Page 48 of Starting a New Life

Without a guard? I furrowed my brow but filed the information away for later. First, I had more questions for them, even though I desperately wanted to hear what he knew about mages. Maybe it’d help with Nix.

Nix, who wasn’t sleeping anymore. I could feel him pacing in his room.

“How did you end up at our border?” I asked, purposefully not mentioning Nix at all. What should I say? That I hadn’t sent him and that he wasn’t our mage? That was none of their business. I’d already interrogated Connie yesterday, but maybe he’d forgotten in the chaos of the moment.

Nick and Connie exchanged looks, a whole conversation taking place while I watched, a myriad of emotions flickering over their faces.

“I’m the reason,” Connie finally said, jutting out his chin, blue eyes flashing with defiance. “It’s all my fault.”

“It’s not…”

Connie silenced his friend with a look.

“It is. See, Alpha, my big brother recently took over our pack, and whereas my father was indifferent to me, my big brother thought I needed to be more like him. Manly. He didn’t like the way I dressed, the way I kept my hair—he chopped it off when I refused to cut it. With every day that passed, things got worse. My name was too girly. ‘A real wolf isn’t called Connie.’ He wanted me to start training to be an enforcer. Wanted me to toughen up. The enforcers just… beat me up. And he laughed. Told me I needed to be better. It wasn’t great.”

Nick cleared his throat. “It wasn’t great for the rest of us either. Connie’s dad hadn’t been a great Alpha, and he’d been quite conservative, but Otto? He marched the pack back into the fifties.”

“Yes.” Connie nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. “He had all these fantasies of being the ruler of the pack. More like a king than an Alpha. And he wanted me to be… I don’t know. This picture-perfect version of a wolf, the personification of his fantasy. He told me he’d found a girl for me to marry. The daughter of an Alpha the next pack over. Told me it’d be good for the pack, would strengthen the ties between our packs, but…” Connie bit his lip. “You see, Alpha, the thing is…”

I scented the fear rolling off him in waves. My stomach churned, the picture he’d painted already clear. He didn’t need to tell me, and when he shut his mouth and looked down at his and his friend’s hands, it became obvious his bravery had left him.

“You’re gay?” I guessed, gently trying to nudge him along.

“Yes,” he breathed in a sigh of relief. “I told my brother, and he…”

“Beat him,” Nick supplied. “Then he had his enforcers beat him.”

Connie nodded. “It went on for weeks. I wasn’t allowed to do anything but train. Otto said he was making a man out of me, and when he was done, I’d have forgotten all about the silly notion that I might be gay. I told him that’s not how it works, and then he started keeping food from me as punishment. But I still had to train.”

“He was gonna kill him,” Nick said, his eyes blazing with fury. “He was gonna starve him to death. Connie had to shift and fight all the time, but he got scraps for food. My family and I… we were so worried about him. Connie’s my best friend. He used to be at my house more than his own. And suddenly, he wasn’t allowed to come over anymore. He started missing school. When I went to their house, Otto told me he was busy, that Conrad didn’t need me anymore. That I was a bad influence.”

I hated where the story was going. Staying calm was a chore, but I needed to show them I wasn’t about to lash out, not at them. I’d need a round of sparring later to let out the anger gnawing at my gut.

“I snuck out one night,” Connie said, taking over the role of speaker. “I went to Nick’s house. His parents were horrified when they saw me. They fed me, but they couldn’t do more. I couldn’t stay with them. My brother would’ve found me immediately and punished all of us.”

“Connie told us he was going to be fine, but we all knew it was a lie. So my parents and I started looking for a way to get him to safety. We found whispers of packs that were safe havens for wolves like Connie. Packs that would take him in. We found your pack and another one, but yours was closer. Then we started planning.”

They’d started planning all together? Then why were only two wolves here?

“Where are your parents?” I asked, dread filling my stomach as I prepared for the worst.

“They couldn’t leave,” Nick said. Connie squeezed his hand as a wave of sadness hit me. “My grandparents are old and not doing good. They need my parents, so… so we decided that I’d go with Connie. We scrubbed everything, destroyed any evidence, every hint that my parents were even remotely aware that Connie and I were about to run.”

“I faked a diary,” Connie added, a proud glint in his eye. “I detailed that I’d snuck out and met Nick in the woods. I wrote that we planned to leave in secret. That no one could know—especially not Nick’s parents, because we thought they’d tell Otto.”

“My parents gave us all the cash they could, and then we ran.”

I rubbed a hand over my face, my gut tightening with unease. They were still living with their parents or older brother, and it didn’t sound like that was their choice.

“How old are you?”

They exchanged looks, and my stomach dropped even further. Guilt was written all over their faces.

Fuck. This was turning into more and more of a nightmare.

“I’m seventeen,” Nick said. “But I have signed documents from my parents stating that they’re transferring custody to the Alpha of this pack.”

I let out a slow breath, then turned my attention to Connie, who was doing his best not to meet my eyes, staring at the bedding just like Nix had done last night.