Chapter One #2
Something wrapped around us, a commitment that I now couldn’t break. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have staked such a simple promise to a stranger on my rank, but Ren wouldn’t have believed me otherwise.
His eyes widened again and he cleared his throat. “Anax?”
“Tobias,” I reminded him yet again. “Yes. You felt it. I can’t and won’t break my word. Can I contact Xavier?”
“Oh. Um, yes.” He curled in on himself. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I closed my eyes, not out of necessity but because Ren’s fear and discomfort was becoming increasingly difficult to witness and I needed a break. Xavier. I’m near the west corner of the property by the double pine. Bring two sets of clothing. I’m fine, but we have an injured wolf.
Yes, Anax. Xavier, characteristically, asked no questions. That was one of the things that made him a good guard.
Within minutes, he hurried to us. He stopped abruptly when he saw Ren, but again he said nothing, just held out the two shirts and two pairs of sweatpants he’d brought. The pants would be too big for Ren. They were loose on me, and Ren was smaller than I was. But they were something, at least.
I started to introduce Ren to Xavier, then decided to reverse it and introduce Xavier first in the hopes of setting Ren more at ease.
He was looking away from us now, clearly worried about Xavier despite my reassurance, and I wanted to change that.
“Ren, this is Xavier Pelly, my guard. Once you’re dressed, he can carry you back to the house if you’re okay with that, or we can help you walk. ”
“I…” Ren gulped and glanced at Xavier, then turned to me. I was relieved to see that some of his wounds, while still more visible than I would have liked, had improved a bit. He took the clothing I held out to him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Go ahead and get dressed.” I turned my back to him and motioned for Xavier to do the same while I put on my clothes.
When I peeked over my shoulder at Ren, he was wearing the T-shirt and shimmying into the sweatpants. I waited until he was covered before turning around again. “All set?”
“Yes.” Nervously, he licked his lips and started to get to his feet. He yelped and sank back to the ground. “I think my leg… I don’t know.”
“Is it all right if I carry you?” Xavier looked at me. I nodded, and he took a single step toward Ren. “You’ll be more comfortable inside.”
“I’ll be right beside you,” I said before Ren could reject the suggestion.
Slowly, Ren nodded. “Yes. All right.”
Xavier carefully lifted Ren, cradling him like someone might carry an infant, and we made our way back to the house.
I was already making plans for calling Wilbur and letting Kyle know I might not make it back to Boston today.
I couldn’t very well abandon Ren here, and the hunt house was better outfitted for medical care than our Winthrop residence.
That was something that could wait, though.
Getting Ren settled comfortably in the house was the first priority, including giving him something to eat and drink.
Shifting used a lot of energy, and I didn’t know how long ago he’d shifted into the wolf form I’d persuaded him out of.
He needed to replenish himself before anything else happened.
Having Wilbur examine Ren to make sure the wounds would continue to heal was the second priority.
Then I needed to convince Ren to tell me who had done this to him and why.
He didn’t strike me as the type to attack anyone else or challenge for rank, so I doubted his injuries came from someone defending themself.
This was an assault, and I wanted to know by whom and what their justification was before I decided whether to consequence them.
Fortunately, the house wasn’t far down the path.
I opened the door for Xavier to carry Ren inside and motioned toward the parlor that opened from the front hallway.
I’d spent months and far too much money having the house renovated and expanded to fit the hundreds of werewolves who would arrive in a couple of days for the national gathering, and one of the things I’d made sure to do was have a comfortable space immediately inside each entrance of the house for those who arrived exhausted or hurt.
I’d wondered how necessary that would be, but now I was glad I’d gone with my instincts.
“He can rest on the sofa, Xavier,” I said. “Ren, we’re going to leave you in here for just a couple of minutes. Xavier will get you something from the kitchen, and I’m going to call my doctor to come out just in case he needs to take a look at those wounds.”
“What if…” As Xavier lowered Ren to the sofa nearest the window, Ren uneasily peered through the glass. “Someone might come.”
I tensed and tried not to show my reaction. The first thing I should have considered was the possibility that he’d been followed here, but I’d been distracted by his injuries and his changing form. Now I could have kicked myself for overlooking it. “Was someone following you? Chasing you?”
“I don’t know.” He groaned and settled himself, sitting up with his legs on the cushions. “They were angry. I don’t know if they came after me.”
“Xavier, while you’re in the kitchen, call Seth,” I could have reached out to the head of my guards myself, either by phone or through the bond, but giving Xavier the instruction gave Ren a heads-up that more people might arrive.
And, more importantly, that they were safe people.
“Ask him to send either Davion or come himself in case we need backup.”
“Yes, Anax.” Xavier didn’t move until I gave him a nod to let him know I was done giving directions. Then he left the room.
“Ren, just rest for a couple minutes, okay?” I wanted to say something comforting, but right now I was at a loss.
I needed to be in my office, where I could give myself the luxury of an emotional reaction.
Given Ren’s fear when I asked him to shift back to human, I strongly suspected that whoever had assaulted him had done it because of the discrepancy between his wolf form and human body.
They’d harmed him because he was transgender.
My heart ached at that possibility, and my temper rose. No one deserved to be mistreated or beaten for who they were. I wouldn’t know for certain unless Ren told me, but if I was right, someone would pay for harming him.
I took a slow breath. “I’ll be right back.
I’m going to step into my office to call my doctor.
” I paused, studying Ren, who was frowning in my general direction.
He was hurt. Scared. What was I thinking, planning to leave him alone?
I would stay. But as I watched him nervously trying not to meet my gaze, I realized the choice should be his. “I can stay in here if you’d rather.”
He shook his head. “I’m okay in here for a minute.”
I nodded. “All right. My office is just across the hall. Calling Wilbur, my doctor, won’t take long and then I’ll be back. You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to, but it’ll take him a little while to get here, so I want to get him on the way.”
“Okay.” He pressed his lips together and gestured at his body. “Is he…What’s he going to think?”
I took a second to understand the question. “May I tell him you’re a trans man?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s okay. I mean, doctors should know.” He grimaced. “Except for the transphobic asshole doctors.”
“Wilbur isn’t one of those.” At least, to the best of my knowledge.
He wasn’t a homophobic asshole, but we hadn’t had any reason to talk about his thoughts on transgender people.
I would make sure of his lack of prejudice when I spoke to him.
“I’ll be right back. Xavier might be back before me, but you’ll be okay with him. ”
Looking uncertain, Ren nodded. “All right.”
I went across the front entryway into my office and closed the door.
In here, with no one else, I could let out the anger and pain I felt for Ren.
In the year or so that I’d been Anax, I had tried to weed out the leaders who would abuse the wolves under their rule, but I hadn’t uncovered all of them yet.
Not to mention, getting rid of abusive or prejudiced arkhons and alphas didn’t necessarily do anything about lower-ranked werewolves who felt and acted the same.
There were too many who took power and physical strength as a license to hate and harm others, and even as the most powerful werewolf in the country, I could only do so much.
I’d made progress, but some of the progress had been blocked by my own refusal to fully accept and integrate the power I’d gained when I took the rank of Anax.
I’d spent far too much time spouting bullshit about being disrespected instead of checking in with the three hundred-plus packs in the United States to find out what was really going on.
Now I had a wolf who might have been injured by others who hated him because of his gender. A hatred I might have been aware of had I paid more attention.
I couldn’t go back in time to prevent what had been done to Ren. All I could do was try to help him now. With a couple of deep breaths and a promise to myself that I would give myself time and space to fall apart later, I picked up my cell phone from the desk and called Wilbur.