh, "Inside the pack, that was the deal. I've seen enough contracts to know the correct wording!"

He squats down in front of me. His sage green eyes study me. "You love that pack. Why?"

"It's my family."

He laughs and shakes his head. "There are a lot of bad people in Black Shadow."

"And you're not bad? You take away people's abilities. To me, that's bad." My neck still aches where he had jabbed me, and I'm desperately fighting the need to sleep. But until sleep completely takes me, I was going to get as much out of him as I could. I will find a way to get the information to Dane or one of the others.

"No Klaus, I'm correcting everything that is wrong." He tells me

"According to who? You? Why do you get to decide what is right and wrong?"

His fingers grab my cheeks and he squeezes enough to create pain. "Someone has too. Now get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow."

He moves out of the room and watches me as he quietly closes the door. Within seconds my eyelids grow too heavy for me to keep open.

"Wakey Wakey sleeping beauty." He nudges my legs with his boot. Groaning, I push myself up until I'm sitting against the wall. "Here, eat." He places an apple in my hands, "I don't need you starving."

I take a bite as he watches me. "I assume you didn't tell them. Is that why you came so easily?"

"Tell them what?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about." He squats and wipes some of the apple juice from my chin.

I take another bite, refusing to say anything.

"Just so you are aware, what I've drugged you with isn't permanent like Madisons or Blairs. A couple of days or so, you will be able to scent me again. Though I'm hoping that I can convince you not to reject me."

The blue flecks in his sage green eyes seem brighter, full of hope. Like he was totally convinced I would be on board with him just because he happens to be my mate. "Maybe I can convince you not to be a prick!" He smiles at me and pulls a bottle of water from the inside of his jacket. "As much as you think I'm a prick, I would rather you didn't die on my watch."

"But you will gladly ruin the lives of others." My eyes move to the bottle, but I don't pick it up.