0066
Dane
I walk into silence. Neah looks as though she is on the verge of tears. Though she clutches her stomach as if she is about to vomit again.
"What...what do you mean?" She mumbles to Madame Curie
"Exactly what I said." Madame Curie's eyes flicker up to me. "I cannot give you the answers you are looking for."
"How much?" I offer, knowing exactly how she works.
She shakes her head at me and pauses. "If I took money from you for this, the answers I would be giving you, will be unsatisfactory and unworthy." She looks back at Neah. "I am sorry that I played a role in your upbringing." "Twice!" I snap
"And I wish that I could give you the information you seek." She sighs
"You said you wanted to take one last look at me, the Lycan Alpha. What does that mean? Am I dying?" Neah demands
"Everyone is." She smiles sadly
I shake my head in disbelief, I had known Madame Curie for a long time. "Neah, she is talking about herself."
"You were always the smartest Alpha, Alpha Dane." Madame Curie winks at me and turns her attention to my mate. "Yes, he is right, Alpha Neah. I have been around for a long long time and my time is coming to an end." "Oh."
"What I can tell you is that your boys will thrive. You just have a journey to get there."
"That's all you can tell us?" I ask, watching my mate
"That is all the information I have." She rises to her feet. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to enjoy the few days that I have left."
She turns to leave, "Oh, but there is something else. Your mother was just as sick as you are, for Lycans, that is just how it is. Most likely because of the human essence in them. Try some ginger biscuits. Your appetite will soon return." As she leaves, I hear Roan shouting after her, demanding to know where she is going.
"She made it sound like I was dying?" Neah whispers with a frown
"Madame Curie is like that. You should have waited for me. I would have been able to read between the lines for you."
"I still don't know." She whispers. "I still don't know what they are."
"Maybe, for now, we just take each day as it comes. When you feel them, I'm sure you will think differently about them."
She nods and suddenly looks up at me. "There is something I need to tell you."
"He beat you to it. For once, in his life, I think Jenson is actually doing the right thing."
"It will break her." Neah mutters
I knew they had been talking, exactly like I had hoped she would. Jess had confided in her when Neah fixed her hair.
Neah didn't share anything with me, telling me that it was not for her to say. That Jess had asked her to not talk about it and I respected her choice.
"All you can do is be there for her. Be that person that you needed when you were growing up." I tell her
There's a knock on the door and Roan doesn't even wait for an answer. "What the hell did you say to my witch?"
"One: It's none of your business. Two: You don't own her. And Three: you are in my house, watch your fucking tone!" I growl
"I called her here to help with whatever this is." He waves his hand at my mate. "You wanted answers and now, she has walked away without even looking back. What did you say to her? Or did she tell you that we are all fucked?" "She is dying." Neah mutters. "She can't help you anymore."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"If you keep insisting on talking to my mate like that, I will break your fucking neck!" I growl. "Madame Curie is dying. She has days left. She doesn't give a crap about you 'owning' her."
"When all this shit with the Lycans is over, we are done, Dane. I owe you nothing! I want nothing to do with your pack ever again."
'LYCANS!' Eric yells through mind link.
"They are here!" I mutter to Roan.
He charges out without hesitating, putting his immediate issues with me to one side.
"Find Jess." I tell Neah, ushering her to the door. "Stay with her. Stay in the house." I press my lips against hers and quietly pray to the Moon Goddess to let me make it back to my mate. Because none of us knew what we were truly up against.
My people had formed a wall. Three people deep as they stood shoulder to shoulder. I could see the Lycans, all shifted and all lining the edge of the trees, waiting. It was still impossible to tell how many there were.
They don't move, watching us as we watch them. Each of us listening for a single sign of movement.
Was Trey and Cassandra here? I had no idea what they looked like in Lycan form.
'What are they doing?' Eric links me. He was in the front row. His eyes locked on the big fucker directly in front of him.
'Scouting. They are trying to figure out if this is all of us.'
Faint clapping starts somewhere in the trees. One by one the Lycans join in, slamming their large clawed hands together. The noise is deafening 'Something's not right.' Jenson mutters. 'It's a distraction.'
We scan the area, to see what was different, nothing had changed. My thoughts immediately go to Jess. Had I been screwed over by a kid?
'Neah? Is Jess with you?' I link her as my heart thuds through my chest
'She's hiding in her closet.'
'Keep her there!'
I cast another glance around at all the Lycans clapping.
It's only then that I notice them parting, letting the blonde bimbo through. Cassandra was still in human form. As she makes her way through, she steps out in front. Raising her hands to silent them. "Where is she, Alpha Dane?" Her voice cuts through me like nails on a chalkboard.
"Not here. Where is your prick of a husband?"
"Hiding her in the house?" She muses. "I suggest you bring her out. This could get quite ugly."
"For who? Not a single one of your creatures has made it. We have killed each and every one of them."
Her smile creeps up her face. "Except one."
"The one that you made a mistake changing." I growl
"Are you sure about that?" Her eyes close and her grin appears to take over her face.
When her eyes reopen she stares at me.
"You see, Alpha Dane. No matter how much little Jessica wants to fight it. She cannot resist the orders of her maker. So Neah will have two options. Come willingly, or kill Jessica."
I already knew what Neah would do. She wouldn't kill Jess.
My eyes close as I hear the front door of the packhouse open.
"I'm so sorry..... I am so so sorry." Jess can't even bring herself to look at me. As I refocus on Neah. I see her eyes are a solid black.
'Don't shift.' I link her. It wouldn't be safe for her or the pups.
She doesn't respond, stepping down onto the grass, willingly walking with Jess. Neah's expression was cold and dark.
There was still a wall of Wolves between Neah and them. There was no way they were getting their hands on her.
The Lycans begin to cheer, acting like they had won before the battle had even begun.
"You will bring her to me!" Cassandra screeches as Jess stops just behind Jenson.
Jess's head snaps up, her eyes are just as dark as Neah's, she holds her hand out to my mate. As they join hands, Jess growls, "You may be my maker but you are not my Alpha!"