Bonds that bind us (The Alpha’s Contract P2)

Chapter 0024

Dane

"She is babbling a lot of shit," I tell her. "Eric only managed to get a little information; the rest makes little to no sense."

"What does that mean?" Neah frowns.

"It means she isn't giving us what we need. Eric says he has never seen Tallen like this before. Confused, disorientated. She can't even tell him what happened here."

'Bullshit!' Aero growls.

We won't know more until we can talk to her, but we can't leave the girls unattended.

"Is this definitely Thalia?" Neah asks me again.

"Possibly."

"But how? Tallen is here, in the pack. Thalia is far away. How can that be possible?"

'We don't know that Thalia is far away,' Aero mumbles. 'And Serkan is still somewhere.'

"Tallen loves the boys," Neah scowls, folding her arms tightly across her chest and almost hugging herself. "She's been a part of Evrin and Logan's lives when we had things going on. She worked in the old pack house and this one. She helps Mallory and Eric out with Luca. Tallen helps at the school with the children."

I could hear the disbelief in her words.

Neah runs her thumbs across the tips of her fingers, a sign that the claws are ready and waiting to come out. She's never hurt the boys, ever. But the girl's..." Her eyes settle on the sleeping twins on my chest. "They were afraid, and I..."

"Damien," I mutter, getting to my feet. "Do you think you can handle the girls and keep an eye on the boys while they sleep?" As much as the girls needed me, my mate did too.

"Do you mind if I ask Samara to come and help?" Damien asks.

I dip my chin and pass the sleeping girls to him. It looks odd watching him cradle tiny beings, even though I have seen him cradle the boys when they were young, though it will be good practice for his own.

Damien sits by the window as I grab Neah's elbow and tug her from the room. She hadn't touched the girls since we found them trying to attack Tallen, but it wasn't because she feared them.

The instinct to protect them was present; I could feel it, but I also remember how Neah felt when she first discovered she was a Lycan.

'She thinks she has created monsters,' Aero sighs.

"Are they okay?" Neah quietly asks as I pull the door behind us closed.

"They are, but you're not. You are worrying that this has something to do with Thalia, so you don't have to deal with what you are feeling. I get it. I've watched you deal with new information constantly, but this is different."

Neah leans into my chest, her arms sliding around my waist as she sighs. "They are not Wolves, and they are not Lycans."

"That is not what is bothering you, I saw what you saw, but we always expected the girls to be different," I remind her. "And if they weren't, this scenario could be very different now. We could be looking for a missing pup or a dead one. Instead, both girls are healthy and fast asleep."

Her head nods, but she isn't convinced as she glances at the closed door. "They are younger than Evrin when he first shifted."

'Is she rejecting our pups?' Aero asks

'No, she feels she hasn't done enough to protect them. She feels like she has failed as a mother." Her feelings of sadness and failure run through me like a cold blade.

I had felt a lot of things in the years Neah and I have been connected, but this was different. My words wouldn't be enough, but maybe killing someone for revenge would be.

"Damien will watch the children. Will you come with me to speak to Tallen?"

"Yes." It was more of an obligatory answer than a desire to want to come.

Neah lets me hold her hands as we walk across the grounds. She screws her face up, "Are we not going to the hospital?"

"No."

We walk past a few of the wooden houses that sit out by the edge of the forest, and I see her look of confusion as we step into the trees.

"She never went to get her arm looked at. Eric followed her out here and chained her to a tree."

Neah doesn't respond. Her hand remains tightly locked with mine as we make our way through the trees.

She suddenly stops and tugs me back. "You said there are traps!"