0041
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 couldn't have known. 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.
"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."