Chapter 51
I wake with a groan as my two little princesses take turns jumping on me. This is turning into one of the longest days I’ve had in a while. Physically and emotionally draining with everything I have learned today. Cole’s abuse is the worst that I have ever seen in regards to his physical and mental abuse. My own luna and her finally realizing the full extent of the sexual abuse she suffered has weighed on us both today. She has struggled to be her normal upbeat self which has caused questions to cycle around the pack as to what happened between us.
My thoughts about Jamie and Dr. Carter and their involvement with Cole has raised some serious questions about Red Fang and how the alpha interacts with the pack as a whole. Is Cole’s hesitation towards talking about the full extent of the abuse simply a matter of protecting those who actually care about him? I don’t think so. The young man trembles every time I find a new wound on him. Even so much as begged me not to punish him for not telling me about that burn on his leg when I asked about any cuts and bruises that I needed to know about on the sides of his legs.
No, something happened to him that has made him terrified of telling me. That has made him believe not only can no one in the pack help him but no one on the outside can either. I can’t even begin to imagine how hopeless that must feel. To be trapped in a pack that hates you. To feel like you were never meant to live.
I roll over to the middle of the full size bed in my office. I handed getting White Fang and White Moon packs off the bus over to Patrick. I needed some time to think and decompress after helping Angela do a debridement surgery on Cole’s leg. The young man handled the twilight sleep well. Our concern now is waking him up since he seems to be having a hard time metabolizing the Valium we gave him this morning.
We reversed the anesthesia two hours ago and I’ve yet to hear that he’s awake. I ended up taking a nap and asked Lilly to wake me at 5:30, before taking the girls to dinner.
“Daddy, daddy, daddy. Wake up. The sun is up, you should be too.”
The more rambunctious of the twins, Madisyn, is jumping on the bed beside me. I feign sleeping for a bit longer before suddenly grabbing the four year old and tossing her into the air.
She squeals from the surprise before laughing as she lands in my hands.
“Daddy! That was fun. Do it again!”
She kicks and squirms with anticipation with the brightest smile every parent loves to see. I sit up in the bed with her in my arms bringing her into my chest for a tight hug. I duck my nose into her tiny neck and breathe in the sweetness of my girl before grabbing her sister, with a squeal, and doing the same to her. They rest quietly against my chest as I look into Lilly’s eyes.
“How are you doing?”
I ask as I touch her face bringing her in for a kiss.
“I’m okay. Today’s been a rough day for both of us. Have you learned anything more about Cole?”
“I have but I want to wait until dinner to talk about that. There’s a few more things I need to do. One of which is to talk to Xavier Bluemon. That’s why I wanted you to wake me. I’ve got a phone conference with him at six.”
“Are you having dinner at the hall with us?” Madilyn asks. Her voice is soft and sheepish, sounding almost sad.
“No, Lynnie. I’ve got an important meeting on the phone that I have to attend. But we will have dinner together tomorrow night. I might even have a guest if I can get the young man to wake up.”
“Are you talking about the warrior in the wing?”
I’m surprised at how concerned Madilyn sounds about the prospect that I haven’t mentioned anything about.
“Rumors spread fast around here. You know that.”
Lilly looks lovingly into my eyes as she speaks. She gives me another kiss before standing from the bed, encouraging the girls to follow her. I smile as they cling to me, begging me to join them. I give each a kiss on their forehead before placing them on the ground.
My sensitive Madilyn pouts as she follows Lilly to the door of my office. Today has been rough on everyone as the girls are used to a lot more attention from both of us during the day but they’ve spent a lot of time with their nanny instead.
I run up on my little girl and grab her from behind. I toss her in the air, spinning her gently so she lands in my arms facing me. It only takes a moment in the safety of my arms for a smile to spread across her face.
“That’s better.” I whisper in my little one’s ear as I nibble on her neck causing her to laugh and squeal happily. “Go get some dinner. You’re going to be sleeping by the time I get to eat tonight.”
“Okay daddy.”
I kneel this time as I place her on the ground. Madisyn, taking advantage of the situation, bounds into my arms with her sister.
“Just remember, no matter how busy or hard my day is, I love you and will be here when you need me.”
“We love you too.” They sing in unison.
This time they head to the door nicely with their mother as I head to my desk and start preparing for my phone meeting with Xavier. It doesn’t take long for me to get everything I have so far on Cole organized and my phone to ring.
“Alpha Black.” I answer the phone, putting it on speaker since I’m alone.
“Evening Demetri, to what do I owe the pleasure of talking with you old friend?”
“I wish it was a pleasurable conversation that I was going to have with you but I’ve encountered a complicated situation that needs extremely delicate handling.”
“Is that so? Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“Well, as the council prescribes, I run three, six month runs before taking a six month break and contacting the prospects that I’m interested in for the full year trial. As I’m certain you’re aware, this week is bringing in the prospects, before physical week next week, then testing getting started the week after.”
“Yes sir, but none of this should be unusual for you. You’ve participated in the warrior prospect program for ten years now.”
“I don’t normally need guidance on how to help and care for an abused individual but this is one of the severest cases that I’ve seen to date.”
“And they are unwilling to talk about it.” Xavier manages to finish my sentence easily.
“He hasn’t even been here 24 hours yet and he’s in my medical wing. The injuries that we have found along with other factors is going to make it difficult for me to start any formal testing let alone training with him for at least a month, maybe longer.”
“You’ve got my attention Demetri, what’s going on with this brand new wolf on your land?”
“What I need is the ability to pull him from his pack without him talking. There’s also a family, outside of his own, that is deeply involved with him that, for their safety, I feel would need to be relocated. Possibly a doctor and his family as well.”
“This is getting really deep and you haven’t even told me what’s going on.”
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