Chapter 331: 2-4

“Why was your stomach turning?” Ben just shrugged. “So we can’t play together,” he said sadly. “No, that’s not true. You know how you can play with Ava, pick her up or hold her hand, or wrestle, shout loudly, or be rough,” he nodded, “Well with Kayla, did you notice that she is quiet and shy?” he bobbed his blonde haired head once again. “She may want to play with you but you’ll have to take things at her pace. After maybe a long time, things won’t seem so hard for her to be around you-” “But why is she afraid of me, is it because I’m a boy? Because she didn’t seem scared of Ava, Fiona or Quinn…” I swallowed the bile that crept up my throat, “Did you know that Kayla has lots of brothers and sisters?” – “No.” “Well she has two brothers your age, as well as nine younger brothers and sisters. They were all born locked away. They’ve never been to school, they never left the place where they were held-” I sighed starting again, “the bad person that took them, brought more bad guys and those bad guys would hurt Kayla and her brothers and sisters everyday.” Ben cocked his head to the side, “So they would hit her a lot – all of them?” his bottom lip sucked into his mouth and his pointed chin shook, indents forming. “Yes, they would hit and bad touch them,” I said and his blue eyes watered. I knew he had heard the term “bad touch” before. “All her life?” he asked his voice squeaking and eyes widening. I nodded sadly. “Oh…” he looked down at his thighs before his head snapped up, eyes seeking mine. “She thinks I’m going to hit and bad touch her? I wouldn’t do that,” he shook his head furiously from side to side. I had to smile sadly, “I know that… and if you be yourself and patient I think that it would make it easier for Kayla to be your friend.” Ben nodded, wiping at his eyes, “She’s special…” he whispered, “She made flowers grow,” he added, even though those two statements didn’t sound like they were related to each other. I remained silent, just listening to the waves while Ben, gazed at the sand, every once in a while he swiped at his face with the back of his hand, wiping tears away before they made it to his chin. “Saxon doesn’t like that bad people hurt her,” he whispered, after nearly ten or more minutes in silence. “Chelsea told me that Kayla played with you yesterday…” he nodded, crying silently, “Well I want you to know something, I want you to understand just how hard that must have been for Kayla to do, but she did it,” I stressed, hoping that even at eleven years old he could comprehend. . . Ben POV Wiping at my face I tried to stay calm, even though inside me, my heart hurt and in my head, Saxon was howling. I understood what uncle Grant was talking about, bad touch, beatings, being locked away never going to school or being outside. I don’t think I had ever met anyone that suffered any of those things, much less all of them at once, “Do you want to go for our run or just head back inside?” Uncle Grant asked me, making me turn to him confused. Run – run, Saxon called out wanting to get out more now than ever before. I wanted to let him out too; I wanted to feel like I did when I was running in wolf form. Nodding I just let the shift happen, going from standing on two feet to falling down on all fours within seconds.