Page 19 of Trust No Alpha

Trigg was gentle as made me sit on the closed toilet and brought a wet cloth to my injuries, wiping away the blood. He found a blanket and wrapped me up in it.

As he worked, he said, “I’m sorry about what happened to you. Father explained it to us, but that didn’t make everything all right again. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” I said.

“He said he locked you away for your safety. But I guess you weren’t safe from him. He had the only key to your room and loaned it out only to two new servants who delivered your food.”

“But Father is always so controlled,” I said.

“Around Alphas.” He leaned back not saying the unspoken thought:But you’re not an Alpha.“But who knows what he’s like in the Burn. It’s different for all of us. And he’s always been very secretive about his personal life, you know.”

I nodded. My eyes were dry. I’d almost been raped by my own father and I felt nothing. Nothing.

Trigg finished cleaning my wounds. They were superficial. I had scrapes and bruises, but nothing more.

“Areyouall right, Kris?” He put his hand against my long hair, pulling it back from my face.

I nodded.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “So sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” I countered.

“But it’s just everything. You were the best of us. And now.” He stopped. Let out a huff of air. I could see his eyes brimming.

Together we walked back into my bedroom.

Mathias sat on the floor with Father’s head in his lap still talking on the phone.

Trigg said, “I’ll go to the front doors and let the paramedics in when they get here.”

Mathias nodded, still talking to an unheard presence far away. I stood in the center of the room gripping the blanket about me.

I looked up, seeing my little twin brothers standing arm in arm at the doorway, eyes wide.

I went to them. “It’s okay,” I said. “Father will be okay.”

They both nodded, eyes big and solemn.

But was it true? Would he survive? My body began to shake.

Soon the paramedics arrived.

Father was taken away. Mathias and Trigg followed to be with him. Before they closed and locked my door behind them, Trigg said, “I’m sorry. Father said to keep your door locked at all times. It’s for your own safety.”

I said nothing. But the thought that came to my mind was,Who will be in charge of the key now?

After another shower, I dressed in new clothes and sat all day on my couch by the window. I saw the lone Alpha man pass by the house about an hour after my Father and brothers left for the hospital.

I was in a daze and could only think:Hawthorne, Hawthorne. Is your life as lonely as mine?

If it was true that he’d killed his mate, I wondered how he even lived with himself.

My stomach was too tight to eat. I wanted to hear about Father. Any news. But I had no phone. And I couldn’t write to anyone on my computer. My life was now all about me seeing out but no one seeing in.

I still could not comprehend that Father had attacked me. I knew the Burn had caused his behavior, but I couldn’t believe it. All of it was like some dream I could not wake from.

The silence of my rooms, vast now, made my head ache. I could have played some music, or turned on the TV. But I never moved. Not to prepare myself lunch or a drink. Not for any reason.