A Conspiracy for Everyone

A few weeks passed and finally, Ruby agreed to go to her own room. Her walking had become so much better but she was still locked into a wheelchair. Soon though, Dr. Smith promised she’d be getting crutches, so long as she didn’t drag her leg. A bad habit she picked up on quite quickly.

“Okay, Miss Ruby. I’ll be up after dinner to see if you want another dose. If you feel like any of the pain is unbearable or uncomfortable, let me know. This medicine is to help you heal, take away the pain and any anxiety.” He nodded to her, knowing a pat to her shoulder would make her uncomfortable.

“Alright, Ruby. I’m going to pick you up now. We have a wheelchair already upstairs for you.” Brad gently scooped her up in his arms. A protesting whine came from her but otherwise, Ruby locked her arms around his neck, keeping stock still.

They headed to the third floor where it was much quieter.

The house in a whole split into two wings. East held the doctor’s office along with hospital rooms but it also had nurseries on the upper levels.

The west wing held rooms on its upper floors. The second floor contained large rooms for families to stay when loved ones were in the hospital or when their homes were in construction. The third floor, where Ruby was staying, had rooms for guests and for commanding officers should they choose to stay in the house.

As soon as they reached the floor, she practically jumped out of his arms and back into the wheelchair. Trying not to be offended, knowing fully well it wasn’t her fault, Brad led her down the hallway. Ruby insisted to wheel herself, her arms completely capable of doing so.

“Alright, here we are. I’m just at the end of the hall if you need me. Meers will be up shortly after he finishes his lunch. I believe Lilac and Lindsey are inside making your bed.” Brad knocked twice before opening the door and holding it open for her.

“Oh, hi Ruby!” Lindsey fluffed a pillow quickly before greeting her with a friendly wave.

Ruby waved back and gave a half smile at Lilac who had emerged from the bathroom, an empty basket in her hand.

“I’ll be heading down for some lunch. Play nice ladies.” Brad winked playfully before dashing out of the door. Lindsey rolled her eyes but Lilac gave no reaction at all, as if unfazed.

“We even got a nice balcony for you.” Lindsey pushed back the curtains to allow in more sunlight. Ruby squinted uncomfortably for a moment but tried not to show it. She enjoyed the sunlight and the heat that came down from the vent she sat under.

“I’m gonna grab us lunch, that way you can just stay up here. I wouldn’t recommend eating on the balcony, it's a bit nippy outside. So, we can just eat in here. If that's cool with you and all.” At her small nod, Lindsey grinned ear to ear and headed out the door.

Lilac stood in silence in the corner, just by the bathroom door. She fiddled with the basket for the longest time, keeping her focus near herself instead of on the room or the other occupant. On several occasions, Ruby tried to gain her attention, catch her eye, something. Still, she evaded.

Ruby felt something peculiar towards the girl. Such strange behavior but if she had to guess… white hair… violet eyes… skittish behavior. No, surely not. She witnessed only a small portion of the people here, but she figured it couldn’t be. Perhaps, it was something else.

“Okay!” The bouncy brunette returned with an assorted array of foods. Lilac stepped forward, taking a sandwich and whisked herself out the door before it had time to fully close. Lindsey sighed but didn’t comment on the behavior.

Getting stranger…

Lindsey talked and Ruby pretended to listen as they ate. She had brought up college and an overbearing class a few times, making Ruby’s heart squeeze out in pain. She hadn’t even finished college. All that hard earned money had gone to waste. Ruby had only begun her junior year before she had been brutally dragged away from it all.

Still, Lindsey continued on with her classes, most revolving around her elementary teaching major and a part of it became refreshing to hear of the outside world. Ruby shifted in her seat, knowing all too well the chains that had been invisibly put on her. The drugs she couldn’t seem to refuse (she knew the consequences without them), the wheelchair she needed, the brace, the room on the third floor of the house…

Ruby had become officially trapped.

When Brad returned, a plate of a delightful, little, warm, hot fudge brownie rested in his hands. She couldn’t help her excitement at seeing such a decadent treat. Ruby hadn’t had chocolate in forever.

Even before her kidnapping, she had little to no money, sometimes going hungry to pay off her college. Granted, it was skipping a meal or two, maybe only having a meal or two on the good days and snacks for meals on the bad. Nothing compared to the moldy scraps of food they fed her in her tiny cell.

“Thank you.” Her hands shook no matter how hard she tried to stop them and Brad had to hold her hands in case she lost grip on the plate.

“Of course. Are you alright?” Lindsey came up behind him, her brow frowning in worry, matching his tone. She handed over a fork, which Ruby took with quaking fingers. “Lindsey, please leave us.” She nodded her head and left the room without a glance back.

“I’m okay…” Ruby took a bite, barely catching the piece before it fell back to the plate.

“Are you sure?” Despite her nod, a lump began to form in her throat. Her hand shook with a tremor so fierce the fork fell from her hand. Crumbling pieces scattered across the plate as it landed. “Ruby?”

Tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks, the taste had strangely been more than she could take. The warmth that had flooded all of her senses left her reeling, it all reminded her of foster care. Miss Maggie had been so sweet and so kind to her, always bringing treats to cheer her up and reading her stories.

Then she had been packed up and shipped off to a new home. No goodbye, no nothing. Her warm feelings faded to be replaced by an emptiness inside.

Brad wiped her tears away, bringing her to the present once more. Ruby blinked up at him, confused by the searing look he gave her.

“No one will hurt you again, I swear it.” Cupping her face, he laid a kiss on her forehead. He took her fork, cutting up the brownie to make it easier to eat. Then, he handed back the utensil to her still hand. “Enjoy your brownie. I’ll be back with some juice for you.”

Brad left before she had even processed everything. Her tears had slowed greatly and with a wipe of her hand, the tracks disappeared from her cheeks.

Ruby sat back in her wheelchair, picking at the brownie with her fingers. It melted on her tongue, delighting her. When he returned with a juice box, unopened or contaminated (after thorough inspection), Ruby handed back the plate, uninterested in any more of the brownie.

Brad noted her behavior silently. She checked her lunch, checked the juice box, but not the brownie. Her excitement made her forget to check the treat.

Perhaps she noticed… Maybe, she can trust us knowing we aren’t spiking her food.

“Darz is just outside. I need to go talk to Dr. Smith and then we’ll both be back to begin another physical session. Okay?” With her nod of understanding, he took the brownie back down to the kitchen.

“Doctor?” Looking around, Brad couldn’t seem to find Smith in the dining room, where he had last been seen.

Heading to the east wing, Dr. Smith had perched himself on his stool, pondering over her case files in his office with a half drunk mug of coffee.

“Come on in, Alpha. I’ve been evaluating her and I think I have a good session for her today. A little test to see how she is doing so far. It hasn’t been long but-”

“That's great, doc, but I have something I need to discuss with you.” Smith looked up from his files, furrowing his brows as he searched his Alpha’s face for anything to give him away.

“Alright, what's going on?”

“Ruby always checks or makes her food herself but when I brought her a brownie, she hadn’t bothered to check. She just dug right in. Hell, she was shaking so bad she could barely pick up the fork. I get you have a great plan for her physically but what can we do for her mentally?” Smith stared at him blankly, soaking in the information.

“This may not be what you want to hear, Brad…” Smith pulled up another stool, patting it for him to sit. Once seated, the doctor put a firm hand on his shoulder, something he often had done when Brad had been just a boy, confused and lost.

His mother had died when he was young, too young to really remember anything about her and his father kept mainly in his office, dealing with the pack and company. Brad never blamed his dad, coping the way he had. He held on long enough for Brad to be past college to take on the family business… as well as the pack.

“I can’t do much but give her medicine to keep her calm and pain free. There is nothing I can do for her. Nothing science can do, medicine or any knowledge I have here to help her.” When Brad attempted to get up, Smith kept him firmly in his seat. The wolf in him snapped at the restraint. “You can.” That calmed him.

“What?”

“You can help her recover. First, she needs to feel safe. She needs to trust you, and preferably me too.” He winked at the last part before releasing him. “Now, let's go do this little test. Then, you guys can talk some more and hopefully, we can find a way to relieve her fears and help her mentally recover.” Patting his back, Smith led him back up the stairs.

Ruby had set aside the juice and waited just inside her room for the two to arrive. Darz opened the door for them, knocking twice beforehand to alert her. Smith calmly explained that they would take a small test to see her legs’ mobility. Using the stairs…

“Okay, Darz, please stand halfway down the stairs.” Nodding, the guard headed down to about the middle step and waited on them. “When you're ready. Please use the railing.”

Smith followed right behind her as she took her first few steps. Her balance was a bit off, especially with the brace that felt like it weighed a ton. Brad kept just on the other railing, stepping forward every half a second when she would momentarily lose her balance.

“You are doing great, Miss Ruby. Almost there.” Smith encouraged her from behind, writing a few notes on his clipboard at her progress.

Ruby tried a few more steps, pain rippled through her at the effort. Her legs felt weak and the hallway had been a bit easier to walk versus the stairs. Gravity pushed on her and her braced leg felt very heavy. With her last heave, she gave a cry of pain before falling.

Brad caught her almost instantly like he knew she was getting ready to fall. He lifted her effortlessly and raced her back up to her room.

“Doc!” He called to Smith, who kept on his heels every step. “Get her meds. She’s resting for today and tomorrow.” The words came out as a growl and before Smith could respond, Brad entered her room and slammed the door behind him.

Gently, Brad placed Ruby down on the bed, lifting her comforter up to cover her.

“I’m okay.” Her voice rasped a little, but only slightly. Her unbraced leg quaked under its current stress and it felt like she had ripped a muscle or two. Smith returned with a few blue pills and apple juice.

She knew they’d never spike her drink. They had almost a month to do something, anything, to her. Including the time she had been at her most exposed, lying on the hospital bed attached to tubes.

For a moment, she had hoped she was in the hospital, but her “nightmare” had been no nightmare. She truly had been hunted down until these new wolves/people had found her. No one knew what happened, not even the one sitting next to her now. More to the point, none of her friends knew she lived. She had no idea where she was in the country if they had even kept her in The States.

Ruby took the glass, sniffing it slightly before taking the pills. They could have hidden anything within the smell of the apple juice but instead of protesting it, she took a chance and drank from it.

“I’m sorry, Miss Ruby. Just rest. I’ll expect to see you in my office sometime tomorrow. I need to do an evaluation of you, make sure you haven’t damaged anything.” As he walked away, clipboard in hand, he mumbled to himself.

Ruby caught a few sentences and words, mainly about how she should have been able to take the stairs, at least half of them with no problem. That and the fact she continues to drag the injured leg around.

“Rest. Darz is just outside.” His wolf howling in worry inside, Brad nodded to Darz on his way out. The brute took up his post directly outside her door and scanned the hallways, listening for anything to so much as try to whisper by him.

As he reached the steps, Lilac was heading up, her head hung low. Her shoulders looked weighed down by her school bag and her feet dragged a little.

“How was school?” Brad stopped beside her, momentarily distracted from his objective.

“Okay.” Soft like a feather, he had almost missed her words.

“A lot of homework?” The awkward air began to settle around them, something that always happened.

“Yeah… Good day, Alpha.”

“Don’t stress. You always do good.” He ruffled her hair before bounding away from her. There was nothing to say or do. He didn’t have the words or right actions to make her feel better or to stop what kept happening at school. Nobody seemed to nowadays.

“Alpha?” Luke awaited him by the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, Luke? Any news?” Judging by his Beta’s face, he’d assume so. They walked towards his office, where, once inside, Luke shut and locked the door.

“Yeah, some news alright. You aren’t going to like this one bit.”