Chapter 322 – The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West

Filed to story: The Alphas Contract Novel by Taylor West

‘We can’t abandon them.”

I didn’t say I was going to, did I?’ I snap back as I check on Evrin and Logan. Both are heavily asleep, knees tucked under their bodies, bums stuck up in the air without a care in the world. The girls had shifted before Logan; how was that even possible?

I drop into the rocking chair and sigh. The girls were already hunting their prey; as they grow older, it will only get worse.

‘Unless we nip it in the bud,’ Nyx mutters.

If you are telling me to consider…”

‘Fuck, no. The girls are ours; there is no way I want them bound. It was hard enough with us.

‘Good, because that is not an option!’ I snap.

‘Good!’ Nyx declares, ‘I’m glad we are on the same page.’

‘But it doesn’t give me an answer on how to deal with it, I sigh.

‘Actually… I think we already have our answer.

“What are you talking about? Are you suggesting I let them stalk someone?’

‘No. Aderyn and Willa responded to Dane’s order.’

‘The boys are the same,’ I mumble.

‘This was different, they practically went limp.’

I mull over her words when someone gently knocks on the door, “It’s me,” Damien mutters.

Quietly, I creep across the room, trying not to wake the boys. Usually, the slightest sound stirs them, especially Evrin, but thankfully, neither of them moves.

I pause at the door and puff out my cheeks. Quietly sliding the lock back, I open the door a little to see Damien leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. Stepping out, I pull the door closed, “No Dane?”

“He thought it would be best if he kept an eye on the girls. He glances down at my ripped jeans. I had been so busy talking to Nyx that I had forgotten that one leg was in tatters. The blue denim was stained with my blood, yet there was no evidence that I had been injured. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure,” I stare at his dark eyes. “Dane called you?”

“I was on my way over anyway.” He smiles at me. “I remember the first time I saw a Lycan. One of Cassandra’s minions, to be precise. I was freaked out for weeks. Learning and knowing that there were other creatures in the world other than asshole Humans was a big shock to the system. I’m pretty sure you felt the same when you saw your first Lycan.”

“It scared the crap out of me,” I mumble, remembering how I had tried stacking chairs in front of the office door. “But you already expected to be a Wolf. You already knew that there were more than Humans in the world.”

“I guess. It took you weeks?”

He gestures to himself, “I may look calm and collected, but that has come with age. Even when I was Human, I was very much ‘my way or no way. The idea that there was something more powerful than the bastards I dealt with daily wouldn’t sink in. It was a lot, and then I saw my first Lycan. A monster of a man.” He smirks, “I honestly thought I was dreaming and that someone had spiked my drink.”

“Why are you telling me this? You never talk about your time as a Human.”

“Dane said you were internally panicking. I just thought that maybe another perspective might help.”

I nod and fold my arms across my chest. “It’s not that I’m panicking. I can’t make sense of it. First, there is Evrin, and Logan hasn’t even come close to shifting. They are Lycans. Are you still certain that Logan is?”

“Yes, his time will come. He is just more laid back than Evrin,” he smirks at me. “One was always bound to be lazier than the other.”

“Even if that is true, the girls are tiny, and they… why are they already capable of doing that? Tallen had been helping out with the boys for over a year until the house needed rebuilding. They have never hurt her. Why would the girls do this?” I hear the wobble in my voice as I try to make sense of what Dane and I created. Were they going to be worse than Lycans?

“I can’t answer that. I can make suggestions, but I am not sure if you are ready for that.”

‘I’m all ears,’ Nyx mumbles.

I close my eyes and nod, wondering how bad it could be.

“Don’t you think it’s curious?”

I open my eyes in confusion, “What?”

“The girls shifted, and even when they were trying to climb up your legs, they barely reached your knee.”

I looked at my ripped jeans; he was right; Willa’s claws hadn’t reached as high as my knee.

“Curious, don’t you think, when the blood was pouring from Tallen’s arm?”

Is he trying to tell us that Tallen did this?” Nyx growls.

“Maybe she was sat down or was on the bed..” I didn’t want to believe she would try and hurt my children, but then, at the same time, I wanted to believe that Aderyn and Willa wouldn’t attack without a reason.

“Dane’s first thought, too. The only place we found blood was on the girl’s faces.”

Nyx growls as my heart pounds against my chest, “You think…. you think she was going to hurt them?*

“I’ve seen Lycans triggered into shifting. Not as pups, but I’ve seen it happen and always as a result of something they highly dislike.”

“Dane let her walk right out of here!”

“Do you believe Dane would let her go without someone watching or asking her questions?”

“Eric?”

Damien dips his chin as little spikes of pain spark across my fingertips. I was so angry with myself. The twins didn’t go to Dane; they came to me. Dane had positioned himself in front of Tallen; maybe they thought he was on Tallen’s side.

The girls had been desperately pawing at me, and I had just stood there. I didn’t even try. I had let my pups feel abandoned when they came to me for help.

“No!” Damien grabs my shoulders, “Don’t you dare start blaming yourself. You walked in on an unknown situation. There was blood and two mini-hybrids with an Omega screaming out in pain. Everyone, including Dane and myself, would have jumped to the same conclusion.”

“I’m their mother!” The guilt is eating me alive; my stomach twists and turns as I look towards our bedroom.

“I’m not biologically Dottie’s Dad, but knowing how Brax is with her, I would say even he misses things. Like you said, you have a son who can already shift. You are constantly waiting for it to happen to the other. There is a threat to the pack; there are new guests. You have just had pups, and things have slipped through. It’s just how life is. We can’t be perfect. We are never designed to be perfect. Life would be boring if we were.” He winks at me. I nod as Dane calls for Damien, and Damien gestures to me to lead the way.

I take the few steps to our room and push open the door. Dane sits in the large chair, cradling the girls against his bare chest. His crimson eyes lock with mine. “I have had news.”

“From Eric?”

He dips his chin as his hands make small circles on the girls’ backs.

“Tallen was going to take one.”

‘What!’ Nyx roars.

I stared at him; the thought of losing one of my children made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

“Please tell me that this has nothing to do with Thalia?”

Dane

“She is babbling a lot of shit,” I tell her. “Eric only managed to get a little information; the rest makes little to no sense.”

“What does that mean?” Neah frowns.

“It means she isn’t giving us what we need. Eric says he has never seen Tallen like this before. Confused, disorientated. She can’t even tell him what happened here.”

‘Bullshit!’ Aero growls.

We won’t know more until we can talk to her, but we can’t leave the girls unattended.

“Is this definitely Thalia?” Neah asks me again.

“Possibly.”

“But how? Tallen is here, in the pack. Thalia is far away. How can that be possible?”

‘We don’t know that Thalia is far away,’ Aero mumbles. ‘And Serkan is still somewhere.’

“Tallen loves the boys,” Neah scowls, folding her arms tightly across her chest and almost hugging herself. “She’s been a part of Evrin and Logan’s lives when we had things going on. She worked in the old pack house and this one. She helps Mallory and Eric out with Luca. Tallen helps at the school with the children.”

I could hear the disbelief in her words.

Neah runs her thumbs across the tips of her fingers, a sign that the claws are ready and waiting to come out. She’s never hurt the boys, ever. But the girl’s…” Her eyes settle on the sleeping twins on my chest. “They were afraid, and I…”

“Damien,” I mutter, getting to my feet. “Do you think you can handle the girls and keep an eye on the boys while they sleep?” As much as the girls needed me, my mate did too.

“Do you mind if I ask Samara to come and help?” Damien asks.

I dip my chin and pass the sleeping girls to him. It looks odd watching him cradle tiny beings, even though I have seen him cradle the boys when they were young, though it will be good practice for his own.

Damien sits by the window as I grab Neah’s elbow and tug her from the room. She hadn’t touched the girls since we found them trying to attack Tallen, but it wasn’t because she feared them.

The instinct to protect them was present; I could feel it, but I also remember how Neah felt when she first discovered she was a Lycan.

‘She thinks she has created monsters,’ Aero sighs.

“Are they okay?” Neah quietly asks as I pull the door behind us closed.

“They are, but you’re not. You are worrying that this has something to do with Thalia, so you don’t have to deal with what you are feeling. I get it. I’ve watched you deal with new information constantly, but this is different.”

Neah leans into my chest, her arms sliding around my waist as she sighs. “They are not Wolves, and they are not Lycans.”

“That is not what is bothering you, I saw what you saw, but we always expected the girls to be different,” I remind her. “And if they weren’t, this scenario could be very different now. We could be looking for a missing pup or a dead one. Instead, both girls are healthy and fast asleep.”

Her head nods, but she isn’t convinced as she glances at the closed door. “They are younger than Evrin when he first shifted.”

‘Is she rejecting our pups?’ Aero asks

‘No, she feels she hasn’t done enough to protect them. She feels like she has failed as a mother.” Her feelings of sadness and failure run through me like a cold blade.

I had felt a lot of things in the years Neah and I have been connected, but this was different. My words wouldn’t be enough, but maybe killing someone for revenge would be.

“Damien will watch the children. Will you come with me to speak to Tallen?”

“Yes.” It was more of an obligatory answer than a desire to want to come.

Neah lets me hold her hands as we walk across the grounds. She screws her face up, “Are we not going to the hospital?”

“No.”

We walk past a few of the wooden houses that sit out by the edge of the forest, and I see her look of confusion as we step into the trees.

“She never went to get her arm looked at. Eric followed her out here and chained her to a tree.”

Neah doesn’t respond. Her hand remains tightly locked with mine as we make our way through the trees.

She suddenly stops and tugs me back. “You said there are traps!”

“There are, but we are not close yet.”

“If this were always her planned escape route, she would have killed herself and whoever she took,” Neah murmurs

I didn’t answer her because that thought had already crossed my mind.

It’s not long before singing fills our ears-bad singing, like a cat being swung around in a sack. Neah drops my hand to cover her ears, wincing at the sound as we head toward the noise.

“Will you be quiet!” Eric yells at Tallen, but it just makes Tallen burst into a chorus of another song.

“Tallen!” Eric roars at her. The forest is quiet for a moment before Tallen starts singing the nursery rhyme “The Wheels on the Bus.’ What was wrong with her? She hated nursery rhymes.

“Tallen, what the fuck!” Eric yells. “Stop it. Stop, you are hurting yourself!”

I drop Neah’s hand and run to Eric. A chain is looped around Tallen’s waist, tying her to the trunk of a tree, but her hands are free, and she is digging her nails into her face, splitting the flesh apart and laughing like a maniac at the blood.

“Tallen, stop!” I ordered, but she continued as though the order didn’t affect her.

“I failed. I failed. I failed.” She grins at me as she shreds her cheeks. “I failed. I failed. I failed. Now I die. Now I die. Now I die.”

“Why were you going to take my pup?” I demand.

Tallen smiles and leans forward on the chain, giggling as she foams at the mouth, “A secret surprise.”

She suddenly pops her head up, and all the laughter and songs are long gone. Instead of bright, caring eyes, I see lilac ones full of hatred, just like Klaus described when he told me about Thalia.

“Thalia?” I growl through gritted teeth, praying that Neah would stay back.

Her lilac eyes lock with mine. “This is very much Tallen’s body, but it was so easy to get into her mind, Alpha Dane.”

“Tallen is a Wolf!” I growl. “Not a fucking Witch!”

“Yes, she is a Wolf, isn’t she? But she is a weak one. Though it would seem our bloodlines are connected.” She smiles at me, “Poor little thing. I bet the last thing she expected was me to slip into her mind and become my little puppet.”

“I will kill you.”

“You would be killing Tallen, Alpha Dane, not me, for I am far away, where you cannot reach me. Tell me, how is Silas? I do miss him.”

“He knows the truth.”

“And yet he is uncertain.” She smiles smugly as white foam appears at the comers of her mouth.

“You are fucked up!”

“Now, now, Alpha Dane, that isn’t very nice.”

“You Witches are all the fucking same,” I growl.

‘Madame Curie was alright,’ Aero mutters.

“Are we, Alpha Dane? Or are we just fed up of living the same shit lives over and over where Lycans and Wolves get to have control?”

“You are doing this to get control? Really? You think people will want to follow this?” I gesture to her as Eric snorts.

“They just need to understand.” She glares at me.

“And you are going to force them into understanding? I know what you have done in White Cliffs, Witch.”

“Quite clever, don’t you think? Your little crew almost ruined my plans, but alas, their bodies were lost to the ocean. Three Hunters in one strategically planned move, rather brilliant, don’t you think?” The white foam dribbles down her chin as she speaks.

She didn’t know that they were alive.

I hear the quiet steps of my mate as she steps forward.

“Ah, little princess, it has been a long time since I have seen you,” Thalia muses as her eyes find my mate.

I half expected Neah to attack her, to drive her claws into the Witch’s cold, evil heart, but Neah stayed silent, her eyes flickering between blue and black as she assessed the situation.

‘Kill her? Eric links me.

‘Not yet; she clearly has something to say,’ I reply.

“Why?” Neah asks as she glares at Thalia.

“You will have to be more specific, little princess.”

Neah’s hands open and close. She is struggling to keep Nyx contained

“Why would you try and take a baby? My baby!”

“The blood of an Alpha is strong.”

“I am the last female Alpha!” Neah’s eyes narrow.

“The last female Lycan Alpha, but those girls are not Lycan’s.”

—–The END

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