His Wounded Omega - IV

"Selene?" There, leaning against the concrete kitchen countertops, sat the familiar curly-haired head of an old acquaintance. Christian stared at me in disbelief. I whimpered, hiding my face in my mate's chest. Christian will tell him.

"Do you know who Selene is?" Helena questioned.

I could hear the sadness seeping into Christian's words as he spoke. "That wolf, where'd you find her?"

"She tripped the alarms last night and ran onto the property."

"Can I-" He paused; I could feel his eyes boring holes into my sides, "see her for a second?"

My body shook while my heart rate spiked. I didn't want to. He'd take me back there just after I had escaped. He'd be furious. I would get beaten beyond recognition.

"What for?" Rueben spoke up for the first time. His arms tighten possessively around me. I figured the mate bond was affecting him, despite his lack of knowledge about it.

"I just need- Selene?" Christian directs his attention toward me when I lift my head to look at him.

Fear costs itself on my face. I let out a high-pitched whimper. Why did he have to remember me?

"Selene, let me, please. I won't hurt you, I promise. It's important." I shook my head. He doesn't keep promises.

Rueben and Helena share a look. "Are you- are you talking to the wolf?" Christian nods. "And she can understand you?"

"Yes! She's from the place I told you all about- with all the labs and the cages and the-the other stuff!" Christian's hands waved through the air as he spoke. I flinched each time his hand came near me, scared he might hit me.

Rueben takes a step back, "Are you alright? You're not on anything are you?"

Christian's eyes bulge out of his head. "I'm not lying! She's a-"

I let out a sharp bark before he was able to finish that sentence, drowning out what he would have said. Rueben can't know, he will find out. All three jump back in surprise. Christian sends me a pleading look but I only turn my head away. I didn't trust him, not after what he did.

"I'm sorry, Selene."

Rueben holds up his hand when Christan reaches for me. "How about you go start afternoon rounds, huh? We'll continue this conversation tomorrow. Right now we need to get food for her."

"But- I-" Helena gently lead the shaken-up Christan toward the exit. Before he could disappear down the hallway, he shouted one last thing. "She won't eat your food!"

Rueben and Helena had ignored what he had said, cooking as many things as they thought I might like. They put so much time and effort into the meal which made me feel guilty for not eating. I just couldn't eat. My stomach twisted with all the delightful fragrances. This wasn't the food I ate. I ate scraps, the leftovers. This food was too nice for someone like me. He'd find out if I ate their food.

Rueben and Helena tried everything to get me to eat but I refused. Helena even forcefully shoved a small piece of meat down my throat to try and enlighten my desire for food. Instead, I forcefully threw it up.

I feared that he would too find out about the food I had just thrown up. Even though I hadn't eaten it he'd punish me for letting any sort of food that didn't scrape in my mouth. I wasn't allowed to eat nicer foods. I ate his leftovers, the expired foods, the ones that made you sick. Sometimes I was even given paper or plastic to eat, and if I didn't eat what he had given me then he'd beat me. He would claim I wasn't grateful, that it was what I deserved. The sad part was sometimes I'd believe him.

Rueben and Helena bickered back and forth in front of me. They shouted out ideas of what I might eat before denying that the other was wrong- 'She won't eat that.

A knock sounded throughout the room. I fell flush against the cold counter underneath me, tail curling to me.

"Hey Reuben, the new kid is having a panic attack out in the hallway. He wants to see the pup, keeps saying somethin' 'bout-" The tall man glances back down the hall. "hell, I don't even know."

Reuben sighs. "Thanks for the warning, Cowboy. I'll go talk to him in a sec."

"Alright. See y'all tomorrow." Cowboy slaps the doorframe twice before taking off.

"Christian, you can come in!"

The young man soon scrambles into the room. His hair splayed out in different directions from his act of constantly running his hands through it. Red encased his eyes as if he had just been crying and wrinkled clothing covered his shaking form.

"Oh my gosh, Christian!" Helena rushed over to him.

He simply sprouted out nonsense, a constant flow of apologies with reasons I couldn't make out. As soon as Helena touched his shoulder to help him distribute his weight correctly, he collapsed to the ground. Sobs filled the room. "I'm so sorry Selene, I didn't mean to. He made me. I didn't want to. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

My chest clenched at his skinny form shaking in a ball. He was put through so much trauma because of me. I caused a problem for him. I cause problems for everyone I'm near.

"He did it. He did what he promised. It hurt so bad. There were so many of them. I'm so sorry."

I whimpered. I knew what he meant, he didn't need to explain. My body was tainted and now so was his. Christian wasn't supposed to be hurt. It was all my fault. He didn't deserve that, I did. He got hurt because of me.

As these thoughts swirled through my mind, I felt the darkness creep up to me. My body was so incredibly stressed it was shutting down on itself. Soon enough, I felt the light slip away and I fell into a deep sleep filled with reoccurring nightmares.