XVII. The Assumption

Rhea's POV

I hear voices; they are shouting for me, but I can't respond. I can tell by the sun's position that it has been less than a day, but I feel like weeks have passed. I know I should be thinking about calling out to the voices, but my focus is elsewhere.

I must have crawled over an ant mound, because something has been biting at my skin and I don't even have the energy to swat them. I start to think of how crappy it would be to die by a colony of ants, but then again, when I am dead and buried it will be ants and other bugs that get to my body. That is the way my pack does things.

To combat territory overcrowding, wolves are buried in biodegradable coffins, dare I say it is why our forest is so healthy. I start looking around the brush and wonder if anyone is buried underneath me. I have never picked out where I want to be laid to rest, and I wonder if my parents will put me somewhere nice.

I feel someone scoop me into their arms, and another person begins slapping me. I don't know what I look like, but it can't be pretty, because Luke and Lark look like they are about to start crying at any minute. Luke is the one slapping me, and somehow his worried expression tells me that he is going to be a wonderful mate to Robin.

"What were you thinking staying out all night?" My brother scolds, and I laugh in my mind. I have never stayed out all night, and for him to think that I would do that during an event with lots of wolf whiskey means he doesn't know me at all.

"Calm down Lark, we don't know what happened. She could have been attacked." I feel placated by Luke's words, but then I hear my father, and he is also blaming me. He thinks I am suffering from some sort of failed experiment, and while that isn't farfetched, he should know I haven't 'played with fire' since I lost my sense of smell. The only thing I feel comfortable doing is making the scent blocker.

We get to the pack infirmary and I am immediately placed in a giant tub of water. There must have been more ants on me than I thought, because everyone is slapping their skin, no doubt being bitten by ants that have crawled onto them, or maybe just creeped out.

I hear my mother and Robin come into the room, and both women wail at the sight of me. The men leave while the women undress me. I haven't heard any words exchanged, so I know they are mind-linking one another.

I see relief cross my mother's face when she sees my underwear intact, and once again, I don't blame her. I am covered in blood, they have no idea where it came from, and since I cannot speak, I haven't been able to tell them what happened.

"Why didn't you go back to the Packhouse?" My sister asks. "What were you thinking?" I look to my mother, who I believed was going to help me, but she does the complete opposite.

"You have taken these experiments too far. You are done; your father and I are pulling you out of school." I start laughing bitterly in my head because I realize that my family doesn't know me at all. They have already made up their minds about what has happened to me, and I see no point in dispelling their beliefs.

I see my mother's face contort into something that resembles a frown as she vigorously scrubs my head. She apologizes, telling me she is trying to wash the ants out of it. I imagine myself as nodding but I know my head didn't move.

While I can do nothing but stare, I call out to Sylvia again. She is still gone, and tears start to leave my eyes. My mother thinks it's because she is using too much force, and she becomes gentler with how she is washing me.

"I know this is uncomfortable, but the doctor says he cannot treat you with ants crawling all over you." The funny thing is, I used to be afraid of ants. Colton and Dolton once put ants in my bed after finding out through my sisters that I was terrified of the things.

Unsuspecting, I crawled into bed and woke up screaming a few minutes later. Dolton apologized to me after that. For him it was just an innocent prank, but for Colton it was just the beginning.

I don't know how many times my mother scrubbed me, drained the tub, and scrubbed me again, but eventually she rid me of ants without cutting off my hair, which was what many pack nurses suggested. I guess to her, curls were more important than making sure I didn't have fractures or internal bleeding.

By the time the doctor got to me I was so cold that my teeth involuntarily chattered. That was not a good sign for a wolf, but mine was gone. The doctor kept asking me questions, but I could not respond. I could not even shake my head, so after making sure I was otherwise okay, the man moved me into a recovery room, where my father posted two guards.

I still don't know what I look like, but I feel like I have been run over by a truck. I spend the rest of the night calling out to my wolf who I still cannot feel. My nails are still elongated, but my fingers look normal, so I guess no one can tell that I had a premature shift.

Sleep eventually takes me, and I find myself wishing it were death.

Robin's POV

I am so confused. My mate linked me as soon as they found Baby B, and I thought that was the end of things, but I could feel his emotions, and he was hurting badly. I asked him what was wrong, but he couldn't tell me.

I thought he meant that he had been ordered not to, but when my eyes landed on Brain, I realized that it was impossible to figure it out.

The entire left side of her face was purple and bruised, capillaries in her eyes had hemorrhaged, so they appeared blood red, she was covered in bug bites, and caked in mud. If it were not for my father, mate, and brother constantly linking us not to panic, I would have broken down.

The worst part about it was the dead look in her eyes. She didn't even move as we touched her, and knowing Brain, she would usually freak out about being naked in front of anyone. I know I should not have been thinking so negatively, but I can't help but to wonder if my sister was taken advantage of by a rogue.

My mother stops me from thinking that way, because she links me that I would have never seen my sister again if a rogue had gotten to her, nor would a rogue have redressed her. I start to relax, but then I wonder what else could have happened.

My mother starts telling Brain that they are pulling her out of school, and I suddenly feel like I know the truth. My sister spends a lot of time doing experiments in the woods, and while she hasn't lately, she must have gotten into something because there is no way all the damage on her body is naturally occurring.

I want to stay with her, but the pack doctor says we cannot. He says that she is traumatized and needs time to process her near-death experience, so I reluctantly leave. To make me feel better, my father posts two guards by the door, and calls for a family meeting in the infirmary visitors' room.

"I don't know who started it, but I have been getting mind-links from pack members asking me about your sister." I stare blankly at my father as he he tells everyone that our own pack members are saying that Brain was r*ped by a rogue.

"But it isn't true," I shout, not caring how disrespectful I am being. My father is the alpha, but he is still my father.

"You don't have to tell me that. I know that no rogue would have been kind enough to send her back to us. She would have been kept as a mate, and forcibly marked when she came of age." I shudder at the thought, and Luke wraps his arms around me in a comforting manner.

"Why would anyone start a rumor like that?" My mother responds to me, she tells me that rumors and pack life go hand and hand, and she brings up a few rumors that I started about myself, which I am shocked she has heard.

"What's important now, is that we do not let B hear them. Anyone caught talking nonsense will face isolation." I stare at Lark in fear.

"You want to bring back isolation as a punishment?" Isolation was a terrible thing for a wolf to face, it could range anywhere between three and seven days, and was exactly as it sounded.

The offender would be placed into a hold dug into the earth and left there without any contact until after their sentence was over.

"It is the only way to deter people from openly speaking. B will not tell us if anyone says anything to her directly, so we have to act preemptively." My mate rubs my shoulders, apparently, he is okay with my brother's decision, but I think they are both acting too rashly.

"I hope you are right." I do not think he is, somehow, I see this backfiring on our little sister, just like the scent blocker. I remember how excited she was back then, only to be shunned by the very people she wanted to help.