Owen~ June 9

The knock on the door had Kane practically jumping out of his chair and rushing to answer it. Leaving me alone with Roman. The human had an unreadable look on his face as he stared at the table. But I had much bigger things to worry about then trying to decide if he was taking all of this alright.

Mirfield. I had heard that name a lot during the time I spent in captivity. Both my captors and cellmates spoke of the ruthless, power thirsty Alpha that ruled Mirfeild. They said he was the son of the infamous Noah Barron. The Alpha that has never lost a challenge in his life and the Lycan that no hunter has been able to kill. Noah Barron is the leader of the Cadine(?) Pack. One of the largest, most powerful packs in the U.S.

Kane didn’t give off a murderous, bloodthirsty kind of vibe, well, there was that time when he attacked me... He seemed pretty murderous then, but since Roman calmed him down, he hasn’t been that bad.

I glanced over at the human still sitting by me and softly asked, “Hey Roman, what’s Kane’s last name?” I just need to be sure. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and his name will be something like Josten or Greyson or anything but Barron, and maybe it's just a coincidence that his pack has the same name as Noah Barron’s sons.

Roman snapped his attention to me and took a deep breath before replying. “Um, Barron. Kane Barron. Why?”

Why does the world hate me? What did I do wrong?

My head instantly fell onto the table beside my empty plate with a thud. I let out a low groan as I contemplated all of my life decisions.

“What’s wrong?” I heard Roman ask. I ignored him.

I could hear Kane talking to whoever was at the door, and soon their voices got louder as a new sent filled the room. My head shot up, and my hands gripped the table as I prepared to make a break for the back door. I focused intently on the doorway as Kane, and the stranger walked in. The stranger was a little taller than Kane. He had short mussed-up brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. His skin was a dark tan color that almost hid the freckles that littered his features. He had high cheekbones, a sharp jawline and a small scar above his left brow that disappeared into his hairline. The stranger wore a simple white V-neck T-shirt and worn blue jeans. He may have been dressed casually, but he exuded almost as much power as Kane did.

My instincts said I should bear my throat to him in submission, but instead I tilted my head forward and let a warning growl reverberate through my chest. This stranger wasn’t an Alpha, but he was still a powerful Lycan that demanded respect. Too bad I was never taught how to respect those stronger than me.

The strangers gaze zeroed in on me in an instant. He gave me an uninterested look. Kane, on the other hand, snarled back at me. Despite my best efforts, I flinched at the sound.

“Hey Derik,” Roman greeted as he leaned back in his chair.

The stranger, Derik, turned his full attention to the human and gave a small smile as he replied with, “Hey Roman. How are you doing?” He asked. The man slowly crossed the floor and took a seat at the table across from Roman and unfortunately, diagonal from me. I shifted in my chair and tried to move closer to Roman. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the human yet, but he did save my life twice already so I decided I would be better off with him. My actions earned me another warning growl from Kane, but everyone ignored it.

Roman returned Deriks small smile for a minute before he looked down the table where his hands rested. His fingers were picking at each other. “Well,” He paused and glanced up at Derik and Kane. “I’m not going to lie, I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything,” He leaned forward and rubbed his hands up and down his face a few times. “And I can feel a major headache coming on.” He groaned out the last part.

Derik laughed at Roman’s last comment, but Kane still looked a little uneasy. Like he didn’t believe that his best friend was really accepting all of this.

“Other than that,” Roman leaned back and splayed his hands out on the table. “I’m doing great! Thanks for asking. How are you doing?” He asked with a grin that was quickly returned by both of the Lycans. Even I couldn’t help but smile a little in amusement.

Derik ran a hand through his hair as he leaned back in his chair. “I’m stressed out of my mind and pretty sure I’m going bald.” He chuckled. Roman quickly joined him while Kane looked slightly guilty.

“Well then, let's get to why I’m here,” Derik started, and all eyes turned to me. Oh shit. I instantly began to shift uncomfortably under their gazes. My hands began to feel clammy, so I rubbed them over my thighs a few times before curling my fingers into my borrowed sweatpants.

Derik and Roman turned in their seats so that they could face me while Kane finally moved from where he had been standing behind his Beta with folded arms and returned to his spot across from me at the table.

“So little wolf,” Derik started off. “Kane has already told me the gist of what happened but since it involved Roman he probably only mentioned the most incriminating parts,” Kane grumbled something I couldn’t hear, but Derik must have because his lips quirked up into a smirk as he continued. “So why don’t you tell me how you ended up here.”

The tone in his voice said I didn’t have a choice in telling him or not. I narrowed my eyes at the man, debating how much I should tell him. He sat there and waited for my answer patiently. My eyes darted to Kane and Roman before returning to the Beta. I took a calming breath and told them everything. Minus a few of the more gruesome details though.

“When I was little, hunters attack my pack. They killed anyone who fought back and captured the rest. I got separated from my parents during the frenzy and taken captive. Me and the other kids were separated from the adults that were captured and taken to a facility somewhere up in the mountains. They tested and experimented on us like we were lad rats. They injected us different kinds of serum, trying to mutate our bodies. There was one that stopped some of us from shifting and another that forced us into the change. They even forced the youngest ones to shift for the first time.”

As I talked I mostly kept my gaze focused on my hands or the table, but I would glance up at them now and then. All of the expressions changed from pity to horror to anger.

“As we got older, they started moving kids to another facility. Around your sixteenth birthday, you were considered old enough for the more advanced experimentation. That’s what they told us. At the other facility, that’s where they start really testing your limits. They tested what happened when we were exposed to extreme heat or cold. They tested the existent of out healing abilities everything from how long a paper cut took to heal to if we could regrow limbs. How much blood we could lose before we went into critical condition.

“My time with them was spent in agony more times than not, and I had to watch everyone around me die one by one.” I felt my mind begin to slip back into those horrible memories. I could still hear the screams of agony, the crunch of bones, and the sizzle of skin against burning iron. The strong smell of blood and death was crystal clear in my nose, and it made my stomach churn. There was one man in particular that stood out in my memories. The one who tried to drown me several times, the one who cut me open and poked my insides while I was still conscious. The one who broke every bone in my body more times than I could count. The man who seared all my scares into my skin.

I subconsciously reached my hand over my shoulder to feel the raised skin along my back. I could still feel the heat from his iron, the unbearable pain as he pressed it to my skin again and again and again no matter how much screamed and begged for him to stop.

“Owen!”

I was pulled out of my thoughts when a hand shook my shoulder. I jerked away from the touch and looked up to see Roman standing over me.

“Hey, breathe okay? You’re alright. Just breath.” He told me in a gentle but commanding tone.

My eyes darted all over the room as my senses came back. My heart was racing as I tried to pull air back into my lungs and I couldn’t stop my body from trembling.

“Hey!” My attention snapped back to Roman. “Look at me. You’re alright. Take deep breathes, okay? In,” He took a slow deep breath. “And out,” He slowly exhaled then repeated the action a couple times until I copied him. “In... out. That’s it.” Roman encouraged as he knelt down beside my chair. He grabbed my arm and slowly pulled my hand away from where I gripped my shoulder. At first, I didn’t let my arm budge, but after a few minutes and some more gentle words from Roman, I allow him to pull my hand away.

“There you go. You’re safe.” Roman reassured me. I looked down at my hand to see bloody, clawed fingertips. Before I could focus too much on the blood, Roman put his hand in mine and gave it a tight squeeze while his other hand brushed my hair back from my face.

When my heart finally calmed down, and I had my breathing under control, I glanced around me once again and saw Kane ad Derik standing on my other side. Both had a worried expression on their faces as they looked down at me.

My head was still spinning, and for a second I wasn’t sure I was awake. What if I was dreaming right now and any minute I’m going to wake up chained to that table again. The nauseating stench of death filled my senses once more making me fill sick. My stomach lurched, and I was on my feet in a seconds making everyone jump. My hand came to my mouth as the bile rose in the back of my throat. I started to run for the bathroom but my legs gave out, and I stumbled into Kane.

“Whoa!” Kane wrapped his arms around me and held me up. Normally I would have done anything to not be this close to an Alpha, but right now I was to busy trying to keep all the food I ate in my stomach. Kane must have picked up on that because he was suddenly yelling, “Quick! I need a bucket!”

I heard the other two running around the kitchen as my knees buckled and I became dead weight in Kane's arms. He quickly knelt down to the floor with me.

“Hold it down you hear! Do not puke on me!” Kane ordered me before yelling at his friends. “Hurry up!”

I tried as I hard as I could to keep from spewing my guts all over the floor but My stomach heaved, and there was nothing I could do to stop my first good meal from coming back up.

“Ack! Gross!” Kane groaned, but he didn’t let go of me which I was thankful for. He was the only thing keeping me from collapsing in the puddle of barf I was creating. My eyes were watering, and my nose was dripping as a hand rubbed circles on my back. My stomach continued to heave even after there was nothing left to expel. The only thing I could do was hold onto Kane's arm and pray I would be able to breathe soon.

When I body stopped trying to kill me and finally calmed down, I leaned into Kane as I gasped for some much-needed air.

“Oh god! That’s disgusting! It on my shoes and my pants!” Kane complained.

“Would you shut up!” Roman and Derik snapped at him in unison.

The hand on my back didn’t stop rubbing until I heard Roman say, “Here, give him to me.”

Kane made me sit back on my feet and held me upright so Roman could pull me against him. He put my left arm around his neck. “Here we go.” He said before pulling me up to my feet with a grunt of effort. My legs were still shaking, but Roman scooped me up in his arms before they could give out again.

I would have protested against being carried like this, but I was too tired to even voice a complaint let alone try to make him put me down. So instead, I just let my head rest against Roman’s shoulder as he carried me into the living room and set me back down on the couch where I had slept last night.

Once I was situated on the couch, Roman knelt down on the floor beside me. “You okay?” He asked quietly. I closed my eyes and nodded. “Here.” I looked over at Roman. He was holding a box of tissues out to me. I thanked him and took a few before blowing my nose, wiping my eyes and mouth.

“Roman, where are your wash clothes?” I heard Derik call from the kitchen.

“Left side of the sink, top drawer,” Roman replied.

“Thank you!”

I heard someone walk down the hallway. “I’m borrowing a pair of pants, Roman!” Kane informed.

“That’s fine.”

I turned my head to the human beside me. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled.

He smiled at me and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

We sat in silence until Derik came out of the kitchen and offered me a glass of water. With Romans help, I sat up and swallowed all of the water in a few gulps. “Thanks.” I gasped as I handed the cup back.

“You’re welcome.” The Beta told me, taking the cup and sitting down on the coffee table. He placed the glass beside him before leaning forward on his knees to look at me. “Feeling better now?” He asked.

I nodded. I laid back down and wrapped my arms around my stomach. I stared at the ceiling for a moment then turned my head toward Roman. “What happened?” I asked since I honestly wasn’t sure.

Roman placed a hand on my shoulder. “You were telling us about what the hunters did to you, but then you suddenly got quiet and got this far away look in your eyes. You started hurting yourself but didn’t respond when we tried talking to you.”

“You looked terrified,” Kane added as he walked back into the room.