The Alpha’s Contract (Taylor West) novel Chapter 398

Dane

The pack house is quiet. No sound comes from Neah or the twins. Damien must have settled Dorothy because I don’t hear them either.

Following Neahs lavender scent, I find her sitting in the attic, surrounded by all the twins' baby things. Her tired blue eyes flicker up to mine and she lets out a sigh but does not speak and continues to fold up clothes.

“I’m not upset.” I move further into the light. “I just needed to put some arrangements in place to protect him. To protect them. If Evrin can shift then Logan probably isn’t that far behind and I need to make sure no one thinks they can take advantage of them.”

“Okay.”

She wasn’t saying how she really felt and I didn’t even have to read her mind to know that.

‘She is angry.’ Aero murmurs

‘I can see that.’

I sit on one of the boxes and it dips from my weight. “I wasn’t running away from it. That’s not who I am.”

“Okay.”

I hated the one word answers. I thought we were long past that.

“Neah?” My voice drops lower and she stops folding. I watch her shoulders drop as another heavy sigh leaves her mouth.

“I can’t remember it, but I reckon what Evrin saw when you handed him back to me, was exactly what I saw when I first shifted. A smile that vanishes just as quickly as it appeared and the need to get away.”

“You are comparing me to your father?”

“Not to him exactly, but his response. They had me bound because I was able to shift early. They tried to abandon me when they realised it didn’t work and when they still couldn't get rid of me, they bound me again. And you…you just handed him to me and left and all day, you have ignored us and made excuses to not come home.”

‘You’ve triggered her trauma.’ Aero whispers as though Neah could hear him

I step towards her as her pain grows, but she pulls back, tears creeping down her face as she eagerly wipes them away.