0043
Neah
Beta Eric winks at me. "He knows what he's doing."
I knew what he was doing too, it was a backhanded threat. I had heard so many of them over the years.
"Everyone meet back here tomorrow at sun down for the pack run!" Alpha Dane
announces
There are nods and a few mutterings. They all begin to move away, disappearing among the trees. "We need to go and find Klaus." Beta Eric mutters, already walking ahead of us.
"Don't do that." I mutter when it's just me and Alpha Dane.
"Don't do what?"
"Don't choose me over them. You...you have worked hard for this pack. Don't throw it away on me."
"You are right, I have worked hard to make this pack what it is, and you Neah, are part of this pack."
He drapes his arm over my shoulders. "Now let's go see what Klaus was talking about."
Alpha Dane keeps me glued to his side as we walk back through the forest and into the main packland where Veronica is waiting with her arms folded over her chest.
"Well, well, well, what a fucking surprise!" She mutters
"Watch your mouth, Veronica!" Alpha Dane snarls.
"She's not even one of us!" She speaks directly to Alpha Dane, completely ignoring me standing right here. Her hands move to her hips. "I don't get it."
"Then you better catch on quick!" He snaps at her and turns me away, quickly walking me in the direction of Klaus's home.
The door to Klaus's is wide open. Beta Eric is leaning against a wall just inside while Klaus seems to be frantically looking through the books, randomly tossing one's onto the table. "Any news?" Alpha Dane asks
"Not yet." Beta Eric murmurs with a cocked eyebrow. He seemed to be finding the whole thing amusing.
Klaus suddenly starts flipping through the pages of books. Fanning them out on the table.
"There's no mention of Lycans." He murmurs, gesturing to the books, but there are references to a beast like you described, half human, half wolf." "Why do you even have this?" Beta Eric asks
"I was bound, remember. I was trying to figure out how to unbind it. But the only information that I could ever find on binding is on these creatures." "Why didn't you say anything?" Alpha Dane asks
"Because I am a Wolf, it was never relevant and I didn't think..." his deep green eyes focus on me. "I didn't think Neah would be anything other than a Wolf." He taps the pages of the book, "This is centuries old information, all of them are. You couldn't find anything, Alpha Dane because they were never referred to as Lycans. Instead they were known as Wolf-human."
"Wolf-human?" I mutter
"They....you don't transition into a full Wolf. You become something in between." He sighs, "And there is very little information on them. A secret almost."
"What do we know?" Beta Eric questions.
"Besides the basics." He glances at me. "Devon likes to talk."
I see Alpha Dane frown, but as usual, he keeps his thoughts to himself.
"You have been bound many times." Klaus continues. "Right?"
"At least four, that we can piece together. But what does that have to do with anything?" Alpha Dane asks
Klaus picks up one of the books and hands it Alpha Dane, already with its pages open.
"This here, this states that the only Wolf-human to have been bound more than once, was bound three times. "Okay."
"The third time killed them." He looks at me, heavy sorrow in his eyes. "In theory, you should be dead."
"Dead?" I mutter
"From what I understand, that side of you shouldn't be able to handle the bindings." Klaus mutters, rubbing his chin. He looks at Alpha Dane. "We know bindings is one of the worst things that can be done to a Wolf, trapping their other half. It's the worst punishment out there and I should know. I'm living proof. But according to these tales, she shouldn't be able to survive it."
"Well clearly she is here." Beta Eric snaps.
"And she is healthier now than the day we brought her home."
"Maybe she wasn't bound properly?" Klaus suggests with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You think it's possible that the Witches who bound her, didn't do it right, four times?" Beta Eric questions
"It's a possibility."
Alpha Dane frowns but not once does he look at me.
Maybe he didn't want to observe the panic that was written on my face. I wanted him to say something. To acknowledge what Klaus is saying. Or maybe now, he was finally realising that I wasn't good enough to be his mate.
"Or marking her saved her." Beta Eric mumbles.
"Maybe." Klaus mutters.
I look up at Alpha Dane who was reading the book Klaus had given him. His fingers follow the words as his eyes race back and forth. Soaking in everything that was written on that page
"Alpha Dane?" I whisper. He doesn't respond and suddenly slams the book closed.
"This isn't helpful now." He shoves it back at Klaus, "She can't be the only one. And why didn't you tell me you found this information on Lycan's or whatever they are called?"
"These are old books, Dane. I thought they were likely just stories, myths even. I didn't think that I would meet a living one. I've been here for twelve years and something like this has never even crossed our paths. How was I to know it would become relevant?"
"You weren't." Beta Eric steps in before Alpha Dane speaks
"Am I....Am I going to die?"
All three of them look at me.
Yet no one answers me.
Tears prick at my eyes and I quickly blink them back.
Years, I had spent thinking that death would be a better option over my shitty life as a slave, that was before Alpha Dane came along.
"Preferably not." Alpha Dane gives me a tight lipped smile, one that didn't meet his eyes. Was he already expecting the worst?
"I need... I need some air." I mutter, turning away from the men and making my way outside. None of them stop me, like all three of them were suddenly waiting for my impending death.
Leaning against the wall, I concentrate on my racing heart, encouraging it to slow, just for a moment.
Hurrying across the grounds, people ignore me and I was grateful. No one wanted to talk to me, not until I reached the back door of the house.
"Finally, just you and me."
My eyes lock with strange grey ones.
"I assume you know who I am?" She spits
"Ver....Veronica."
"V...V...Veronica." She laughs at my stutter.
"Do you always do that? You sound like a child?"
I keep my mouth shut. I couldn't help the stutter, it happened when I was nervous. It didn't help that she reminded me of Cassandra.
"How the hell are you his mate?" She places her hands on her hips and I decide it's better not to talk.
"Cat got your tongue?" She mocks. "So tell me, what is a Lycan? The others are saying you become part Wolf, is that true?"
"I don't....don't know."
"You don't know! What, have you never shifted?"
When I don't answer, she laughs. "You won't last long here. Dane will see what a mistake you are and he will kill you, just like he did with the others. Only I get to survive. Only I deserve to be by his side."
"You don't even know me."
She snorts. "And why would I want to? Look at you."
"VERONICA!" Raven comes running towards us. "You best not be fucking around with my brothers mate!"
"Raven," she sneers, "I'm just introducing myself."
"Weren't you told to stay away?" Raven snarls
"Like I said, I just wanted to meet our Alpha's new mate."
"You mean you want to size her up. Dane doesn't want you, why don't you get it through that thick head of yours."
Veronica clenches her teeth and glares at Raven. "You don't scare me. You tried that once, and look how that turned out. Maybe Dane needs a reminder of how meddling his baby sister is." "Ladies?" Beta Eric strides towards us. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No." Raven snaps. "Veronica is just leaving!"
"For now." Veronica smiles at Beta Eric. As she turns to walk away, she tells Beta Eric that she is sorry to hear about him and his mate.
"Just go." He waves her off as I look around for Alpha Dane. I knew he could feel my panic and yet he hadn't shown up. Had he sent Beta Eric to check on me?
"Veronica started it." Raven mutters as she glares at Beat Eric.
"I don't doubt it." He shrugs his shoulders as I scan the grounds to see if Alpha Dane was on his way. "Dane is with Klaus, researching."
"Okay." I whisper quietly
"Shall we go inside?"
I don't get a chance to answer as Raven grabs my arm and tugs me in through the back door, muttering how Veronica was a piece of work and that Alpha Dane should have killed her years ago. "Are you okay?" Beta Eric asks as he fills a glass of water and places in front of me
"That stupid cow needs to learn to stay away!" Raven grumbles as she falls into one of the chairs.
"I agree, but maybe you could rise above it, Raven. Dane has made her position in the pack quite clear. And you know as well I do she won't be the last to fawn over Dane. Learn to ignore it." He mutters at Raven.
"You are better than this."
"She was taking the piss out of Neah."
"Have you not noticed she does that when she is jealous. She has to or otherwise she would realise how desperate she sounds. As much as I despise the woman, she is digging herself a hole. Let her carry on."
"What do you mean?" Raven asks
Beta Eric's eyes focus on me. "He has made his decision quite clear."
It was supposed to be easier here, simpler,
so Alpha Dane had told me. But everywhere I turned lately, there was a new problem.
"Why don't you go," I hear Beta Eric tell Raven. "I can sit with Neah for a bit, keep her company."
"Are you sure?"
"The boys are with their grandparents for the night. I have nowhere to be."
"I can stay if you need me too." Raven whispers to me.
"I'm okay." I whisper back, giving her a small smile
"If you need me, I will be at the hospital."
She heads out as Beta Eric takes her seat.
"You are a terrible liar."
"I know." I mumble quietly
"Why didn't you tell her you weren't okay?"
"Too....too many people are in this mess."
"If Dane had an issue with you being a Lycan, you wouldn't be sitting here, talking to me."
"Am I dying?"
"Hopefully not." He shoots me a wink.
"Devon has said multiple times that there is something different about you. An anomaly."
"You believe him?"
"I believe what I see. When I first met you, I wondered how you were even alive. You were nothing more than skin and bone. Your face was gaunt, like you were in your final days. Arms like twigs that looked as though they would snap at any moment. Even your heartbeat was so slow, barely beating, like you were hanging on to life by the thinnest of threads."
He smiles at me, "But look at you now."
"I'm still small," I whisper. I was in comparison to the other women in the pack
"What I'm saying, Neah, is that you shouldn't have even survived the journey here, yet somehow you did."
"Because I'm a Lycan?"
"Maybe. Maybe it's that you were with your true mate. Maybe it's because you have more of a thirst for life than you believe. Maybe you survived because you are something that the world needs." "Devon's got in your head!" I mutter
"Maybe he just opened my eyes a little."
"What...what does that mean?"
"It's no secret there are more than humans and Wolves in the world. And if we look at it that way, we shouldn't be surprised when something else makes an appearance."
"Me?"
He nods. "We did fuck up, we went into this agreement blind. We should have done more research, we should have questioned Trey more. Dane probably would have if he wasn't so interested in you." "You blame me?"
"No in the slightest. I enjoy a good war, no matter how they come about."
A war was the last thing I wanted.
"Would you like to speak to Devon? I can take you to him if you like."
"Alpha Dane won't like that."
"Then why did he suggest it?"
Beta Eric makes me eat a sandwich first. Telling me he is not having me pass out on him due to hunger.
Alpha Dane still hadn't returned by the time we were striding across the snow covered grass. It made me nervous. After he had forced our closeness, he was now keeping a distance.
"You came." Devon smiles at me as I step in front of his cell. "I didn't think you were going to come back after last time." His blue eyes gaze at Beta Eric, "It's good to see you too." He turns to look at the steps. "No Alpha Dane?" "Not right now." Beta Eric tells him
I just stare at Devon. I didn't know what I wanted to say or ask. I didn't even really understand why I had agreed to come with Beta Eric.
He smiles at me. "I know you are not just here to stare at me. You have questions."
"I was.... was bound four times."
"That's not really a question."
"Should...." I glance over at Beta Eric. "Should I be dead?"
I see him swallow, he shifts his gaze back to Beta Eric and sighs "In theory, yes." He sits back on his small bed. "You were last bound when you were eighteen, right?"
I nod
"Trey, Cassandra, whoever it was probably hoped it would kill you and yet you survived."
"If they wanted her dead, why didn't they just kill her?" Beta Eric asks
"I don't know, I've been trying to figure it out for years. If it was anyone else, they would have just killed their problem, right? That's what Alpha Dane would do here, right? And other packs too. So there must have been some kind of benefit of keeping you alive. "It can't be because Neah is an Alpha." Beta Eric murmurs.
Beta Eric's eyes flashed up behind me, just as Alpha Danes' strong woody scent hits me.
"You are right." His crimson eyes lock on mine "It's because you are able to carry the next Alpha."