My Muted Alpha | ✔️

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Kronos's POV

"And that's how it ended. After I overthrew my mother, I became Alpha of the pack. It was terrifying, but I was tired of being a doormat." I finished, re-telling my abuse.

Theo's eyes were sorrowful, "I'm so sorry you had to go through this, Kronos. No human or any supernatural creature should ever experience such hardship. It must have been painful to be alone through it all?"

I shook my head, "No, in fact, quite the opposite. Azrael, my beta, told me that I was going to find my mate soon. He was one of the few people who never laid a hand on me, and actually protected me from my mother. You see, when I was being punched and kicked, he dove in and stepped right in front of them, taking the beating instead of me."

The doctor nodded, listening to my story with fascination.

I took this as a cue to continue my story with a smile of nostalgia. "He wasn't in the pack for long, even though his mate was Coco, a female beta. Yet, he stood up for me despite not knowing me well. He did know that he had to protect me since he was in second in change while Coco was away with Rhea. I mean, it made sense. Because Rhea was searching for her mate."

Then my features turned dark, as I closed my eyes briefly. "Thenmone day, Mom was tired of Azrael jumping in to protect me. She ordered—no, shrieked for him to no longer help me when I'm in need. Since she was the Luna and current highest rank in the pack, he had no choice but to obey her command. The rest was history, as I soon met Rhea."

Silence followed, along with a sound of a clearing in the throat from Theo.

"It's extraordinary that you had someone with you through this experience, Kronos. I believe that with this, you can now start recovering from your trauma." He said, blinking twice.

I tilted my head, not understanding how my story could start my process of recovery. "What do you ... mean, Theo?"

He chuckled, pushing his glasses up. "The cycle of healing is different for every individual. From my diagnostics, you have PTSD. Otherwise known as, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One of the first steps of working yourself up again, is to talk about it. Which, of course, we've done just now."

I nodded, taking in all the information.

He flips through the pages on his clipboard, eyes scanning the words as he continued to speak. "Now, onto stage two. We'll work on therapy. You'll be introduced to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, known as EMDR, and Cognitive Processing Therapy, known as CPT. We'll also touch bases on Exposure Therapy, Group Therapy, Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, and possibly have you take Antidepressants or any other medication."

I had no idea what any of those mean.

'Same human, same.' Apollo grumbled, fazed by the vocabulary Theo had spurred out.

Theo looked up from his board and tapped his paper, "I can tell you're a bit confused. Do you want to know what each of them are?"

I curtly nodded, "Please."

He inhales and lets out a breath, leaning back into his chair. "Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a integrative psychotherapy that stimulates the information processing part of the brain. It seeks to address any past disturbances, current triggers, and future triggers. It was originally designed to alleviate the distress from the traumatic memories. Cognitive Processing Therapy, on the other hand, is a type of therapy that retrains the brain to think about the traumatic experience differently." He explained, pausing for a quick breath.

"And the other types of therapy?" I asked, curious.

"Exposure Therapy is to make you less sensitive about the fear in your memories. Group therapy is where a group of people who had a similar experience or diagnostics talk about their story and you will gain insight from it. Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is how you'll learn how your past trauma can affect your current or present emotions. Family therapy will probably be the most difficult since I'll have to have your abuser and your father there with you." Theo ended, gesturing his hands as he spoke.