0120
Neah
When the cribs were being moved, Dane received a link, telling him someone looking like me was at the gates to the pack.
Immediately, my body tenses, why the hell was she here? I also find myslef questioning it because she hadn't tried to sneak in this time
"Stay here with Raven and the boys." Dane kisses me. "Damien, you're with me."
"No." I snap
Both men freeze.
"She's obviously here to see me. That was why she came the first time, to tell me about my father."
"Neah...."
"I can handle it." I mutter. I knew the real meaning behind him keeping me away. He wanted me to stay calm. To keep the ever growing darkness from enveloping my heart. But Damien had been right about one thing. My sons helped keep the darkness at bay. "I don't...."
"I will go with her." Damien interrupts him. "The boys should be with one of their parents. I swear, I won't let anything happen to her."
Dane had a love-hate relationship with Damien. While he appreciated that Damien would do anything for me. He hated how Damien didn't always respect that he was the leader even now after he had accepted the Beta postion. "If anything...." Dane starts
"Nothing will happen to her. I will let her kill me if it means keeping Neah alive."
My eyes widened. "Don't let Raven hear you say that!" She would be mortified that he was putting another woman first over his own life.
The men stare at each other. They couldn't link each other but it was clear they were having some sort of silent argument.
One of the things I had come to learn from being in this pack; men are worse than women when it comes to arguing. Forever trying to assert their dominance. No one really did it to Dane apart from Damien.
"Damien!" I snap, "Are you coming?"
I quickly turn away before Dane's crimson eyes lock with mine. I didn't need to be reminded of the risk. My body had its own reminder every single second of the day.
'What's the plan?' Nyx whispers as I make my way down the stairs. Damien's huge frame is close behind me.
'I don't know.' I mutter back to my Lycan. 'But I need you to be quiet. I can't have you interrupting me or letting me miss half the conversation because I'm distracted and talking to you!'
She falls into silence. We were finally turning a corner.
'And no shifting.' I add. I didn't need or want to add more fuel to the fire. Not just yet.
'It wasn't me last time.' She scowls. 'I told you it was all your doing.'
Damien stays quiet as he walks behind me.
I don't know why, but he felt more reassuring than Dane. Whether it was because he didn't question me, or because he wants me to be the Alpha that I'm supposed to be, I don't know.
What I do know is I don't feel as tense. Blair is standing at the open gates. The guards watching her every move. She looks completely different to the last time I saw her. Instead of baggy clothes, she is in skin tight leather. A cropped leather jacket shows off her torso, while on her feet are the tallest heels I have ever seen. Painted red nails peeping out at the end.
"Like to take your time, don't you?" She eyes the plain black leggings and sweatshirt that I'm wearing but doesn't make a comment. Her brown eyes shift over to Damien. "You must be the other Lycan."
"You know exactly who I am." Damien keeps his voice level, not a hint of anger present and waves to the guards to move away. "I'm sure Jenson told you. How is he by the way?"
"You don't need to concern yourself with him."
A snort escapes Damien and it made me wonder what he really thought of Jenson. did he not say anything because he knows it will hurt Raven?
"Why are you here?" I ask, bringing her focus back to me
She unzips her jacket and pulls out a large tan envelope and flings it on the ground in front of me.
Damien steps around me to pick it up. "What's this?"
"That is for my half sister."
He sniffs it first, making Blair cackle. "It's not poison. I just thought it would clarify a few things."
Damien hands it to me. Inside is a picture of my father with a woman that isn't my mother. Briefly, images of my parents and their blood coated bodies flicker before my eyes. Their screams of pain fills my ears. Like a burst of energy, I feel the darkness flood through me.
I force images of Logan and Evrin to take their place.
"That is our father, with my mother. If you look closer, you will see she is pregnant. Pregnant with me." Blair continues. "I don't blame you for not believing me. But how else do you explain how similar we look?"
"Is that why Jenson went to you?" Damien pushes. "Because you were the next best thing?"
She snarls at him. "Jenson has claimed me as his." She pulls her jacket to one side and shows me the mark just above her collarbone.
Damien erupts into laughter. "So he marked you because he couldn't have Neah?!"
Blair glares at him as his laughter quietens. I didn't need to look to know he was still smirking.
Her brown eyes refocus on me. "When I came here last, I didn't handle it very well. I made you feel like I was a threat."
'Lies.' Nyx mutters
"I just wanted you to know the truth about our father. I figured you deserved that."
"Well, you've told me and now you can leave."
"I thought maybe we could have a conversation. Sister to sister." She presses. "Just us, alone."
"Do you really think she is that stupid?" I hear Mallory's high pitched voice as she drops out of a nearby tree. I had been so busy trying to keep the darkness from taking over that I hadn't even noticed she was here.
Had Damien? He didn't let anything get past him. "Mallory?" Blair forces Mallory's name off of her tongue like it's poison.
"You must be the bitch that's riddled with lies."
What the fuck was going on? They almost sounded like they knew each other, but at the same time, they didn't.
"Jenson has told me all about you. How you almost killed my half sister?" Blair's brown eyes return to me. "Why did you let her live?"
"I don't have to explain myself to you." I snap
She takes a step toward me and so does Damien. "I'm telling you now, little sister. It's not good to be surrounded by those that were once Rogue."
"It takes one to know one." Mallory growls from the other side of me
This time Blair steps back. She seemed to be surprised by Mallory's words. Like someone had revealed a deep dark secret that she had never wanted shared with the world, or more particularly, me.
She rocks on her heels, sucking her cheeks in as she thinks of something to say. Instead, she turns, ready to walk away, only to flick her head over her shoulder. "Protection doesn't work if the wrong people are protecting you. Neah."
She struts away down the lane and gets into a fancy car. As the car makes a U turn, I catch sight of Jenson and he looks angrier than ever.
"Mallory, what the fuck were you doing in a tree?" I snap
"I saw her, okay. I was up there watching, like I have been doing since the last time she came. I didn't believe Damien when he said she looked like you and I wanted to see for myself."
"What did you mean, 'takes one to know one."?"
Her eyes shift to Damien. "Damien had his suspicions."
I spin to look at him. "Why?"
"That day I saw them drive off together. She was the only Lycan around."
"Okay? And?"
"The only Lycans that prefer to be on their own are ones that have gone Rogue."
"I wasn't going to accuse her directly." Mallory adds, "But the way that she reacted confirmed it and it's not something she wants people to know."
"So she has felt this?." I mutter, pressing a hand over my heart. "She felt this darkness."
They both sigh.
"I'm not saying I feel bad for her." I snap. She clearly wants something from me."
'She's lying to you.' Nyx murmurs. 'Last time and this time, she has acted like a different person each time. Don't fall for it.'
I glance down at the photo that was half scrunched in my hand. My father had loved another, but had given it all up for his true mate and Blair hated me for it.