They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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"Vsev, she's my sister!" Dime shouted, wheeling on his heel to face his alpha.
It had been three days since the accident. Three days since the scalding pain had torn through every fiber of his being. Three days since Theo had been carried away by Vsevolod's quiet younger brother.
"I understand that," Vsevolod murmured in a placating tone, raising the palms of his hands and gesturing in a slow motion for Dime to sit down. "But Theophania is in trouble right now, after the accident you caused. We owe her the time to recover safely, free of infection risk."
The hairs along the back of his neck raised and Dime resumed pacing back and forth across Vsev's office; from the bust of some ancestor of Vsev's to the Soviet war medals on the opposite wall. He opened his mouth to bite back at the man, but he found he couldn't. He was the reason Theo had crashed- albeit at the time he'd thought he'd been saving her from a worser one. But that was lacking faith in his family- they never would have gone out of their way to hurt his sister.
So instead he argued from a different angle. One that made him feel less guilt. "Samuel is allowed to be around her. And Kiril is the one who laid hands on her in the first place. I have every right to be in that room."
Vsevolod nodded, a look of pity flashing across his fine features. Those piercing blue eyes took on a downcast shade, and the man slumped down into his desk chair, laying his arms across the dark lacquered wood in front of him. "You're right," he admitted, flattening his hands against the polished surface, "but Theo also has a right to recover privately," he added.
That gave Dime pause, and he stopped halfway across the room, his eyes turned towards the deep red of the plush carpet beneath his shoes as if the fibers held the answers he was seeking. "Privately? Why on earth would she want to be alone?"
Vsevolod shifted back, the wrinkles in his pressed white shirt stretching out. "She's not awoken yet, but Dimetreaus, we do not know what she remembers, or what she might hold against you..." he paused once more, thinking, carefully assessing him, though for what, Dime couldn't figure out. "I'm certain everything will be fine, but we want to give her time to process. Time for others to speak in your favor."
Dime's gaze went vacant- he could feel the energy seeping out of his body and turning into a puddle on the carpet. "You think she'll be upset?" He couldn't keep the remorse from tainting his words.
The other man sighed and stood, making his slow way around the massive desk and eventually coming to stand before him. His shoes were the same ones Dime was wearing, and it rankled him as much as it gave him pride. He hadn't been allowed to return home, even to get his own clothing, so he'd been wearing Vsevolod's. They were close enough in size, but the shirts were tight, and the pants an inch too short.
A hand clasped his shoulder, breaking him out of his rumination. His hazel eyes lifted to Vsev's clear blue ones, searching. "No, I don't think she will be, if she's as good a woman as you say. We just want to be certain."
