Untainted Mates

Chapter 32: Dirty and disgusting

Tonya POV

TRIGGER WARNING

Charlie has slept for almost 24 hours after my breakdown. Carson assured me it was a normal reaction to the stress and the fact that I scared him. He was totally terrified when I pushed him to the floor.

According to Carson, my dominance was too strong for him, and he went through a panic attack and needed a sedative. After my walk around the territory, talking with Chandler, and almost the whole night of running in the woods, I'm now sitting next to my omega.

Silver is restless; she is confused and in pain. I think all my doubts about this mating have finally reached her, but nevertheless, we both know that we will never reject them; they will have to reject us if we ever allow them to do so. I will never hold them against their will, or at least I hope so, because honestly, I have no idea what Silver can do or what I can do if any of them says they don't want me.

When Charlie finally opens his eyes, I give him a glass of water. Once again, there is fear in his eyes, but he doesn't protest when I help him sit and get his drink. Now, when I think about it, the way my fragile mate is coping with anything is to stay still and accept it. Noah looks for excuses and screams when he feels threatened, but Charlie gets numb.

"I haven't killed Noah; he is in another room," I say when Charlie stops drinking.

"Are you hungry?" I ask, and he shakes his head, avoiding looking at me.

I think I don't want to do that as much as he doesn't. I want to hold him and forget everything I have learned. I don't care about his past; I don't care if Noah told the truth... But I have to know if we can make this right; if I'm going to protect him.

"Charlie, please look at me," I say gently, and he does. "I have to ask you some questions. I promise to keep calm, but if I have to leave the room to cool down, I want you to remember that it was not because I'm angry with you. Okay?"

He bites his lips; I see him getting teary as he clenches his fists on the sheets, but he looks at me, so I hope he believes me.

"Please, Charlie, start from the beginning. I know that Shane has killed your father, accusing him of treason, and threw you and your mother out of the packhouse. What happened after?"

"Officially, we were branded; no one wanted to have anything to do with us. My mother took us to the abandoned house on the pack's outskirts; it was more like a shade, but... she was a housewife. Shane forbade her to leave the pack's territory, and nobody wanted to hire her so... so she started to have clients. Mostly rogues, whom Shane allowed to settle down on our territory. She... she was shielding me as much as she could, but it was tough. I couldn't go to school, so she was teaching me herself; food, clothes, everything was a struggle..."

"Did everyone get abusive towards two of you?"

"No, the pack was mostly ignoring our existence; some of her clients were beating her from time to time, and that's it. The pack's higher-ranked members were at that time still previous Alpha's men, so they made sure that there was no bullying of lower-ranked members, but it changed during the years, especially that Daniel, Alpha's son, was growing up and he... he liked torturing others. Him I learned to avoid very quickly because he liked jumping weaker kids with his friends, knowing that no matter what, he wouldn't be punished. When my mother was wounded, I was 14 and... and we had nothing, and she couldn't work anymore. One of her clients took pity on us and was bringing us meat from the animals he hunted down from time to time. But she was getting worse and worse because she needed medicine, so I went to my Alpha and begged for his help... and he... at first he refused... but later agreed to help in exchange that one day I pay back my debt to him... and my mother's debt. He told me that during the years, he was also giving her money from time to time."