Chapter 40
I’m intrigued by his honesty about Cole and I desire more information but the young man seems hesitant to divulge too much about his friend.
“Nothing you tell me will change how I treat Cole. What are these tics you’re talking about? I have noticed that he has a liking for rhythmic movements when he’s stressed but he hasn’t been active enough for me to see anything else.”
“I don’t know what triggers it and we only saw it once during the eighteen months he lived with us but...... He came back from one of his monthly visits with his dad in really bad shape. The worst we had seen over the six months he had been there at the time. Dad pushed him to tell him what happened but instead of talking he got angry. Dad kept pushing until he put his fist through the wall. He ran away from us. Stayed away for several hours, he didn’t come back until late that night. When he came back both his hands were in bad shape. Red, swollen and bleeding. He had a bad cut to his forehead, similar to the one you’re fixing on me and the back of his head was busted open too. When dad asked what happened all he was willing to say was that the cave wall won. Dad never pushed for answers again.”
“Self injury?”
“We guessed as much but dad decided that pushing for answers did more harm so he didn’t.”
“Did your dad take him to the hospital?”
“No. Cole refused to go. Mom’s a nurse and dad has training as a medic so they used those skills to patch him up at home. Dad cut his hair really short so he could glue the cuts together. It hurt him a lot but somehow he never screamed. Mom cleaned his hands but couldn’t do much for the broken bones. We all know that he doesn’t heal like the rest of us so she was quite lost. Dad refused to let him work for two weeks and gave him light stuff for two weeks after that. We never saw anything like it afterwards. Dad simply took care of whatever condition Cole returned in after his mandatory visits with his dad.”
“Why did your dad let him go?”
“Cole was only eighteen so not considered 100 percent adult yet. It took my dad six months to convince Alpha Redmen to allow Cole to have a real apprenticeship, where he moves in with his teacher, so he was willing to agree to just about anything as long as he could get Cole out of the pack house.”
“Sounds like your dad may have known more about Cole’s issues with his dad then most of the wolves in the pack.”
“More along the line of having a willingness to listen and believe Cole over his father. There were several times while Cole had just started working with dad when he showed up late. He became extremely submissive when my dad chastised him. Dad said he’s never seen an alpha so submissive. Said Cole refused to look at him, even after he calmed down. He was alarmed when Cole stepped away from him when he tried to approach him. That he dropped to his knees in hard submission when he tried touching him. He was so afraid of my dad that his entire body shook and he struggled to breathe properly. It was after the third time Cole reacted that way that dad decided Cole needed to come live with us. It took six months but he made it happen. Unfortunately he couldn’t fully protect him but it did give us some insight as to who Cole really is.”
“When he’s not sick or afraid, who is Cole?”
“He’s very kind and considerate. He loves working in the nursery. He calls the pups the littles. That’s how we got to see the best of him, alpha. When he played with my little sisters and brother. He would sit on the floor with them and just laugh. There was no fear, no hesitation. He was able to push aside everything negative about his life and just live in the moment with them. It took awhile for mom and dad to see past the pedophile rumor.
I don’t think they trusted him fully until they were injured in a training exercise and they got stuck in the hospital all night. Alpha never called the nursery center to inform them or us of the situation. Cole took it upon himself to get my siblings from the nursery and walk them home. He cooked all of us dinner and insisted on everyone taking baths. He was really torn about that one. He knew that mom and dad bathed them every night before bed but he was damn near in a panic attack just thinking about bathing them. I tried to convince him that it was okay for them to skip one bath. It was really hard because I had never seen him that way. He kept insisting that keeping them to their normal schedule would help them sleep, so I told him I would stay with him and help him. I didn’t know how much help I could provide but if it calmed his nerves about caring for them I was willing to be there.”
“How old were all of you when he was there?”
“Cole was eighteen, I was fifteen, Caitlyn was five, Brittany was three and Jeramy was one.”
“Quite a bit of space between you and Caitlyn.”
“I was a rape baby.”
“Oh.” I’m taken aback by how calmly he said it, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“Alpha Redmen has some fucked up laws that still allow women to be abused. Twenty-five percent of pups born there are from sanctioned rape. Half of those pups grow up without their biological dad, but alpha gives the she-wolves that keep their pup a monthly allowance so they aren’t as financially burdened and the pup stays in the pack.
I was five when mom met her fated mate. He’s the only dad I’ve ever known and he’s good to me. Loves me like my siblings so I don’t know anything different anymore but it took mom a long time to have sex with him. She hadn’t been with anyone before my bio dad and no matter how hard she tried to break up with him he refused to leave. It was only when she proved to alpha that she was three months pregnant that he stopped bio from the weekly rapes. That’s when Alpha Redmen started sending her money and it will stop in a few months when I turn twenty-one. He takes care of me better than Cole.”
He looks over at Cole as Angela cleans up the garbage left from the stitches. I follow his gaze as I hear the soft whimpers coming from across the room.
“I’m going to hook him up with some formula for that ng-tube. Do you want to try and calm him?”
I give her a nod as I help Jamie get off the bed. We head over to Cole and Jamie takes a seat on the stool still by the bed. I slide my hand again into Cole’s as I start rubbing his hair.
“Hey Cole. Are you okay?”
“Hungry.” I barely hear him squeak.
“We figured as much. Angela’s warming up some formula. We’re going to use the tube so you can sleep through it.”
He squeezes my hand hard as he whines.
“Please no..... tube.... feeds..... hurt....”
He’s gasping hard again as his anxiety stirs. I lean down into him as I speak hoping that my closeness will give him comfort.
“I promise the tube was placed properly. There will be no pain.”
Just as I finish speaking Angela has hung a decent sized portion of the formula and connected it to the feeding tube. It only takes a few seconds for him to feel the warmth of the formula drifting through the tube. He stiffens up badly as his body begins to shake. I’m alarmed by the sudden change in his demeanor towards the tube. He handled having the tube placed a lot better than this feed.
“It’s okay Cole. Concentrate on what you feel. I promise you there’s no pain with this.”
He slows his movements enough for me to know he’s testing my word, he wants it to be true. As the level of formula falls I can feel him start to relax.
“Are you starting to feel better now?”
I ask him gently. He nods his head slowly as his eyes start to glaze over and his eyelids start to droop.
“Don’t fight the sleep Cole, you need it.”
Slowly his body relaxes as his eyes fully close and his hand finally releases me from his grasp.
“Hopefully this will last you a bit longer than that soup.”
“I liked... the soup.”
I chuckle softly as I smile. “We were hoping you would. I’ll be back in two hours to help you eat more. Get some sleep.”
He doesn’t take long to drift off again as he’s comforted by the warm formula gently filling his belly. I look at Jamison as my own stomach growls.
“How about we go get some lunch and take it back to my office? I’d like to get you to finish up your stories about Cole and the Red Fang pack.” I explain as we head out the door.
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