Chapter 52
“I’m not certain if we have even found all of his injuries yet but what we have found is quite distressing. It’s very important that the information I give you remains confidential until I’m able to make a move on him.”
“Is that why you’re refusing to use his name?”
“Yes. He’s been to three packs. All three figured out his secret. All three sent him home. I believe but I haven’t been able to confirm that he talked to them. Told them what was going on and they still sent him home.”
“What makes you believe that he talked?”
“Every time I ask him to talk to me, even his friend was begging him to talk, his only response is that it doesn’t help. That no one can help him.”
“So he’s been burned by several packs. That’s unfortunate and disturbing.”
“Not simply burned Xavier. The council showed up and started poking around a month after he got home. They never talked to him directly so he doesn’t know why they were there but I was able to infer from information given by his friend that his beatings stopped while the council was there before they increased for several months after they left.”
“So he’s correlating the council’s visit with him talking about the abuse.”
“Not just that. He’s been told by his father that if the council comes poking around again that he will be withdrawn from the program. I can only imagine the break he must be getting when he’s away from his home pack.”
“It’s not much of a break depending on which packs he’s going to, compared to who’s abusing him.”
“His father and lead alpha are one in the same.”
“Now you really have my attention, Demetri. Who is this young man?”
“I told you I’m not doing that to him. He has no trust as it is and it’s taken six hours just to start breaking the panic induced asthma cycle. He has no idea that I’m even talking to you. What I need is information on the most current laws pertaining to an adult that is actively being abused. The last time I tried to pull an adult from their pack without a protection order, at twenty-one years old, she was too old. Fortunately she was willing to go into sanctuary status but the laws seem to change every year.”
“You don’t think he’ll agree to sanctuary status? That is by far the best way to protect him from his father. Simply pulling him from the pack or, knowing you, not allowing him to go home, doesn’t mean his father can’t come get him. That’s why the protection orders are there.”
“But if I convince him to stay when everyone else heads home I may have a better chance at convincing him that the protection orders are real. That I can actually help him.”
“I admire your passion Demetri. He must be really bad off if you’re calling me less than a day after he arrives. You know, even without his name and pack, I need to know what you’re dealing with to get the correct information from the council.”
“I’ve got pictures that are time stamped. When I told him I wanted to take them it was initially as part of the physical and it still is, but now that I’ve seen the extent of his injuries it’s more than that.”
“That’s understandable.”
“He was accused of raping his future luna and received physical punishment for that accusation three days ago.”
“So we’re looking at some time Saturday?”
“I believe so.”
“From what I’ve been able to gather, using multiple sources, he was grabbed in a submission hold and was being taken to the training room when he tried to run but failed and ended up with over a dozen kicks to his abdomen.”
“Can you send the pictures you took as you talk?”
“Yes. I think this phone can multitask like that. First one is his abdomen.” I can hear Xavier gasp on the other side of the phone.
“After he was kicked over a dozen times he was forced to his feet and his hands tied behind his back before he was led to the training room.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt Demetri but let’s start from the beginning with you and I’d like to record the conversation.”
“That’s fine, I agree with the recording.”
“So, how did you end up with him in your medical wing? If he’s not willing to talk then obviously he didn’t run up to you begging for your help stripping his clothes off.”
“Well, to start at the very beginning. Damian noticed that he was extremely submissive and highly anxious before he even got off the bus last night. By the time he got off the bus one or more of his pack mates had gotten a hold of his belongings and threw them into a small lake that forms when it rains for several days. Mild verbal abuse started after he had an extreme fight or flight reaction to me touching him. I separated him from his pack and helped him to his room where he admitted that he takes medication for the anxiety but his father actively keeps him from being able to access it.”
“Denial of proper medical care is problematic, especially when sending a prospect to another pack. The alpha of every pack participating knows that the prospect needs to be in top physical and mental condition so denying medication to someone who needs it is, indeed, a big problem.”
“His anxiety was high enough last night that I wanted to give him my number so he could contact me if an issue came up but I neglected to ask if he had a phone on him. He hasn’t been able to tell me what happened but Damian found him in a massive asthma attack around seven this morning. He was barely able to talk but was able to communicate that he went into a panic induced asthma attack around midnight. We reached out to the one doctor that is of high enough rank to override the pack alpha in regards to his care but his budget at the hospital is so low that his care is usually higher than the money he’s allowed to spend.”
“So what does this doctor do for him?”
“He finds every short cut he can to preserve the money this individual is given. The doctor pays for his asthma and anxiety medication so all he has to do is pick it up.”
“But you said he’s not allowed to be on it.”
“Yes, but the doctor still fills it so that when he can get to the hospital he’s able to pick up several months of medication at that time. We have also discovered that this individual has been taught how to do his own stitches.”
I pause a moment waiting for a comment from Xavier but it seems he’s just as speechless as I was when I first found out.
“The real killer in regards to the medical treatment he does receive is that he’s absolutely terrified of the hospital. And with the budget as low as it tends to be, the short cuts that this doctor uses results in increasing his fear and anxiety.”
“What shortcuts are we talking about?”
“He has no support when he goes to the hospital and he has no ability to control his fear so as soon as he gets there he’s put into a full hard restraint system that doesn’t allow him to move. Him being restrained results in him being stripped of his clothing, a catheter put into his bladder and a feeding tube placed through his nose into his stomach. He’s a hard stick when it comes to doing an IV so they don’t. Instead they give him multiple IM injections of steroids and Valium until the crisis passes. When he goes into a cycle, like he did today, he’s usually in the hospital for at least a week. We’ve managed to start breaking up the cycle in about six hours but I still feel that’s too long.”
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