Chapter 128
(Patrick’s POV)
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to tell you about myself. I know this is explaining my bias the long way but I’m hoping giving you a story instead of an explanation will help you to relax with my assistance in finishing what needs to be done for your leg.”
I test his receptivity as I walk back over to the bed.
“Twenty years ago, before Demetri became alpha, I was a part of the prospect program. I packed my bag and headed fifteen hours north to a small town in Maine near the Canadian border. The alpha, beta and their families met the bus as it pulled up. The beta’s daughter, Mandy was there and I fell off the bus. Literally face first into the dirt.”
I chuckle as I remember the fond memories of meeting my mate. Something about the sound allows Cole to relax, giving me the ability to lift his leg and slide his over worn sock off his foot.
“Everyone was so excited that Mandy had found her mate that I never participated in the program. Alpha Mathias called Alpha Brian and six months later when I should have been headed home I was completing the mates union ceremony and Mandy was three months pregnant with Parker.
It was three months later that we first met Ansley. There was something about her behavior that didn’t sit well with me. Each time she came over to the pack house I said something to Alpha Mathias but he always waved me off. He always told me that Delta Aiden would never do that sort of thing. That it didn’t exist in his pack. After insisting that something was wrong two to three times a week for over a month, he started accusing me of slander and if I didn’t stop I would be forced to go rogue.
Three months later Ansley came charging into the pack house. She was screaming and crying, completely inconsolable, frantically looking for Mandy. Unfortunately, Mandy had been admitted to the medical wing and despite her immense fear of me, she dived into my lap in the middle of dinner. Alpha Mathias was lit. Started ranting about how I convinced the child that her dad was doing something wrong.
When he tried to pick her up she grabbed me with every ounce of strength she had and screamed. It was only after I wrapped her in the tightest hug I dared to hold her in that she stopped. He didn’t stop ranting until he realized she had passed out. It was only then that he had the warriors at the table grab and secure Aiden. When I realized that everyone was looking at me, I started looking around. It only took a few seconds to realize that the leg she was sitting on was so saturated with her blood that it had started dripping onto the floor.
Without a word I jumped from my chair and ran into the medical wing. As soon as they saw her they took her to surgery. Ansley told me later that her father used a point system for her and her mom that tracked the bad things they did during the day. Every time she hit ten points he would beat her with a belt before raping her. To distract her from the pain of being raped, he would often mark her. The day the abuse was discovered, he had lost control and it nearly killed her.
Alpha Mathias decided to let Mandy and I foster Ansley since her mother’s mental health was in bad shape. She was with us for six months before they were ready to start seeing each other. It took a full year before she was returned to her mom.”
I take a break from my story, surprised that he’s still relatively relaxed. I slowly slip the sock onto his uninjured foot before turning my attention to the injured one. I slowly wrap my hand around his calf near his ankle, cradling it as he tenses and pulls away from me. As hard against him as I was, it does hurt to feel the fear he has towards me. Not that I can blame him after Lucas attacked him.
“Dr. Pierce, do you think you could wet the waterproof pad down with that wash so the inside of his leg can lay on top of it?”
“That may help. I was planning on lining his leg with gauze and soaking it with lidocaine so that should work similarly.”
I nod in understanding before trying to work with Cole again.
“We have a pillow that is curved. We want to put it between your thighs so that your legs can rest comfortably without you having to hold them apart. I’m going to help support your leg but I need you to move it. Only you know what movements you can handle.”
I keep my touch gentle on his calf, waiting for him to make the first move. He slowly starts lifting his leg but struggles hard with the movements. Suddenly he grabs ahold of Demetri’s shirt, burying himself into his neck, stifling the cries he’s desperate to hide.
“Put your hand on his knee. I need you to support him where he’s at so I can get the pillow underneath.”
I move my hands so one is on his knee while the other stays on his ankle. It’s easy to feel his pull trying to get away from me.
“Relax Cole. Don’t pull. Let me handle the weight of your leg.”
I feel his leg shaking in my hands as I struggle to comprehend the gravity of what’s going through his head.
The room is silent as Demetri talks and strokes the frightened young man, trying to reassure and soothe his fear and anxiety. To be afraid of medical care yet so injured you can’t move without yelping is a predicament I never wish to be in.
“Relax completely, Cole. Pat, I need you to slowly lower his leg until it’s resting against the pillow. I’m going to start rinsing your leg down before laying the gauze on you.”
Dr. Pierce instructs but it seems to only make him worse.
“I know I’m not your favorite person right now but I’d like to try to distract you by finishing my story.”
I offer the only thing I really think I have right now. To my surprise, he nods. Dr. Pierce places my hand on his ankle after placing a second pillow between his calves.
“We started trying to have another pup after Parker turned two. Mandy would get pregnant but would miscarry the pup only three or four months into the year long pregnancy. After the third miscarriage we talked with the doctors there at Blue Haven but they weren’t as advanced as the doctors here at Crimson Dawn. I reached out to Demetri about a year after his father died. I didn’t know it at the time that I called but he was struggling with the transition into the alpha role while also trying to maintain being a doctor and father to his two sons.
Despite his high stress levels he listened to the issues we were having and ultimately, invited us to make the trip back to the pack. Crimson Dawn has always been a top ten leader in werewolf medicine and he was confident that he could help.
Alpha Mathias had different rules, as all packs tend to have and pack members weren’t allowed to move around quite as freely as they do here. With Mandy being the beta’s only child, Alpha Mathias thought if she left she would never come back. It didn’t make much sense to me at the time considering we have always been considered a strict and unforgiving pack, even in Alpha Brian’s time. That reputation made it very difficult for Alpha Mathias to see me as much more than a brute.
He calmed down after he realized I wasn’t bull shitting him about Ansley but the rest of the pack still struggled to accept me. Unlike the alpha’s fated mate, the beta’s fated mate isn’t always warmly welcomed. In the end, we continued to struggle.
It was her sixth time getting pregnant that she finally made it past the fourth month, Parker had just turned eight years old. We were so happy and hopeful this time but of course it didn’t last. It was during her ninth month that she started bleeding. She checked into the medical wing where they would keep her overnight but never find anything. When they released her she was told to be on strict bed rest and see her regular doctor. She went to him the next day but he didn’t find anything either. The baby appeared fine and the bleeding stopped so we just made Mandy take it easy.
Two more times she started bleeding at night. Two more times to the med wing. Two more times nothing was found. She started having a very uneasy feeling about the pregnancy and talked at length with her dad and Alpha Mathias. She wanted to make the trip to Crimson Dawn but they were both against it. Even started accusing me of convincing her to come to them.”
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