Chapter 101
I kiss her again before sitting down.
I connect my lightning cord to the computer then to my phone and scroll through the files to find my audio recordings, downloading what Cole just told me about the girls and saving it under ‘protection’.
“What are you doing now?”
Lilly asks as I bring up my ‘Big Brother’ security program.
“Gathering evidence that he’s capable of being a protector.”
“What exactly have you found, Demetri?”
I scroll through all the different areas that I have cameras placed in my territory, both indoors and outdoors, while trying to think of everywhere he would want to go to take care of Madilyn.
I start selecting all the usual places; the medical room they are currently sleeping in is the first one up. I take a moment to watch the video feed. The glow from leaving the television on gives me a great view in the dark of how relaxed both of them are. I can’t help but sigh with relief.
“You're attached to him, aren’t you?”
“It seems that way. I mean what are the chances that the one child that comes out decently from Alpha Redmen’s bloodline is the one that is brutally abused and tormented.”
“You got me.”
I move into other areas of the pack house. The med room next to mine, the girls room across the hall and the hallway between the two rooms. Next I bring up the warriors dorm and bring up cameras on the main floor entrance and his room. Lastly, I bring up both the dining hall and banquet hall.
“That should be enough”
I sigh as I set it to automatically save twenty-four hours of data. I’ll scroll through the feed later and save what I feel is useful.
“Are you ready to head upstairs?”
“Are you going to tell me what you found out about the protection marks? Especially since you’re going through all this to protect him. I still don’t understand what you’re protecting him from.”
“I’ll explain what little I found on the way up to the room.”
She gives me a nod as I finish setting my computer up for the automatic save of the rooms I’ve selected. The program is designed to give me a constant seventy-two hour feed but I want to be able to go through this at my leisure to pick out his interactions alone with Madilyn. Once I’m satisfied I set my computer to the screen saver instead of sleep and stand from my chair.
“Let’s head upstairs.”
She smiles as I take her hand and turn off the lights before shutting the door. As we walk together down the hall towards the stairs I try to explain what information I have found.
“So. I haven’t had a lot of time to do much in the way of research but when I went to the council’s website and did a search for protection marks a single hit popped up. When I opened it, it was an article written about forty years ago that spoke of a young male who was able to protect pre-shifted females by marking them the same way we marked yesterday.”
“Which would be why he got so upset. As an adult wolf, capable of handling the marking, it still hurts like crazy to be marked.”
“I imagine it hurts these little girls even more considering they feel pain at a higher level and don’t have the same healing powers of an adult wolf. Now the article didn’t go much into what allowed this male to become a protector but it did discuss at length the type of children that he protected.”
Lilly goes ahead of me once we are off the stairs, stepping into the girls room to check on Madisyn. I knock lightly on Damian’s door, I’m shocked when I hear a soft invitation in. I turn the doorknob and step in quietly, leaving the door open until I leave.
“I heard Jessa in here earlier, is everything okay?”
I ask as I sit on the edge of his bed.
“We didn’t do anything dad. We’ve never done anything past second.” Damian whines defensively.
“That’s not what I’m worried about, Day. I already told both of you that the relationship was acceptable now that you’re eighteen. No, I’m concerned because she sounded really upset, scared actually.”
“She only comes to me when she’s scared.”
I watch as he runs his hand through her hair without her moving. She’s asleep with her head and one arm lying upon Damian’s naked chest.
“Can you tell me what she’s afraid of?”
“Her mate is here. I know we can smell our mates, usually a mile away, but she said she simply feels it. She says she felt it as soon as your bus with Red Fang warriors arrived. She worked for Alpha Redmen for a little bit and her experience with the wolves there, especially the warriors, wasn’t good.”
“Has she taken any medication?”
He looks down at her sleeping without answering the question.
“Day, it’s not something to hide. I just want to know how bad it is she’s feeling. You’re sister Madilyn and I have had to take medication in order to reduce the effect of Cole’s nightmare tonight.”
He looks at me quickly, uncertain about what I’m saying.
“I snuck into your room after you and mom left with Madilyn. I was wondering what was going on with her. I grabbed one each of Ativan and Zofran. She said she takes both when her anxiety gets this high.”
“One question Day. Are the two of you still dating?”
“No. We broke up last week but that has changed little about our relationship. Probably won’t until one of us starts seeing someone else.”
I nod my head as Damian yawns.
“Good night, son. I love you.”
He smiles sleepily.
“I love you too, dad.”
He manages through another yawn. I gently pat his leg before standing from the bed. I quietly walk across the room and out the door, closing it softly behind me.
I meet Lilly at the door to our room and wait for her to enter first. She goes to her side of the bed and eases herself under the covers. I slip my pants and t-shirt off before slipping in beside her. She rolls onto her side, placing her head and arm on my chest while the other arm slips over the one I wrap her in.
“Was there anything else that article said?” Lilly asks sleepily.
“It didn’t say much about the male. There was nothing about how he discovered he could do it, how old he was when it started or anything else. The general understanding from the council is that the male has to be pure in heart. The council defined this as the male having no assaults against humans or werewolves, and they have to have had their first shift.”
“Why is telling us he’s a protector so dangerous? I thought something like that would be wanted by packs.”
“It’s dangerous because of who he’s protecting. There was quite a bit of information on that.”
“There was?”
I take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, not certain if I wanted to get into the situation under which protectors were generally discovered.
“The article touched briefly on precocious heat which lead to me to look that up.”
“Precocious heat?”
“Because abuse is so prevalent in werewolf packs the council has been able to collect sixty or more years of statistics on precocious heat in female pups. It was found, that in large packs with loose morals like Red Fang is rumored to be, sexual abuse tends to run rampant. The council found that in cases like that, long term molestation of the pups will cause their wolf to go into heat before they are capable of shifting.”
I take a break trying to give Lilly a chance to comprehend the magnitude of what I’m explaining.
“What are you saying?”
“I think the girls that Cole is helping are is heat before they can shift and, for some, before their human menses has started making them extremely vulnerable to rape and other unwanted attention from shifted males.”
“Would they be capable of getting pregnant?”
“Yes and it would kill them before the pregnancy could get far enough for the pup to make it.”
I can tell my last statement has made an impact.
“Why would Cole being a protector put him in danger?” She whispers.
“I don’t know how much Alpha Redmen knows of what Cole is doing and I honestly don’t think Cole even recognizes the significance of what he’s doing beyond relieving their symptoms. The danger to Cole is the lengths at which Alpha Redmen may go to keep it quiet. If Cole is a protector then that means the rumors about the Red Fang pack are true and those rumors go beyond sanctioned rape among the young adults.”
“You’re worried about him returning home.”
“I am. He’s been here two full days and I am convinced that allowing him to return home would be the death of him. He doesn’t deserve what he’s receiving yet he’s loyal enough that he’s refusing to leave.”
She snuggles even deeper into my chest as the effects Ativan finally start calling my name. I allow the meds to clear my head as I close my eyes and drift to sleep.
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