“Cole, I’m not mad or upset with you. This wasn’t exactly planned. I tend to follow my instincts when it comes to situations like this. When Lynnie came looking for me after she’s been uneasy all day I felt that allowing the two of you to lay together would help both of you in different ways. Lynnie, do you want to lay with Alpha Cole and help him with these shots?” “Don’t force her alpha. I’ve already upset her enough.” “There’s no force here Cole.” “l’m sleepy.” Madilyn manages to talk through her yawn. “Can you do something for me Madilyn?” I’m shocked that he’s talking directly to her so soon. “Sure,” she says, yawning again. “Will you drink one of those protein drinks that’s in the fridge? You’re too young to not eat something.” “Okay. Can I sleep with you?” “It’s up to you and your dad.” “I want to help you. Don’t be afraid of me.” She climbs off my lap and finds the mini fridge in the room before coming back with a drink. “Can you help me?” She asks handing me the
I walk with Lilly back over to Cole’s bed. Both he and Madilyn appear to be sleeping. I guide Lilly to the stool I was sitting in before I started then stopped giving his medication to him. She sits down gently as I do the same on the bed. I run my hand through his hair a couple times before speaking to him. “Cole, I’m sorry for the delay. It looks like my helper has fallen asleep for the night. You met Luna Lilly this morning when we discovered the injuries to your chest and abdomen. She’s going to coach you through the slow count as I give you the steroid. Unfortunately, the feeder we have been using won’t do this smaller amount over an hour so I will give it by hand over about a minute.” I feel him nod his head in my hand as I place my hand in his. “Lilly, he can’t handle anything on his neck but gently rubbing the back of his head seems to be quite comforting. Put your hand where mine is.” I can feel that Lilly is a lot more timid in being hands on with Cole then I am. Unfortu
“Keep talking to me Cole. It will distract you from the shots. I’m going to take the first one slow but the rest will go fast, in a straight line down your arm. Just stay still for me.” I place his arm in a relaxed position so that I can easily access the muscle. “Tell me more about what's going on with this luna. You said you don’t like her. Why? Did she do something to you? Before she started accusing you of rape?” He sighs heavily but surprisingly decides to talk.“Alpha Andre is the next in line for the pack leader. Dad has spent a ton of money going to every pack in the lower forty-eight that has an unmated luna in an effort to find his fated mate. They succeeded in finding her but she was the only child of Alpha Oliver in California. Alpha Oliver was very selective about who would take over his pack and found out about my father’s reputation. As a result, he refused to simply accept Alpha Andre as his daughter’s mate. Instead he created a series of tasks to test his character
“No, Alpha. It didn’t go over well. Three days after I was taught a lesson by Andre, dad made a special point of publicly reinforcing that lesson in front of Luna Sasha and the higher ranks of the pack.”I can tell by his eyes, breathing and hands that he’s headed into a flashback. Since he’s skirting around the exact nature of what these lessons are I don’t want him to get too deep. I gently place my hands upon his fists as they curl around the blanket he’s sitting on. He startles me when he yelps, pulling his hands away and quickly assuming a defensive and protective position with them in front of his face. I gently place my hands on his again, calmly persuading him to lower his defenses. His eyes are filled with fear as I apologize for startling him before encouraging him to continue. “Per the contract with Alpha Robert the union ceremony happened three weeks later, exactly six months after she came into the pack. About a month later was the first time my dad grabbed a hold of me
“So what’s on your mind, boss? The only time we eat this late without your twins is if you have something big going on.” I nod my head as I jot down a few more things. My notes look more like lists right now but they’re enough to remember my train of thought when I go back to them later. “I’m getting involved with the prospects this time around.” I see Damian and Lucas slow down their eating as I come straight out with the main aspect of tonight’s meeting. “You’re always involved with the prospects, Demetri. You always have. More than any alpha that I know of that’s involved in this program.”“Yes, I do tend to be more involved than the average alpha as, considering the pure size of my pack, I’m extremely picky as to who I bring back let alone who I transfer in but that’s not what I’m talking about. This is beyond the meet and greet as they get off the bus. My insistence on being the main speaker for orientation and going through all the paperwork I have each of you do regarding t
“Dad, you said earlier that those of us that have seen the injuries on Cole haven’t seen the full picture. I saw his chest and abdomen when we interrupted a dream of his this morning. His injuries looked painful and raw.” “Your mom saw the same thing Damian. The only thing Pat saw was the burn on his leg.” “He’s been burned?” Lilly whispers in shock. “He is in a lot worse shape than anyone knows. I’ll tell all of you what I told Xavier, I’m not certain that we’ve even found everything that’s going on with him but I can say this is one of the worst cases of abuse that I’ve seen in the ten years that I’ve been working with the warrior program.”“What have you found Demetri? Like you said, I only saw a nasty burn on his leg.” I sigh as I pull out the picture I printed off of his chest. “The cuts and bruises that are crossing his chest we have also found on his back, bottom, the backs of both thighs, his abdomen, across the front of his left thigh and his groin.” Everyone stops eati
Patrick has gone back to eating slowly, looking to be deep in thought as he does. The entire table is quiet when Damian randomly blurts out what he’s asked me about earlier today. “He acts like a pup.” We all stop and look at him as he quietly plays with his food. “I don’t know why that’s bothering me still, but it is.” “What do you mean he acts like a pup?” Patrick asks. “When I couldn’t handle Red Fang’s whining about the track anymore, I took a break and visited Cole in the wing. I’ve never seen such confusing behavior before. He’s absolutely terrified of dad. Yet once everything calmed down and dad was able to convince him he wasn’t in trouble. He became a pup. Even though he jerked and twitched with dad’s every touch, just like a pup, dad holding him was what he needed to calm down.” Patrick is looking straight at me with his head cocked to one side, silently asking the question everyone wants to know. “Right now Cole is very sick and injured. As a result of his weakened
I reach over to Lilly, who’s sitting to my right, and run my hand gently through her hair. She sighs as she leans into me, I know hearing about Cole’s condition is wearing her down. I sigh myself as I continue. “The biggest problem I’m having right now is him not talking. He was willing to explain what was going on between him and Luna Sasha but he was unwilling to go into any details as to what his brother did to teach him a ‘lesson’ when he tried to warn him that she was a loose woman or what his father did to reinforce that ‘lesson’ in front of Sasha.” I put air quotes around lesson both times to bring emphasis to Cole’s wording. “It is extremely complicated and difficult to get an adult who isn’t willing to talk out of an abusive situation. If I had a child in this condition or even if he was a day away from turning twenty-one, I could act immediately and protect him from returning to Red Fang.” “Couldn’t you just explain the protection orders to him? That if he talked you cou