0177
Dane
"It's the better plan." Brax nods as he messes with his mop of black curls. "Neah isn't wrong. If there are others involved, they would expect her to come back looking like a mess. Or maybe never coming back at all." "And you don't want us to tell Klaus?" Mallory asks as she bounces Logan on her knees, "Why?"
"As much as I appreciate all the work Klaus has done for this pack and for Neah, I'm worried someone will use his desire for knowledge to get information from him. He is very open about answering questions and that might just get him into trouble. The only people that need to know what is happening are in this office."
Everyone nods apart from Neah. Her blue eyes lock onto mine but she keeps her lips pressed together. She knows there is more to what I'm saying, but chooses not to share.
"Any signs of Maddie?" Damien asks.
"No." Neah sighs as she rocks back and forth with Evrin in her arms.
"And you didn't kill Blair?" He presses.
"No."
"She was scared." Brax adds.
"You were scared?" Eric asks Neah, confused.
"No, Blair was." Brax smiles to himself
"She deserves to be after everything she has done." Damien frowns at Brax. "I thought you of all people would have ended her."
I watch Brax look over at Neah. She had told him not to, though I hadn't had a chance to ask her why.
'Maybe because she has lost her abilities.' Aero mutters. 'Maybe she doesn't see her as a threat anymore.
"There were no others in the area. Eric and I did a sweep." Brax is telling the others.
"There were no other tracks. It was just those three."
"But there were also no scents." Neah adds.
"There could have been more and we just didn't know about it."
"So they have found a way to completely mask their scent? How?" Damien asks
"I'm guessing Cooper has something to do with it. I mean, he took away Blair and Samara's Lycan abilities without binding them. And according to Samara, he's done it to others too, both men and women, both Wolves and Lycans. The guy doesn't have a preference." Neah tells them
"But Maddie?" Mallory asks. "She hasn't done anything wrong. She has problems, but who doesn't? So how does she fit in all of this?"
"He didn't like that he saw us together. I was going to kill him. Madison stopped me, she said she would talk to him. She should have let me pull the trigger."
"You didn't know he was going to do this." Mallory mutters.
"I should have trusted my instincts but......" He doesn't finish. We had all been there. Caught up in the moment with your mate, so much that you don't always think properly in the moment.
A few seconds could change everything.
"Have you had any problems with the dead Wolves?" Damien asks, taking the attention away from Brax.
"No."
"That's not completely true." Eric mutters. He looks over to me. "A couple of years back. Fallon was one of the ones questioning your decision to let Neah stay, just after you announced she was a Lycan. Remember, he was trying to get the pack worked up, but it just didn't happen." "Why would he wait this long to do something?" Neah asks.
"Why wait until there are more Lycans here? Why wait at all?"
"Because he is an idiot!" Brax mutters, cleaning his gun. "All he needed was someone else to confirm his problems. My guess is Cooper did exactly that. And now those three are dead. Nothing short of what they deserve."
"Will you put that away!" I snap. Brax rolls his eyes at me and slips the gun inside his belt.
"What about the others? Past problems with them?" Damien asks Eric.
"No, in fact they have always done exactly what they are supposed to do. There has never been any trouble from them. Jenson didn't fuck either one over. They have always been proud to have been part of Black Shadow." He turns to me. "Just like everyone else. We could be dealing with any number of problems, Dane or we could just be dealing with this one Lycan. We just don't know."
"Can you tell?" Neah asks Brax
"Possibly,"
"I need a better answer than that." She snaps at him
"I will see what I can do."
"Don't go killing any of them without talking to me first." I tell him as he heads for the door.
"If it's self defence, there won't be time for me to bring their problems to you." Brax slams the door behind him.
"You know it wasn't just me that was attacked, he was too." Neah mutters "And you are treating him like the enemy." ""My priority isn't to protect him."
'But she has a point.' Aero tries to reason with me, 'He did exactly what you asked him to do. He protected our mate. The moment he killed them, he could have just got up and walked away, but he didn't.'
"He doesn't have to help. He could leave at any time, but he is still here." Neah sighs
"Yeah, because his mate is here." Damien retorts
"You found your mate here too, Damien." Mallory smiles sadly.
Damien frowns at her. He just didn't speak of my sister. He acted like it was nothing more than a blip in his timeline.
"I did too. It happens." Mallory continues
"This is different." Damien shakes his head
"How? You lost it when Salem took Raven. Just like Brax is pissed that someone has taken his mate. You two have more in common than you realise. Or maybe you do know it, you just won't accept it. I mean, you have even started carrying a gun again, just like when you were human."
"Mal," Eric starts
"No." Mallory stands up and holds Logan out to Eric. "I just need a minute."
Neah passes Evrin to me and follows Mallory out of the office.
"I should go after...." Eric mutters, trying to give Logan to Damien.
"Let Neah talk to her." I tell him I don't think any of this is about what happened out there this afternoon." I glance at Logan in Eric's arms. Mallory had been holding him, and bouncing him up and down, but not once did she look at him. It was more like she was just going through the motions.
"Shit." Damien mutters. "I didn't think. She didn't say anything."
"She wanted to be here." Eric adds.
"She would have said if it was too much. She loves the twins. Maybe for a brief moment, she.... forgot." He sits in the empty chair and leans forward while resting his elbows on his knees.
"I wasn't paying attention." "You can't be in her head twenty four/ seven." I offer.
"She needs to let herself grieve."
"You're right." He sits up straight. "So what are we going to do about this Cooper?"
"We stick to Neah's plan, for at least a few days. Everyone of us needs to pay attention to the pack and people's movements. Especially those that come and go from the pack."
"And then?" Damien asks
"Then we can make a plan. But first of all, you need to take this Blood Oath and become an official part of Black Shadow. I need you to be able to link everyone and I cannot expect the Lycans to make an oath yet.
"I thought you had planned a fancy ceremony?" He cocks an eyebrow at me, a smirk lingers on his face.
"There was supposed to be one, but something tells me you would rather just get it over and done with."
"Good."
"There is something else."
Eric nods his head at me. I had already told him my plan, but whether Damien would agree or not would be a different matter.
"What is it?" Damien asks, his gaze shifting between Eric and I.
"I want you to be a representative of Black Shadow."
"Doesn't my role as Beta already signify that?"
"Yes, but I want you to become a Black. Whether you like it or not, you are one of us."
He laughs, "You're joking right?"
"You do realise that as you were mated to Raven, you are family. I know Neah see's it like that. I see you as more of a brother than what Jenson ever was. I don't give a shit what your genetic makeup is, you are one of us." He looks over to Eric. "He's serious?"
"About as serious as it comes." Eric muses
"Then why didn't you...."
"I took the Beta oath. Becoming a Black was not something I could do even if I wanted to. I have parents and they would hang me if I tried to ditch the family name."
I clear my throat. "The question is, Damien, how important is your surname? And do you see yourself being a complete part of this pack?"