0060
Dane
"But...."
"It's not negotiable!" I snarl at my brother. There was no way on this planet that I was going to send my mate to her own death.
"Dane, you brought me back here for this very reason!"
"There has to be another way!"
I was grateful that Raven had convinced Neah to go for a walk with her. She didn't need to hear Jenson and I arguing. Because knowing her, she would probably agree to his insane idea.
"They will know, Jenson. They won't be stupid enough to think that I've abandoned her. They will wait, they will know that some of us linger. They will know that I will not leave her unattended!" "That's precisely why it will work."
If he wasn't lying in a hospital bed, he would be feeling the full force of my fist.
'You were the one who wanted to bring him back!' Aero mutters
"Sometimes, the best plans are the most obvious." Jenson sighs while refusing to look at me.
"Well find another fucking way!"
I drop into the chair next to his bed. I don't know why, but I expected better from my brother. Surely he knew that I was not willing to play with Neahs life
"Just hear me out, will you?" He snaps back at me.
I waved a hand for him to continue knowing full well my answer would still be no.
"You can link her, right?" He asks
"Obviously."
"She won't be alone. We send her into the forest, while the pack picks the Lycans off."
"No. I am not sending her anywhere alone!" We were going around in fucking circles, my patience is barely hanging on by a thread. Why couldn't he get it into his head that this was not an option?
"Then I'm out of ideas, Dane because you didn't like the first plan either. These bastards won't be easy to take down. We don't know what kind of numbers they have. We have no idea how many they have turned. For all we know, there could be thousands making their way towards us as we speak." He rubs his temples.
"Some could be as young as that kid at Eric's house. Because they can shift at what...thirteen?"
He pulls faces as he shifts in the bed.
"You are right." I mutter. "We don't know how many they have coming and look at you. One big fucker took you down."
He bares his teeth at me. "I was protecting your mate."
"Evidently!" I snort, "She was the one who killed it."
The color drains from his face. "Raven said it was you and Klaus."
I shake my head at him. "Not only has Neah accepted being an Alpha, she fully shifted. Killing it the way she killed that other prick. The only thing I did was burn the body." "She went for the heart again, didn't she?"
"There's no coming back from a pierced heart." I muse. Twice now and the only thing she went for each time was the heart. Throats are what most Wolves go for. It was almost like I rise from my seat. "If they manage to get their hands on her, she won't survive."
"Don't they want her for an heir?"
I was ingrained in her what to do.
"It's different now. She's exactly who she is supposed to be and if they find someone to bind her again. She won't survive. Every road points to her death, Aero and I refuse to let that happen." He looks me dead in the eye, "So put a fucking pup in her!"
"We have had this conversation," I mutter tirelessly. It just didn't seem to be getting through to him
'I have told you time and time again. Your brother is stupid.' Aero shakes his head
"No." Jenson pushes himself up a little more. Screwing his nose up. "You are not following what I'm saying. They only have to believe she is carrying your heir. And so does everyone else." "You want to win this war by lying?"
"I'm just saying, all is fair in war. It's not like it's the worst thing we would have ever done." His dark eyes flash around the room as though searching for someone who might be listening.
"Play them at their own game. Isn't it what they have always done? I mean, they made her believe that she was one of us. We can call in every single pack that you have a loyal contract with. Because the Lycans won't just be targeting her, they will be targeting your pup." He pops the final p before adding, "She doesn't have to be anywhere near the fight. They just need to believe it."
"And if they attack in the next few hours?" My eyes flicker up to the clock on the wall
He follows my gaze to the clock. "They would be stupid to attack now knowing that you have done exactly what I said. If they know anything, they won't attack when there is a chance that everyone is fully rested."
"I need to speak to her first." I mutter. Neah isn't the greatest of liars. If I could see through it, then something tells me Trey or Cassandra will to.
"I'm telling you. If you want to keep her safe and away from whatever is going to happen, then this is the way." He watches me get to my feet. "If you see my twin, can you send her in?"
I roll my eyes, "She won't let you out until she knows you are healed."
"A Wolf has got to try."
Raven and Neah are sitting on the small bench outside, deep in conversation about something. They both fall silent as I approach. "He wants to see you." I mutter to Raven.
"I've already told him no. I know him, he will go straight back out there." She shakes her head and storms inside, ready to lay down the law with Jenson.
Neah is quiet, slowly picking at the wooden bench and avoiding my eyes.
"You are doing it again." I murmur, sitting where Raven had sat.
"Raven told me."
"Did she now? She certainly has a habit of doing that." I frown, she hadn't been inside when Jenson and I had spoken of the plan. "What exactly did she say?"
"I would be in the forest....."
"No." I cut her off before she had a chance to finish and pulled her in against me. "Not a chance. But there is another idea of Jenson's that I need to see if you are okay with."
She tilts her head to one side, the moon reflects off of her blue eyes, reminding me of a time my father took the three of us to a crystal clear lake. That was the last time I saw my father and my step mother.
"Not here." I had no idea how she was going to react and I didn't need or want the attention.
'She won't agree to it.' Aero mumbles
'I have to try.'
We head back to the house, barely stopping to speak to those around us.
She sits in her usual spot in the office, pulling her legs up to her chest. Her messy dark hair falls around her face and she quickly tucks it back behind her ears.
Her eyes grow wider and wider as she listens to me explain Jenson's idea. As I finish talking, she blinks a few times and looks at me as if I'm crazy.
"You.....you want to put your pup in me? I thought....I thought we were going to wait a year?"
"That was the contract you wanted. I personally think we are long past that." I cock a brow in amusement, but she doesn't see it that way.
She snorts and blinks a few more times, only for the blue to steadily get darker. She was talking to Nyx or Nyx was at the surface.
"I can't." She mutters, keeping her gaze low. "I'm not ready for that. I'm twenty-two. The only places I have ever been are here, Moonshine and the city. Which I only went to once. I still can't read properly and I definitely can't write. What kind of a mother would that make me?!" She shakes her head, "I'm sorry. I can't"
"In that case, you will need to lie." I keep my focus on her, trying to read her
"Huh? I can't lie about something like that." Her eyes meet mine with a deep scowl.
When I don't reply. She leans back, tilting her head over the backrest, eyes fixating on the ceiling. "He thinks it's the only other way?"
"Yes. Other packs who owe me will join the cause."
"Because they will think I'm carrying your heir."
I nod.
"I can't make a decision like that, Alph.....Dane."
'Told you.' Aero muses. He loved it when he was right.
"Look at me," I order. Her face slowly turns to mine. "This way, you live."