Michelle Torlot
XAVIER
I looked at the little human pup in front of me; she was clearly terrified. Maybe I had gone too far, but it had worked. We would finally get some answers out of that filthy rogue.
If he held back, we’d threaten him with the pup.
I couldn’t make out what his connection to her was. Maybe it was just his true nature finally surfacing. He wasn’t an alpha wolf, but he was high ranking. Maybe a beta or a gamma.
Our true nature was always to protect those weaker than ourselves. Of course there were exceptions, Regan being one of them.
One thing I hadn’t lied about was how pretty she was. Especially for a human. Despite the bruises on her face, she had a natural beauty.
“G—Georgie,” she stuttered. “M—my name is Georgie.”
I watched as she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.
I wondered if she was lying, but no, it was something else.
I watched her as she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.
There was something about those blue eyes. I could see the hurt behind them. She was no spy; something had happened to her, but what?
I removed my fingers from her chin and rested them on the edge of the metal table.
“Good girl,” I purred.
I had half expected her to rebel at that, but her face remained impassive.
As much as I wanted to protect the weaker wolves and races, as alpha, I did demand obedience.
If she stayed with us, then she would need to learn this. As of right now, I doubted she had anywhere else to go.
“How old are you, Georgie?” I questioned.
I kept my tone gentle and friendly.
She closed her eyes and hesitated.
“Sixteen,” she whispered.
There was a tremor in her voice, but no stutter this time. She was lying. I could tell. Firstly, because of the tone of her voice.
Secondly, she was small, I’d give her that, but she was more developed than a pup of sixteen.
I hummed. Then I saw her jaw clench again. She took in a breath and held it, then very slowly exhaled.
I looked at the bruises on her face; she was in pain. Whoever had given her the bruises on her face had also hurt her somewhere else.
“Georgie?” I began. “Are you in pain?”
She glanced at me for a split second before lowering her head and nodding.
I pushed myself away from the metal desk and took a step closer to her. I took hold of the hem of her shirt. A small whimper escaped from her lips.
I gently lifted it to see a mass of purple and blue marks across her ribs and stomach. I dropped the hem of her shirt at the front, and repeated the process at the back.
There were similar bruises across her back.
I let go of her shirt, anger welling up inside of me.
“Who the fuck did this to you!” I growled.
A sob escaped her lips, and a tear trickled down her cheek. I had frightened her again. It hadn’t been my intent.
I gently put the back of my hand against her forehead. She flinched. I’m sure she thought I was going to beat her.
I shook my head.
“You’re hot,” I confirmed, my voice gentle and barely above a whisper.
I mind-linked the pack doctor.
“Miles, get down here, will you? I have a sick human pup, interrogation room one.”
The reply was almost instant.
“On my way.”
She was silent now, her eyes closed and her head lowered. Her breathing had evened out.
I put my fingers under her chin and tilted it up, then I wiped away the stray tear with my other thumb.
“Georgie, you need to tell me who did this,” I probed.
She opened her eyes. Tears still glistened in them; one wrong word would cause them to fall again.
There was something else, though. Anger, hate.
“You did this,” she hissed, “you and your kind!”
I frowned, but before I had a chance to ask what she meant, the door flew open and Miles came in.
I stood up, and he looked at me questioningly.
“She’s hot, and she’s been badly beaten,” I concluded.
Miles nodded and walked over to her.
“Listen, little one, I’m a doctor; I’m gonna see if I can fix you up, okay?” he whispered gently.
She glanced up at him and looked back down. I could see that she didn’t trust him, but she trusted me even less.
Miles looked over at me, and I nodded. Whether she trusted us or not, I wasn’t about to leave her in pain.
I watched her flinch as he lifted her shirt and gently touched the discolored skin. When he reached her back and did the same, she cried out in pain.
I clenched my fists, angry that someone could do this to a pup.
Miles stood up and walked over to me. He lowered his voice.
“It’s not good, Xavier! Please don’t tell me your guards did this?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but I will be doing a thorough investigation.”
Miles nodded. “I need to get her to the infirmary. I think it might be wise to sedate her first.”
I looked across at the little pup. She’d been through a lot. The last thing I wanted was to stress her out even more.
I nodded, and Miles pulled a syringe out of his pocket.
He walked over, and before she knew what was happening, he injected the contents into her neck.
She screamed, and I watched as she tried to fight the sedative.
I quickly ran over and cupped her cheek in my hand, supporting her head.
“It’s okay, Georgie,” I soothed. “We’re going to look after you now.”
I pulled the key to the handcuffs out of my pocket and passed them to Miles. He quickly released the cuffs and picked her up, carrying her in his arms.
“She’s so small,” he noted. “How old?”
I sighed. “Too young to be beaten like that.”
I held the door open for him as he carried her up the corridor. I was concerned about who she’d said had done this. My pack knew better than to harm a pup.
Maybe she’d had an encounter with Regan after all. I needed to get to the bottom of this. I needed to speak to Ash.
The interrogation rooms were all soundproofed, so it wasn’t until I opened the door that I realized it had all kicked off.
Sam, my beta, had Ash in a chokehold up against the wall. He was pummeling his face with his fist.
“You fucking evil bastard, how could you?” Sam growled.
As much as I had no problem seeing Ash get a good hiding, I wanted him alive.
“Stop!” I yelled. “That’s enough. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Sam stopped punching Ash and threw him across the interrogation room. He landed in a heap on the opposite wall.
“This piece of shit has killed off half the miners in Hope Springs, including that little pup’s parents!” Sam snarled.
I walked over to where Ash lay in a crumpled heap.
“Is this true?” I growled.
He raised his hands to protect his face. He obviously thought I was going to finish the job that Sam had started.
“It’s not my fault… No one was meant to die!” He panicked.
I leaned over and grabbed him by the shirt collar.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, shoving him hard against the wall.
“Regan... I... infected the mine,” he began.
“When the miners fell ill, they should have been taken to the hospital. I thought that’s what would happen. That was Regan’s plan.
“You’d lose money and wouldn’t have any workers because they’d all be sick in the hospital, and hospital bills would be mounting up.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded.
“What the hell happened? We haven’t made a loss since we started mining?” I growled.
Ash shook his head. “The people that run the mine run the town. It’s rife with corruption.”
I let go of his shirt and took a step back. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him. What he was saying kind of made sense. Regan wasn’t strong enough to come and fight our pack head-on.
The only way he thought he could hurt me was by making me lose money. That rogue was an idiot. Did he think that the mine was the only business interest I had?
Then my thoughts returned to Georgie. Did this mean that her parents died of whatever sickness Ash had poisoned the mine with? How did he know her?
“What’s your connection to the girl?” I questioned.
Ash closed his eyes and sighed, “None...not exactly.”
He ran his fingers through his hair.
“I saw her...about three days ago; she was getting moved on by some muscle. I think she was with her mother. The woman looked sick, and the muscle threatened Georgie when she gave him some lip.”
Ash smirked. “I liked her.”
Then he sighed and the smirk dropped from his face.
“She had guts; I felt bad for her. I didn’t realize who she was until this morning.”
I glanced across at the guards.
“Take him back to his cell,” I demanded.
They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him toward the door. Just as they reached it, I stopped them and looked at Ash.
“What’s the name of this muscle?”
Ash squinted. “Madden, or Malden… No, Maddox; his name was Maddox.”
I nodded, then scowled at him.
“She thinks you’re some sort of hero, and she thinks I’m the villain. I wonder what she’ll think when she finds out it was you who killed her parents.”
Ash’s head dropped. “I never meant for this to happen, I swear.”
“What was it? This sickness?”
Ash looked up at me; he sighed.
“Tuberculosis, TB. It’s highly infectious, spreads when they cough; it’s airborne. It’s treatable, though. They would have all survived if they could have afforded the treatment.”
I rolled my eyes and gestured to the guards to take him back to the cell.
I looked across at Sam, and he was still fuming.
“Are you going to tell her, Xavier?” Sam asked.
I shook my head. “Not yet... I think it might break her completely; besides, she’s in no condition to be told. Miles has her in the infirmary.”
Sam frowned. “Does she have it... this TB?”
I sighed. I’d thought her pain was due to the beating; it seemed things just got a whole lot more complicated.
“I’ll let Miles know. He’ll need to check it out. It’s quite likely considering she was with her mother three days ago, and now she’s dead.”
I headed toward the door. I had intended to check on the pup’s progress anyway.
I stopped at the door and turned to look at Sam.
“I want you to get a team together, investigate what’s going on. Pay a surprise visit to the mine; check the hospital.” I hesitated.
“And find this Maddox. Bring him back here. I intend to interrogate him myself!”
Leaving the interrogation room, I headed toward the infirmary. We had been so happy with the profits we hadn’t even bothered to check. That was on me.
I now realized why my little human was so angry. She must have thought we knew what was going on. That it was like that by design.
I couldn’t change the past, but I could make sure that things would change. I would put a team of werewolves in there to supervise everything.
The corrupt humans who had caused this would be dealt with, and dealt with harshly.