know anything about sex beyond the few sparse things Rebel was willing to talk about, so I did what Edgar asked. He told me to kneel on the floor with my arms on the mattress.”
Flashes of old pain burned through his mind and lit his still sore backside. Hyatt rolled onto his side and pulled the blanket up over his head, embarrassed and humiliated and missing his brothers so badly he ached. They had hardly been apart for longer than one of Rebel’s “appointments” for their entire lives, and this separation was agony on his body, mind and spirit.
“I know this is painful, Hyatt,” Bauer said. “But we need to get through the basics of the day, and then you can rest, okay? When you’re able, please keep going.”
Hyatt pictured Rebel’s freckled face, knowing he was going through something far worse after taking a life, and he drew on the last of his own courage reserves. Pulled the blanket down and spoke to the bed rail. “Edgar knelt behind me. I heard sounds. Then he was…forcing his penis into me. It hurt. I didn’t understand or know how to stop it, so I just let him. It seemed to go on forever, and then the door opened. Rebel screamed in a way I’ve never heard before, and then Edgar was gone.
“I heard fighting, but it was the scent of Rebel’s fury that scared me the most, because I didn’t know who he was angry at. I hid under the bed. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, not for a long time.”
“Did you see Rebel kill Edgar?”
“No. I heard sounds but I didn’t see what actually happened in that bedroom after I hid. I didn’t know he was dead until Symon said so. I just want to know Rebel will be okay.” Hyatt sat up, which made his butt hurt, but he still held Bauer’s gaze. “Rebel protected me. He protected Symon. You have to make sure he’s okay. Please.”
“I believe you Hyatt, and I’ll do what I can. But Rebel did take a life today, and that needs to be investigated. He may have to face consequences.”
“Will he go to prison?” It would destroy Rebel, and Hyatt didn’t know how to live without his big brother.
“I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t come to that. Is there anything else you can tell me about today’s events?”
The worst day of Hyatt’s life was an event? He wanted to scream, cry and punch something, but in the end, all he could do was close his eyes and think. The day had been endless up until the last few hours, which seemed to have unfurled in only a few minutes. Nothing he had to say would change what had happened. Admitting this had been the second time Edgar abused Hyatt might hurt Rebel, and Hyatt couldn’t risk it. He needed his brothers free.
“No,” Hyatt said. “It’s all so jumbled. Where will I go after this?”
“We have options for adult omegas over eighteen. Safe options where you’ll be cared for. For now, just rest and try to heal. I’ll be in contact again shortly.”
The older beta left, and Hyatt pulled the blanket back over his head, sick of the noises of the hospital and the strange, sharp smells. Tired of every-damned-thing. He wanted Symon. He wanted Rebel. And he had no idea how to get back to either of his brothers.
Please, goddess, give them back to me. I need them.
Two
Present Day
“I am so sick of hospital waiting rooms.”
Hyatt stopped his pacing of said waiting room and looked over at Karson Jenks Lee, who’d spoken the words. Karson had been mated to Hyatt’s brother Rebel for about ten months, and he considered Karson another brother. And right now, Karson’s best omega friend Layne was in an emergency room cubicle fighting his way back from severe hypothermia. Two cubicles down, Hyatt’s own nephew Peyton was battling the same condition, and Hyatt still didn’t completely understand everything that had happened this morning.
He had been visiting family friend Khory Danvers and Khory’s little boy Asher when Khory’s alpha mate Aeron called and said both Layne and Peyton were in emergency with hypothermia after they jumped into a mountain pond. After Hyatt was assured that Peyton and Layne’s four-week-old Caleb was safe and sound, Hyatt and Khory had headed for the main Sansbury Province hospital center’s Emergency Department.
Karson and Rebel had already been here in the waiting room when they arrived, and Karson tried to