Rite of Submission - Rite 1

65: Broken

                To much time had passed and he was still just staring at me with a blank expression as I knelt there holding his hand in mine. One of us needed to say something eventually. I had a limited number of options before me, and I'd need time to prepare either way he decided.

A knock on the main doors derailed my train of thought. His face was still blank, "I'll go see who that is, and what they want," I whispered, setting his hand on his thigh. Still nothing from him, sighing, I climbed off the floor and made my way to the sitting room.

I opened the door to a very cheerful Sophia, "It sounded really quiet, so I thought I wouldn't be interrupting," she gave me a wink with a cheeky grin, "I planned for us all to have brunch instead of breakfast since the morning after a full moon tends to run a little later than normal, aaaaannnnnnd..." she wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

"Oh, um..." I quickly pulled her inside and shut the door behind her, "That would be lovely, except," I chewed on my lower lip, not sure how to explain that I think I broke her brother and the pack's Alpha.

Her eyes ran up and down, taking in my sweats and most likely frizzy hair. "Rough morning?" she giggled.

I groaned inwardly, a rough morning would've been easier to explain. "I need your help with something," I grabbed her hand, dragging her giggling behind me back to the bedroom.

First a bright pink blush crept up her neck, covering her face as she eyed the objects on the bed. For a moment, even I was embarrassed. "No, not that," grabbing her shoulders I turned her towards Dmitri still on his knees in the corner. "Any idea how I can snap him out it," I chewed on my lip some more.

Her smile dropped as she took him in. She walked over to him and waved her hand in front of his face, but there was no response. "What happened? Should we call Dr Martinez? I haven't seen him like this since the day our father..."

I nodded as her voice trailed off with the memory. "I can't tell you how, but I think I broke his brain," my voice sounded a little too high pitched. "How did he snap out of it then?"

She stumbled back a bit, staring down at him with a frown. "He just sat there for like two days," there was a warble in her voice. "I think Nathan had to force his wolf to take over, I'm not sure how he did it. But Dr Martinez can inject him with adrenalin I think to try and trigger a shift."

"No," I let out a frustrated sigh, "I don't think that we should let anyone know just yet."

"I don't think anyone will come looking for him until this afternoon," she looked thoughtful, "there's nothing on his calendar until 3pm, and most of the shifters just come home eat and sleep at least a few hours."

"Ok," I rolled my shoulders back, "so we just have to trigger his wolf, what the hell makes a wolf takeover"

"I don't know," she frowned, "I don't have one."

"Yes you do," her jaw dropped but I waved her off, "We will have to unpack that another day Soph, I promise." Her mouth closed with a snap, "I can do this, I piss him off all the time." She chuckled as I knelt by him again, "Dmitri," I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Come on, I need you to stop acting like a fragile little bitch and suck it up!" Sophie sucked in a breath and took a few steps towards the door, but nothing from him.

"Maybe, slap him?" her face scrunched up, unsure.

"Ok," I bit my lip as I tried to drum up the courage to hit him. I smacked him on the arm. Aside from a slight lean from the strike, he didn't move.