Chapter <b>386 </b>
<b>I </b><b>can </b>tell that he’s exhausted himself yet the behavior that I am most concerned about keeps appearing. I’m watching him closely, slowly closing the distance between us as he repeatedly ces his hand in his mouth just to remove it without biting down. He’s fighting himself on top of everything else going on in his head.
“I don’t understand.” Lucas speaks quietly causing Cole to startle badly.
“What are you struggling to understand, Luke?” I reply calmly without looking at him.
“Going rogue can’t be that bad, can it? And, if he doesn’t want to leave, why can’t he stay? Why won’t you seek sanctuary with us?”
I’m shocked that he was willing to ask such a direct question when he has fepeatedly argued against Cole staying.
“There is no freedom. Not without innocence. It doesn’t matter where I’m at.”
“But what does that mean?”
Cole winces hard as Lucas’s brief kindness quickly fades into frustration.
“May I take a guess, based on what Demetri has told us, as to what it may mean.<b>” </b>Patrick speaks up as he walks towards Lucas.
“If you think you know.” Cole whispers but nods his head.
“Will you tell me if I’m wrong?” Again, Cole nods.
“I believe it means that there are things going on inside his pack that his father ns to manipte in such a way that Cole gets med for the rapes he described before he told us of your tryst with Melody.”
I’m relieved at Patrick’s calmness and ability to exin the situation to Lucas. The problem is he doesn’t have the picture that I do.
“<b>Is </b>that what’s going on?”
Jessa speaks out to Cole. Surprisingly, he nods his head, starting his pacing again but changing his position ny degrees so he nowes towards me instead of Jessa.
“But, that’s not all of it.” I state quietly. “Cole, I will let you choose but Jessa needs to understand why returning home for yourptop is so important. One of us needs to exin it.”
He stops about a foot away and stares at a spot past my left shoulder.
<b>1/2 </b>
Chapter <b>386 </b>
“<b>I </b>can’t. I can’t exin it. I’m sorry. I can’t. I can’t.”
<b>I </b>can tell that he’s building up again in a bad way but this time I don’t allow him to get <b>away </b><b>from </b>me. I close the gap between us as he balls his fists into his hair. I’m close enough now that I can see – his tugs on the long locks without so much as a wince<b>. </b>
He tries to step away but he’s toote as my hands grab hold of his elbows. His inability to get away renews his fight as he yelps and screams while he pushes and pulls his body, trying for several minutes to get away before exhaustion hits him.
To my own surprise I managed to hang on to him and in the end he copses against me, sobbing quietly into my neck. Everything is silent as I hold this shattered young man in my arms. Not even Madilyn can be heard. I close my eyes as I gently sway. One arm is wrapped low around his hips sitting nearly on his rear, the other crosses one shoulder with my hand on his head. I stay with him<b>, </b>in this moment, for several minutes as I know he’s never had this type offort from his own father and I truly wonder where his mother has been while everything has happened to him. Has she turned a blind eye or was she abused into giving him to his father?
“Cole.”
I speak loud enough that it brings everyone’s attention back to me.
“I want you to stay like this with me until I exin what happens next with you. First, I do feel that everyone here needs to understand why you will be returning home in July and why this news is so devastating.”
I feel him nod against my neck as I loosen my hold on him.
“What Patrick said is true, Cole is being ckmailed by his father in order to keep him from running from the poor treatment that he’s receiving The problem is, if he were to run, his father wouldn’t report him as a rogue. Being reported as a rogue wolf isn’t always a dangerous thing. Jessa bounced in and out of rogue status for just over three years before making a permanent home with us. If Cole had the luxury of going rogue, I’m certain he would have done so by now.
No, the problem is his father is using the Big Brother program to save video clips of pack members engaging in illegal acts against women and children in order to prove he is the rapist and pedophile everyone in his pack believes him to be. His father’s n is to turn him in to the council as a feral alpha male.”
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