Alpha

"Not many people do." Asmund admitted lamely. She was still crying and it seemed there was more she wanted to say. "It's okay if you don't want to be marked yet, Victoria. You've had a confusing week. But if there is something else?" He trailed off in the hopes she would open up to him.

"I feel like I have whiplash from Cameron. One minute she's berating me for leave Blood Dawn and the next she's begging me to get here as quick as I could and now she wants me to strip naked and Ben over so you can do whatever you want to us. It's frustrating!"

"Yeah. I imagine it is." He couldn't help but smile at the image of her naked body bent over his dresser in front of him. "Do you want a hug?" He asked and held his arms open for her. She only hesitated for a second before throwing her tiny soft body into his chest and clinging to him like she might drown if she let go. Everything that had happened to her since her first shift must have been exhausting. But the fact that she had held herself together with only the support of her previous Alpha was a miracle.

Now that she was safely tucked into his arms with her face buried in his shoulder he felt her shudder and then she began to sob. Not soft gentle sobs but gut wrench body wracking sobs. All her pent up emotions seemed to flood out of her all at once as she cried relentlessly. "Sh...sh... It's okay now babygirl. Let it all out. I'm right here now. You're safe." He soothed as he held her tightly to him. She didn't have to tell him she needed his reassurance that she was safe for him to tell her.

All he wanted to do was hold her tight until she stopped seeing the world as a threat. But he knew if he did that she would never leave the room again. He needed to talk to Kathy about the best way to help his beautiful mate through the emotional battle ground she was facing. But for now, in this moment, he could give her what she needed most.

He held her until she fell asleep in his arms, to exhausted to fight the battle anylonger. And he laid on the bed with her snuggled close to him as she slept. Even then she refused to let go of him. He didn't mind if she never let go of him ever again. He thought about what she had told him and linked Kathrine. 'hey Kathy, do you have time to talk right now?'

'yeah. What's up? Are you having another crisis moment?'

'Not me but I think Victoria might be. She told me somethings that have me concerned and I need to help her but don't know how.'

'The best thing you can do for her is be a safe person for her to confide in. She's only had her wolf for a couple of years and it takes time to learn to control them.'

'She's had her wolf for eight days and has demonstrated a control over her that would make a wolf twice her age jealous.'. He scoffed. 'Honestly I don't know if I should be concerned or impressed by it.'

'Control like that is born out of necessity to protect one's self. It should concern you not impress you. What happened that would make something like that necessary at such a young age?'

'Her highschool bully turned out to be her mate. Instead of proving he was worth a second chance she thinks he tried to force his mark on her.'

'Well fuck. I assume that means she rejected him?'

'She told me she did. And it's obviously hurting her a lot. On top of that she had only her Alpha to protect her from her former mate. Her parents didn't even know what was going on. Apparently they don't care about her at all.'

'That is an entirely different bag of emotional shit that requires therapy to resolve. Right now just make sure she feels safe with you. It's the only thing you can do for her at the moment.'

'She's sleeping right now. To exhausted from everything that's happened to to stay awake anylonger.'

'And how does all of this make you feel, Asmund?'

'Conflicted.'

'How so?'

'I' pissed off that bastard had the guts to hurt her so much to warrant a rejection. She's in a lot of pain still and said she's confused and feels like she has whiplash from it all. But at the same time I fell happy that he made her hate him and that she trusts me enough to talk to me about it all. And it pisses me off that I'm happy she is in pain.'

'who are you mad at, Asmund?'

'This conversation is over, Kathrine.' He wished she would stop asking him who he was angry at. He didn't know who he was angry with.

He was pissed at Marcus Blood for hurting Victoria. He was pissed at her parents for not making her feel protected like they should have. He was pissed that her Samuel had thought the solution to the problem was to ship her off somewhere she didn't know anybody. He was pissed at the world for being a terrifying place that only wanted to destroy everything that brought him even a tiny bit of happiness. He was pissed at Kathrine for being the only person he could actually talk to about everything when he came home. And most of all he was pissed at himself for not noticing anything. He hadn't noticed how concerning it was that she had so much control on her wolf at such a young age, just like he hadn't noticed the sniper two years ago.

Maybe he was just scared. He was scared that Victoria would never truly trust him. And scared that Marcus would come to take her away from him. She hated Marcus right now but in a few years that might change. He was terrified of letting her get to close to him emotionally. And scared what keeping her at a distance would do to them both. 'Kathy. I'm scared too.' He linked the only one he felt he could trust with the information. 'I'm pissed off at everything because I'm scared and I don't know what to do about it.'

'You start to Heal, Asmund. And you can finally do that now that you are being honest with yourself.'

'What if it's not like it was before?'

'It won't be. It can never be like it was before. But it can be better than it is now. And maybe through showing you can help Victoria heal as well. That should make you happy. Healing yourself is what is best for Victoria.'

'Thank you for putting it that way. I want to do what is best for her. I want to give her what she needs to make her happy here.'

'I'm really glad you said that because I put an assessment of her on my schedule for tomorrow morning. I would like to talk to her privately before she takes on any responsibility to the pack so that I can gage how best to help her.' It took less than a minute for him to agree that Victoria needed to talk to somebody who knew what to look for as far as her mental state.

'What time does she need to be there?' he asked.