Chapter 244

My heart pounds and I feel a twinge inside, ‘I love my other girls too, Pat let them know that I loved them too.’ “Be real quiet Bumblebee… I – I love you… don’t come out… not until you hear daddies voice.” “Shhhhh…” “Look what we have here… Elder Bellamy – or should I call you Anya?” “Albert…” Albert? Albert? Eleanor’s father? “Where are the Violins Elder Bellamy?” “What Violi-” the tape clicks right after the gunshot, I flinch and blink not expecting it but then again my eyes find Oakley and Bens’, he’s shaking, his eyes are darkening. Panting, all eyes turn to him, he’s shifting… he has a wolf… Oakley knew his angry thoughts catching my attention out of all the others. Yanking his hand he turns to face Oakley, who is stunned, “You had this all this time? Why didn’t you let me listen?” his hands are at his sides clenched and shaking. “I – I didn’t want anyone to know about it so they would take it away,” it’s all I had left of her, “I did tell you though Ben,” she nodded, “I told you she loved you…” her voice quiet, all the men in the room that knew of Anya or Elder Bellamy are vibrating in their own anger. Why – why do I feel so – so angry? His small chest rising, falling quickly, Ben closes his eyes, shaking his head, almost annoyed. “Ben…” I call softly and he turns to me, eyes wide, chest heaving, his hands still shaking, “Are you – are you angry with Oakley?” I know the other Lawsons’ are focused on me but I keep my eyes on Ben instead. He shakes his head, “No, I’m sad, but I feel angry,” he replies in a voice smaller than normal, whispered. “I – can the rest of you calm down, control your emotions please,” I tell Marlon, Jack, Leland, and the other man whose name I don’t know, “I think… your anger is triggering his own. I can read his thoughts and he doesn’t understand why he’s feeling so angry…” I tell them, unsure, our gaze all-flickering too the little blonde haired boy shaking in his spot.  He nearly… he was like this in the office, this is what Chelsea meant… she wasn’t lying Grant thinks in surprise. “Wait what?” I direct my question to him, when he looks caught off guard, I explain, and he nods. “We were at therapy and this was how Ben was reacting,” he explained what we already knew since Dr. Wagner was recording and stored the session on her cloud. Nodding he just continued, “So – so what we saw on T.V. – that – that’s what they will turn into?” he nodded at Oakley and Ben, I answered with a sharp nod. “It’s controlled by their emotions, feelings?” “Yes,” I said reluctantly, “When I was younger than Oakley, the man who did this to my back, he attacked me, he wasn’t expecting me to be capable of taking him on. I was able to get away, but I was so angry that he had even dared to try and get his hands on me again, that I fumed all day. Nothing I did that day could quell my anger, each and every thought that consumed me was how weak, ugly, dirty, he made me feel, and how sadistic he was. My dad, Jason, spent the whole day trying to ease my thoughts, but nothing worked, I started getting pains. My joints ached, muscles felt sore and my head felt like I was being poked by a million tiny needles, noises got louder, I could hear everything, my chest squeezed painfully, then worse I felt the angrier I felt,” I chuckled remembering the cycle before my first shift. “I had already begun hearing my wolf, but I thought I was just going crazy, and that if I said anything Jason would send me back,” Gabriel came to me, holding my hand, but that was enough to help me continue, “that night, my body was boiling, I couldn’t seem to get cool, and around 11 p.m., I just followed instinct, ran outside to the trees, shifting.” “That sounds terrifying,” Julia Lawson, blurted out, but when she had the attention of the whole room she seemed to shrink back, almost like she didn’t welcome the notice she had garnered with her words, “I – I just mean that, you were a small girl – it was a lot to deal with,” she shrugged. I nodded, “It was. In a rage we can be more feral – animal – if we aren’t careful, if Ben were to shift in anger, around the person who instigated his anger, without the right techniques to calm down, he could kill someone easily, moving onto his next victim and continuing until he stopped not out of any other reason but exhaustion,” I waved my hand. “Here, we will teach him how to hunt, track as well as keeping himself safe, because there are hunters even those like us that will seek him out to kill him. This isn’t something Oakley and Ben can be hidden from, not when their chances at survival depend on how much they train and learn to protect themselves for any possible attack.” “Like you?” Grant asked, not rudely but I smirked. “Everyday for nearly an hour, I make up to three of four of my people attack me, nonstop, in human form, as well as animal – at the same time. They only put back once they are in kill position, meaning that one step to take my life that true attackers – depending on their prerogative – wouldn’t hold back from. They break my limbs, punch, tackle, full on beat down mode, no mercy so that I stay sharp, aware.” “And how does beating the crap out of you help you?” he asks his voice rising. “Helping me find and point out weaknesses, giving me options based on the number of people that attack me, even with other more abilities to handle my protection. If I just tried punching you, on the right side of your face Julia, how would you stop that attack?” I asked pointblank waiting. “Cover my face,” she said quickly before her face morphed into realization of how foolish that would be. I smirked at Grant, “if you tried to do that to me, I could… use my speed and strength to flip you over using your own momentum against you, twist your hand, and pin you down with your arm behind your back. I could crush your fist, break your wrist, Ulna, Radius, use it to hold you in place and punch your face to break your nose, skull, jaw…” “Cool…” Ben said dazed. “The point is, without training, having enhanced speed, smell, sight and hearing still leaves you unprotected-”