Ch. 76..80: The Alpha Contract Chapter 76-80

Chapter 0076

Neah

"That's fucking gross. Are you saying our uncle wants to put a pup in her?" Devon sticks his fingers back his throat and starts gagging.

I agree, I was horrified by the idea, how could he even suggest that, we are related!

"Not necessarily him." Alpha Dane mutters. He stops next to me. "You said Trey and Cassandra have been together for a long time."

I nod. "Since I was little."

"And yet they have no pups of their own. Rather odd, don't you think?"

It wasn't something I had ever thought about. If anything, I just tried to keep my head down and make it through each day with as little beatings as possible.

"Neah carries Alpha blood." Beta Eric murmurs.

"We are a dying breed." Devon adds

"Exactly. It's the only thing that comes remotely close to making sense." Alpha Dane studies me. "I think the plan was to have someone impregnate you. Most likely multiple times. Producing another Alpha." "No." I shake my head. "Trey never....."

"He never let anyone near you like that, I know." He finished my sentence for me and it just made it sound ten times worse.

"You think he wanted to raise them as his own?" Devon mutters

Alpha Dane nods

"What about the excess bindings?" Devon asks

"That is something Klaus is trying to make sense of." Alpha Dane mutters to Devon, "Trey had to have known."

"He bound me because of Kyle." I whisper. "He bound me because I could scent Kyle." My voice catches in my throat.

"That's what I am struggling to understand." Beta Eric murmurs. "He must have thought there was a reason why Neah was somehow breaking out of being bound."

"Maybe he thought the same things we did. That her bindings were failing" Alpha Dane suggests.

Devon groans, "Trey isn't the smartest cookie out there. Cassandra definitely pulls his strings, that's for sure. And from what I've been told, I think this has more to do with her than it does Trey."

"What do you mean?" Beta Eric asks as I try to keep up with how they were working things out.

"I haven't grown up in a pack. But I am aware how packs operate." Devon frowns. "An Alpha normally has a Luna. The Luna seeks the same power as the Alpha. Normally, to ensure their place, the Luna provides the Alpha with an heir. She hasn't done that." He shakes out his mop of dark hair. "Fucking bastards!"

It was the most anger I had heard from Devon, he was usually so laid back, considering he was locked in a dungeon.

"If he changes more people, he will have a bigger pack anyway." Beta Eric mutters

"What good is a pack if they have no heir to carry it on?" Alpha Dane frowns

"If they had killed you, which they almost did, the Alpha line would be dead anyway." Devon's blue eyes are on mine. "I'm so sorry that I didn't get you out of there sooner."

If the situation wasn't so serious, I would laugh. He spoke like the older brother Trey should have been. Maybe it was time to let him out.

"The blood tie." Alpha Dane mutters. His hands grab my waist and he holds me steady. "The blood tie was keeping you alive. You were weak, they knew you were fading away. Cassandra knew that they had fucked up."

Devon's blue eyes are full of sadness. His jaw clenched as he shakes his head. "I should have done more."

"You are right, you should have." Alpha Danes' voice is low. "But you can't change the past, none of us can. We can only put a stop to the shit that's going on."

"This...this is too much." I mumble

"Look at me." Alpha Dane orders

Hesitating, I slowly raise my eyes to meet his. His hand cups my cheek as his gaze deepens, his thumb runs across my bottom lip. "You are not alone."

"If I'm... if they need an heir. Won't they come for me?"

"I would like to see him try." Alpha Dane moulds his lips against mine

"Guys, guys. What you get up to behind closed doors is your prerogative. But I don't want to see it." Devon groans

Alpha Dane winks at me and turns to Devon. "Well, if you are staying in the packhouse, you better lock yourself away."

Chapter 0077

"You're letting him out." Beta Eric asks and I couldn't help but notice the slight pinkish tint to his peachy skin.

"It's your choice." Alpha Dane mutters to me. "And if you do decide too, there will be conditions that he has to meet."

"Anything!" Devon beams at us. "I will literally do anything! I'm desperate for some sunlight."

What if I make the wrong decision? What if I say yes and all this has been complete lies? What if the moment I let him out, he brings Trey straight to us? Choices were not my strong point.

Stepping out into the snow, Alpha Dane grabs my hand, just as Devon mutters something about the sun on his skin being a glorious feeling.

"I am never going in a cell again." Devon's hand catches mine. "Thank you so much. I promise you, I will be the brother you deserve." He straightens up in front of Alpha Dane and clears his throat, trying to force his voice a note lower and making himself sound almost serious.

"Alpha Dane, don't fuck with my sister."

I see the small twitch at the corner of Alpha Dane's lips. He wasn't a man who could be told what to do. He lived and played by his own rules.

"Oh come on." Devon muses, "I had to do the brotherly thing."

"I will let you have that one." Alpha Dane replies, "But I will remind you, that although Neah let you out, I can quite easily put you back in the cell and this time, there will be no benefits."

"Sure sure sure." Devon puffs out his cheeks, turning around "Someone's on a mission."

I follow his gaze to see Veronica charging towards us. I would just like to make it a few hours without dealing with her.

"Dane, I've been looking for you." Her statement was for Alpha Dane, but her eyes were ogling Devon.

"Veronica, now is not the time."

"I've been speaking to some of the others." She continues anyway.

"Of course you have."

"They are worried about her shifting." She points at me, even though it was obvious who she meant.

Devon snorts.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you." She mutters, a small smile on her face as she uses her biceps to squeeze her breast even higher. She somehow trips, bumping into me and Devon helps her back up. "You can call me Devon."

As she stands, I'm certain I see something in her hand, but no one says anything. Maybe I was imagining things.

"Are you a guest?" She twirls her hair like a teenager

"You could say that."

She giggles at his comment. Could she not see that we looked alike? Or was this supposed to be some kind of payback because Alpha Dane had turned her down? Was she trying to make him jealous? Her grey eyes flicker to me and a slight sinister smile crosses her lips before she retunrs her gaze to Devon. "How about you and I get something to eat?" She flutters her eyelashes at him. "I'm sorry, but you can't offer me what I want."

Her mouth hangs open as she frowns. "You don't even know me."

"And yet it is very clear who you are. The disgruntled ex, right? You saw a chance to irritate Neah and it failed."

"You don't know what you are missing!" Veronica snaps, curling her hands up into balls.

"Oh I do, and it is so not worth it."

"BASTARD!"

"Veronica." Alpha Dane steps in, "You said you had been talking to the others."

Her eyes narrow at me. "We want to know when she is going to shift. We want to know if you are putting us in danger!" "Who is we?"

"Uh....."

"You, Veronica, you mean you." Alpha Dane sighs. He pulls me in against him, draping his arm over my shoulders. "Veronica, you may have saved my life, but you are running out of life lines." "I'm only asking a question." She splutters

His voice drops to that commanding tone of his. "You are questioning my decisions."

"No!" She was so angry that she wasn't getting her way. It made me wonder how many things she had been allowed to get away with over the years. Just for a second, I wished that she could experience the life I had. Maybe then she wouldn't be such a bitch.

Chapter 0078Dane

Veronica stomps off, both furious and upset that she hadn't gotten what she wanted. After all these years, I half expected her to be used to it, but still, she remains persistent, looking for a way back in. Though I had to hide my amusement at Neahs thoughts. Once again, the darkness in her makes a subtle appearance. Though only I could hear it.

"She's a piece of work." Devon mutters.

'I agree,' Aero mutters

"Why didn't you just tell her you're gay?" I ask, ignoring Aero's ramblings

"What would be the fun in that?" Devon smiles, still watching Veronica stomping away, over the snowy grounds. "Besides, she was too dumb to follow what I was saying. So what's the deal there?"

"It's a long story. And one that doesn't really concern you." I tell him, I see how his eyes momentarily flicker to Neah, but this time, he keeps his mouth shut. Recognising that he had no authority to question my decisions as an Alpha.

In the house, I ask one of the Omegas to show Devon to his room and insist that he is placed in one of the rooms furthest away from mine.

Neah, Eric and I, head into the office. I needed a plan in place. I needed Trey and Cassandra hunted down and killed. There was no way I was letting either of them find my mate or find someone to impregnate her.

Neah sighs and rubs her eyes. But just like every other time, she sits in silence, regretting her dark thoughts. Questioning herself on how evil she could be.

In my eyes, she wasn't evil. She just wanted revenge, a revenge that was more than deserved. But when it came to it, I wondered if she could actually go through with killing them.

"Take some of the warriors into the city. See if you can find anything." I tell Eric. I wanted time alone with Neah

"Do you want me to take Devon? I mean, he should be able to sense them, right. It might make it a little easier." "Don't let him out of your sight."

""Not a chance."

As he stands up to leave, I tell him to kill them on sight. And I notice Neahs lips are a little curved up. Her smile disappears when she realises I'm looking at her and she lowers her face, embarrassed that she had been caught. "We have wasted enough time." I tell her. "I'm sick of their games or whatever they want to call it. Death can't come quick enough for them."

"I... I always thought that they wanted me dead but I could never understand why they didn't just kill me." She pulls her legs up in front of her. "I begged for death. There were nights where I wished the Moon Goddess wouldn't make me wake in the morning. I even thought about throwing myself down the stairs"

"You kept fighting."

She lets out a heavy sigh. "I didn't want to."

"If you hadn't, our paths would not have crossed. You would not be sitting here, opposite me, claimed. Instead you would likely be knocked up, raped by one of the many men in Moonshine." I wasn't intentionally trying to scare her, instead, I was trying to give her some hope that everything that has happened has led her to me.

"If they do find me...."

I cut her off, my eyes locked on hers. "I will burn everything to the ground to find you. But they would also need to kill me first. Or it would kill you anyway."

'To fucking right. The whole world can burn for all I care!' Aero announces. It was something we could finally agree on

She sits quietly, hugging her legs.

"You know it would be easier if you just spoke to me. As much as I enjoy reading your mind, you do like to make it difficult, with your thoughts not focussing on one thing. I've told you before. You don't have to keep quiet here. If you have something to say, say it." She shakes her head at me.

"Neah?"

She scowls. "W...why would they agree to bind me so many times?"

Chapter 0079

"We said...."

"No, the um.... the witches?"

"Madame Curie said you were powerful. That she had never seen anything like it. She bound you twice and wouldn't do it again. Fucking bitch!" My fist slams against the table, making Neah jump. Neah clutches her legs tighter as she stares at me with wide blue eyes.

"She knew the consequences. She wouldn't bind you a third time. That's what she meant when she said she wouldn't do it." I was furious.

"I thought...." Neah whispers, "I thought she told you the truth."

"She usually does, eventually."

'There are too many trying their luck with us.' Aero murmurs. 'We need to remind them who the top Wolf is!'

Glancing over at Neah, her face rested on her knees and her eyes had closed.

'Is she asleep?' Aero asks

"Neah?" I had just been talking to her.

She doesn't stir as I try waking her.

'She's been sleeping a lot lately.' Aero mutters. 'Have you noticed that?'

'She's probably still adapting to life here. She was exhausted. Her body is just playing catch up.'

'Who are you trying to bullshit? You've been asking her if she feels okay for days now!'

Placing the back of my hand against her forehead, I feel the extreme heat she is giving off. It was new, I hadn't felt it when I had my arm around her.

"Neah?" She still doesn't stir

"Neah?" I try shaking her shoulders to wake her. Her legs fall down as her head rolls back, Her heart is beating just as steady as ever. It didn't make sense why she wasn't waking up 'RAVEN!' I link my sister, demanding that she comes straight away. She arrives in minutes and quickly tends to Neah.

Checking her over, she tells me that she can find nothing wrong.

"Then tell me, why is my mate burning up?"

"I don't know." She frantically rolls up Neah's sleeves, investigating her arms

"What are you looking for?"

"I don't know. A needle site, a bite, she could be having a reaction to something?"

"She can heal."

Neah coughs in her unconscious state, and a tiny bit of bright red appears at the corner of her mouth. Forcing her mouth open, I smell the blood before I see it. Her mouth quickly starts to fill with it and if I hadn't leaned her forward, she would likely have choked on it. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. What has she eaten?" Raven mutters as she continues to search Neah's arms

"I don't know. She hasn't had anything since we have been in the office."

Looking around the room. I look for something she might have touched, or something that didn't belong. Nothing seemed out of place

"I need her in the hospital, Dane. I can't treat whatever this is, here."

Picking Neah up, I carry her on her side so that she doesn't choke on the blood. There were many things we could heal from, but suffocation was not one of them.

By the time we got to the hospital. Neah's heart is racing. It's almost impossible to hear a single heartbeat under the constant hum.

"We need to strip her." Raven mutters. "Something has to have happened."

"Surely he wouldn't be so stupid." I mutter, helping to remove Neah's top.

"Who?"

"Devon. Neah let him out and he held her wrist, moments before he made a threat."

"Woah, that is a lot of information in one sentence." Raven murmurs as she tugs Neah's jeans off.

"Where did he grab her?"

"Her wrist."

Checking her wrists again, there was nothing. No sign of anything that looked even a tiny bit different.

Then I see it. A small raised bump just off of her shoulder and as I look at Neah, I see blood leaking from her ears and I already knew what she had been injected with. This could not be happening. Raven quickly draws some fluid out of the small bump. A clear liquid mixed with a little of her blood. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Blood of Wolfsbane."

Chapter 0080

Dane

"Shit, shit, shit!" Raven panics, frantically searching through the cupboards, pulling out small bottles and tubs, looking for something.

"Neah, breathe." I beg. She was in agony. I could feel it. I could feel her slipping away.

She lets out a harrowing gasp. Spluttering blood all over me, just as more blood starts to drip from her nose.

"I can't find it! Where is it?" Raven cries

"Raven," My voice drops to a whisper. "Raven, there is nothing we can do."

"I have it, where is it?" Raven sobs as she tears through another cupboard

It had been a long time since I had seen Raven cry like this. The fear, the panic, the unknown. She hadn't reacted this badly when Salem rejected her. In fact she hadn't been like this since our parents died. "Raven, stop!"

"No, it's here, there is still time!"

Neah's rapid heartbeat had slowed. It was barely beating and her breaths are growing shallow. She was in agonising pain and blood was now leaking from the inner corners of her eyes.

"HERE!" Raven turns around and jabs a huge syringe straight into Neah's heart

Her heart stops completely.

"What the fuck have you done?" I growl at my sister

"It's an antidote!"

"There's no antidote for this!"

"I paid a Witch in the city to help me make it." Big fat tears are rolling down her cheeks. "After you guys were almost poisoned, I had to find something. It has to work. It has too!"

I stare at my sister. An antidote was just not heard of, not for Blood of Wolfsbane. If there were one, every Wolf pack would have it readily available.

'Listen.' Aero mutters

Her heart slowly starts to beat. Faint, but nonetheless beating. Neah's lungs are beginning to fill properly too as she sucks in oxygen. She coughs a little, bringing up less blood than before. Raven keeps her distance, afraid to come any closer. "She will need to rest." She mumbles, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Why would he do this? He has spent all his time telling us about Lycans, begging me to keep his sister safe. Why would he do this?" I mutter more to myself than Raven. "Where is he now?"

"With Eric, they are on their way to the city to try and track Trey and his bitch."

"I don't know him, but hasn't he been in the dungeons for ages? He wouldn't have had access to any of this. And you said he grabbed her wrist. She wasn't injected in her wrist." Raven moves to another cupboard, pulling out wipes." She steps towards Neah, "May I?" I give her a nod and she starts wiping the blood from Neah's face as it finally stops leaking out. "That was pure Blood of Wolfsbane, not leaves that had been left to marinade. That's fresh from the stem, I'm certain you told me that it only lasts so long this way. Like i has to be used immediately."

She was right, I had.

"It doesn't add up. Who else has she seen recently?" Raven asks

"Eric, Klaus. Shit!"

"What?"

"Veronica, she saw us coming from the dungeons, she fell into Neah."

"No, surely she wouldn't do this. Surely.....Actually, I don't know why I'm even defending her."

"Does anyone else know about the antidote?" I ask

"No, well, just you now." She combs Neah's hair back, trying to wipe the blood out.

"Keep it that way."

Raven scowls at me, her eyes widening. "You are going to tell Veronica she killed her?"

"Well that was her plan, wasn't it? I might as well let her think it worked."

"I assume you are...."

"Of course I am. She isn't spending another night with air in her lungs."

Pressing my hand against Neah's forehead, I could feel that her fever was retreating. I didn't want to leave her, but this had to be done.

"Don't let anyone in and definitely do not speak to anyone." I tell Raven

Walking out the hospital, I link some of the pack as I make my way across the grounds to where Veronica had conveniently bumped into us. There was nothing on the ground, nothing buried in the snow, but she already knew that it would be a mistake to drop something.