~~

Artem

~~

I was starting to get lost in thought. Thinking about the things I needed to do, things I needed to say to get my mate to accept me. That was when my sister cleared her throat.

“I thought you were leaving.” I told her as I came out of my head to talk to her.

“I was about to, but there was still more that I needed to tell you.”

“What?” I didn’t think my heart could take any more of her revelations.

“She doesn’t know anything about being a wolf.”

“What are you saying? How is that possible?”

“She is a wolf, she had a shift, but they never told her anything. When she had her first shift, she didn’t even know she was a werewolf.”

“That’s insane. How could they not tell her?”

“She has been locked up since she was two.”

“TWO?!” I shouted the word, shock and confusion reverberating through me so hard that I thought I would fall to the floor with a wave of its aftershock.

“Yeah, since she was two.” Chay was nodding her head with an angry look.

“But, they couldn’t know what rank she was unless she was at least five. This makes no sense, what the hell is going on here?”

“I don’t know. But I doubt her mother or father were an Omega, and I don’t think she is either. I think this goes deeper than that.”

“I think you’re right. And I think I need to get to the bottom of this and figure out what happened to her.” I felt a fresh wave of rage wash over me. I was going to destroy Howard and the rest of that family.

“I think we need to see her wolf, and get her rank checked.” Chay looked determined, and nearly as mad as I was.

“We need to tread carefully with her though. If the wolf is too strong when we undo the binding, it will drive her human mind insane with the force of its release.”

“That’s why we need to know her rank.”

“Hey, Chay?” I’d had a sudden thought.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think the talisman stops her from feeling our bond?” It could explain why she was so afraid of me.

“I don’t know, but most likely. It’s the wolf that notices it, not our human minds. If her wolf is bound and trapped then it can’t sense your wolf.”

“Then what I did really was wrong. Since she can’t feel the same way about me as I do about her.”

“Oh, Artem, don’t beat yourself up about it too much. You didn’t know her story and we don’t know the full extent of bound wolves.”

“Still, she may never accept me now, because of my stupid idea.”

“We just need to work clearing up the misunderstandings, that’s all.” She was smiling, like that was all that would be needed.

“I hope you’re right.” I felt myself wanting to believe the words, but my heart wouldn’t let me. This was going to be my biggest and longest rescue mission yet.

After Chay finally left I went to go see Doc. He was the one who got Star to talk initially and he was the one who knew how injured she had been. I wanted to know if he had any idea of the extent of the damage they had done to her really was. And if he knew how to discover a wolf’s ranking while they were wearing a talisman.

If we didn’t know the power of her wolf and we released it before she was mentally or physically ready to take on the beast inside of her, Star may be lost to us forever. We needed to tread carefully in that regard. But I wouldn’t be able to convince her of my true intentions if her wolf was trapped and she couldn’t feel the bond between us. This was a catch twenty-two for me. I didn’t know how I was going to resolve all of this.

Sometimes, being the Alpha sucked more than anything else. But I wouldn’t change what I’ve done for anything. I would just need to buckle down and try harder.

Doc was in his clinic, where I expected him to be. When I came in and shut the door behind me he raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Got a problem you need my help with there, Alpha?” He was joking, but his words were more true than he knew.

“What did you learn about Star?”

“Oh, so she told you her name?” He smiled at me. “That’s good progress for you isn’t it?”

“She talked to Chay. She hasn’t talked to me yet.”

“To be fair, she didn’t actually talk to me either, she just wrote her thoughts on paper.”

“That’s what she did with Chay too.”

“Are you concerned she can’t speak?” Doc looked contemplative.

“No, I know she can. She told Chay that she controls her voice and will only speak when she wants to.” Doc laughed at that like I had made a really hilarious joke. “What?”

“She’s stubborn, isn’t she?”

“I don’t really know, but I would guess so.”

“She’s got to be, to take that approach. But she isn’t wrong. If everything has been taken from you and the only thing you control is your body, your voice is something that you can choose to share or not. Keeping it to herself is another way of protecting herself.”

“She told Chay she hadn’t made a sound with her family for years. Not even when hurt.”

“That’s some true strength. If that’s true, if she didn’t cry out when they hurt her they might have been more brutal, or tried even harder to get her to crack.”

“Those are the kind of thoughts that piss me off. What do you think they did to her?”

“In all honesty?” Doc looked at me like he was skeptical. Like I didn’t want the real answer from him or something.

“No, Einstein, I want you to give me all the flowery bull crap that will make me feel better so I don’t know how bad it all really was. Please give me the cupcakes and rainbows version, pretty please.” My anger seeped out in waves of sarcasm. Doc just leveled a glance at me, clearly not amused.

“When I did the x-rays of her leg and foot I saw several healed fractures and breaks. She’s definitely malnourished, that’s clear from her size, and I can tell she’s got a serious vitamin-d deficiency even without checking her levels with a blood test. I’m certain if we did a full body scan we’d see evidence of dozens, if not hundred of breaks that have healed over the years. I’m actually surprised she lasted sixteen years in that state.”

“What does the length of time have to do with it?”

“The body gets weaker the longer it goes without proper care. And add to that the talisman they most definitely put on her and that makes the rest of the time even more surprising.”

“She got her talisman when she was thirteen.” I told him, glad I could give some input.

“That’s another amazing feat. Most of the kids we rescued had their talismans for two years max. That’s why there weren’t many older kids.”

“I don’t understand.” I really didn’t. I wanted to change the way this pack was run, but I didn’t fully know the ways of its particular brand of evil.

“Those talismans that the boys all had on them were not just for suppressing their wolf, it was for killing it. I don’t know if anyone in this pack ever really knew that, or if they just didn’t care.”

“You’re serious?” The news he had just given me was enough to make my mind explode.

“Yes. From the research I’ve done on them over the last month. Studying the effect they had on the different boys we’ve saved, it’s safe to say that their wolves were dying. It’s why so many of the Omegas died before reaching adulthood. The talisman was draining the life from their wolf.”

“Where was that life going?”

“I don’t know yet, but I intend to find out. It’s possible it was being sent to the warlock that gave the pack the talismans in the first place. Maybe it’s how he stayed young. Or maybe it was given to the leader of their family, as a way to strengthen them. The possibilities are too vast and the variables too unknown for me to venture even a haphazard theory on it just yet.”

“What does it mean that she has had her talisman for five years?”

“I would say that either her wolf is stronger than the others, or her talisman is different than the others. Possibly both.”

“What exactly do the talismans do to them?” I could hear the uneasiness filling my voice. The more I learned the more I wanted to avenge my mate and all the others that had suffered because of the previous Alphas.

“Like I said, it drains their life, it makes the inner wolf weaker. If left on too long they won’t be able to heal their injuries anymore, they basically become human. And when it drains enough of their life essence, they die.”

“She’s going to die?” I leapt to my feet. I didn’t even remember having sat down on the chair across from him but the moment he said those words I felt my heart give out. I nearly fell over with how lightheaded I was without a heartbeat.

“If we’re not careful, then it’s a possibility. She’s already healing at a slower rate. But being properly nourished will help her to live longer. Part of the reason their life drains so easily is because they’re not properly cared for. We still have time, and she’s clearly stronger than the others, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to hurry.”

“And just taking the talisman of right away won’t work?”

“You know what happened when we tried that the first time.” Doc warned me.

I did remember what had happened. Nico, Kent’s little brother, was the first boy we rescued. Their grandfather had declared him unfit for the family and locked him away. He was sixteen when we got him out a few weeks ago. The first thing that Kent did when he saved his brother was remove the talisman that had caused the boy so much pain and misery. The problem was, the wolf inside Nico had grown feral and was driven insane within the couple years that it had been locked away.

The moment that Kent pulled the talisman away from Nico, the wolf sprang forth. The change was too fast, too sudden for the fragile boy. The fear, the pain, the ferocity of it all, Nico couldn’t handle it. When the wolf had taken over it had gone on a rampage, and when we finally got it settled down and guided it back inside so the boy could come back out, it was too late. Nico was gone forever.

The body was still alive, and the wolf was still in there. But that was all. Nico’s body became nothing more than a shell to hold the wolf. The whole thing had nearly broken Kent, it was why he felt compelled to save the others but also angered by them as well. He wanted to save them like he couldn’t save his brother, but he was also mad they got to live when his brother couldn’t.

I could never imagine what he was going through. And I just hoped I wouldn’t have to go through it with my mate as well.