The Alpha’s Contract

"There's a good chance a Lycan knows about us."

“And you didn't kill him?" She sounds surprised.

“Madison wouldn't let me. She thinks she can talk him into not telling anyone."

"Then beat him to it. I already know, Neah knows, there is probably a good chance Dane knows because Neah pretty much tells him everything or if she hasn't, he can read her mind, the same as Eric can read mine. Neither one has said anything because they are both mated to someone unexpected. And from what I know of Maddie, she hasn't got a problem with what you do. You did kill the man that marked her and was holding her hostage."

I nod, mulling over her words.

"Did you know then?" She asks. "Did you know she was your mate when I brought her to the house."

"Yes."

"And you've held off for all this time?"

"Yes."

"Because she is a Lycan?"

"Yes and because I would be replacing my dead mate."

"So you think that's it? That you are never allowed to have someone love you again?"

"It's more than that."

"It really isn't." She mutters

"It's complicated."

She chuckles and then scrunches her body up as the pain ripples through her. "I told you not to make me laugh!"

"I wasn't trying too."

"You think this is complicated?! This is the simplest problem you could have. At least she isn't human, could you imagine having to explain all of it then?"

Maybe she was the better person to speak to, Neah would have me questioning more than helping me find answers. Or I would get lost watching her soul.

"There is only so much I can say." Mallory smiles at me. "At the end of the day, you have to make the decision, not me, but if you can't handle it, let her go. It isn't fair, not after all the crap she has been dragged through."

"That's part of the problem."

She cocks a brow at me.

"I can't let her go either."

"Or maybe you don't really want to." She shrugs her shoulders at me.

"Annoyingly, I think you are right."

"I generally am." She continues to beam at me with the 'I told you so' look

I look around, the hospital is dead, not a single soul other than us. "Where is everyone?"

"Eric went with Klaus to pick up supplies."

"He left you alone."

She bobs her head and the smile has gone. "I told him too because everytime I look at him, I want to cry."

"He doesn't blame...."

"I know he doesn't. It's like your problem, it's complicated. I know he can feel what I'm feeling and that somehow makes it a hundred times worse, when it should help. Does that make sense?"

"If I couldn't see your soul, I would

say no, but you have a tiny hole in a place that was once complete. A hole that Eric doesn't have. He feels the loss, it's a little different for you, but he still feels it, don't push him out, he lost it too."

"At least you didn't tell me I would get over it."

I frown at her. "Who would say something like that?"

"When I was human, my father said it to my mother right after he beat the shit out of her. She lost a baby because of what he did to her."

"Then it was a good thing you killed him."

She nods and looks past me, I could smell Eric heading this way and prepare to leave.

"Thanks for coming." She smiles at me

"I will see you later, I need to go and find my mate."

I head back into the forest where IUpstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

had left Madison. Her jasmine scent dison. still lingered in the air, I follow it until I reach the back of Mallory's burnt out house. But oddly, her scent. changes direction and heads south back into the forest. She's accompanied with the scent of a Lycan, a scent that belongs to the dickhead that was trying to get information from her.

I follow the scents and the tracks deeper and deeper until they stop. Her scent comes to a clear stop too.

"MADISON!"

She doesn't answer, but one of Dane's Wolf's appears. "Is there a problem?"

"How far south am I?" I demand

"You are almost at the border."

"No one has passed you?"

"I would have seen them if they had. Is someone missing?"

"To be determined."

I squat down, running my fingers over the last of the tracks. My eyes automatically go up into the trees, but I see nothing. Wolves can't smell Lycans in Lycan form, but I could and someone had shifted here.

The fucker had taken Madison!