Chapter 182
(Demetri’s POV)
I’m liking what I see of Cole at the table. It does appear that giving him some space after Lucas attacked him a second time is what he needed.
He’s still nervous and I could tell that asking again about the Big Brother program spiked his anxiety, which is why I stopped him from speaking before he even tried.
He follows me easily from the kitchen. He remains silent but he’s close enough for me to catch his scent, reassuring me that he’s following behind me. I take him out of the dining room and briefly through the common room heading north towards the stairs.
I guide him towards the hallway behind the stairs, stopping at the first room on the right. I type in the pin code, pushing the handle downward before pushing the door open. I turn the lights on as I step inside the room giving Cole the space he needs to enter.
He steps inside slowly, silently taking in the room’s features. It’s our largest guest room and nearly equivalent to the prospect dorms. There’s a plush, queen size bed located in the middle of the north facing wall with night stands located on both sides and lamps on top of those. A long chest of drawers sits against the wall beside the entry while a large bay window takes up the majority of the opposite wall. The flat screen tv is mounted to the wall opposite of the bed with an entertainment center just beneath it holding a mini fridge, microwave, PlayStation and several games.
“Over here is the closest. It’s not a walk-in like the efficiency but it’s still spacious.”
I introduce as I close the main door and open the closet door hidden behind it. He nods his head without walking over to it.
“Lastly,” I speak as I walk across the room to the door beside the tv. “Here’s the bathroom complete with a washer and dryer.”
I open the door and turn on the lights leading him inside the large room.
“So, what do you think? Would you be willing to move into this room today? I understand you wanted to get back with the other prospects but as much as I wanted to make this as close to a normal run as I could with you I just don’t see it happening. Putting you back in the dorms with a separate schedule then the rest of the prospects would call a lot of attention to you.”
He nods his head as he drifts back into the main room, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Can I bring the blanket and pillows I have upstairs here?”
“The body pillows you’ve been enjoying, yes. This bed is bigger than the one upstairs so I’ll take you by the linen closet and let you choose the bedding you want to have on the bed. Is this okay?”
“Yes sir, I’d like to stay here.” He nods as he speaks.
“Good. I’ll help you move your stuff from upstairs after dinner. I’d like you to join us tonight. I understand it may be a little awkward considering the information I’d like you to find for me but I promise you, Lucas has already been punished for his actions and nothing you find will add to it.”
He nods his head, silently once again.
“We stay fairly busy during the week and I’d like to do some testing with you Friday. Jon said you do best on defense so I’d like to start there and see how far you can go before it gets too difficult.”
He’s staring hard at my feet. Despite his lowered gaze I can see the nervousness and apprehension this conversation has caused. I take several steps closer to him just to find he counters each one until he’s stuck against the dresser. He whines hard as I reach over, placing my hand on his shoulder, pulling him gently into me.
“I’m sorry, Cole. This conversation seems to have taken you a hard south.”
I speak calmly as he submits to my embrace. I’m relieved when he settles his head upon my shoulder.
“Talk to me Cole. What’s got you so nervous about testing?”
“What are you going to do to me?”
The sentence comes out panicked with barely a breath to push it out.
“You’ve never been tested at the other packs?” I ask him, shocked at the possibility.
“The only testing ever done was medical and very painful.”
He whispers as his hands clench around the loose fabric of my shirt.
“They never tested any of your warrior skills? How you would perform in battle defending the borders? Your ability to think on your feet?”
I can feel his head shake ‘No’ as I slowly adjust my hold.
“Your skills are indeed impressive. At least what little I got to see on camera of your duel with Lucas.”
Something about my statement catches his attention.
“The only training I receive is with Jamie’s dad. I really should only call it practice though.” He admits shamefully to the floor.
“Jon mentioned that you haven’t been formally trained which leads me to believe that your father’s lying on the application goes farther than omitting the fact that you're on several medications for ptsd.”
He remains silent with my accusation as I’m certain he feels he’s the one to blame for this issue.
“I know I’ve gotten you all nervous but I’d like to get you back to my office. I’d like to see what kind of wizardry you can perform on this program of mine.”
He slowly lifts his head and body from mine and with a silent nod, heads towards the door.
This time I’m following him as he navigates silently through the common room to the second to last hall on the west side of the house. I tend to refer to it as the north wing since it’s in between the east and west wings of the pack house.
He easily remembers the location of my office, stopping at the open door without entering.
“It’s okay for you to go in. Make yourself comfortable with the computer.”
He looks up briefly before heading inside. I can tell by his silent demeanor that he’s uncomfortable and nervous. Could my desire to test his warrior skills still be bothering him?
The admittance from both him and Jon that he’s had little to no formal training for the prospect program is worrisome but that makes his skills all that more impressive and I’m determined to find out how he learns.
I enter my office slowly, stopping at the door to slide my shoes off before walking over the freshly vacuumed rug. I pull the chair in front of the desk out and sit silently, observing the young man at work. I’m surprised at how quickly he got started and it’s impossible to tell how long it will take for him to navigate through the program to start back tracking the portion of the video feed that I haven’t been able to access.
I stay quiet for a while as he clicks and types away at the keyboard easily reminding me of the computer hackers I’ve seen in movies. He’s fully focused on what he’s doing when I finally start asking questions.
“How is it you learned this?”
He stays silent as his typing slows, making me feel as if he can’t do both things at once.
“It was quite by accident really.”
“How so?” I’m trying to keep the conversation going considering he’s hyper focused on his task.
“Do you remember what I told you about school?”
“Sure. You got sick in ninth grade and you were forced to redo the grade. You ended up missing enough time during the first half of the year that your school helped you get online and you ultimately graduated high school early.”
“Yes sir. The school had figured out bits and pieces of my home life and when they first presented the idea of me finishing online I told them that dad wouldn’t allow it. He’d rather me be a dropout. That’s when they explained why they allowed the meeting to happen without him, that he didn’t have to know about it.
That’s when they gave me a brand new pack with everything I needed so that I wasn’t using my father’s Wi-Fi network to do the work. It took a little while but after just playing around with the Wi-Fi and several other things I found myself not just on his network but on his computer. The first time I realized what I had done scarred me and I got out of it quickly but over time I recreated what I had done and within a year I could consistently get on dad’s computer without him knowing about it.”
He explains slowly as I patiently listen.
“That explains how you got access to the Big Brother program but not how you got so familiar with it.”
He sighs hard and I know I’m getting into something he doesn’t want to talk about. I stand from my chair and walk over to the door. I hang a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the outside before quietly shutting and locking the door.
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