Hidden Lycan. (COMPLETE)

Chapter Twelve

By the time a week passed I had started gaining weight. Which shouldn't surprise me with how much they fed me and how many weird nutrition drinks they gave me. My cheeks didn't look as sunken in, my collar bone didn't stick out. I was still thin, but I didn't looked sickly anymore. Well not too sickly. The guys said I still needed to gain some more weight, which I agreed with. 

Alaric has been avoiding me like the plague since he caught me from falling down the stairs, which was fine with me, he still scared me. The only time I saw him was meals. They had some kind of unspoken agreement that everyone be present during meals unless gone for business. I was curious as to what they did that allowed them to be home so much, but didn't ask, it wasn't my place nor was it my business. 

Eli, well he is a hell of a lot more careful around me, or not around me at all. I could see the strain it put him through trying to push his emotions further down and I wish he would stop. Putting himself through extra stress was only hurting himself. And for some reason, his distress was hurting me. Though I couldn't fathom why. 

Lucas and Xavier enjoyed spending time with me. They made me wobble around the yard and the house on my crutches telling me I needed to gain muscle and endurance. They made sure I ate, sometimes too much. Even got me my own sketch pad and paint supplies, which I was over the moon about. Paintings of the view from my room, the old oak out back, and some portraits lined my room. I didn't let anyone see them, at least not yet. They kept bugging me about my paintings and I'm sure I'd relent at some point but not right now. 

A knock at the door startled me, making me jump and almost fall off my stool. I put my paint brush down on the shelf on the easel, and hobbled my way to the door on my crutches. My heart sped, and eyes widened when I opened the door and saw who was on the other side. Leaning against the door frame, stony faced as usual was Alaric. "Eli asked me to check on your leg." His tone was emotionless, like an endless void. I nodded and walked back to sir on the bed. 

He followed, his eyes roaming the room, and eyeing the paintings I had turned around facing the wall. He arched a brow at me and I flushed. "I ju..just don't wa..want any..anyone see..seeing right now." I told him. Why was it I only stutter with him? I don't stutter with the others anymore. He shook his head kneeling in front of me and to my surprise he very gently picked up my leg and placed it across his leg. His long slender fingers were cool against my unusually hot skin. 

"Are you normally this warm?" He asked unwrapping the bandage. "If I'm n..not sick th..then yes. When, I'm hur,,hurt or sic..sick my ski..skin is cool." I saw him furrow his brow but he didn't say anything. When the bandage was off, he ran his finger down the length of the stitch. "It seems to have healed nicely. I can take the stitches out if you'd like." I nodded. I was more than ready to have them out. They were uncomfortable and pulled and itched my skin. 

He was quiet the rest of the time as he got a small pair of scissors and slowly and gently cur the stitches and pulled them out. It was a weird and off putting feeling, feeling something being pulled out of you skin after it has grown around it. I shuddered. "Did I hurt you?" He asked, stopping his movements. "No." I murmured. He nodded and kept going. 

By the time he was done a long and puffed up scar was left. I frowned as I hovered above the jagged scar that now matched the old white ones that covered my legs. How could anyone possibly love me? Find me beautiful? I was covered in scars. Some white and old, some red that never fade. This one, it would be one of the red ones that never fade. "Just one more to add to the collection." I whispered to myself closing my eyes. 

I didn't think Alaric would hear me, I thought I spoke low enough, but I didn't. "Where did the others come from Fallon?" His tone was deadly, and could cut glass. But there was something else mixed in the anger that I couldn't place. I looked into his frozen blue gaze. "I can't te..tell you. The..they'd ki..kill all of you. If th..they fi..find me he..here. They are st..still looking for me." I said lowly. Alaric growled jumping to his feet. His movements throwing me onto the bed on my back with his momentum. That was a mistake. My shirt lifted and showed my belly, which showed the network of scars there. My torso and back were the worst places I was scarred and I vowed no one would ever see. But Alaric did, and his icy blue eyes seemed to glow with what he saw. 

I hurriedly pulled my shirt down, covering the small area, but it was too late. "Fallon?" His question was growled. "What was that?" I shook my head at him, wrapping my arms around my torso as if to hold my shirt in place. "Show me." He urged. I shook my head again, panic setting in. His eyes softened a fraction seeing my reaction to him. "Fallon, we can't help you if you won't tell us anything." He sighed. "No one can get to you here." 

"You don't understand." I shouted. "They're everywhere. Could be anyone." His eyes widened at my outburst but I was passed caring. I knew these men wouldn't hurt me, they had plenty of chances if they wanted to. "You keep saying they. How many?" Anger bubbled in me, but not towards Alaric. "Too many." I managed to say. "Too many for the four of you." Alaric laughed darkly, his eyes still glowing a icy blue. "We're stronger than you think. Show me your torso." He said changing the subject back. 

"Why?" I asked. "Why do you want to see when you avoid me, when you don't care?" I all but seethed at him. He stalked towards me until we were toe to toe. "I care about protecting a woman who was abused. Who looked like she was tortured." My stomach flipped and my heart stuttered, before I finally sighed. I turned away from him and lifted the back of my shirt over my shoulder blades, then turned around and showed him my stomach. I wouldn't show any more than that. 

"Happy now?" I asked deflated. His nostrils flared and the glow in his eyes glowed brighter. A blizzard seemed to storm in his eyes. Anger, pure rage radiated off of the man in front of me and I didn't know what to do. I edged away from the bed and limped away from him, noting how I could put some weight on my leg now. "Who?" Alaric seethed. "Who did it?" He bellowed. I wanted to yell for Xavier for Lucas anyone, but I was sure Alaric's scream got their attention because heavy foot steps pounded the floor heading towards my room. 

"What's going on in here?" Xavier asked bursting through the door. His eyes landed on me first and saw me scared staring wide eyed at a trembling Alaric. "What happened?" He asked turning to Alaric. Alaric's eyes flashed. "Her torso and back are covered, covered in scars Xavier." Alaric said in a deadly voice. "Show me." Xavier demanded. Eli came in and walked straight to me, angling his body to where I was somewhat behind him. "Xavier, calm yourself." Eli said. 

Xavier didn't say anything more, but Eli turned to me and looked me in the eye. "Can you show us parvulus?" He asked gently. I saw no ill intent in his storming eyes so I nodded. Repeating the same process from where I showed Alaric. Deflated and humiliated I sat on the bed and held my head in my hands as tears streamed down my cheeks. 

"Why are you crying?" Eli asked sitting beside me, his voice strained from barely contained anger. "I vowed. I vowed to myself, no one would ever see them. No one would ever see how mangled I was." I whispered brokenly. "You are not mangled Fallon." He said tilting my chin to look up at him. "They are battle scars. They are proof of how strong you are. Proof you survived what would have killed most. Can you tell us how long this was done to you?" He finished. 

I shook my head "You don't want to know." I assured him. "All of you are already angry enough. The room is suffocating with how much anger is in the room." Eli looked up to the other men and nodded his head. One by one they each left closing the door behind them. "Painting seems to calm you. Paint while you tell me." He suggested. 

He'd already sen what I was doing, it was supposed to be a gift for all they'd done for me. "I was painting this as a gift." I whispered sitting back on my stool. I looked back at the family portrait I had been painting of all four men with a smile. "It is beautiful." Eli told me never moving from his place on the bed. I sighed as I started painting again, waiting for my nerves to die down. They didn't, I knew they wouldn't not with what he wanted to know. 

"You won't be happy with my answer, especially since you already know my age." I told him. "Yes, I remember. You said you were twenty six." I nodded. "Yes, exactly." The brush strokes dazed me as I watched what was once a blank canvas be turned into something beautiful, something new. "Twenty years." I said barely a whisper. "I was there for twenty years."