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<b>Chapter </b><b>217 </b>
<b>(</b>Cole’s POV)
I can’t believe I’m doing it again. Every pack I’ve been to has done this at some point. They act like they like me. They ask questions <b>trying </b>to <b>get </b><b>to </b>know more about me of my pack but these questions only serve to do one thing, to break me down.
Olivia’s screams from being belted by my father, a year after we first met, are tearing through my already sensitive head. The migraine I had <b>when </b>I arrived two nights ago had just started to subside when Lucas’s multiple kicks to my face brought it right back.
Madilyn’s gentle snores against my neck seem to be the only thing keeping me from a full on breakdown having such a conversation creates. I push my te away, cringing as I turn my head into her neck, desperate to keep the innocent little one from experiencing the chans, the demon that threatens to break loose from within me.
“Cole?” I barely hear the alpha’s gentle voice. My breathing is tight and fast making my ribs scream in pain.
“Her screams, alpha. Goddess, why can I still hear her screams<b>?</b>”
1 finally gasp out trying to make sense of the shback guing
my mind.
“Who Cole, who do you hear?”
“Olivia.” I whisper as I strain against the sights and sounds shing within my head.
“When did you help Olivia after she had been belted?”
Alpha’s voice is soft and patient. Something in the <b>way </b>he speaks to me is helping me to focus on the present<b>, </b>something no one has managed to do before.
“About a year after I first found her in my room. Alpha Redmen’s office is not sound proofed. He prefers everyone hears the agony other’s endure. I know her screams and I heard her inside my room. I waited until it sounded like they were traveling before <b>I </b>stepped out into the hall.
I’m not certain where she was headed but she ran right into me. I heard her before I saw her and I had dropped to one knee as she rounded the corner to my room. Blinded by terror she ran right into me, pounding her fists into my shoulders. Pushing with everything she had against me trying to get away<b>. </b>I held her close with one hand while I used the other to gently force her head down onto my shoulder. I knew when she rxed into me, wrapped her arms around me,
that she knew who I was.
We both froze when we heard our dads looking for her. I told her to stifle <b>as </b>I picked her up and hurried her into my room. It hurt her badly to be picked up but it was the fastest way to get her out of harm’s way. Weid together on my bed for a while and actually ended up taking a nap. When we woke up she screamed from the pain she was in. I held her for a long time before I talked to her about using medication that Dr. Carter gives me on her.”
I pause as I feel a hand wrap around mine. I open my eyes and look up into the softest brown eyes <b>I’ve </b><b>ever </b>seen. I hold it for a moment before looking away.
“It was the first time I had ever suggested taking their pants off to a pup.”
I can hear the shame in my own voice as I had never intended on talking about this.
“It’s okay, Cole. It’s okay to talk about stuff like this. The only way I can help you deal with your past is to know about it.”
I hear alpha’s voice whisper. I hear Lucas in the background trying to <b>say </b>something but he <b>keeps </b>getting interrupted until he finally remains silent.
“I sat in my desk chair and helped her get off my bed so she was facing away from me. She said something about feeling me shake when I pulled her pants down. I could tell by her voice that she was nervous.”
“Did you ask why she was nervous?<b>” </b>
I hear the beta chime in but his voice is surprisingly neutral.
“I did. She thought I was going to finish what my dad started. She broke loose from my father and ran before she had received all <b>eight </b>hits<b>. </b>I <b>think </b><b>she </b><b>said </b>she had two more. I reassured her that I wasn’t going to belt her but touching where she was belted <b>at </b>was