Chapter Two Xavier
Since I was a kid, I’d learned to be still and silent.
In the home where I’d grown up, not speaking or moving was a survival strategy.
When I got a little older, friends and acquaintances praised me for being a “good listener” because I didn’t say much.
They didn’t know, of course, that I kept my mouth shut for my own safety.
So no “outsiders” would find out what was happening at home, and my parents and older brother wouldn’t fuck me up for opening my mouth about the wrong thing.
No one would fuck me up now, but silence was a habit.
So I sat without speaking, watching Ren as he nibbled at the food I’d brought him and sipped the water.
That was good. Shifting took a lot out of a werewolf, and I had a suspicion the pack that Ren had come from hadn’t done much to take care of him before they beat the hell out of him.
The Anax had better consequence that pack for what they’d done to Ren, or I would.
My mate. I couldn’t stop staring at him.
I was nearing fifty years old, though anyone looking at me would have figured me for somewhere in my thirties.
Werewolves’ rapid healing led to vastly slowed aging.
I’d been a werewolf since I was somewhere around the age I estimated Ren to be, early twenties.
Over the years, I’d seen several other werewolves find their mates.
I’d never anticipated that I would. Having a mate had never really mattered to me.
Such a deep connection to someone sounded nice, but it wasn’t something I craved.
Now it had happened. Here was my mate, a light shining brightly in front of me. Freaked right the hell out, that was obvious. Given his injuries and his fear of the people who had caused them, I didn’t blame him.
I stayed seated on the floor until the Anax entered the room.
Then I quickly stood. I’d been sitting so I wouldn’t intimidate Ren; my height, six-five, intimidated a lot of people.
Which was one of the reasons the Anax had chosen me as a guard.
But now that the Anax was in the room, we were back on official protocol.
I stood in case I had to protect him, but I moved a little closer to the sofa so I could protect Ren.
The Anax pulled a chair over to the sofa and sat. “How are you feeling?” he asked Ren.
Ren shrugged. “Less pain. I think eating helped.”
“That’s good.” The Anax gave me a short nod.
Thank you, he said through the bond he had to me because I was his guard.
I nodded back. “My doctor will be here in half an hour or so. His name is Wilbur. As I said before, you don’t have to let him check you out if you don’t want to, but he’ll be here in case.”
“And you told him I’m trans?” Ren fiddled with the cap on the water bottle.
“Yes,” the Anax said. “He hasn’t worked for me for very long. Before he started with me, he worked in a practice in Boston. He said he’s had several transgender patients.”
“Okay, good.” He stopped playing with the water bottle cap and unscrewed it to take a drink.
The Anax watched Ren as he sipped the water. I watched the Anax. He had questions. Quite a few of them, I guessed. Hopefully he wouldn’t pressure Ren to answer, but there were things the Anax needed to know. Starting with who had hurt Ren and how Ren had ended up here.
If the Anax pushed Ren too hard, I would step in. I might face consequences for speaking up, but that was fine. Ren clearly needed someone to look out for him. As his mate, whether he accepted it or not, that was my job.
“Tell me about yourself, Ren,” the Anax said finally. “Whatever you’re comfortable with saying. Xavier can leave if you’d rather speak privately.”
So he wasn’t going to press for information.
That was a relief. I wasn’t entirely pleased about him saying I could leave, though.
I needed to be here to support my mate. If Ren wanted my support, which was really the only thing that mattered.
I could have a preference, and the Anax could issue orders, but Ren’s comfort and needs were more important.
Ren blinked a few times and frowned. “You aren’t going to interrogate me?”
“Should I?” the Anax countered.
“I’d rather you didn’t.” Ren scoffed and looked down at his plate. “I was starving when Xavier brought this to me, but I’m not sure I can eat any more of it. Um.” He looked up at me, and a mini version of the current I’d felt when I picked him up ran between us. “I’d like you to stay.”
“If the Anax is okay with it, I am.” I would stay anyhow. Ren needed me. But I had to at least act like I planned to play by the rules.
“I’m fine with it,” the Anax said. “As for the food, hold onto it for now in case you want it. I’m not going to interrogate you, Ren, but if you’re willing to tell me where you’re from and how you got here, I’d like to know.” He gestured at the deep wound on Ren’s hand. “And who did this to you.”
Clenching a fist, I braced myself for Ren’s answer. That appeared to be the worst of Ren’s injuries, still not scabbed over despite how quickly wounds typically healed for us. Someone had put my mate through hell, and I would cheerfully return the favor if I found out who they were.
Ren sighed and took another drink of water. “Um. What will you do?”
“That depends on what you tell me.” The Anax paused. “You won’t be in any trouble, Ren, unless I find out you’ve knowingly broken one of our laws. Which I don’t believe you have.”
“I came here without permission.” Head tilted, Ren looked toward the Anax. “Isn’t that against some law?”
“You came here for help, didn’t you?” The Anax sat up again.
Ren immediately looked down. Nerves or responding to the Anax’s power, I didn’t know.
“Permission is required when entering another pack’s territory, or when entering the territory of the Anax or an Arkhon, but if you’re running to get help, there’s some leniency. Can you tell me what happened?”
“They found out.” Ren put the cap back on the water bottle and tucked it between his leg and the sofa cushion. “I was… I don’t know where to start.”
“Wherever is easiest.” The Anax glanced at me, almost as if he wanted to make sure I approved of his response. Which I did. I gave him another small nod.
“A week ago, I was walking in the woods.”
Ren shivered. “I shouldn’t have been. It was night. I was alone. But I’d just gotten kicked out of the shelter I was trying to stay at, and I didn’t have anywhere to go. I thought maybe walking would keep me awake for the night, and then in the morning I was going to try to find somewhere to stay.”
“I’m sorry you were in that position,” the Anax said.
I said nothing, but my heart went out to Ren. I knew how it felt to have nowhere to go.
He briefly bowed his head. “I was staying at the shelter because I lost my housing when I came out as trans. It’s only been about six months. I’ve been trying to find work, but there’s…there’s a lot of hate out there. It’s hard to find work when you aren’t who your paperwork says you are, you know?”
“I don’t know, but I believe you.” The Anax closed his eyes.
A ball of rage and grief rose in me. How could people hate so much? And Ren spoke so calmly about it. He was used to hatred. That was where my rage came from. Knowing he had been so mistreated that he’d grown used to it.
The Anax had to let him stay. That was all there was to it. Ren needed to be someplace where people would undo the shit he’d been through. Where I could try to undo it.
“Okay.” Ren smoothed one of his eyebrows.
“Anyway, so I was walking in the woods, and I heard growling. I started to run, and that’s the last thing I remember until a couple of days ago. I woke up in this…cage, I guess? Pen? It was fenced in with a roof. There were four or five people there. Mostly guys, one woman. I was a wolf.
I didn’t know how that happened, but I was a wolf, and one of the guys told me it was time to come back to human. I didn’t know what he meant, so he started talking me through the shift.”
“And that’s how they found out you’re trans,” the Anax said.
He nodded. “Yeah. I mean, the ones who were there…They weren’t the ones who brought me there, I don’t think? The Alpha said they weren’t. So they hadn’t seen me before in human form. I don’t know. Everything got confusing. But the ones who saw me shift back to human, to this…
They didn’t take it well.”
“They attacked you because you’re trans?” The Anax’s voice rose.
Despite my rage at those who had harmed my mate for something he couldn’t change, I managed to stay quiet. Which wasn’t easy as Ren continued speaking.
“It isn’t as if it’s the first time.” With a sigh, he looked down at his plate.
His sadness was so heavy my eyes watered, and I wanted to gather him into a hug that I was pretty sure he wouldn’t accept.
“It wasn’t all of them. The Alpha was there, and he said to just leave me alone until I felt better. He explained about werewolves. Told me about alphas and arkhons and the Anax. That’s how I knew who you were. I kind of sensed it, I guess? But I knew the title because the Alpha told me.
He had the others bring me some food and water, and he sat with me for a while, but then he had to go deal with something else. As soon as he left, two of the others…Well, you saw.”
“Yes.” With a grim expression, the Anax studied my mate. “Who was it, Ren? Do you know names? Their pack?”
“Names, no.” He shivered. “The Alpha introduced himself as Alpha of Connecticut Pack.”
“I know him.” Of course he did. He was in charge of every werewolf in the United States. I wasn’t familiar with that pack, but I made a mental note of its name. “I’ll find out who assaulted you, Ren, and they will face consequences. There’s no justification for this.”
“I just want to let it rest.” Leaning back a little, he closed his eyes. “What’s the point of doing anything to them? It won’t change how they think. It might even make it worse. They’ll be angry that they’re getting punished for attacking something they think shouldn’t exist.”
The Anax sighed. “I won’t argue with you. I’m so sorry, Ren. When someone wakes up after their first shift, the pack is supposed to take care of them. Teach them. Support them. Not…” He waved in a generic direction. “This.”