Chapter 185
“The power?” I can't help but question.
“Yes sir. It was when she brought me Annabel that she told me that not only did the marking relieve her intense pain and overwhelming fatigue but it prevented the pack members from assaulting her. She begged me to provide that same relief to Annabel.”
“Now you said before that your father discovered these marks and called you to his office about a week after you did it. You also mentioned just a few minutes ago that he started punishing you monthly. What made you believe, other than the timing, that he was punishing you for the markings?”
“Whenever he punishes me he rants about what I’ve done wrong. ‘You filthy rapist, how dare you mark a pup.’ Tends to stay with you awhile.”
He stays silent for a minute after finishing the statement. I remain quiet as well, giving him a minute to digest the memories of such atrocities.
“I understand the purpose behind the markings, the reason they look for you when you’re gone. When I was on rotation at different packs I ran into a pack where women and children were abused in much the same way you see at your pack. Every week they had young girls in the hospital in debilitating pain. It took me a long time to digest that these young girls were in heat before their first shift. It was even worse to find out that there was little the hospital could do to relieve their pain outside of strong IV painkillers that often sedated them.”
He nods his head as he gets back into the program, occasionally sitting back silently waiting for something to load.
“But, I’m still struggling to put together the pieces. How does the sexual abuse that creates the need for you to provide protection marks connect with your need to learn this security program? You have already proven, over the last ten minutes, how skilled you are at manipulating it.”
He sighs hard and it seems he’s less willing to talk about his need to break into the system than he was detailing the assaults going on.
“Dad has been building a false case against me for rape and child molestation since I was eighteen.”
He speaks quietly and shamefully acknowledging yet another issue that he’s been dealing with. I reach out and grab his hand. He whines slightly as he tries to pull away, looking directly at me for a moment when he can’t.
“What do you know about this case he’s building against you?”
He stares at my face, his eyes darting from side to side in an effort not to look directly in them. I stand from my seat, covering his eyes with my hand without touching his face.
“Slow down Cole. I can’t help you if I don’t know the whole story of what’s going on. He’s building a case against you and the only way to prove your innocence is with what you’ve saved on your laptop. I’ve put that much together but I need more information. Please Cole. You’re doing extraordinary. Don’t shut down now.”
“I’m sorry alpha. The more I say the more I feel I deserve to be sent home.”
“Talk to me. Please. Give me the chance that you’ve given no one else.”
I have moved the hand covering his eyes to the back of his head. His eyes are closed, his head bowed, yet he appears relaxed and comforted by my gentle touch and slow movements. I slowly draw my hand away as his breathing slows and his body visibly relaxes.
“I was nineteen and a half when my apprenticeship with Jon ended and Alpha Redmen ordered me to return to the pack house. Things had steadily gotten worse again and with alpha ordering me to stay away from the Jenkins for six months, I didn’t have much to occupy myself.
I pulled out the laptop that my high school gave me. I wasn’t even certain if it would work considering it hadn’t been touched since I moved out. To my surprise, it did. Since I no longer needed it for completing my schoolwork, I wasn’t too worried about exploring the coding that made it work. I did a lot of research online and explored YouTube a bunch but something about it clicked with me and after six hours of nearly nonstop exploration, my screen goes black for several seconds.
At first I had no idea what was going on. I checked the plug to see if I disconnected it. Checked to see if the lights at the front of the computer indicated that it was on. Moved the mouse again in case it was asleep. Suddenly, after thirty seconds of thinking I destroyed my computer, a different screen pops up.
I could see the mouse moving on its own so I unplugged mine and simply watched without touching it. I was struggling to understand what was going on. I was about to turn my computer off when the mouse started opening a file that had my name on it. I was hooked as there were dozens of video feeds saved in the file. As I sat there, the mouse scrolled down to the very bottom of the file and clicked on the latest video to be added to it.
The window opened and the video started playing. The male in the video wasn’t me although I recognized it easily as my brother Kristoph. All three of us boys look a lot like our father and outside of very subtle differences in height, weight and eye color which really can’t be seen on a black and white video feed, we look the same.”
He collapses back into my chair, spinning it gently from side to side. He looks exhausted and fearful with tears threatening to escape his eyes.
“What did you see?”
I ask in a hushed tone uncertain if he would be willing to divulge what’s bothering him.
“He was raping her.”
He whispers slowly, barely able to get the words out of his mouth.
“Cole?”
I can’t help but reach out to him again but he’s frozen in the memory.
“Kristoph was the animal, the monster my father has the pack convinced I am.”
The tears fall silently as he appears to grieve the realization of what his life has become. He takes a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out again.
“He started telling me about the security cameras being everywhere in the territory a month after he gave me permission to rape Allie. I found out that he had one installed in every room two weeks after I used the master card to enter her room because when he called me in for a meeting he laughed at me.
‘You stupid pup. I give you the opportunity of a life time and not only did you not fuck her but you couldn’t even be man enough to sleep in the same bed as her.’
I know my mouth was gaping open because he made certain to say something about it before telling me that he saw me on the security footage. That there isn’t a single room in the territory that doesn’t have one. That was the first time he mentioned running away.”
“Running away?” I can’t help but ask.
“It confused me too, alpha. It wasn’t until years later that I started to understand his statement; don’t you dare even think about running away.”
He sighs hard as he looks up at the ceiling, stilling all movements as he continues.
“Allie broke up with me shortly after my first shift and the discovery of Olivia in my room. Six months later Olivia came back and I was happy to have her company, even if the little one was in a ton of pain from what her father and brothers had done to her.
She was farther into her heat cycle this time and them assaulting her made the cramping and fatigue so much worse. She was physically sick from the pain to the point where she barely ate. I managed to steal cases of protein shakes from the kitchen and bottles of Tylenol and Motrin from the closet because I knew that she needed the nutrition and pain relief to deal with the cramps.
It was a week after she left that the rumors that I was in a relationship with Olivia started. I did my best to ignore them and a few months later Rachel asked me out. As I explained in January, I bailed on her after only dating for three months. I had just started working with Jon part time and there were several times that she criticized me for not being into the relationship.”
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