<b>Chapter </b>71
The tears were finally falling as Jamie remembered that night with his friend.
“His manhood was purple with red cuts. Painfully swollen unlike anything I had <b>ever </b>seen. I saw tears in his eyes when he turned to show dad. For the first time he was fully exposed to us and he was breaking down because of it. He didn’t want us to know. I heard his voice crack as he apologized. Over and <b>over </b>he was sorry for disrupting our peaceful home. He felt like he had brought his hell to us. That we didn’t deserve to be exposed to the brutality that’s part <b>of </b>his life. He thanked us for our hospitality but he wasn’t going toplete the apprenticeship. He had exposed us to too much of his problems and he had to go. He couldn’t expose us to anything more and his father will only get worse.
He started trying to get around dad. He was determined to leave but his movements were slow and easily blocked by my dad. It was only when he saw mom and I in the doorway that hepletely gave up. He copsed against my dad and bawled. Dad ended up asking mom to fix a salt bath which made Cole <b>cry </b>even worse. I remember dad trying tofort him. He told him ‘I know the salt burns open wounds badly but you’re not doing it alone. I will get in the tub with you if it’s okay with you.”
“How did Cole respond to your dad’s willingness to help?”
I give Jamie a chance to collect himself. It seems like this ordeal with Cole has affected him quite deeply.
“He thanked him. Told him he can’t do the salt bath on his own. Dad had me take Cole’s dirty clothes to his hamper. Told me that Cole wasn’t going to be moving around much after the bath. I noticed blood on every piece of clothes in my hands. I couldn’t help but cry silently for him. After mom came out of the bathroom dad asked me to close all the bedroom doors. So I did. Closed Cole’s room when I left, the main bath was next to his room, then the girls‘ room before reaching baby Jeramy’s room where I slept too. By the time I got back into Cole’s room dad was helping him into the tub. My mom grabbed hold of me before <b>I </b>could get into the bathroom with them. The worst sound I’ve ever heard echoed through the room. I had never heard a human’s screambined with a wolf’s yelp before but the pain it carried was beyond anything I couldprehend at the time.
It only took a minute or two before he settled down into quiet whimpers but goddess it felt like hours. <b>I </b>cried like a baby in my mom’s arms just as she did in mine. The rtionship between Cole and my parents changed a lot that night. Dad stayed for over an hour in the salt water,forting him the best he could. He had Cole dress in a robe since it was the easiest thing to put on and helped him into bed. I think it was 2am by then. They took time off. The beta was already expecting it because of the ident. The doctor at General had already told Alpha Redmen and Beta Andrew that they needed off the rest of the week but they had insisted in the hospital that they were okay. Otherwise I don’t think he would have needed to call. Since it was an ident during training Beta Andrew told him they would still get paid and could still use the nursery for child care. He knew that caring for young kids while hurt would dy the healing process. Dad repeated the salt bath three more times that day.
For three days Cole was either sleeping or in the salt bath. He hardly ate anything and mom even had a hard time getting him to drink the protein shakes. He did good with water though. It was on the fourth day that he really started moving around on his own. He stayed in his room most of the day but managed his salt baths on his own and ended up feeling well enough that he joined us for dinner. He <b>was </b>still quite stressed but we all tried to take <b>his </b>mind off what had happened.