Danny POV

TRIGGER WARNING

I haven't gone outside too much for the last two weeks, mostly painting. I've read once in the book about famous artists that the more they suffered, the greater pictures they created. If that's true, I guess I have a great career waiting for me.

I don't sleep; I don't eat; I paint, I guess only because that's the best way to keep both my mind and my hand occupied.

And yet I leave the house from time to time, and some pack members actually talk with me, sometimes asking not very comfortable questions. Always tell the truth because the truth is unchangeable, no matter what my previous Alpha used to say. So I always answer their question truthfully.

That I wasn't trained and never took part in hunting. That sometimes I was very close to the hunting area, and that's it. That the leader of the clan was like the Alpha of the pack, and he had absolute power. That my father was a hunter and killed many, many during this time. That he was the one who put scars on my back after my mum's death. That Terry is my relative, and that's how I recognized him. That he killed many, but ten years ago saved my adoptive parents. And so on and so on and so on...

I really appreciate that those who ask questions don't behave resentfully; they are more like concern and just curious. Howl Pack is a good place to live, wolves here aren't cruel but reasonable, and they knew Terry before all of this as a nice person, so now they are just trying to make some sense of this situation.

But Julius... 

Julius hasn't spoken or even looked in my direction since our last talk. And it hurts like hell; my heart is broken; I want to scream and beg for him just to forgive me, to give me one more chance. To not leave me alone, to let me be close to him again.

"That picture is beautiful," I hear a sad voice from behind me. Trist is standing right there.

"Sorry, the door was open," he says, shifting a bit on his feet, seeming unsure if he is welcomed here.

"I've missed you too. Would you like hot chocolate?" I say, and he smiles brightly.

In the kitchen, I ask him how he is and how the training is going. After all, I haven't seen him for two weeks. It's obvious that he enjoys this casual chit-chat as much as I do.

"And how is your mother?" I ask, probably because I'm scared to ask about his father.

"She is in the packhouse. She has to wear the collar with the tracker when she moves around the pack and has like curfew that she must be back in her room at certain hours. Beta Chen is in charge of her, and dad agreed for us to spend time with each other but not alone, always under supervision."

"He is just worried about you," I say, and Trist smiles.

"I want her to stay here with me; I know that he doesn't like that she is here, but..."

"And I'm sure the two of them can make it work so you can see both of them, and they don't have to see each other. Don't worry too much; time helps in situations like that."

"Dad is not happy recently, he avoids me and doesn't want to talk with me, and he drinks more than before," he says in a small voice, and I sigh.

"That's probably my fault. Julius is furious with me, not with you. He took it hard that I lied to him, and probably you too..."

"I'm not angry with you," he interrupts me. "I did the same about my mum as you did with Terry. I also put the pack in danger because of stealing in the shop, I even convinced my friends to help me, so I think I did worse than you."

"But you are the kid, Trist, and I'm the adult. But don't worry too much; we sometimes make mistakes, and that's how we learn not to make them again. "

He stays for dinner, we talk and play some board games, and then he leaves, and I'm alone again. I doubt Julius will be happy when he finds out that Trist was here. If he ever finds out? I made him go back to his bad ways, and it adds to my guilt.

Another sound of the door, and I see Brandon and Preston entering the house, and panic rushes through me. I forgot that he was supposed to come back home today. To tell the truth, I totally pushed him out of my thoughts. I haven't talked with him for almost a month and I...

"Hello Danny, it's good to see you," Brandon smiles brightly and comes closer. He totally ignores that I flinch when he hugs me and gives my cheek a small peck.

"We must talk," Preston says." Sit down, both of you."

I don't argue; I'm so scared to say anything. I know that something is wrong because I can sense Bruce, and he is in a rage; I know that.

"Now, when Brandon is at home, it's high time that all of us start cleaning all this mess. Good for you, Danny; that pack actually is very understanding about your lies and your situation, and Brandon was protecting you quite fiercely today, and it's good. Both of you must understand that you must be united if the pack is to believe that you can be the leaders one day as an Alpha and Luna." Preston says in a business voice which makes me want to throw up. "I don't care what you two do in the house, but outside, you are mates; you behave like mates and make sure all will believe it. And you, Brandon, don't be stupid again and stay away from Fiona, am I clear?"

"Yes, father," he says, and Preston nods and looks at me.

"Don't make it difficult, Danny, just spare yourself lots of tears," he smirks and stands up to leave us alone.

When the door gets closed after him, my pulse rate is over the roof, but I can't move; I'm so scared I'm incapable of even lifting my finger. Brandon smiles at me as he says:

"So, who have you screwed when I wasn't around?"

I look at him, but he keeps smiling like everything that is happening right now was some kind of sick joke.

"Bruce was in so much pain when he felt that. But the worst was I could feel how much you enjoyed it. I was sure it was Julius, but he isn't such a good actor, and the way he behaved around me today convinced me it wasn't him. Maybe that's why he suffers so much because he finally understood what a dirty whore you really are."

His voice is so calm as he gently caresses my face with his fingers; I don't dare to move, my eyes are shut, and I fear I will lose consciousness soon because of fear that's literally choking me. I feel Bruce's rage and sorrow, but I know he can't stop Brandon, and maybe he doesn't want to.

"Dad said no bruising, so that's not what's going to happen" Brandon stands up and starts unbuckling his belt and then trousers.

Jordan is the one who is standing in front of me. Jordan grips my hair harshly and forces me to open my mouth and take him in. I grip the chair as he starts moving his hips, I feel acid in my throat, but I know I can't throw up no matter what. His fingers dig into my scalp, and it's painful. He almost chokes me as, once again, I'm nothing more than a cum dumpster for him. He moves so fast that when he finally finishes, I feel the blood in my throat.

Jordan/Brandon relishes the moan of satisfaction as he moves away from me and puts his trousers on, and I cough, trying to take some air into my lungs and frantically try to wipe my lips off his cum, acid, and blood. My brain screams that this hasn't just happened as clutches of fear and disgust sink into my heart.

"We should make you clean; you stink," Brandon says, and that's despite my shaking and my heart hammering in my chest, I realize I'm wet. I pied myself during this act.

He grabs me by my hand, and I don't put any resistance, feeling l like sleepwalking, like everything that's around me now is not real. He pushes me into the shower and opens the freezing-cold water, and moves away from me as I curl into the shower not trying to do anything. I have no strength in me.

"With who did you fuck, Danny?" Brandon asks, but I don't answer. He keeps asking me the same question again but gets no answer from me. Soon I don't feel any part of my body as he keeps asking the same question over and over.

He keeps me under the water until I lose consciousness.

Julius POV

No matter how hard I try, I can't block visions of Danny and me making love in his house, and I don't understand why. I had never had a dream that felt so real, but I know it was nothing more than a dream. The fact that I keep my distance from Danny also doesn't help, makes me only yearn for his presence more and more.

I was angry, like really angry, but now I feel like a kid who threw a tantrum over some candies. I analyzed everything that Danny said about Terry, but still, I don't believe in his good intentions. But I can't blame Danny that he does.

Drake is another problem; recently, I feel him pushing to reach out to me, but he is still too weak to restore our connection fully, but I sense as if he is desperately trying to tell me something very important. And the fact that I can't understand what it is frustrates us both.

I move my wheelchair to the porch of the packhouse; my son and his mother are sitting at the end of the garden. I can't see them all the time, but I don't hear what they are talking about, and I don't want to. I try, I really try to trust in her good intentions but just can't; I'm sure that sooner or later, she will screw this up like everything in her life.

I see Fiona walking fast in the direction of the packhouse; she has tears in her eyes. She notices me and behaves as if she wanted just to pass me without any interaction, but finally decides to come closer. I sigh heavily, I may still not be happy with her behavior, but I think it's unfair that she took the full fall down for it.

Brandon was out of the pack, and Preston made lots of hard work to push the blame totally on her; Brandon's friends helped him, and suddenly, she was the only one guilty in this situation. Thankfully not everyone in the pack gave her the cold shoulder but in every place; you will find someone always eager to gossip and make someone miserable.

"I heard Brandon came back," Fiona says, coming closer to me.

"Yes, he did yesterday, but do you think it's wise to ask that question?"

She chose to ignore my obvious suggestion that she shouldn't ask about him and continues:

"Alexa doesn't want to talk with me about him, but please, I want to know how it went?" she asks with a teary voice.

"It went okay. Both Brandon and Alexa behaved, and Alexa and Gamma managed to negotiate quite a good treaty agreement. Brandon was mostly present during the negotiations, at least that is what one of the Alpha's said. " I say, "He is okay, Fiona, and he is back at home."

"Has he asked about me?"

"Girl, you are so naïve. Preston will make sure that Brandon won't get near you ever again, he may have feelings for you, but he wants Alpha's title more; I promise you that." I say in a stern voice; she must wake up. The sooner, the better.

And yet when she starts sobbing, I actually start pitying her; it's not entirely her fault...

"Fiona being in love is not a crime, okay? What you and Brandon did was bad, and you two hurt an innocent guy. But love can't be your excuse Fiona, especially for selfishness. Whatever you and Brandon had was over the moment he marked Danny, he made the final choice this moment, and he can't change it." I feel a sting in my heart. I wish I could change it too, but I can't; I can't do anything about that, either.

Natasha steps out of the house to sit on her porch and tells me to come, so I ask Fiona to watch my boy and his mother and go to talk with my Alpha.

"I went through all the agreements and details provided by Alexa, Brandon, and Gamma. I want both of you to check the two I decided are worth signing. With the third, I agree with Alexa and Gamma's recommendation that our best interest is not to sign it."

"Which one?" I ask

"Ravenswood Pack, I think that something is wrong. Brandon actually noticed that if we have this treaty, we could delegate less manpower to the north border, which is now the main route for rogues. But to do that, we must be sure that Alpha Ravenswood will keep his end of the bargain and can be trusted."

"And you think he can't be trusted?" I ask

"According to Alexa and Gamma, the way he behaves is at least paranoid, and as you know, it's very dangerous. Alexa stated that their Beta was trying to avoid most of her questions, and that's not a good sign. Plus, she had a conversation with one of the warriors, and he told her that since his Luna's death, Ravenswood banished from the pack a considerable amount of girls, and to this day, none of them has made any contact with their families."

"That's not surprising; rogues tend to disappear," I say.

"Yes, but sooner or later, if they have families, they contact them, especially if they get accepted into other packs, and apparently, Alpha Ravenswood made a command that forbids any pack member to ask about those girls officially. This warrior wants to know what happened with his younger sister, and because he can't, he asked Alexa for a favor."

"To check if his sister is somewhere?" I say, and Natasha nods and continues:

"He gave her the list of the girls. There are over twenty names on this list, and every one of them seems not to be seen since they were banished."

"Have you checked it?"

"Not yet, but I intend to do so, I want to know what is happening there. Ravenswood has a very similar situation to ours because they don't share the boundaries directly with other packs; the deal with them would be really profitable to us, I see it, so I don't want to just forget about it, but there is another problem. Alpha Ravenswood seems to really want this deal and send an official request for a visit."

"For his representatives?"

"No, for himself." 

Sorry for the small delay. Enjoy reading.