RUNT

Normalcy (part2)

Christian 

When she first woke up I felt an immense relief, a kind of relief that had never come over me before. Her eyes blinking at me, her soft smile, the dreamy look on her face. She let us hold her, fawn all over her, spoil her. Still we did not push it.

We realized the situation, she had been traumatized. Any ideas we had about fully mating had been put on the back burner much to my brothers dismay, but he agreed she needed time to heal. Little noises made her jump, nightmares became more regular.

For almost a week she stayed by our sides, eating silver dollar pancake breakfasts and watching late night movies. Bathing along side us, sleeping in one bed. It was almost enough for her to forget what had happened, and of course that couldn't happen. Something had to intrude on our peaceful time.
The Council. The Council  in their infinite wisdom sent two agents here to observe and investigate what exactly is happening in our pack. As much as I hate to admit it I am glad for the help. My own investigation has come to a road block, namely I can't bring myself to question Serenity and make her relive the event. 

They were relentless young wolves, asking for details on the torture methods, on the drugs used. They questioned her background, her previous feral status, our bond. I almost snapped instead going for a run. They asked about the things she overheard and suddenly she was back there. Reliving the abuse as she folded in on herself for hours before suddenly straightening and marching to the Alpha wing, locking herself away.

That, unfortunately, is where we are now.

She refuses to let anyone in, not me, not Gabriel, not a soul. Rebekah should be back this evening for a visit with her mate, hopefully this can be resolved by then. I don’t want to drag my sister into our problem, it is bad enough the rest of this council team will be escorting Rebekah and her mate due to the animosity the royal pack, Silvermoon, had shown us in the past weeks.

Gabriel paces in front of the door leaving me to just watch his anxiety blossom as I lean heavily against the wall. Listening to the silence beyond the double doors was quickly eating at my patience. She is in there somewhere, alone and suffering.

Break down the doors then. My wolf howls in frustration but I can only shake my head at his foolish idea. 

The door is reinforced against attacks, even if Gabriel and I both attacked it would be useless. I point out, trying to remain logical. Trust me, if I thought it would work we would have tried it already.

Gabriel stops in his tracks, looking as if an idea has come to him before he leaps out the door.

Gabriel

I feel terrible. Sure the council is interested in everything that happened but I never expected them to send a team led by a damn lycan. A female at that. Had I been the me before, I shake the thought away. No, I don't even want to think of how foolish I was.

I hear a weak sob beyond the locked doors, so quiet I don't think my brother heard but the sound is like a dagger in my heart. I want to comfort her.

We could climb down from the roof to the balcony. My wolf points out. I did it allot in my teen years when I wanted to sneak out to parties. Exactly, we can get to mate and comfort her.

I don't bother saying anything before springing out of the hallway and into the office where the attic access is. There was one in our bathroom when we were kids but our parents closed it after the umpteenth time I got caught with my pants down. Must have been hard to deal with.

Focus!

I laugh, shaking my head. We got this. Don't ruffle your fur.

Stupid human. Just get to mate. He growls loudly in my head.

From the attic access its just a balancing act to get to the hatch on the roof, one wrong placed foot and I will slip through the ceiling like a sack of bricks on thin ice. Ducking ever so often to not hit my head on a beam or ductwork, I eventually poke my head out into the evening air. The hatch was stiff but still functioned well enough, protest groans and all.

It wasn’t as easy as I remembered but I was much larger now than I was as a teenager. The hatch was narrow enough I had to angle just right or my shoulders never would have fit. Once on the roof it was a quick walk over to the balcony and a drop down, easy, or at least that is how I remembered it. Again I was mistaken, the roof slant was so steep I had to crawl or risk sliding down the side of the dark tiles, and the short walk was the entire Alpha wing. 

Eventually I made it though, feeling much less manly and confident than I had before my journey to the roof but still successful. Dropping onto the balcony is easy,  thankfully, and luckily I remembered the key to the door so at least something was going my way.

Quietly I slip inside and follow the sniffling sobs of our little mate. I find her in the living room curled on the sofa with her arms wrapped tightly around her pillows. Her eyes are closed and she is shaking slightly but looks to almost be asleep. If her head hadn't tilted I would think she was.

"I wrote it all down." Her voice is incredibly soft. "I think Henry suggested it but I don't remember. They had so many questions."

I laugh, the two council wolves seemed professional enough when doing their jobs but I could tell those twins were covering up some pretty big loneliness, they only lit up when their team leader calls but it isn't like the way my brother and I do when our mate is near.

"Their leader called a bit ago, they will be here in a few hour with Rebekah and Carl. Are you going to want to give it over yourself or.." I sit down on the sofa but make sure to give here space. 

"I want to." She nods firmly. "It is what I need to do... plus I hear their leader is super cool."

"A lycan." I smirk. "Should we let Christian in? I am sure he wants to hear this too."

"Go let him in, I want to tell you what happened before they read it." She smiles at me and though there is still guilt in her eyes I can tell she is going to be alright. This didn't break her, no this made our little mate stronger. Stronger in knowing what she gas to do, she has a goal and though I am unsure of what all she went through we will support ever single bit of it. 

She is our little mate after all, and we love her.

the end....

Serenity and the boys will make another appearance in the next book River Deep, which will be up soon. Thank you all for reading. I will be back to edit as I know my punctuation is horrid. 

~Furballmews