Chapter 81
He gives me a quiet ‘oh’ as Angela places the support wedge in the water.
“I’d like you to lean back against this wedge. It’s designed to allow you to rest comfortably in the water without much effort and if you’re relaxed enough with me, I would like to let Demetri get out of the tub with you. He needs to get changed out of his wet stuff and go grab you some underwear and undershirts.”
I feel him nod slowly in agreement. I loosen my hold around him as he slowly draws away from me. It’s easy to see the hesitation in his eyes but he doesn’t fight the request. I hold his hands gently as he gets comfortable on the pad with the water rising around him.
“I’m going to stand up and try to ring some of this water out of my boxers before getting out. Just relax. I think Angela is just going to trim down your hair around the wound before washing it, then she will leave you alone to wash. Don’t be afraid to stand up if you need to but stay in the tub until I come back.”
“Yes sir.”
He responds slowly with a nod as I stand up out of the water, running my hands down my thighs trying to squeegee the water from my boxers.
“I brought a robe over and set it on the counter.”
Angela explains as she points to where my sweatpants are folded.
“Thank you. I didn’t anticipate getting in with him so I didn’t grab one for me.”
“I’m sorry.” Cole nearly whispers.
“Don’t be. All we want is to help you. You never did answer my question.”
I state casually as I step onto the towel beside the tub.
“Which question was that, sir?”
“Were you rationing your medication while at the Red Moon pack six months ago?”
He looks down at his hands, playing with the water briefly before looking up again.
“Yes sir. I had a limited amount left that I found a month before leaving Red Fang. I took it as prescribed for that month and tried repeatedly to get to Dr. Carter for my refills but I couldn’t get to the hospital so about a week before leaving I changed to taking it once every three days. I don’t know ahead of time when he’s going to allow me to go on a run so the timing was a coincidence. I was there for three months before all of Red Fang was sent home. I ran out two weeks later.”
I crouch down beside him as he finished talking.
“We have the list of everything that you’re on. I’ll have your asthma medicine in the morning. As much as you need to get back on Effexor and Abilify, you need to be healed enough that you no longer need pain management medication.”
“What about the other two?”
“Dr. Carter agreed that putting you back on Depakote was too dangerous. You made it through the withdrawals of all four medications this time but Depakote can kill you if you don’t taper off if it. Although mood stabilizers are commonly used with ptsd he felt Seroquel had little effect on you.”
“Will they be replaced?”
“I will revisit the possibility of a mood stabilizer depending on how you’re doing on the other two about four weeks after we get you back on them. The anticonvulsant will not be replaced.”
He nods his head slowly as Angela moves her supplies beside the tub.
“Now, what size do you wear? I’m going to go get changed, then I’m picking up t-shirts and underwear for you.”
“Extra large. I prefer a loose fit.”
“Okay, now. Look towards me Cole.”
I reach over the water, taking his chin gently in my hand. He tenses badly, trying to pull away from my grip.
“Easy there, Cole. There’s nothing wrong with what’s happening. Just look my way.”
He whines hard as he relents, allowing me to turn his head. I run my thumb gently across his cheek, his scruff reminding me of my own five o’clock shadow needing tending to.
“Relax with Angela. She’s going to trim down your hair and get your head cleaned up.”
He opens his eyes, briefly looking into mine before looking away.
“Yes sir.”
“Good, I’ll be back soon.”
I smile with a nod, running my hand through his hair as I get up. I grab the robe off the counter and quickly wrap it around me. Even with the heat turned up, just five minutes out of the warmth of the tub has caused a slight chill.
I turn back to the tub, Cole’s persistent whimpers alerting me to his nervousness. Angela is speaking quietly to him as she encourages him to open his hand. She places a small foam ball, painted to look like a soccer ball, into his hand before closing his fingers around the soft orb.
“He’s okay, Demetri. He just has a lot of nervous energy that he’s struggling to control.”
I stand silently, watching as he rests his arm on the side of the tub rapidly squeezing and releasing the ball in his hand. His eyes are closed but that doesn’t keep him from pulling away from Angela’s every move. I sigh deeply as I pry myself away from the sight and quickly leave the room.
I hurry along the medical wing hallway, my feet slapping annoyingly on the white tiled floor. It’s ten at night and with all the prospects nicely settled into their dorm rooms, the pack house is silent accentuating the sound.
I turn left coming out of the hall into the common room, at least the hardwood floors soften the sound of my footsteps better than the tile. I jog up the stairs and slow my pace as I reach the top. I walk down the long hall passing first the medical room on my right. I pause briefly at the first door on my left, I can hear the distressing cries of a young woman in a panic.
Even though I modified the first two rooms on the left to be mostly sound proof four years ago, you can still hear loud or distressing conversations through the door. I take a step closer since I can clearly hear Damian just on the other side of the door.
“I don’t understand Jess, how is this a bad thing? Isn’t this what you’ve been longing for? To find your mate?”
I stand stunned by his side of the conversation. He must be right by the door, keeping her from running back to her apartment about a quarter mile north of the north end of the pack house.
“I do, I want my mate especially since I’ve always been told that without a birth rank the moon goddess would never give me one but…”
I can hear her sobbing clearly a foot away from the door but when she speaks again her voice is muffled by her closeness to my son.
I step away, back into the middle of the hall. Walking another fifteen feet, I come to my bedroom door. It’s directly across the hall from Lucas’s room, the other one that I modified four years ago.
Although I encourage my kids to wait until they find their mate to have sex, everyone knows that werewolves are very sexual creatures and waiting until they are twenty-five and are of age to choose their own mate to have sex could have unforeseen consequences of their own.
Even with that understanding, as their parent, I’m not interested in hearing them having sex nor do I want their sisters woken up by their passion. So I modified their rooms to sound proof it like mine and throughly taught them the laws around acceptable sexual practices.
Based on what I’ve seen, Lucas is undoubtedly the player we thought Damian would be. I take two steps towards Lucas’s door and I’m able to verify that he already has his newest weekly fling in bed with him, despite his bed being as far from the door as we could get it.
I sigh as I rub the back of my neck, praying to the moon goddess that he at least protects himself with a condom as I’m not ready to help support my grandchild when my own twin daughters are only four.
I can barely shake my head at his behavior anymore when I think about how we have given him a box of condoms monthly since he turned sixteen three months ago wishing he would have waited until at least eighteen before trying to bed every female warrior that caught his interest.
I turn back towards my own door, slowly opening it as I step inside. To my surprise, Lilly is up with a sobbing Madilyn in her lap. Lilly is stroking our youngest’s straight blond shoulder length hair, which lays messily outside of the ponytail we usually put her in during the day. She’s sitting sideways in her mother’s lap, her face buried into her mother’s chest. Her feet are towards the door, tucked into the bottom of her long sleeved fleece gown with tiny pictures of rainbows and unicorns precariously printed all over the fabric.
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