One Thing

**MAX**
"Please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" she screams, cowering in the corner of the room. Her hands are curled around her head protectively and she's made herself so small that I'm reminded of the child she was when she was imprisoned.
"Blanca!" I shout as someone begins pounding on my door again.
As I go to move toward her, I reach for my robe hanging on the wall. A bloodcurdling scream rips from her lungs as I approach, the pitch so high it nearly cripples me. My knees buckle and I'm forced to plug my ears.
*Holy shit. She could weaponize that sound.*
"Damn it, Blanca," I snap. Then, putting a little authority behind my voice, I command, "Stop shouting!"
She does, of course she does, and I'm grateful for it. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she expected me to hit her. As it is, I can only imagine what the rest of the house assumes I was doing to her.
*Holy fuck. Jared probably thinks I've killed her.*
Tying the robe on, I kneel down to pull her to her feet, but the moment my hands get close, she whimpers, jerking her body away from my arms and into the wall.
She's shaking with fear.
Fear... of me.
I immediately stop trying to reach for her.
The knocking continues and I'm three seconds from murdering whomever it is at my door when my phone rings on the nightstand.
"Don't move," I tell Blanca, before retrieving my phone.
"Jared," I say tiredly. "If you knock on my door one more bloody time, I will-"
"It's not me, Max. It's Fionna. She's here early."
*Fionna? Oh fuck no.*
"Then why in the fuck is she in my damned hallway? Why has no one stopped her from trespassing on *this* floor? She is *not* yet a member of this pack. She has no business up here until *she is*," I growl, watching Blanca's face carefully in my side vision. Oddly enough, she doesn't acknowledge my words.
"I don't know Casanova... something about a breakfast surprise is what the Omegas are telling me."
"Get her the fuck off my floor, Jared. Entertain her for me until I can meet you downstairs. I have something to take care of first."
"I'll just bet you do," Jared snipes.
"What the fuck does that mean, Beta?"
"It means what you think it means, *Alpha.*"
I hang up the phone and turn back to Blanca, who is still seated on the floor in the corner.
At least she appears to have calmed down.
Studying her still shaking frame, I try to envision what would cause her to have such a traumatic response to what just happened in the bed.
*Does she feel like I assaulted her? Did I somehow trigger-*
My body flashes with anger when I realize what must have happened.
*She was triggered, alright.*
Not *by* me... but by what she *did* to me.
Something similar must have happened before. Maybe... in the dungeon. With Talbot and Frank.
I'm suddenly reminded of the conversation we had yesterday. When I asked her how the attacks started.
Remembering what she said isn't the hard part. It's reading between the lines that's got me stumbling.
It is difficult enough separating the crimes as they were committed themselves from the person standing in this room. Last night at the training grounds, I wanted to charge every warrior there with delivering a fitting punishment for the crimes committed by the night guards. But I knew the moment the warriors found out who the victim was, it would change things. The very *second* they realized it was *Blanca* who had been raped, they would end up sympathizing with the guards. And then of course... I'd have been forced to kill them all.
Well... I'd definitely *want* to.
I *know* she's my mate, but nobody else does. And... even though I can't accept her as mine... she still *feels* like *mine.*
Closing my eyes, I replay her words from yesterday and my body tenses when I realize all the little things I missed... everything she *didn't* say...
*"I said, no. Repeatedly, Alpha. I even begged."*
*"You begged? Did you... did you fight them?"*
*"Yes. I fought them."*
*She fought them... and I'm pretty sure they fought her right back.*
When I get my hands on them again today... it will be to execute *them* in the most private, most sadistic, most conniving of ways. *In secret.*
Fury like I have never known sparks inside of me as I realize how fucking damaged this girl is. And not just at the hands of the guards, but at the hands of her parents... at the hands of *my father.* Killer or not... She was only ten damned years old. She deserved a little sunlight at the very fucking least.
And I just finished asking her to be my damned *concubine*.
*What an asshole, I am.*
Blanca's soft, apologetic voice sounds as she finally forces herself onto her feet, "I'm sorry, Max. It was an accident. I swear it was."
I study her expression, the sad downturn of her lips and the way she keeps her head lowered when she speaks. Then of course, there is the fidgeting of her hands when she gets nervous. At first I thought it was kind of adorable, but now I see it for what it is. A *child's* habit.
For fuck's sake. She was never allowed to mature past the age of ten.
"I know it was, Blanca. It was *my* fault if it was anyone's. I should have let you go the moment you asked. I'm the one who should be sorry. Not you."
Her lip trembles and the blue of her eyes sparkle with the sheen of fresh tears, but somehow she battles them back.
Before I can stop myself, I'm charging toward her and slapping my hands flat against the wall on either side of her head. Before I can even open my mouth to ask my question, her scent wafts toward me and my dick spikes behind my robe. *Hell,* even my fangs have speared from my lips. Suddenly the desire to kiss her is a burning, throbbing need and I very, nearly do it. My head dips down toward her mouth, but she sees it coming and turns her face in the opposite direction at the last second. I end up with my nose buried in her hair and my lips pressed against her ear instead, which is *almost* as nice, but does nothing to take away the sting of her rejection. I sigh heavily, nipping at her earlobe with my teeth since it's all she's willing to let me have.
I chuckle when she shivers against my lips, knowing it is only a matter of time before she gives in and lets me taste her lips.
I whisper, "I'm not going to ask you to talk about it. I know you don't want to. I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw you having a nightmare last night."
She whimpers, but at the same time I see her shoulders sag with relief. "Thank you, Alpha."
*Here we go with this Alpha shit again.* It's almost cute, the way she's trying to distance herself from me.
*Baby, I just had your hand wrapped around my dick. If you insist on calling me Alpha when we're alone, I'm going to wrap your mouth around it next.*
"Just tell me one thing. That's it. One thing."
She nods, slowly turning to face me. "Okay."
I study her eyes, keeping her attention on me as my claws begin to stretch and sharpen, digging into the wall behind her head. "Did either of them ever... hit you?"
She looks away as she gives me her answer, which unfortunately, means she notices my claws, but not before I hear her say, "Yes."
My chest begins to expand and my muscles tremble. I can feel a shift coming on that's so powerful and deadly that I know I'll only have seconds to make it outside before tearing this room apart. But still, I manage one more garbled question. "Both of them?" Strangely enough, my animalistic rumble doesn't seem to frighten her and I almost want to smile.
"Just Frank," she says quietly.
*That's it. That's all I needed to hear.*
Shoving away from the wall and turning around to drop my robe, I say, "Stay here and wait for Jared."
Then, I throw open my bedroom window and leap out, shifting into my wolf before my feet can even touch the ground. Then... I run.
I don't even know where I'm headed until I get there and the moment that I do, I realize I should have probably brought some clothes.
Because Shifters might be comfortable talking to a little man with a giant dick, but I doubt that the Shiftless are.
And being as how I'm already standing here, in the middle of the Rim... I'm thinking that I might have a few questions.