Page 22 of The Beta's Heart

“You mean essentially a baby?” I tilted my head to the side, wondering what this had to do with my scars. “No. Why?”

“I meant his explosive anger issue. As we all know, wolves either mature along with their humans or stay in a juvenile mindset. Obviously, River is in that latter category, but so much more than any other wolf I’ve ever known. I’m no psychologist, but I believe he’s so ‘young’andso explosive because of the trauma you mentioned and also from the effects of the silver.”

“I know we’re highly allergic to silver, but I’ve never heard of a wolf being mentally affected by it.” Alpha Ash tugged at his dark brown curls. “I thought only wolfsbane could do something like that to our wolves.”

“That’s true, but look at how many scars there are! That’s a lot of repeated contact with silver within… Do you have any idea how long, Beta Ty?”

I shivered a little, not wanting to rememberanythingabout that night, but if it could help me now and possibly make my future better, I needed to confront my past.

“I don’t know. I remember it was getting dark when he dragged Mom into the woods.” I dropped my head and fidgeted with my fingers. “I followed because I was scared he was going to do something worse to her—”

“What do you mean,worse?” Alpha Jay growled. “Is that what you meant by Riv being traumatizedbeforeSeymour cut you up?”

“He beat her,” I admitted and closed my eyes. “It was bad. When he was done, she couldn’t even get up off the floor. When I tried to help her, he locked me in the kitchen pantry. Between us, River and I managed to break down the door, then we followed them. It was getting dark, like I said, and by the time I found them, it was too late for Mom. He’d already killed her. That’s when he started in on me.”

“Aw, Ty, I amsosorry,” Alpha Ash breathed and wrapped me up in a big hug. Dude was so ridiculously tall, my face was smashed into the notch between his collar bones, and I was six foot three!

As he squeezed me hard, I patted his back to signal that he was crushing me, but he only squeezed harder, and Alpha Jay snorted as he pulled me away with one hand and pushed the giant hug monster back with the other.

“Jay! I was comforting him!”

“You were squeezing the life out of him, you python! Now let me finish telling my side of the story!” Alpha Jay chided him, and Alpha Ash folded his arms over his chest with a pout, which made me snicker.

“Do you know about what time Quartz came on the scene?” Dr. Myers asked.

“No, but it was just starting to get dark when we left our place. Quartz didn’t get very far on his run, maybe ten minutes, before he sensed something was wrong and went looking for what it might be.”

“You linked the border patrol while he was mauling Seymour?” Alpha Ash asked.

“Yes, and Nathan Barlow and Royal Price. By the time they all got there, I remember you weren’t bleeding anymore, Ty, which is why I never guessed you had scars like this. I thought Riv healed you.”

“Hedidheal him,” Dr. Myers said. “Otherwise, Beta Ty would have bled out from that laceration on his arm alone.”

“So what? River panicked? Overdid the healing?” I asked.

“Try to imagine what it was like for him,” Dr. Myers said gently. “A juvenile newborn wolf in a traumatized state suddenly has to deal with a dozen or more critical wounds caused by silver. He probably focused solely on getting the bleeding to stop, but in his confusion and fear and, yes, panic, he left keloids behind.”

“Leftwhatbehind?” Alpha Ash asked before I could.

“These scars are called keloids. Humans get them, and that’s where I’ll look for a treatment since I don’t know much about them. Idoknow that I can help River improve the muscle and soft tissue, beta, which will restore your range of movement.”

“That’s all I need, doc,” I said gratefully.

“As for why River is the way he is,” Dr. Myers sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, “my guess is that the silver poisoning retarded his development as much as the trauma did.”

“Didwhatto his development?” Alpha Jay snarled, his hazel eyes glinting gold with Quartz.

“We can say stunted or delayed, if you’d rather. It’s clear that River was always going to be a juvenile wolf, but what he went through took a toll on his mental growth, resulting in a more child-like wolf than normal. As for his anger issue, he was scarred enough from witnessing your father harming your mother and being unable to protect her or you. Then Seymour killed her and attacked you, and again he couldn’t protect either of you. That would have broken something inside any beta wolf.”

Me sorry, Ty-Ty,River said in a very small voice.Me sorry me broked.

“Oh, no, no, baby,” I crooned, sending my wolf a blast of love and comfort. “You’re not broken. You’re a good boy. And I don’t blame you for anything. I never have. You did your best, and you saved me.”

“Yeah, Riv,” Alpha Ash jumped in, “you are the perfect example of how something can be imperfect and still wonderful.”

“That’s kind of a backhanded compliment,” Alpha Jay muttered out of the side of his mouth, but I flapped my shirt at him to shut him up because River had puffed his chest out with pride.

Me wonnerful, Alpha Ashy?

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