Chapter 10 #2
“It is. See, Alpha, my big brother recently took over our pack, and whereas my father was indifferent to me, my big brother thought I needed to be more like him. Manly. He didn’t like the way I dressed, the way I kept my hair—he chopped it off when I refused to cut it.
With every day that passed, things got worse.
My name was too girly. ‘A real wolf isn’t called Connie.
’ He wanted me to start training to be an enforcer.
Wanted me to toughen up. The enforcers just…
beat me up. And he laughed. Told me I needed to be better. It wasn’t great.”
Nick cleared his throat. “It wasn’t great for the rest of us either. Connie’s dad hadn’t been a great Alpha, and he’d been quite conservative, but Otto? He marched the pack back into the fifties.”
“Yes.” Connie nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“He had all these fantasies of being the ruler of the pack. More like a king than an Alpha. And he wanted me to be… I don’t know.
This picture-perfect version of a wolf, the personification of his fantasy.
He told me he’d found a girl for me to marry.
The daughter of an Alpha the next pack over.
Told me it’d be good for the pack, would strengthen the ties between our packs, but…
” Connie bit his lip. “You see, Alpha, the thing is…”
I scented the fear rolling off him in waves. My stomach churned, the picture he’d painted already clear. He didn’t need to tell me, and when he shut his mouth and looked down at his and his friend’s hands, it became obvious his bravery had left him.
“You’re gay?” I guessed, gently trying to nudge him along.
“Yes,” he breathed in a sigh of relief. “I told my brother, and he…”
“Beat him,” Nick supplied. “Then he had his enforcers beat him.”
Connie nodded. “It went on for weeks. I wasn’t allowed to do anything but train.
Otto said he was making a man out of me, and when he was done, I’d have forgotten all about the silly notion that I might be gay.
I told him that’s not how it works, and then he started keeping food from me as punishment. But I still had to train.”
“He was gonna kill him,” Nick said, his eyes blazing with fury.
“He was gonna starve him to death. Connie had to shift and fight all the time, but he got scraps for food. My family and I… we were so worried about him. Connie’s my best friend.
He used to be at my house more than his own.
And suddenly, he wasn’t allowed to come over anymore.
He started missing school. When I went to their house, Otto told me he was busy, that Conrad didn’t need me anymore. That I was a bad influence.”
I hated where the story was going. Staying calm was a chore, but I needed to show them I wasn’t about to lash out, not at them. I’d need a round of sparring later to let out the anger gnawing at my gut.
“I snuck out one night,” Connie said, taking over the role of speaker. “I went to Nick’s house. His parents were horrified when they saw me. They fed me, but they couldn’t do more. I couldn’t stay with them. My brother would’ve found me immediately and punished all of us.”
“Connie told us he was going to be fine, but we all knew it was a lie. So my parents and I started looking for a way to get him to safety. We found whispers of packs that were safe havens for wolves like Connie. Packs that would take him in. We found your pack and another one, but yours was closer. Then we started planning.”
They’d started planning all together? Then why were only two wolves here?
“Where are your parents?” I asked, dread filling my stomach as I prepared for the worst.
“They couldn’t leave,” Nick said. Connie squeezed his hand as a wave of sadness hit me.
“My grandparents are old and not doing good. They need my parents, so… so we decided that I’d go with Connie.
We scrubbed everything, destroyed any evidence, every hint that my parents were even remotely aware that Connie and I were about to run. ”
“I faked a diary,” Connie added, a proud glint in his eye. “I detailed that I’d snuck out and met Nick in the woods. I wrote that we planned to leave in secret. That no one could know—especially not Nick’s parents, because we thought they’d tell Otto.”
“My parents gave us all the cash they could, and then we ran.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, my gut tightening with unease. They were still living with their parents or older brother, and it didn’t sound like that was their choice.
“How old are you?”
They exchanged looks, and my stomach dropped even further. Guilt was written all over their faces.
Fuck. This was turning into more and more of a nightmare.
“I’m seventeen,” Nick said. “But I have signed documents from my parents stating that they’re transferring custody to the Alpha of this pack.”
I let out a slow breath, then turned my attention to Connie, who was doing his best not to meet my eyes, staring at the bedding just like Nix had done last night.
My mate.
Did he know he’d saved literal kids?
“Connie?” I prompted. I needed to know just how much trouble we were in.
“Sixteen,” he whispered, knowing fully that I’d be able to hear him. “I’m turning seventeen in February.”
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Okay. That’s not great. I gather your brother has custody?”
Which would make Connie a runaway. In theory, I was obligated to hand him back over.
“Yes.” He hung his head. “But I can’t go back.”
No, he really couldn’t.
“We have evidence,” Nick said quietly, but his voice was firm, defiance written all over his face.
“Connie took pictures of his injuries. We documented everything and uploaded it to the cloud. We even found older photos to prove that Otto was starving him. It’s all there. Please don’t send him back.”
“I’m not going to,” I said, my voice tight.
Hopefully, they didn’t realize how much restraint it took not to shift and rant right then and there.
“But we need to be smart about this, okay? We have a pack member who’s a part of the Mounties, okay?
I want you to talk to him. He’ll have a better idea of what to do than I do.
We probably can’t go the human route and involve CPS, but I promise you, there are options, even if I don’t know about them. ”
No way would I let this kid go back. Not after what they’d told me. Not after their former pack members had shot at them.
“Thank you, Alpha,” Connie said, voice tight.
Holy shit. Yesterday I went to bed thinking it’d be a regular night. Now, I had two minor wolves and a mate who was also a mage on my hands. My head was still spinning when the realization settled in.
They were teens. Minors. And I didn’t have something like an official foster family lined up. We’d had all kinds of members show up at our borders, but never unaccompanied minors. Did I have wolves who’d take them in?
Yes.
Probably plenty once word about their situation got out.
But how to choose? And did they want to move in with someone else?
Fuck. I needed to talk to Oakley. And Paul.
But first things first. They deserved to be involved in the decision.
“We need to figure out where you’re going to live,” I said, eyeing the pair, looking for a reaction. They looked at each other, another conversation taking place that I wasn’t in on.
“We want to stay together,” Connie finally said. “If that’s possible, Alpha.”
I nodded. I’d figured as much.
“You’ll need to go to school.”
Fuck, how did I get them enrolled in school? If Nick’s parents had really signed over custody to… holy shit. Wait. Panic slammed into me.
They’d signed over custody to me?
Was that even possible?
“I’d be happy to go back,” Connie said quietly. “I always liked school.”
“Okay. That’s good. Uhm…” Fuck. Yes. Living situations. “Would you two like to stay here at the packhouse for now? We have a couple of shifters living here. Or we could find, like… a foster family for you?”
They looked at each other, back at me, and back at one another. This time, they seemed at a loss.
“We didn’t think this far ahead,” Nick finally said. “Our goal was to get here, but we didn’t think about what would come after.”
Of course they hadn’t. They were teenagers caught in an impossible situation. They’d gone through something no one should ever go through.
My wolf growled, angry with the Alpha who’d failed them. I wouldn’t.
No, my wolf agreed.
Taking a deep breath, I offered them a smile.