The Alpha’s Contract (Taylor West) novel Chapter 519

I call for the bill and the waiter that had tried to convince Neah to get some wine hurries over. His cheeks are already the colour of beetroot. He could barely look us in the eye. Neah presses her lips into a thin line but I see her shoulders jigging up and down as she tries not to laugh.

As we walk to the car, Neah links her arm with mine, almost pestering me like a small child, asking me where we are going.

“You will see.”

I drive for another hour or so down to the coast. It had been a long time since I had been here. I used to take Jenson and Raven all the time when they were little, but as they grew up, the trip became just for me. A place where I could clear my head. A place of peace as I listened to the sea crash along the sand before it dragged itself out again.

It had been almost four years since I had been here.

Neah is silent as the car comes to a stop. She slowly unclips her seatbelt and leans forward on the dash, smiling at the waves.

“The beach.” She whispers

“I haven’t been here for a while, but I thought you might appreciate it as much as I do.”

“I’ve never been.” She starts pulling off the trainers. Excitement flooding through her and a strange pang of happiness hits my heart.

She gets out of the car before I have a chance to say anything and runs down onto the sand.

For a moment, she just stands there. Wiggling her toes in the soft sand as she stares up at the crescent and stars that light up the night sky.

Looking back at me, she smiles and stretches out her hand in my direction. “Coming?”

“He did.”

“You think that’s why Silas is really here. To take your place, just how Blair thought she could take mine?”

“I won’t let him. Black Shadow is mine. Always has been and always will be until the boys are ready to take over.”

“He called me family.” She mumbles into my chest. “I was just going to walk right past him and he asked me if I always ignore family. He didn’t want to interrupt us, that’s why he didn’t make himself known. Maybe I got the wrong impression” She shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.

“To me, that doesn’t sound like he is coming for what he thinks is his. Not everyone we meet has to be bad. Not everyone can have a secret reason for showing up. I refuse to believe that, because otherwise, what kind of world are we bringing children into?”