Ch. 66..70: The Alpha Contract Chapter 66-70

Chapter 0066

Dane

She scowls at me. "Is that.... Is that even a possibility?"

"Right now, it seems like anything is."

"Because I'm a monster?"

"You need to stop calling yourself that."

She rolls on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Sighing, she rests her hands on her flat stomach.

"They will all react like that." She mumbles, puffing out her cheeks. "You...you are the only one that doesn't seem......"

"I'm not bothered by what you are. All I care about is that you are mine and why are you still insisting on wearing clothes to bed?" I pull her in against me. She lets out a little gasp as my hand goes up under her oversized tshirt and grazes her lower back. Unexpectedly, she pushes me away.

"I can't." she whispers and tugs the tshirt back down over her hips.

She was fighting hard to try and not think of something. Trying to keep her mind clear so I wouldn't know what the problem is.

Pinning her to the bed, I drop my weight on top of her. "What's wrong?"

"You're....crushing my.....lungs."

I ease my weight off of her just a little. But not enough that she can escape from under me.

"Are you still feeling a little tender?"

She closes her eyes.

"And you are embarrassed?" I drive a leg between hers, forcing her thighs apart.

Her head shakes a tiny bit, "Uncomfortable." she whispers

Kissing the mark on her neck, I tell her I will let her be, just for tonight. Only then, does she relax. She drops off to sleep before I do, curled up into my side.

'We need to stop Trey and Cassandra.' Aero mumbles. 'They almost caused a war in the neutral zone.'

'I know.'

'We both know there are others out there that are desperate to knock us down a peg or two.'

'I know.' I mutter again, running my fingers through my mates dark hair. 'You know how angry I've been, Aero. I wish we had been there or that she had never gone. But I can't change what has happened. I can only make sure something like that never happens again.' Looking down at Neah, her eyelashes fluttered on her cheeks as she slept peacefully. Seemingly unaware of the anger that was growing inside of me.

'I need to run.' I mumble to Aero, slipping myself out from Neah's grasp.

'I think we should speak to Devon again.' He tells me

'He didn't know that Neah was going into the city.'

'No, maybe he can give us a better understanding of what they might be planning now. Or maybe he will at least be able to predict their plan.'

Pulling on a pair of shorts, I make my way through the house and out into the falling snow. The cold beneath my bare feet offered some relief from the constant warmth of my body. Walking through the snow to the dungeon, I see a guard, leaning against the door, bored out of his mind. "Any problems?" I ask

"No, keeps himself to himself." The guard mumbles, stepping aside to let me through the door.

The guard closes the door behind me as soon as I turn on the lights.

"Really, it's the middle of the night?" Devon mutters. He apologises when he sees me. "I'm not the greatest when I haven't had sleep. What can I do for you Alpha Dane?" He stretches out his limbs and yawns. "Neah." I mutter

"You are going to need to give me a little bit more information than that." He rubs his eyes.

"You keep talking about Neah, being this Alpha."

"She is."

"Right. What is she capable of?"

"No one knows for certain. I've tried researching, but the most I came across is how someone in her position will be of great power. They just need to know how to tap into it." "Are you talking magic? Like a Witch."

"Honestly Alpha Dane. I don't know. I just know that she will be able to get us back to our rightful status in the world."

"And that's why they fear her?"

Chapter 0067"At the moment, I don't think it's so much as they fear her. They fear what she might be able to do."

"Particularly Trey and Cassandra?"

"They are the only leaders left, what do you think!"

"What would Trey want to remind Neah of?"

"What do you mean?" He rises to his feet and stands face to face with me. Only the bars keep us apart.

"What does Neah need reminding of?"

He cocks an eyebrow. "I don't know what you are asking, Alpha Dane. Is she in some kind of trouble again? You have to let me out of here. You have to let me help her." "She is my mate."

"I am aware, but she is surrounded by Wolves. She needs someone who is her own kind. Someone who gets what its like to be us."

"We have been over this, it's her call."

"She doesn't know you are here, does she, Alpha Dane? All these late night visits and she is blissfully unaware as you lot try to figure out her past."

"Late night visits? I've been down here a couple of times since you have been here."

"Your bestie comes down here a lot. I believe he is having relationship issues."

"Why is Eric talking to you about his mate?"

"Sometimes a third opinion is better." He shrugs his shoulders

"Do you speak about Neah?"

"Nope."

"What do you talk about?"

"Like I said, his problems and in return for me listening, he brings me things." He gestures to his cell that now had a stash of fizzy drinks along with the bed, clothes and reading material. I would need to speak to Eric about this, not once had he mentioned it. Devon's fingers curl around the bars. "I swear to you, Alpha Dane, I am not here to hurt her. You know you can make the decision to let me out. You don't have to wait for my sister to decide."

'I still don't trust him.' Aero mutters

"Why would Trey and Cassandra go into the city?" I ask, ignoring Aero as well as Devon's pleas to be let out.

"I'm not following."

"They've kept themselves to themselves. Hidden away from other packs. None of us knew of your kinds existence and now, they are going to neutral territories. Why would they do that?"

"I'm guessing for the same reason everyone else goes there. Looking for something or....someone. Neah had a run in with them, didn't she?"

"Eric got her out."

Devon grins at me, "The hero. I knew he was a good man."

"He's not interested in men." I tell him again.

"Everyone can be swayed, Alpha Dane They just have to have that....uncertainty." He winks at me. "Anyway, for Trey and the whore to go into the city, there must be a big reason. A plan of some kind." "Could they find her?"

"Not Cassandra, but possibly Trey."

"Because of the blood connection?"

He nods his head at me. "But they would have already had to have been nearby to know she was there. The same as me finding Moonshine. I told you I could sense it, but it grew stronger the closer I got. It's how I knew I was going in the right direction." He places his hands on his hips and struts around the cell, muttering to himself. He comes to a stop and his blue eyes flash up to me. "Who knew she was going?"

"My sister, her tutor, and a couple of other females. And obviously me and Eric."

"All Wolves, right. You haven't got any other Lycans hiding here?"

"Apart from Neah. Is it possible she could have told him, by accident, like open up a link between them?"

"Unlikely. The only other option is that they were already there for something else and Neah walked right into it. They won't come here, purely because you have the numbers."

I stare at him, remembering how he had explained to us how Lycans had come to exist. He said it was a story and no one actually knows, but what if it was the truth? "Devon, can they create more?"

Chapter 0068

Dane

'What are we going to do?' Aero demands

'I need to speak to my Beta.'

'This is bad. We need to gain control over this, right now.'

My hand hammers against Eric's door.

"Woah, woah, woah!" He snaps, pulling open the door, before he even has a chance to see me. "Are you trying to wake my kids?" He freezes when he realises its me. "What's wrong?" "Devon!"

"Shit, he told you. Look I just needed someone to vent too. And I know you've had...."

"That's not the issue. Whatever weird thing you have going on with him, is up to you, I'm not worried about that. They can create more."

He rubs the sleep from his eyes. "What?"

"They can create more Lycans."

"Well, it would make sense, the same as us creating more Wolves."

"Eric." He was missing what I was saying

"Shit." He mutters, finally understanding. "Are you serious? I mean, the information has come from Devon."

"He said it was like an unspoken rule that they were not allowed to do it. Trey would have likely kept it in place purely to keep the pack a secret. If the pack were any bigger, they would have been more noticeable."

I go over everything Devon had told me, including them not being able to track Neah unless they were close by.

"Do you think they were looking for recruits?" He asks

"The city doesn't just have Wolves. A lot of humans work there, unsuspecting of our kind. So yes, it's a possibility." "We should have researched them more."

"We weren't to know. They smelt like Wolves, they acted like Wolves. It' was as simple as that. However, the contract they wanted was never about needing support or Neah. I believe they are looking for a way to tear me down. And it all started with the very thing I've created."

"They wouldn't be the first, Dane. There have been plenty over the years including your own brides that have tried to get out of your contracts or ones that were just doing it to gain information. Now if Treya and the rest were to turn a load of people, we both know that we still have the numbers. And they are the most skilled fighters. Your brother made sure of that."

He frowns at me, "How is Neah reacting to the information?"

"She's unaware. She was fast asleep when I left."

There's a noise from upstairs and we both wait patiently to see if one of his boys appears. A few minutes passed and there was silence, but we still decided to take the conversation outside.

"Is she alright?" Eric asks. "She was oddly quiet on the way back from the city. Not in the same way as when we brought her back here the first night."

"I think it's just some kind of shock. She seems to like Klaus and I think seeing someone she likes so close to death has made her feel a bit out of sorts." I couldn't even say she was panicked because that was not the feeling I was getting from her. "Thanks for getting her out of there." He cocks an eyebrow at me. "You never need to thank me. I am your Beta and I will go out of my way to protect your mate. It's my duty."

"You've never been interested in protecting the other brides."

He shrugs his shoulders with a smirk, "You never claimed them."

We sat for hours in his garden, trying to come up with a plan. Eventually the sun comes up and his boys appear within minutes, demanding food for their 'starving stomachs'.

Eric looks at me. "She needs to be on board for our next move. It won't work without her."

'She needs a hell of a lot of confidence.' Aero mutters

'Then let's help her find it.'

'So much for our run.' Aero grumbles.

'It's the pack run tomorrow night, we will have to wait until then."

Neah is already up by the time I get back to the packhouse. Sat in the kitchen, munching on a piece of toast. She has braided her hair back from her face today and I could see she had removed the ear plugs. "How are the ears?" I keep my voice quiet

"Trying.... trying to get used to it." She mumbles, screwing her face up at me. "You got up early."

"I never slept."

"Oh."

"Aero wanted more answers from Devon and then I went to see Eric."

She takes another bite of her toast but doesn't say anything. She did that a lot. Keeping her questions to herself.

Chapter 0069

"I found out something about Lycans last night."

She still doesn't say anything and just stares at me as she eats.

"It is to be believed that Lycans can create more Lycans. By biting humans."

She drops her toast, her blue eyes are wide, her mouth hangs open. "Is...is that true?"

"I don't know for certain, but it seems like a high possibility. It was how they were created in the first place."

"Why would....why would Trey want more?"

"Numbers. At the moment, he doesn't have them. But if he does create them," I pause, staring at her, because I already knew what her reaction was going to be. "They need their true Alpha and not some wannabe."

"I'm not...."

"But you are, Neah. It's in your blood whether you like it or not. If Trey is trying to create a new wave of them, there will most likely be those that hate what he has done to them. They will hate what they have been turned into, they will hate being a Lycan." "Like me." she mumbles, dropping her blue eyes to look at the discarded piece of toast.

"Exactly. Do you know how powerful they would be if they had a leader who felt the same way?"

"I'm not.... Alpha Dane, look at me. I'm...I'm the furthest thing from...a....a...leader."

"It's in your blood."

"Stop...stop saying that. My father had me bound, he... he didn't want me to become a leader. He raised Trey as my older brother."

"Our father's don't always know what they want."

I sigh, leaning back in the chair as she watches me.

"I am a bastard. The child of an Alpha and an Omega. My father was growing restless and desperate for an heir. Convinced an Omega to carry me."

"I thought....."

"Raven and Jenson had a different mother. She took me on as her own. Raised me in exactly the same way as my siblings. Our father's don't always know what they want but sometimes, if it wasn't for their poor decisions, we wouldn't be here." Her blue eyes rise to meet mine.

"Your father was the reason your life went downhill, long before Trey. Instead of embracing you, he sent you into a downward spiral. That continued when Cassandra came into your life. Yet you survived, Neah. For twenty two years, you survived everything that was thrown at you."

Her heart was racing.

'You've blown it.' Aero mutters. 'You were too over the top and you have freaked her out.'

She screws her eyes closed and shakes her head. "I'm not.....I'm sorry...I have to go."

I don't try to stop her as she flees the room. Aero was right, I had fucked up any chance of making her feel powerful.

'Told you.' Aero mumbles, retreating to the back of my mind.

Neah keeps her distance for most of the day. But every time I catch a glimpse of her, she is muttering to herself.

Late in the afternoon, I hear her scream and race through the house to find her in the kitchen. Broken glass surrounded her. A deep cut in her hand that was dripping blood all over the floor.

Pulling her away, I remove the piece of glass out of her deep wound and watch as it quickly heals. The wound disappears in seconds, not even leaving a faint pink mark. It was like it had never been there. Another sign that shows she is an Alpha.

Her blue eyes flash up to mine. "Sorry." she whispers

"It's fine," I murmur, turning her hand over in mine. "Before you were bound when you were eighteen, were you always able to heal this quickly?"

She nods her head at me. "They hit me," She frowns, "Over and over because the bruises would last a few seconds before fading. Why?"

I sigh, "I know I keep saying it, Neah. But healing this quickly, it's normally because of Alpha blood."

She tugs her hand from mine and shakes her head.

Picking up a piece of glass, I slice it across my own hand for her to see. The wound is gone in seconds. "If it happened to Eric, it would take longer. Klaus's wound took hours to heal. This," I grab her hand again, holding it up to her face. "This is who you are."

Chapter 0070

Focussing on my hand, I run my thumb over the palm. There wasn't even a tiny mark. It had been so long since I had healed this quickly.

Over the years, Trey and the pack had great fun in trying to make the bruises last longer than a few seconds. Hitting me harder and harder, sometimes, breaking my bones, only to hit me again once they had healed. After I was bound the final time, the beatings continued, just not to the same extent. They got their satisfaction by seeing me permanently wounded.

"It's the Alpha in you." Alpha Dane mutters. "The only reason it took so long before is because of the binding."

Curling my hand into a ball, I dig my own nails into my skin, watching tiny beads of blood appear. The moment I release, the small wounds are gone and I'm just left with a few droplets of red, staining my hand. "This is what Trey wanted, Neah. To beat you down, to take away your power, to make you little more than nothing. And you," he tips my chin up with a single finger. "You are not nothing. I need you to see that." His hands move to my hips as he continues to stare at me. "And we are telling the pack today."

"No." I shake my head at him. I just wasn't ready. I didn't even want to see what I looked like as a monster.

"Neah, it's time. I've held off for as long as possible. They need to know."

"I...I don't have a choice, do I?" I whisper, lowering my eyes.

"Not this time, no."

Maybe it was better that they knew. If they decide they don't want me here, it would be better to find out now. "They will want you here."

I look back at Alpha Dane to see his crimson eyes watching me. He didn't seem in the least bit worried.

Closing my eyes, I nod my head, Still not quite believing that I was agreeing to it.

"Good, the meeting is set to start in thirty minutes."

"Thirty.... Minutes?" I thought I would have more time to talk myself into it

"I will be right by your side and Eric will be on the other side of you. But there is also something else you need to do."

"I can't.... I haven't even done it."

"I'm not asking you to shift. I am asking you to make a decision about Devon."

"Oh. Do....do you think he is a risk?"

"Aero still doesn't trust him."

"What about you?" I ask quietly

"I'm still on the fence. But at the end of the day, he is your family."

I involuntarily snort. "Technically so is Trey."

"You have a point. Speak to Eric, he has been having a lot more conversations with him than I have."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a long story." He mutters. He picks up the ear plugs off the table and hands them to me. "You are probably going to need these."

Quietly pushing them back in my ears, I scan the room looking for a dustpan and brush to sweep up the broken glass.

"There will be someone along to clean it up." Alpha Dane tells me as he tries to guide me from the room. "It's time to go."

Walking over the snowy ground, we pass the training hall, travelling further south than I had ever been. We duck into the trees, following a well trodden trail, moving deeper into the forest. Alpha Dane keeps his fingers locked around mine at all times as my nerves build. The growing knot in my stomach wasn't helping and we had to stop multiple times so that I could vomit.

We were surrounded by some that had shifted while others were still in human form. There were so many of them, more than I had ever seen. It made it even scarier, if they attaked, I didn't stand a chance.