<b>Chapter </b><b>396 </b>
I pause as Jessa makes it obvious that she wants to run from the room. I intercept her, gently pulling. her into my embrace cradling her head against my chest. I don’t need to be an empath to feel the fear she has for her mate. They barely know each other and I can imagine that he’s going to start distancing himself from everyone here in preparation for his return home.
“It’s not something anyone who’s gotten to know you wants. Even Jessa, who doesn’t really know you, fears your return home.”
“It’s not a home that he’s returning to.” She whispers angrily.
“Let’s go sit back down. He would never hurt you. I don’t think he’d ever hurt anyone outside of self defense.” I try to reassure her despite her deeply ingrained fears of angry alphas.
“He looked for you this morning.”
“I know.” She sighs. “I caught his scent in the hall after Dina left with Sally. It caught me off guard
because he’s never sought me out before.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just….”
His apology trails off as his agitation grows.
“I’m tired of being so damn weak!” He yells through his growl.
I watch him closely as I hold Jessa, her hands gripping tightly to the sides of my shirt.
“You need to resist the urge Cole.” I warn gently as his handse towards his head.
Just as quickly he throws them down again, growling loudly again. His pacing continues at a faster
rate as he tones down his desire to scream and growl. I turn my attention to Jessa, not realizing how
deep her fear runs has put me in a difficult situation as I have two highly emotional wolves to help through their anxiety attacks.
“I’m sorry Jessa. If I had known this was going to happen then I would have approached this meeting very differently. I know that I haven’t spent enough time with you for you to trust me but I do believe you understand that I won’t hurt you.”
To my surprise I can feel her head nod against my chest.
“Cole will not hurt you. It will take time for either of you to trust the other but the only way Cole can be a protector is with a clean te.”
“You think he’s a protector?” She whispers nervously as her breathing starts returning to normal.
“I can’t prove it yet but yes I do. Just like I firmly believed you were an empath based on Ang’s description of your behavior.”
“Do you still believe that I’m an empath even though I can’t link?”
“Yes.” I reassure her gently. “Although it’s unusual for an empath to lose abilities I believe that there is a medical exnation for your loss. I just haven’t had the heart to put you under that <b>much </b>stress for something that’s just a mild inconvenience. It’s easy enough to reach you on the phone.”
Despite his growing anger and frustration, Jessa has managed to pull herself together enough to leave my hold.
“You need him as much as he needs you.”
She nods silently before making her way cautiously to her seat. She pulls two pill bottles from the pockets of her scrubs and ces them on the table as she sits down.
“Co, I know our conversation got a little derailed but it would help us both if you could tell us what’s going on with you.”
“I don’t have a choice.” He whispers lowly towards the floor.
“You’re talking about returning to Red Fang.”
“You said that it’s a decision that I’m making. You don’t understand that I have no choice. I have never had a choice in anything.” He pauses with an exhausted whine beneath his voice.
“I was eight when my mom stopped taking me to the doctor for standard physicals. The previous year was the first time the family’s physician wanted to talk to me alone. He tried so hard to
separate me from my mom and she knew I wanted to go with him. I wasn’t allowed to make that choice. I got dragged out of there instead. My siblings got to go y while I was taken for a meeting with my father. My mother was so mad that I wanted to go with him that she held o the desk after he forced me to undress. Goddess did hey into me that afternoon. ‘I will beat any desire to think for yourself right out of you!‘ he screamed at me with every strike he made. That evening I received round two because I refused to sit at the table, I wanted to stand. It was too painful to sit and I knew if I whimpered, yelped or cried that I would receive the same. Hell, if I had refused toe to the table he would have belted me again.”
“It didn’t matter what you chose, did it?” Jessa speaks for the first time since sitting down.
“I don’t get choices, alpha. He’s already started the process of making me a feral. You and I both
know what that means.”
The sadness in his voice is heartbreaking leaving me at a loss for how to console him.
“I know after William triggered the memories of receiving the steroids at such a young agebined
with the difficulties you’re having with there only being eight weeks left makes this a very difficult time to talk about a n but for you to have any confidence in what needs to happen to bring you back we need to talk.”
For the first time since entering the room he looks up from the floor. His dark navy eyes, fearful, as he looks into mine. It’s only for a moment but it’s enough to tell me that I’ve got his attention. With a deep breath and a small sigh the young man finally takes a seat at the table.
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