"Only sixteen!?"

Aunt Ruth nodded. Only this wasn't her aunt looking at her, it was Night Sky, the very-disappointed Alpha Female. Reilly looked back at the whimpering male as Liam slowly walked him into the house. He had his arm firmly tied against his body for support. A guy that size, only a kid?

"We brought him home from the same people who killed Sarah. The poor thing still hasn't fully recovered from what they did to him."

"That 'poor thing' gave me the creeps!"

"Reilly! Show some compassion!"

"Well I'm sorry, but how could I be expected to know his backstory? All I knew was some walking skeleton followed me into the forest and came up to me from behind. Then he just stood there staring at me. What was I supposed to think?"

"From the sounds of it, he was literally more afraid of you than you were of him."

"Well he certainly is now."

Her uncle's voice manifested behind her and made her jump. "You shouldn't assume the worst of all men, Reilly. Do you think I would have welcomed Sam into our pack if he wasn't trustworthy?"

Reilly hung her head. She had no retort for her alpha, and even if she did, she dared not speak back to him. She was in enough hot water, and with her parents going home in the evening, they could very easily decide to take her back. It would be a disgrace.

"Sam hasn't been able to tell us much about his life before the humans took him, but we do know he was homeless before that. Life as a lone werewolf is dangerous enough for an adult. Can you imagine how frightening it must have been for a child barely able to control his changes?"

Ruth, as one mind with her husband, went on, "He's had no one in his life. He has a hard time just interacting with us, and he's scared to death of Hatchet and Patience. If he doesn't adjust soon, he may very well wind up an Omega. The fact that he actually approached you was a big step for him, and you may have just made him too scared to ever try again."

"And how was I supposed to know that?" she finally said. "This isn't my fault. If he's some kind of disadvantaged kid, then I admit [i]maybe[/i] I jumped the gun. But he [i]looked[/i] like a creep."

"And that was an excuse to break his arm?" interjected a much rougher voice.

Reilly spun around into the looming scrutiny of Hatchet. His human form was no less intimidating then his canine.

She opened her mouth, then shut it. Protesting against her aunt and uncle was one thing. Reilly knew better than to speak up to Robert Hackett.

"I didn't agree to train you so you could go around breaking kids' arms, Fortune. Training is supposed to increase your self-control, not allow you to go on a rampage."

"No, sir."

Hatchet turned around and stalked away. Over his back, he concluded, "You're not ready for my training."

She had almost slipped into a state of automatic submission, but those words set off alarms in her head. "But Hatchet, I-"

"No buts. Come back to me when you've grown up."

[i]Grown up. [/i]The words stung. And here she thought she had done just that.


***

Sammy had to fight the desire to scratch at the burning itch where the splint rubbed against his skin. In a few days, the bone [i]should[/i] be mended. Normally, it would take a werewolf a day to heal from a broken bone, but the cut on his arm was proof he wasn't normal. At least that had healed enough for Elizabeth to take the stitches out, though he was now left with a long, massive scar. Like the mark on his forehead, it was another testament to his failures. At least the swelling in his arm was going down down. This time, Night Sky had made him drink one of her concoctions, and the aftertaste still bored into his tongue no matter how much milk he drank.

It wasn't the fact that his arm had broken which had shocked him (although it did hurt like hell), in fact, Sammy figured he was about due for a broken bone. After Night Sky had set the bone, the oddest thought had crossed his mind--[i]Well, I finally got that over with.[/i] He had endured just about every other form of injury over the years. He'd even had his guts pulled out. But, strangely, no broken bones until today.

The door creaked, and Sammy lifted his head. He was expecting to see Night Sky, Odysseus, or even Liam. Instead, a young wolf came trotting in and bounded onto the bed, coming to a rest beside his feet.

"Hi, Sammy. Sorry about your arm." The girl's bubbly nature belied her words. But her presence was welcome. She presented a familiar brown bag. "Aunt Ruth said you'd want these."

"Thanks, Madison," he said. If Night Sky had sent her in here, there had to be a reason. She didn't to anything without a deeper motive, Sammy was figuring out. If Reilly thought he was dangerous, then sending her little sister in here alone with him was a display of their trust in him for his benefit [i]and[/i] Reilly's.

He pulled one of the foil-wrapped contents out and struggled to unwrap it with one hand.

"Here, lemme." Madison plucked it from between his fingers and quickly freed the chocolate Kiss within. With a giggle, she tossed it into his mouth.

Sammy felt spiritually better as the earthy sweetness dissolved over his tongue.

"Hey, Madison?"

"Call me Mady."

"Okay. Hey, Mady?"

The girl flashed him a toothy grin. "Yes?"

"D'you know what The Order is?"

"Of course." Her ears shot up. "Don't you?"

Sammy blushed under his fur. "This weekend was the first I ever heard a' it."

"Well, they're kind of like... werewolf police. They're special agents who travel the world, keeping our secret safe and killing vampires."

"Oh." He considered this. Sammy had always wondered how werewolves managed to keep themselves secret. Likely, the people in this Order had to do some pretty unsavory things at times for that purpose. He remembered Odysseus and Hatchets' rescue of him. They had killed quite a few humans that day. It was disconcerting to think about, though Sammy didn't feel sorry for his captors. But at the same time, the world of werewolves now seemed much more complicated.

"An' your sister wants to join them?"

"Yep. And she's going to be the best soldier in the Order since Hatchet."

Sammy grimaced. "Y'know it was her that broke my arm, right?" he asked finally.

Her ears wilted. "Yeah. She doesn't like boys."

"[i]Now[/i] you tell me." His head sunk into the pillow. "At least her hatred isn't personal, I guess." He replayed the encounter behind his eyelids. The worst part, even worse than the physical violence, was when she called him stupid. Sammy didn't think he was stupid. Behind in his education, yes, but he couldn't have survived for as long as he had by being stupid. Still… the word stung. Sammy lived in perpetual fear of being scorned by his packmates, but this was the first time anyone had shown him the hostility he had feared.

"Oh, no, probably not. Her dad ran off when she was a kid. We're actually half-sisters. And then when she was about my age, a loner came into our territory and attacked her. He ran her right up a tree before mom came in and beat him off. Ever since then, she assumes all men are out to get her. My daddy says it's 'psychological'." 

"Well maybe she should see a shrink." There were psychologists for werewolves out there. If anyone understood the importance of mental health, it was a secret society of beings who had to keep their dual natures in check. The problem was, it was a high-demand field and not exactly a career you could advertise for at job fairs. After his rescue, Sammy had been deemed high enough a priority to be assigned a therapist, but their sessions had to be held over video calls. Sammy had chatted with him for an hour a week for the first three months, but after that, he was deemed "recovered" enough to figure the rest out on his own. He wished he had the same confidence in himself.

Night Sky's painkillers were starting to creep into the back of his skull, pushing out further thought on the subject, as well as any other thought. "Think I'm gonna nap now," he mumbled.

But Madison was undaunted. She leaned over and planted a doggy kiss on his cheek, then settled in beside him to join him in his nap.

Well. It was nice to know not everyone looked down... on...