Sunday May 12th Pt. 9
“If I can get additional information and X-rays of the rest of his body, I think it would be an easy case. Dissociative amnesia and dormant wolf syndrome are not easy to create on their own and he has both.”
“What would cause that?”
“Well, dormant wolf syndrome is caused by physical trauma. Literally breaking a werewolf’s body little by little over a span of time so their inner wolf has to deplete all the supernatural power they have to keep the individual alive. Once the wolf has gone dormant the werewolf becomes human and can be killed as easily as a human. Dissociative amnesia in werewolves is caused by psychological trauma.”
“The physical trauma you described is torture and everyone knows that psychological trauma occurs during torture as well. Why aren’t the two seen together more often?”
“Dissociative amnesia is more common in humans than in werewolves. Even those who are victims of torture that has resulted in loosing limbs have come out remembering who they are. What little research doctors have been able to do has discovered only one common factor that all individuals with dissociative amnesia have.”
I stop a moment as it pains me to think of any individual being in such a situation.
“What’s the commonality, Dev?”
“Long term abuse.”
“Don’t you mean torture?”
“No Cass. Abuse that’s severe enough to be considered torture but never endangers the individuals wolf. The beating the individual is enduring happens all at once and when it’s done, it’s done. The abuser doesn’t come back repeatedly. The individual is given the opportunity to heal. Sometimes with but most of the time it’s without medical assistance.”
“You mentioned pup blue eyes. Isn’t that another characteristic of long term abuse?”
I’m glad that Cass is keeping up as it’s been a while since we’ve had such a stray show up.
“Pup blue eyes are indicative of abuse that starts in early childhood. You have to take into account that their eyes will change from navy to their permanent eye color anywhere from four to six years of age. The abuse would have to start before the age of change and continue into the teen years to become their normal eye color.” He’s nodding silently.
“I’m sorry to give you something Braysen should be able to handle but I‘ll bring my laptop to the hospital. I need you to look over the current laws on sanctuary as something has happened within the council.”
“Why?”
“Why do you need to look over the laws instead of my beta?” I can tell that Braysen is a sore subject.
“If you don’t like your beta or he’s not doing his job, replace him but why do you think something happened inside the council?”
“Because feral males are no longer allowed to be killed.”
He speaks distantly, as if there’s a lot on his mind.
“That’s certainly new. They’ve allowed the killing of ferals for decades.”
“I wasn’t able to go through the details but the council suddenly seems very interested in stopping the abuse. It’s as if they had an epiphany that the abuse was causing them to go wild not the other way around.”
“I’d be more than happy to look at what you found while Aaron is working on Colton. Something else is eating on you.” He nods but doesn’t answer.
“Cass?”
“Do you think it would be demeaning if I chose an alpha to fill the beta’s role in the pack?”
“You? No. You have far too much respect for even the lowest omegas for any alpha in this pack to find that position demeaning. Who do you have in mind?” He simply shakes his head.
“Cass.” He inhales deeply and lets it out slowly.
“I’ve wanted you for years in that role but you’ve already taken on so much that I can’t bring myself to put more on you.” I smile and nod as I pat his shoulder.
“We need to focus on tonight. I need your help.” He returns the nod.
“Talk to me.”
“Colton needs to go under anesthesia to handle Aaron putting his arm in traction to get the bones correctly aligned.”
“He needs an IV and he responded to my scent and aura very nicely.”
“Yes sir. I’d like to explain it before I have you take him over to my house but he needs your help to stay calm.”
“Well let’s break the news softly.”
He heads to the door as I turn off the lights. I’m surprised to find Colton sleeping. He managed to scoot himself in the chair to the bed sitting against the wall. Both of his arms are resting on top of the mattress with the brace sitting in the middle. Cassius doesn’t wait for instructions before slowly brushing his fingers through Colton’s disheveled hair.
“I’m sorry my son but we need to talk before heading to bed.”
He sits back fast enough to show he triggered a nasty round of vertigo. Cass responds quickly to his swaying, wrapping his arm across Cole’s chest pulling him back against the chair. He yelps as he struggles against the restraint. He adjusts his hold swiftly to include Cole’s left arm, preventing him from trying to use it during his fight.
“Lay your head against me.”
His command is as firm as his guidance is gentle helping Colton follow through.
“Take it easy, son. Let’s slow down. There’s nothing wrong. You’re not in any trouble.”
He keeps his hand in Cole’s hair, gently petting him while keeping him against his arm. Colton’s breathing is stiff and ragged as he struggles to regulate his fear of us. It takes longer than I would have preferred for him to calm down but our past experiences have taught us that patience is the key to wolves like Colton.
“Much better.” Cassius compliments. “It’s important that we talk but you need to be of sound mind or we can’t accept what you say you want. Are you ready to talk now? You’ve done nothing wrong.”
He nods slowly against Cassius’s arm before Cass slowly moves from behind him.
“Dev. Let him know what you found and what needs to happen next. I think he was asleep when you asked me to make that appointment with Aaron.”
“He was.” I agree easily.
I grab the wheelchair and turn it away from the bed. I’m shocked to see him struggling to place his arm back in the sling.
“Here.” I grab a pillow from the bed and place it in his lap. He whispers a low thank you as he places his arm on top.
“There’s no way for me to know why your arm has ended up like it is. With your admittance that you tossed a brace shortly after leaving the hospital I know they knew it was injured. It’s going to take several tests to figure out why the small carpal bones in your wrist are compressed together but that is the most obvious issue you have right now. While you were sleeping I asked Cassius to set up an appointment with Dr. Hamilton. He is a werewolf orthopedic specialist that works at Shadowland University Hospital. Your wrist needs to go into a traction device that will help stretch your hand away from your arm so you can be placed into a cast that will prevent your wrist from collapsing allowing it to heal.”
I pause my explanation as I can tell he’s very scared from what he’s hearing.
“Talk to me. What’s scaring you right now?”
“It’s going to hurt me.” He whispers.
“If it’s done without medication, yes it’s very painful but that’s why we want to talk now.”
He looks at me briefly before his gaze returns to the floor.
“To administer anesthesia so you don’t feel what’s happening you are going to need an IV placed in your arm or leg.”
I take my time not knowing how much he understands about medicine.
“Can you make me sleep through it?”
“That’s the plan with giving you anesthesia. I would like to keep it light, what’s called twilight sleep. If Dr. Hamilton agrees then twilight will allow you to breathe on your own while you sleep through the procedure needed to fix and cast your arm.”
“But I need an IV for him to make me sleep.” He speaks slowly as if he’s trying to process what’s being said.
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