Ch. 516..520: The Alpha Contract Chapter 516-520

 

Chapter 0516

Neah

My eyes move over the crowd of people. They are completely unaware that someone powerful is here.

"You smell it too?" Dane asks quietly. He is more subtle than I am at casting a glance across the room.

I nod. It was definitely an Alpha of some kind. A Wolf too.

"Don't read too much into it. It's a place where anyone can go. Sometimes others pass through. Remember, neutral territory." He tells me

Even I could see that deep down, he was pissed off. He wanted to take me out. A peaceful evening and we are probably going to get as much peace and quiet as we did when the twins were newborns. When the waiter comes over, Dane orders himself a whisky while I just order a water.

"We have some delicious wines." The waiter tells me, a stupid grin plastered to his face. "I'm sure there will be something to your taste."

"I don't drink." I mutter, glancing down at my bump.

He makes his excuses to leave, his cheeks burning. He probably thought I was just on the chunkier side.

'There isn't an ounce of fat on you.' Dane links me. 'Humans are very central.'

'What do you mean?' I ask curiously

'They have an idea about things and can't always cope when they realise they are in the wrong.'

The waiter comes back with our drinks. He doesn't make eye contact with either of us and announces that another waiter would be over to take our order.

My eyes scan the crown again, I just wanted to pinpoint where this Wolf was.

Dane places a hand on mine. "Stop."

"I'm just...."

"I know. But tonight is about us. Don't you think if we can smell them, they can smell us? If they were that interested, they would have already come over or at least made their presence known. They are keeping their distance just as we are." "Okay." I whisper

'I will keep an eye out.' Nyx tells me.

"That goes for Nyx too." Dane muses as he takes a swig of his drink

Nyx huffs, but I knew she wouldn't just let it go.

"Okay, "I sigh. "Where is the ladies room?" I ask. "These girls are using my bladder as some kind of trampoline today."

Dane grins and gives me directions to somewhere near the back of the restaurant. Every single step I took away from our booth, the more I felt as though I am being watched and not by Dane. I still couldn't pinpoint the location of this Wolf. The scent seemed to shift easily, and I'm also certain it's them who is watching me. Surely they wouldn't try anything in a building full of Humans?

'I would hope not.' Nyx mutters. 'That will just bring more problems to our pack. And we could also just puncture their heart.' I feel the sting at the tip of my fingers from my claws that are already trying to come out.

'Problems we don't need' I whisper back shake my hands.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I smooth down the black dress. Mallory was right, it did hug me in ways I didn't expect and somehow, it made my bump look even bigger than it was.

I'm about to head back to my seat when I spot crimson eyes staring at me. They belonged to a face that looked just like Danes. It wasn't him though, there was no woody scent. Just an aura of power. The one we were quickly made aware of when we entered the building. 'Is that the man Eris spoke of?' Nyx asks

'She never met him, but judging by the eyes, I'm guessing so.' I keep my movements fluid, ready to walk straight past his booth.

"Do you always ignore family?" His deep voice carries and sends an involuntary shiver through me. I hadn't even made it all the way past his table.

He had a different accent to Dane, showing me that he was not raised anywhere near here.

"I'm sorry." I mutter. "I don't know who you are." I lie. It was obvious he was Silas. He is a completely identical man to Dane. Just the lack of mate scent and the accent separated them. My stomach involuntarily ties itself up in knots. Seriously? Now the twins want me to vomit?!

He smirks. "Is that what you are going to tell my brother? Do you often deny the truth?"

Eris may not have known him, but some of the stories Cooper had told her were true.

 

Chapter 0517

"If you knew he was here, why haven't you bothered introducing yourself?" I should just turn and walk away, but he is like an irritating itch that I need to scratch.

"And ruin his evening with his beautiful pregnant mate. Why would I do that?" He takes a swig of his drink. Swirling the remaining liquid in the glass before he puts it down with a soft clink.

His crimson eyes lock on to mine. "You can go." He waves his hand as though he was sending a waiter away.

"I can go?" I frown

"I know where you are now. So you can go back and enjoy your evening with my brother. There will be plenty of time for a catch up."

"You call him your brother, but you don't even know him." I try to keep the anger buried. This was not the place.

"I know enough."

"You know enough?" My arms fold up as I glare back at him

"That is what I said." His crimson eyes lock on mine as he takes a bite of his meal. "Are you always this sensitive, or is it the pregnancy?" "Why are you here?"

He gestures to his meal. "I was hungry." His eyes don't leave mine. "And this seemed as good a place as any."

I start to walk away and he calls out, "You can thank me another time."

"Thank you? For what?"

"I freed all of Cooper's prisoners. Most have been returned to their packs. The Lycans have been relocated to White Cliffs. Many need to be rehabilitated. Can't have them going Rogue now, can we?" He gives me a lopsided smirk and a wink.

"You set them free?" I don't know why I was so surprised, but he had just given me a lot of information in a few sentences. He knew about White Cliffs. He knew about Lycans and going Rogue. He knew about Cooper and his prisoners. Was Black Shadow the last pack to find out about my kind?

"Cooper has been a pain in my ass for a long time. So you are welcome. Now go." He rubs a thumb across his knuckles. Another difference. Silas has tattoos, Dane doesn't

I turn away from him and as I look back over my shoulder, he is busy eating the rest of his meal. Not even remotely interested in me.

"Is everything okay?" Dane asks as I slip back into the booth. "I was about to come and look for you."

I frown. "I met Silas."

"What? Where?"

"He was sitting at a table not far from the bathroom."

Dane stands up, looking across the room. "What did he say?"

"He knows who we are. And that he wasn't going to ruin our evening. Then he told me some stuff about Cooper's prisoners." I screw my face up. "It was such an odd interaction."

'It was all very weird.' Nyx mutters. I nod in agreement.

"And Eris wasn't wrong. He is identical to you. And I don't mean in the same way that Blair and I look alike. You are identical. If he had your scent and spoke like you, I would have thought it was you." Dane frowns. "Did he touch you?"

"No."

After a few minutes, I realise the powerful scent I had picked up is slowly fading. He had left before Dane had a chance to meet him.

We fall into a weird uncomfortable silence. Dane was bothered and by the time our meal arrived, he had barely spoken two words.

His eyes were glazed over. Likely speaking to Eric and Damien, or even his Wolf, Aero.

"Are you angry?" I use my fork to push food around the plate. I had lost my appetite completely and was doing everything in my power not to dash to the bathroom.

His eyes settle on me. "Frustrated."

"Because he was here." I nod.

"He didn't attack. He didn't threaten you. He didn't introduce himself. But he gave you some information to try and win you over."

"That's a good thing, right. We can't all have asshole siblings. Maybe he just wants answers."

"Don't fall for it, Neah."

"I won't. If anything, I was thrown by his...."

"Kindness?"

This time I hear jealousy. "How he casually provided me with information." I add quietly.

'He already hates him.' Nyx murmurs. 'He doesn't like how Silas spoke to you first or how he never made his presence known to Dane.'

'I'm not blind.' I murmur. 'But Dane didn't want to see who it was that we could scent.'

 

Chapter 0518

Dane

Neah pokes her food around her plate. She doesn't think I'm watching, but I am. I'm always watching. Especially since she passed out

Her eyes flicker between blue and black as she speaks to Nyx. But this time, I stay out of her head, letting them vent to one another.

Her blues flash to me as I end my conversation with Aero. Tonight was supposed to be about me and my mate. We are supposed to be having time together, away with the constant noises of the pack. A break from the chaos of parenthood.

As usual, nothing is ever simple and now the brother I never knew is here. Too close to home for my liking.

"You need to eat." I tell Neah

"If it's not my bladder, it's my stomach." She replies, taking the tiniest bite of potato.

"Did you tell Silas that Cooper was dead?" I ask

"I didn't think I needed to. I didn't say anything, because it seemed like he already knew." She puffs out her cheeks. "He called Cooper an asshole. It seems like he upset more people than just us."

I nod. "Well, he has left now. So for the time being, we can forget his existence."

She stares at me a little too long. An eyebrow raises as she nods. She knew I wouldn't just let it go. But at the same time, I wanted her to have all my attention. It's been spread a little thin lately.

I ask her the question that she has been dying to get the answer too She had asked Damien a couple of times now, but it was still too early. "Do you think they are Wolves or Lycans?" She wanted to know, but was yet to make it clear on what she thought about it. "I thought I wanted to know. But does it really matter? As long as they are healthy, right?"

""Right." I smile

"And I still don't know if I'm ready for four."

"You are more ready than you know." I lift her hand off the table and bring it to my lips, kissing the back of it.

"Well, we could both be wrong." She shrugs her shoulders at me. "Half breeds exist. Klaus told me so and then there was Cooper. Half Lycan, half Witch. What if I produce girls that are a combination of us. Will the world be ready for that?"

"I don't even know if the world will be ready for Evrin." I murmur

She stares at me with wide eyes.

"Your parents were not ready for you. You didn't get to experience the life you should have had. They stopped that from happening. Evrin is you. The difference is, he is allowed to live his life. Shifting and all." I smile at her

Neah lowers her gaze. "Do you think there is something wrong with Logan? I thought he might have shifted by now. He was the first to crawl, to walk, to learn new things and it just seems like Evrin has suddenly flown by."

"No, of course I don't think anything is wrong with him. He will shift when he is ready, even if that means waiting until he is thirteen. Maybe the boys are both supposed to be Alphas. One as a leader of Wolves and the other as a leader of Lycans." "Maybe you are right." She mutters with a scowl

"Only time will tell." I glance at my watch. "To be honest, I was half expecting a panicked link from Athena or Sebastian by now." I grin as she pushes another piece of food across her plate.

"Do you want to get out of here?" I ask. The evening was tainted and I could see she wasn't as relaxed as when we left the pack.

"Home?"

"No, there is somewhere else I would like to take you." I tell her. I was ninety nine percent sure she would never have been. I had searched her mind and couldn't find even a hint of a memory of it.

 

Chapter 0519

Chapter 0519

I call for the bill and the waiter that had tried to convince Neah to get some wine hurries over. His cheeks are already the colour of beetroot. He could barely look us in the eye. Neah presses her lips into a thin line but I see her shoulders jigging up and down as she tries not to laugh.

As we walk to the car, Neah links her arm with mine, almost pestering me like a small child, asking me where we are going.

"You will see."

I drive for another hour or so down to the coast. It had been a long time since I had been here. I used to take Jenson and Raven all the time when they were little, but as they grew up, the trip became just for me. A place where I could clear my head. A place of peace as I listened to the sea crash along the sand before it dragged itself out again.

It had been almost four years since I had been here.

Nesh is silent as the car comes to a stop. She slowly unclips her seatbelt and leans forward on the dash, smiling at the waves.

"The beach." She whispers

"I haven't been here for a while, but I thought you might appreciate it as much as I do."

I've never been." She starts pulling off the trainers. Excitement flooding through her and a strange pang of happiness hits my heart.

She gets out of the car before I have a chance to say anything and runs down onto the sand.

For a moment, she just stands there. Wiggling her toes in the soft sand as she stares up at the crescent and stars that light up the night sky.

Looking back at me, she smiles and stretches out her hand in my direction. "Coming?"

I take her hand and she pulls me towards the water. Stopping a few feet away. Nervousness radiates from her. It was different, new and not something that was purposely trying to cause her trouble.

She hikes the long black dress up to her knees and lets out a small giggle as she steps forward, letting the cold waves wash over her feet.

Slowly, she turns around to face me, laughing as a wave crashes into the back of her legs, sending her stumbling towards me.

"You've never told me about this place." She looks up and down the deserted beach. "The boys will like it here."

"My father used to bring me here. Before the twins came along. To teach me about the power of the ocean. After he died, I tried to do the same with Jenson and Raven, but they missed the point. Raven had her own ideas for her future and Jenson just wanted what everyone else had. Maybe that was part of their downfall."

I wrap my arms around her, holding her flush to my chest. "Father used to tell me how easy it

is to lose power. To keep it, you had to stay alert and own it. Constantly fight for it."

"He used the sea to teach you a lesson?" She asks as the water licks our feet.

"He did."

"You think that's why Silas is really here. To take your place, just how Blair thought she could take mine?"

"I won't let him. Black Shadow is mine. Always has been and always will be until the boys are ready to take over."

"He called me family." She mumbles into my chest. "I was just going to walk right past him and he asked me if I always ignore family. He didn't want to interrupt us, that's why he didn't make himself known. Maybe I got the wrong impression" She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.

"To me, that doesn't sound like he is coming for what he thinks is his. Not everyone we meet has to be bad. Not everyone can have a secret reason for showing up. I refuse to believe that, because otherwise, what kind of world are we bringing children into?"

Chapter 0520

Chapter 0520

Neah

He tips my head back and leaves a lingering kiss on my lips. "How is it that you can be so hopeful after everything that has happened in your life?"

"Because it's not me I'm thinking about." My hands sit on my small bump, "I know if there is a problem, we can handle it. Because that is what we do. That doesn't mean I want that for any of our pups."

"Which is why you are not keen on exploring the White Cliffs topic." He softly combs his fingers through my curls. "It's not about you, it's about the ones who call you mum. You want to protect them."

He presses his lips against mine once more. The waves that had barely been licking our feet, suddenly crash into me. Dane does everything in his power to hold on to me as we are both knocked over into the water.

He loses his grip on me and the waves drag me out from the beach and away from him. My heart races as panic sets in. I had no idea how to swim.

Just as my face clears the surface to take a breath. Another wave hits me and sucks me down. As I'm pulled beneath the surface, hands find my shoulders. They half drag me, half carry me from the sea and up the beach as I try to spit and cough out all the sea water I had swallowed.

"Are you good?" I look up at Dane. He's leaning over me, his black hair is wet and stuck down to his forehead. Crimson eyes are etched with concern, but it wasn't him. That odd accent rings in my ears as he repeats the words. Turning my head, I see Dane a few metres from us, hunched over and spitting up water

It takes a second for my senses to fall back into place as Nyx mutters 'That's Silas.'

"Silas?" I splutter at the man standing over me.

*I was waiting patiently by the car." He points up the beach as if I didn't know where the car was. "Neither of you were paying attention to the waves. Just because you are capable of healing, it does not mean that the ocean won't take that power for itself. Many Wolves have been lost to treacherous waters."

"Were you listening to us?" I frown as I get up.

"No." He stares at me with as much curiosity as I had about him. "I saw the wave hit you and drag you out. Why didn't you try to swim?"

"I can't." I cough up more water as he raises an eyebrow at me.

*Interesting."

*Leave her alone." Dane mutters as he crawls towards me.

*I am keeping my hands to myself." Silas tells him, holding them up. "Would you rather that I didn't help? I could have left her to drown, though that would have been unnecessary and would have cost me my life."

"I want you to explain why you followed us." Dane snaps

"You think I followed you?" Silas sneers. "I would say it was the other way round. There is a small house just up there, around the curve of the beach. It's where I have been staying." Cóntent from NóvelDrámá!!

"I couldn't scent you." I mutter. I thought it would have been obvious after the restaurant, but it's only now, up close that I could smell him but it was still mixed with the scent of the ocean.

*The beauty of staying near the beach." He tells me. "The mix of the sea breeze, the constant air flow and the scents of mother nature is enough to make it seem like I was never here."

*How long have you been here?" I ask as Dane checks me over

"Here? About a week." Silas tells me.

"Why were you waiting by the car?" Dane demands

"I wanted to know why you followed me. It's not like you have tried to find me previously, is it? And again, you were having a moment. I wasn't going to interrupt. There would be a time when I could say my piece."

"I was told you were stillborn." Dane mutters

"What about after you found out the truth?" Silas stares at him. "And don't say you didn't know. Because this is not the reaction of someone who finds out their twin is alive."

"I had siblings to look after." Dane is frustrated. I see the way he stares at Silas, ready to break his jaw. "And what about you, it sounds like you knew about me?"

"New information. Why do you think I'm here?" Silas's crimson eyes shift to me. Likely because I hadn't stopped staring. It was almost freaky how identical they are. And I still couldn't look away.

He winks at me.

"You came to find Dane?" I ask

"Yes and no."

*Do you want something from me?" Dane demands.

"I'm just curious." Silas tells him. "I'm a little surprised that you are not."

"Where do you usually live? Where is your pack?" I ask. He was definitely here alone.

*Sorry, I thought I had made myself clear when I informed you of Cooper's prisoners. I live in White Cliffs."

"You are an Alpha?" I was so confused. If it was a place where my family was from. Why would a Wolf be running

it?

He snorts. "No. Why on Earth would I want that role?"

The smell of power tells me that he is lying. Nyx murmurs. I trusted her. His scent is thick with power. Nothing like Damien or Erics and possibly, even stronger than Dane's. Was Silas the first born?