The Alpha’s Contract by Taylor West

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.

Nesh 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

while, but I thought

been." She starts pulling off the trainers. Excitement flooding through her and a strange pang

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

there. Wiggling her toes in the soft sand as she stares up at the crescent

she smiles and stretches out her

hand and she pulls me towards the water. Stopping a few feet away. Nervousness radiates from

long black dress up to her knees and lets out a small giggle as she steps forward, letting the cold waves wash

around to face me, laughing as a wave crashes into

told me about this place." She looks up and

father used to bring me here. Before the twins came along. To teach me about the power of the ocean. After he died, I tried to do the same with Jenson and Raven, but they missed the point. Raven had her own ideas for her future and Jenson just wanted what everyone

arms around her, holding her flush to my chest.

to stay alert and own it.