The Alpha’s Contract (Taylor West) novel Chapter 193

I still wasn’t strong enough to go, but he needed the strength of the full moon.

“I need to keep an eye on Neah.”

“I can do that. Dane, you missed the last one because of Salem, you need to go this one. And Neah will be fine. We will probably eat ice cream and she can listen to me moan about Damien.”

He snorts and cocks an eyebrow. “I will think about it.”

Glancing at Eric he tells me to let him sleep it off, “We can only help him when he is ready.”

As Dane leaves, I settle into the sofa opposite Eric. He barely spoke when he was awake and if he did, everything came out in either a slur or sounding like he had developed a lisp and none of it ever made sense. I wanted to tell him that everything will be alright, that…. But it wouldn’t be, would it. He had lost his world.

How could one beast destroy so much of our pack by himself?

Dane had worked hard, for years, implementing strength and power. We had always had the upper hand and now one beast was gradually tearing us apart. Even all the bitten Lycans with Cassandra and Trey hadn’t done this much damage. He had to be having help, but who?

Midnight is quiet, but panicking. I knew why, she had the same worrying thought as me. What if the real reason Damien left was because he was helping his brother and didn’t want to be caught?

It can’t be. It was a stupid idea. He wouldn’t have bothered marking me.

‘Mallory?’ Midnight mutters

‘I don’t think so.’ I whisper back. Though we were no longer bunking together as she had decided to go back to her home. ‘She’s trying so hard to prove her worth here in the pack. If she was trying to cause trouble, I think she would have given up by now.’

Maybe I was just tired and overthinking it. Maybe Salem was just a monster with no actual endgame other than to slaughter us.

Leaning forward, I rest my elbow on my knees and cup my chin, watching the drunk sleep. There had to be something I was missing.

I still hadn’t moved by the time Eric started to wake. He rubs his eyes and stares at me, his eyes drifting around the room. “How did I get here?”

“You practically broke down the front door. I think you were looking for Dane.”

He rubs through his already chaotic blonde hair and yawns, stretching out his limbs. “Got any whisky?”

“No.” I glare at him. If I had to follow him to make sure he doesn’t touch another drop, then that is what I’m going to do. “Why did you want to speak to my brother?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He gets up and starts looking in the cupboards.