| knew my conversation with Dustin would be rough. No one wants to hear that their mate has been through the horrors that his
has been through. But, as his Alpha, it’s my job to make sure that he knows and that I’m the one to tell him.
When he knocks on the door to my office, | tell him toe in and have a seat. | go to the bar in my office and pour us both a
bourbon,ing to sit beside him.
“That bad, huh?” He asks me, taking a sip of the amber liquid.
“Dustin, you know what it was like for Angel when she first got here.” | say, watching as he looks into his ss, looking for
answers that he won''t find.
“Yeah.” He says quietly.
‘Angel told me about Sarah. Sebastian, the one that came for her today, didn’t just feed on her. He abused her daily for the
seven years that she was
prisoner.” He puts his ss down, standing and walking to my wall, punching a
hole in it.
He leans his head against the wall, pulling his hand out of the hole he created. “I knew it was bad. | knew it had to be based on
how she responded to seeing him again.” He turns to me. “How do | help her? How do | help her heal from that? How do | make
her feel safe?”
I stand, walking to my friend and putting a hand on his shoulder. “I wish | had answers for you, but I’m still trying to figure it out
myself. All | can say is to be there for her, be what she needs you to be and let her set the pace. She’s dealing with a lot and
honestly, she’s doing better than | would have thought. That’s positive.”
He nods his head, taking a deep breath. “Do you think she’d go to see Dr. Phillips? Maybe there is something that she can do to
help her heal, you know, internally?”
“| think that’s a great idea, if you can get her to go. But again, I’d suggest letting her set the pace. If she’s resistant, either give
her time or see if Angel can help sway her.”
He nods and I lead him back to the chairs, pushing him down in his and handing him his ss. He shoots it down and | grab the
bottle and pour him another.
“I need to get back upstairs. | expected her to have nightmares, but now, | can be positive that she will.” He looks up at me.
“Angel seemed okay with Cyran being with her all night, right?”
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“Yes. She wasfortable with Cyran and didn’t have nightmares when he stayed with her. She inay be morefortable with
Leon than you being in the room with her, especially given her history.”
He gets up to leave. “Thank you, Alpha.”
“Let me know what either of you need. If she’s going to be your mate, she’s part of our pack now.”
“She IS my mate. She''ll be part of the pack, no matter how long it takes me to convince her.”
When he’s gone, | finish up thest of things | needed to do, posting the training roster for the next few days. When | crawl into
bed with Angel, I’m exhausted. | let her warm body and calming scent pull me into my own dreamless sleep.
The next morning, Angel and | get ready and head down to the canyon to train with the pack. | heard Sarah screaming once
during the night, but only once. I’m hoping that means that Leon being there helped her feel safe.
When we get to the training grounds, I’m excited to finally see what Angel is capable of. | know her training with Clint is
important, but so far, he hasn’t had her sparring. | need to know that she is a strong and intelligent fighter.
When we get there, | make sure that my warriors are divided up with Rik’s. There are about 500 warriors in total, 300 of mine and
200 hundred of Rik’s. He and Chase are here working with the warriors, but | need to work with Angel.
| pull her off to the side. “Okay, show me what you’ve got.” | tell her and get in a defensive stance.Content ? provided by N?velDrama.Org.
| watch her frown at me. “What are you talking about?”
“I need to see how good you are, so go ahead, take a shot at me.”
“I''m not going to hit you Liam.”
“Angel,” | say and stand up out of my defensive stance. “I need to know what kind of training you had before, what you
remember and how strong you are. So,” | say, getting back into my defensive stance. “Hit me.”
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