Alpha's Little Secret

Chapter 17| Facing A Monster (2)

Dinner started in an hour and I felt a tad bit nervous. I was getting ready to meet the rest of Drake's enormous family. The same family who had judgement about my entire relationship with Drake. I'm sure some of them didn't even know about me and assumed Drake had finally come back to marry Nikolai.

All though, Patrick was a breath of fresh air I assumed the worse from his other siblings. I was positive that Drake's older brothers weren't as understanding.

"When's the last time you talked to Alex?" Patrick asked while walking with me and Drake to Drake's old bedroom. Drake was silent. There were still things that I didn't know that I knew were to personal for Drake to tell. Drake never really talked about how his siblings felt about the forced marriage and had never mentioned anything about a brother named Alex. I could only guess off of Drake's reaction which sibling to avoid and he seemed like an obvious candidate.

"I...I don't want to talk to Alex." It was the only thing Drake could say about Alex. Part of me wanted to beg him to tell me, but it was neither the place or time. I also didn't want him to shed in more tears over this. He has done enough of that already.

"Oh...I thought...since you two used to do everything together, that you'd at least keep in contact with him. He was so protective over you," Patrick replied sincerely. If Alex was the protective one then why was so much harm done to Drake? Why did he end up be abused?

"Protective? He saw and knew what happened to me and didn't do anything about it. I can't forgive him for that," Drake sighed. He didn't seem angry, just disappointed. Like he expected more from his older brother. I tried to imagine my younger siblings in this same position, but it was impossible. I'd never let that happen to them even if they wanted to be married. They were much to young.

"What exactly did happen? I was just a little kid back then. All I knew was that you were really sad and unhappy all the time, especially when Nikolai was around. You always hid in your room when he came over. He'd literally come up to your room and wouldn't come back down for hours on end. I always.."Patrick's eyes got big realizing something that he probably never wanted to imagine. The curly blond boy shook his head while staring at his shorter older brother in disbelief. "No," his voice broke. Drake simply let the silence between them answer all the questions floating around in the air. Tears accumulated at the corners of Patrick's eyes before Drake pulled him down into a hug, stopping any tears wasted on his behalf. Drake had bared his trauma scars so many times that he had become used to it, but it was the first time Patrick had ever been told the truth, or at least given an answer to what he had wanted to know since Drake left.

"Like you said...you were just a kid. There was nothing you could've done to stop it. I know mother always kept you occupied when I'd go into heat so you wouldn't go snooping around. You were never meant to see that," Drake explained to his sobbing brother. The taller boy cried into his older brother's shoulder blade with with an uncanny amount of remorse and regret he couldn't even began to explain. I knew the feeling all to well because I felt it every time I looked at Drake. How could anyone let that happen to someone so gentle as him? Someone who was the most vulnerable out of all of them. Someone who deserved better.

Drake rubbed the alphas back, soothing cries to a small whimper before looking in my direction. Despite the circumstances Drake looked relieved. Maybe a part of him missed comforting his younger brother. Or maybe he had just missed the taller boy who was once a tinny pup. It made me think of my own siblings who I hadn't seen in months.

"I'm sorry, cookie. I was so fucking useless!" Patrick said as he picked his head and looked down at Drake. Drake just smiled at the boy, assuring him that it was okay. Patrick was to young to understand, which is why his mother kept him away. Which is why he felt the need to ask what really happened. He had every right to be upset.