Sam
He started to smile, thinking about all the ridiculous things Vaughn would do to him when he got back, when he realized it probably wasn’t Vaughn or he’d be getting mauled already.
“Hey, Ben. What’s wrong?”
“Henry isn’t feeling well.”
“In the bathroom.”
Sam hurried upstairs to the room Henry and Jack shared and found Henry sitting on the toilet with the trashcan in his hands. He’d obviously been sick, and things were happening from the other end, too.
“Belly hurting?” Sam asked.
It was a stupid question because obviously Henry’s stomach was hurting, but he accompanied the question with a soft pat to Henry’s sweat-dampened hair. He heard a really loud gurgle before Henry made another contribution to the trash can.
Ben whimpered and paced outside the door. Something wasn’t right, and Sam couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Ben looked guilty on top of worried and Sam wasn’t sure why. He pressed his hand to Henry’s forehead and found it as clammy and hot as he’d suspected from the state of Henry’s hair.
“Any idea what made your belly so mad?” Sam asked quietly as he rummaged beneath the sink and grabbed a wash cloth. After getting it wet with cold water, he pressed it to Henry’s face and helped clean him up a little. He didn’t miss the guilty look Henry and Ben shared.
Sam sighed. “I’m only going to be upset if you lie to me, boys. Tell me what happened so I can help.”
“It wasn’t Ben’s fault,” Henry said quickly.
His stomach rumbled again, and he turned green.
“Yes, it was,” Ben said. He sniffed again, tears in his eyes as he sank down onto the floor. “Don’t make us leave, Sam. Please. We won’t be bad again, I promise.”
“Ben, come here.”
Ben crawled over, obviously waiting for Sam to hit him. Sam pulled him into a hug instead. “You’re never leaving. You hear me? Nothing you can do will make us want you to leave. Ever. I promise, Ben. Nothing. Okay? Henry, you hear me too? Absolutely nothing.”
Henry started crying even as his body revolted once more.
“We knew Alpha was still at the clinic and—”
“Ben was hungry. We didn’t want to go to sleep so we stayed up to play,” Henry sobbed.
“We knew there was some ice cream and some blueberries so we went and ate it.”
“Oh, Henry, buddy, you know you’re not supposed to have milk and stuff, right? Ben, you’re the one who told us that.”
Ben sniffed and nodded. “But we never got to have ice cream before and it was so good. Nana said she was going to bring some special ones for Henry but… Nana’s gonna be mad, too. The ice cream was for dessert.”
Both boys broke down into heartbreaking sobs that ripped Sam to shreds. “Nana won’t be mad, guys. We’ll talk about this, but right now we’ve got to get Henry feeling better. Ben, go downstairs and get my phone off the nightstand.”
Ben nodded and hurried away, still sniffling. Sam finished wiping Henry’s face then rinsed the cloth and put it on the back of his neck.
“Still rumbling?”
He nodded.
“Okay. I think we’re going to have to wait this out, but I’ll find out if there’s anything we can do to make you feel better.”
Ben came back and handed Sam his phone. “Now, go get Henry some clean pajamas and underwear, okay?”
He hurried away again, the weight of his guilt rounding his shoulders. Sam called Vaughn, not surprised when he picked up on the first ring.
“Sam?”
“Hey. Henry ate some ice cream and is throwing up and has diarrhea. Anything I can do to help him?”
“How long has he been sick?”
“I’m not sure. Ben just came and got me.”
“Okay,” Vaughn said. “I’m almost finished here. We’ve got some peppermint tea in the pantry that should help calm his stomach down a bit. Lactose attacks don’t normally last long, so we just have to get him over the worst of it.”
“Okay. See you soon. I’ll get him set up downstairs so we don’t wake up the rest of the horde.”
Vaughn chuckled and ended the call.
Ben carried clean pajamas back into the bathroom.
“You want to stay up until he’s feeling better?” Sam asked.
Ben nodded, still looking worried sick.
“Okay. Go on downstairs. I’m going to help Henry get cleaned up, and then we’ll come down too. Will you bring the little trash can from your bathroom down with you so Henry can use that one if he needs it? This one’s kinda gross.”
Ben nodded, happy to have yet another task, and went across the hall.
“Quick shower time, Henry. We’ll be quick, but we need to get you cleaned up.”
Henry nodded again. Sam eased the trash can out of his arms and helped him take off his dirty T-shirt. He quickly turned on the shower, helped Henry take his pants off, and guided him into the shower. “Just rinse off, buddy. I know you’re not feeling well.”
Once he was cleaned up, Sam helped him get dressed again and guided him downstairs. Ben sat on the couch, nervously twisting his hands together with the trash can sitting by his feet.
“Go lay down by Ben. Let me know if you have to run to the bathroom again.”
Henry nodded pitifully and went to crawl on the couch beside Ben.
God, these kids. He’d been thinking about calling the guidance counselor from school to see if she had any suggestions for them.
Vaughn had been looking for a specialist, but needless to say, traumatized cubs were few and far between so it was taking a little longer than he’d hoped.
Sam put a pot of water on the stove before digging in the pantry for the peppermint tea. He found it on the top shelf and pulled down the box. With a quick glance toward the living room, he confirmed that the boys were both sitting quietly.
Henry still looked pale and shaky, but he hadn’t bolted for the bathroom yet so Sam counted it as progress. Vaughn got back from the clinic about the time Sam had the tea ready. He gave Sam a quick look but went straight into the living room where Henry and Ben were curled together pitifully.
“Hey,” Vaughn said gently. He ran his hand over Henry’s hair and put his other on Ben’s shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“Better,” Henry whimpered.
Sam took out the tea bag and dropped a piece of ice in the mug to cool it down a bit. When he went into the living room, he snuggled up next to Ben.
Vaughn took the cup and helped Henry sit up. He handed it to him, encouraging him to take small sips, and then sat across from the three of them on the coffee table.
“So… first of all, Ben, I can smell the fear on you. We’re not mad. I promise. You guys did something a little silly, right? What’d you eat?”
“Ice cream,” Ben sobbed and curled up even tighter into Sam.
“Oh man, ice cream’s the worst when you can’t have milk. Henry, buddy, no more ice cream, okay?”
Henry nodded his eyes filling with tears.
Vaughn moved beside him on the couch and curled his arm over Henry’s shoulders.
“Let’s make a deal, okay? This is a deal between me, you two, and Sam. Got it?”
Sam met Vaughn’s eyes and smiled. God, he was gorgeous like this. So calm and caring and just…Sam sighed and pulled Ben more tightly against him.
“Well, I’m interested. Tell me about this deal,” Sam said.
“I’m thinking we need a snack stash.”
Ben was listening intently, even though he was still holding onto Sam like a life preserver.
“A snack stash?” Sam asked. “What’s that?”
Henry seemed intrigued as well.
“A snack stash is where we’ll put snacks that the cubs can have any time they want them. No questions asked. Now, I’m telling this to you guys and not Ollie, because let’s face it—”
“Ollie would eat everything,” Henry said.
“And not his vegetables,” Ben added.
“Exactly. But we can put you guys in charge of the snack stash, so if anyone is hungry or just gets a little worried sometime about not having enough food, there will always be something right there for you to eat.”
It was a fantastic idea. Ben was way too responsible to let the other kids abuse it, but it would let him retain a little bit of the control he’d lost. And since Ben was the one who needed the most food, he’d always have snacks available for himself as well.
“There’s only one problem,” Sam said.
“What’s that?”
“I want a snack stash, too.”
Henry snickered and leaned into Vaughn. “Nana said Sam has a sweet tooth.”
“And Nana’s never wrong about these things.”
Ben bumped his forehead against Sam’s, seeking reassurance once more that Sam was okay and not upset with them in any way.
“I do have a sweet tooth. Now, should we come up with a few rules about snack stashes? Ben, do you have any ideas?”
Their big bear looked bashful again and curled himself down onto Sam’s shoulder. He mumbled something against Sam’s shirt that had Vaughn biting his lip to hold back a laugh.
“I didn’t hear you, Ben, which meant Sam didn’t either. He mumbles when he’s scared,” Henry explained seriously. “But we don’t have to be scared, Ben. Sam’s not mad and neither is Alpha.”
“Not mad at all. I’m sad you were hungry and didn’t tell us, that’s all. I’ll never tell you that you can’t eat when you’re hungry.”
Sam rubbed Ben’s back and thankfully felt the boy beginning to relax a little. He turned his head a little so they could hear him better. “I’ve been really hungry since we’ve been here.”
“Oh, Ben. You should have told us.”
Ben shrugged. “But we’re eating more than we ever had…before. And I don’t know why. And I don’t want you to think I’m going to eat everything. Or not have enough for the other kids.”
The damage was so deep in this kid, in all of them.
Vaughn’s eyes changed to that startling blue.
His wolf was just as angry as Sam was. “Well, what’s happening to you is completely normal.
You’re a bear, Ben. That means that at certain times of the year, you’re going to be more hungry than normal.
You’ve never had a chance to find that out before because of how you’ve had to live, but in the spring and later in the fall? You’re going to be hungry a lot.”
Ben frowned a little like he was trying to make sense of Vaughn’s words.
“That’s totally true, Ben! It’s like when bears hibernate, like in the book! Remember?”