Chapter 68
Dane
‘What are we going to do?’ Aero demands
‘I need to speak to my Beta.’
‘This is bad. We need to gain control over this, right now.’
My hand hammers against Eric’s door.
“Woah, woah, woah!” He snaps, pulling open the door, before he even has a chance to see me. “Are you trying to wake my kids?” He freezes when he realises its me. “What’s wrong?” “Devon!”
“Shit, he told you. Look I just needed someone to vent too. And I know you’ve had….”
“That’s not the issue. Whatever weird thing you have going on with him, is up to you, I’m not worried about that. They can create more.”
He rubs the sleep from his eyes. “What?”
“They can create more Lycans.”
“Well, it would make sense, the same as us creating more Wolves.”
“Eric.” He was missing what I was saying
“Shit.” He mutters, finally understanding. “Are you serious? I mean, the information has come from Devon.”
“He said it was like an unspoken rule that they were not allowed to do it. Trey would have likely kept it in place purely to keep the pack a secret. If the pack were any bigger, they would have been more noticeable.”
I go over everything Devon had told me, including them not being able to track Neah unless they were close by.
“Do you think they were looking for recruits?” He asks
“The city doesn’t just have Wolves. A lot of humans work there, unsuspecting of our kind. So yes, it’s a possibility.” “We should have researched them more.”
“We weren’t to know. They smelt like Wolves, they acted like Wolves. It’ was as simple as that. However, the contract they wanted was never about needing support or Neah. I believe they are looking for a way to tear me down. And it all started with the very thing I’ve created.”
“They wouldn’t be the first, Dane. There have been plenty over the years including your own brides that have tried to get out of your contracts or ones that were just doing it to gain information. Now if Treya and the rest were to turn a load of people, we both know that we still have the numbers. And they are the most skilled fighters. Your brother made sure of that.”
He frowns at me, “How is Neah reacting to the information?”
“She’s unaware. She was fast asleep when I left.”
There’s a noise from upstairs and we both wait patiently to see if one of his boys appears. A few minutes passed and there was silence, but we still decided to take the conversation outside.
“Is she alright?” Eric asks. “She was oddly quiet on the way back from the city. Not in the same way as when we brought her back here the first night.”
“I think it’s just some kind of shock. She seems to like Klaus and I think seeing someone she likes so close to death has made her feel a bit out of sorts.” I couldn’t even say she was panicked because that was not the feeling I was getting from her. “Thanks for getting her out of there.” He cocks an eyebrow at me. “You never need to thank me. I am your Beta and I will go out of my way to protect your mate. It’s my duty.”
“You’ve never been interested in protecting the other brides.”
He shrugs his shoulders with a smirk, “You never claimed them.”
We sat for hours in his garden, trying to come up with a plan. Eventually the sun comes up and his boys appear within minutes, demanding food for their ‘starving stomachs’.
Eric looks at me. “She needs to be on board for our next move. It won’t work without her.”
‘She needs a hell of a lot of confidence.’ Aero mutters
‘Then let’s help her find it.’
‘So much for our run.’ Aero grumbles.
‘It’s the pack run tomorrow night, we will have to wait until then.”
Neah is already up by the time I get back to the packhouse. Sat in the kitchen, munching on a piece of toast. She has braided her hair back from her face today and I could see she had removed the ear plugs. “How are the ears?” I keep my voice quiet
“Trying…. trying to get used to it.” She mumbles, screwing her face up at me. “You got up early.”
“I never slept.”
“Oh.”
“Aero wanted more answers from Devon and then I went to see Eric.”
She takes another bite of her toast but doesn’t say anything. She did that a lot. Keeping her questions to herself.