Thursday, April 4th; 5pm
Despite the growing pain from the beating I endured before leaving, I did manage to slip into a decent sleep.
“Andre.”
I hear Amos calling my name and gently rocking my body by my shoulders.
“Andre, Amos told me that you’re not feeling well. That something happened with your father just before leaving.”
Alpha Julian’s voice calls next as I slowly move. I yelp repeatedly as I freeze my movements, my clothes have stuck to me awkwardly and moving has resulted in several spots tearing loose. I’m on my stomach, barely elevated off the seat as I pant, trying hopelessly not to cry as my emotions are on an edge I haven’t seen in years.
“Pardon me, as I don’t know your name, but at the moment I highly discourage touching your alpha.”
Julian alerts me to the foolery Max is about to achieve.
“Max.” My voice wavers with the intensity of pain I’m in. “How often have I yelped in front of you?”
The room is silent waiting for his reply.
“Never.” He finally speaks with confidence but with it comes a realization.
“What did Redmen do to you and why?” His voice is hushed as he uses the name we only use among ourselves.
“I’m not repeating it so that question has to wait. I need a bath in lidocaine.”
I’m as serious as I am joking. It’s been a long time since I’ve been belted this way. I slow my breathing as I realize that I’ve adopted what Cole calls these insane beatings that aren’t designed to punish you but to break you.
“I’m going to need help getting out. I’m sorry alpha, I don’t think I can do this silently.”
“I have no mandate for silence when you’re hurt, Andre.”
I nod as I try to figure out the best way to move just to collapse on the seat again in defeat. It’s half past six by the time I make it out of the Mountaineer. My face is stained with tears, my clothes, with my blood. I walk slowly behind Alpha Julian to his medical wing.
“Would you be more comfortable with a male doctor or a female? I have both available.”
I shake my head as I don’t have a preference.
“Whoever is able to handle seeing the abuse.”
I state sarcastically until he turns and looks at me. I swear I’m right back to being a pup as I literally jump backwards, knocking Amos off his feet as I yelp and scream. Suddenly I’m lifted off of Amos, placed on my feet and held still. My body is still screaming to fight but there’s something about the scent that has surrounded me that stops me from honoring that feeling.
“Breathe, son. It seems this beating has done a lot more damage than I expected.”
My yelps quiet into soft whimpers as I come to my senses.
“I’m sorry.”
He remains quiet, using a simple hand gesture to guide the way to a large open room. I take my time observing it as I have never seen such a room before.
“This is a rage room. We don’t normally do exams or meetings in this room but it would seem you have a lot to get off your chest. I think it’s time you open up to what’s going on over there. It’s not just your brother being abused.”
I nod without thinking as I gingerly walk around the room. I run my fingers across a single table, picking up a small glass orb as I walk by the shallow but wide box. It fits easily in my hand. Not too small or large. I absentmindedly start rubbing my thumb across its smooth surface.
“We have a little bit of time. Both of my doctors are here. Dr. Lauren James and Dr. Wayne Wilson. They are here as witnesses to the recording. I need you to make a statement.”
“The council is already scheduled to arrive on May 10th. Their arrival will destroy my pack as it’s currently known. What difference would a statement from me make?”
I can’t help but come across depressed as I allow myself to sink into a neurological shock. I don’t want to be here right now.
“Your pack will need a leader they can trust to support them after it falls. You’ve already been coronated as heir.”
“I’m not the leader they deserve.” I state as I shake my head.
“You’re actively trying to help your brother, the worst off of all the members, get away.”
I shake my head as I halfway laugh.
“I have abused him damn near as much as my father for the last five years. My mother and I have flopped between trying to care for him and abusing him so much that he doesn’t know which side is real.” I sigh hard as I struggle not to cry.
My mind keeps wondering what torture Kris and my father have cooked up to put him through before beating him to death.
“Why?”
I stop my slow circular walk inside the small group that surrounds me. I look intently at Julian while he speaks.
“Why did you start abusing him?”
Julian holds up a small recorder and sets it on a table nearby. “I was twenty-four, Cole was eighteen. I had just come back from California where we had discovered my fated mate. Problem was, her father researched my father and his pack. Found out about the abuse and sanctioned rape. The council works nationwide and under specific circumstances the alpha of the pack can demand the council to test the alpha mate. It’s a grueling, five days of testing everything. Strength, stamina, resilience, problem solving, and morality are tested multiple times and in multiple ways. If the potential alpha fails even one of these tests then the ruling alpha can reject the mate. It doesn’t matter if they’re fated or not.”
Julian simply nods his head as I speak.
“I was angry after the rejection. While it did physically hurt, the standard feeling of a hot knife blade ripping through your chest, it only lasted ten seconds at best. Not nearly as bad as the mental toll it took on me. On the road trip back, instead of admitting that he taught me the wrong things he told me I failed because I was too soft, forgiving. I wasn’t the tough, unforgiving alpha that a pack needed. After a week of being told what a failure I was, I was livid. It took nothing to incur my wrath and I took it out on everyone every chance I got.
My brother paid the price dearly. Even though I had not touched him after the fight dad encouraged me to start where I beat him into the ground a few days before he turned fifteen. Dad kept telling me of all the immoral things he was doing. About the young girls and pups staying weeks at a time in his room. I didn’t investigate what he said, just took his word on it.
I didn’t ask why there were scheduled meetings for Cole to come to dad’s office. Completely missed the fact that he wasn’t even living in the pack house. I simply took advantage of the fact that on the fifteenth of every month I reported to the training room that’s down the hall from his office. Cole was chained with his hands above his head, completely nude. It was obvious that dad had already taken a belt to him but that didn’t matter. I was given a belt and told my limit. The only other instructions I received was to put my strength behind it and the first time he yelped I was to stop and turn the belt so the rest of his hits were with the buckle end.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
