Chapter 229
I take a break as his eyes finally meet mine. He swallows hard and I wait patiently for him to speak.
“Lucas.”
“What about Lucas?” I can’t help but ask.
“Was he one of the pups?” It takes me a moment to digest the question as it would explain his need to attack Cole.
“At the time that it happened the investigation revealed that all the pups were delta level or lower and four to six years old. Damian and Lucas were never interviewed because they didn’t fit the profile and Regan was the only beta child that they targeted. She was very smart and quite cocky for such a young beta. When he told her that she couldn’t use her link while in the dorm rooms she challenged him on it. It’s how they finally got caught.”
“Alpha.” His voice can barely be heard as he speaks.
“Kristoph often bragged about the alpha of other packs being too stupid to see through his lies. He talked of faking injuries in order to gain access to the alpha’s kids. When he tired of them he would target the lower levels until he was sent home. Please, alpha. Talk to them. Kristoph is the monster I’m supposed to be and if he was here then he has hurt more pups than what you were able to find.”
My heart drops with his confession. He knows more than I could possibly have imagined but my story has a point that I must get to.
“The reason I told both of you that story is because after about three interviews with the parents and the pups we discovered that the pups had been convinced to go willingly with them without their parent’s permission. I put into place a protocol where, if at any time no matter the circumstances, a pup is with a non member out of camera range without the parent explicitly asking for their assistance the pup is to be interviewed for possible sexual assault.
Although six years ago was our first encounter and it was a massive one, it wasn’t the only one. While I have identified and removed over two dozen wolves from their abusive packs over the ten years that I’ve been in the warrior program, that's not what I’m known for.”
I pause a moment as Cole looks intently at me.
“The reason I’m rumored to be a merciless, strict and unforgiving alpha is because I have also uncovered, physically punished and sent to the council a dozen sexual predators in three years. The last one was a few months before Angela came back.”
I try to give him some time to digest and understand what’s going on and why. I hold his left hand, rubbing it gently as I wait for him to form any questions he has.
“I understand better why you feel the need to do this but I still don’t like it. I have nothing to hide but the exam will hurt her even though I haven’t.”
There’s a sadness in his voice that pulls hard at my heart.
“I understand your concern. The exam isn’t part of the protocol. We understand that such an exam is very invasive especially on very young pups. The exam only happens if the pup indicates during the interview that something bad happened to them and even then it’s not the full exam unless we see injury. Julie is very skilled at these interviews and her goal today is to have Madisyn tell her story, starting with why she ran away from Erin when she knew I had locked everyone down during the brawl. Madilyn has already told me her side when we were in the link.”
I pause for a moment, uncertain how he is going to react to my confession.
“I actually have a separate motive for doing the interview on Madisyn as I have no reason to believe that you hurt her.”
“What reason is that?” He asks with his eyes closed.
“No matter if you manage to run from your pack and get back here or not, I will be part of the ferality trial. At least if the committee does their job properly I will be. I’ve been gathering evidence to prove that you are being tortured by your home pack but I also can use it to show that you’re not feral. None of your behaviors are indicative of an individual who has let go of societal norms. If anything, you act as if you live in a prison even though you’re not.”
“It’s a trial?” He seems surprised at the information.
“As I started to tell you yesterday, Angela has been doing some digging and she needs to meet with you to give you information on the complexity of your father even getting a trial date. I think she found some good news as well but with what happened yesterday, the four of us felt it best to give you a week before trying to overload you with so much information.” His eyes open again, looking fearful and frantic.
“What do you know about yesterday?”
I watch Jessa reach out to him, touching the side of his face gently as he struggles to bite back a yelp.
“When the storm finally passed I sought out Alpha Pierce. I discovered that she and Alpha Richards were in the office with Alpha Black so I ended up talking to all of them. I was sad, angry and confused. I wasn’t getting any further details than what Damian and Alpha Black had already given me. Lucas was very quick to vent his frustrations with me, which is odd considering how he doubts my abilities.”
“You told them about what happened in your apartment?” His panic seems to grow with every sentence that he speaks.
“Yes, I did.” She responds softly. He starts slowly shaking his head as he speaks.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go so bad but you…. You had to know… I’m….”
Before he can get another word out she silences him with a kiss. I can’t help but smile at the tender moment but the joy is short-lived by the strict, cruel world he’s been forced to live in. His panic has grown by the time she leaves his mouth, leaning her forehead on his as he struggles to speak.
“Shhh, everything is okay. It's me that should apologize, not you.”
She barely touches his face but it’s enough to send him into a small frenzy. I back my chair away from the bed as Jessa returns to the position she described yesterday, straddling his lap.
While this is acceptable and expected behavior among mates Cole’s reaction is extremely telling of how difficult this is going to be. The young man is completely lost despite the ketamine keeping him mostly sedated. I remain silent as Julie follows my lead. Even Angela stops silently just inside the door to his room.
“Please Cole, I should have sought you out after talking to all of them but they discouraged me from entering your room unannounced. It took a while for me to agree but giving you space did seem the most appropriate. I am sorry that I reacted the way I did. Just hearing you confess that part of the rapist and pedophile rap was true after telling me that it wasn’t was really upsetting considering what I’ve been through. I know alpha told me that you had been branded a predator four months ago and that he didn’t believe it was true and I’ve seen you several times since then with his girls. I was just so overwhelmed by your confession that I needed to talk it out with the few people that have never hurt me.”
“So you talked to the doctors?”
I smile slightly with his nickname for us. She nods her head.
“They encouraged me to explain why I got so upset.”
I’m happily surprised as he starts responding to her confession, gently stroking her hair.
“I lost my parents in a rogue attack a month before I turned fifteen. My alpha found out about my gift shortly after and rejected me from the pack a year later. Red Fang was the third pack I was accepted into on a trial basis, I had just turned seventeen. It didn’t take long for me to find out that they followed some really old rules.”
The two of them have both changed, swapping their feelings while she talks. Jessa is now the fearful and uncertain one as Cole’s confidence seems to grow. He is easily shaken by the news that she had been at his pack as it seems he understands what she can not bring herself to confess.
“Knowing that you were at Red Fang for any length of time makes the second thing I needed to do with you yesterday so much harder.”
I can’t help but cock my head, uncertain what he could possibly be talking about.
“But at the same time my wolf is even more insistent on doing it.”
“What is it that he needs to do?”
There’s an unmistakable waiver of fear in her voice.
“He wants me to scent you. But it’s different than simply burying my nose into your neck.”
He’s taking his time trying to gauge her willingness to trust him with something new.
“Jessa, he wants to claim you but he understands that the rumors get in the way. He won’t claim you until you verbally accept our bond.”
“I accept our fated bond, Cole. I’m so sorry I reacted the way I did.”
I keep silent as she starts to cry as it’s important they take a moment to work this out.
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