Page 41 of Bullied Pregnant Mate

He chuckles and squeezes me, kissing my head. “My pleasure.”

I smile at that, still stroking his chest. I don’t really want to look into his eyes as I ask the next question. I want him to be able to answer without feeling interrogated.

“Do you remember what your nightmare was about?”

He sighs, curling around me even more tightly, but he doesn’t tense up. Colors flicker through his aura. There is pain but no resistance.

He’s actually trusting me.

“My mother,” he begins so softly, I can barely hear. “She isolated me up here. I wasn’t allowed to hang out in town, or play with other kids. She was already known to everyone, even her own family, as an erratic flake, but after she had me, it got ten times worse.”

“Why, Jenks? Why on earth would she do that to you?”

“I don’t know,” he mutters. “And I don’t know why she left, either.”

“Where did she go?”

“California, I think. She said she got a record deal and had to get out of here. She offered to let me go with her, but I said no. She signed the house and most of the money over to me, then left.”

“Why didn’t anyone intervene when you were little?”

“Because there was no abuse. It was weird, for sure, but if family services got called, all they could do was confirm I washealthy and well-fed. Mom was offered psych services; she just didn’t take them, and no one could legally make her do it.”

I wrap my arms around him, desperate to soothe the pain in his soul. “I never imagined your life was so hard.”

“Oh, it looked great to most people. Tons of money, beautiful house, minimal supervision. That’s why my parties were always king. Mom didn’t give a fuck.”

I’m afraid to ask the next question, but I know I have to. “Jenks… what about your father? Where is he?”

“I never met him,” Jenks answers, his voice harsh. “I have no idea who he is. Mom kept it a big secret. One day, I just stopped asking.”

“Oh my God, Jenks,” I murmur, holding him. “I’m so sorry.”

He hugs me, and we stay curled up together for a bit longer, not talking. I know there has to be more to the story, and I have more questions, but none of it is important right now.

This poor man has a tortured soul and a broken heart, and he hid it from everyone his whole life. Happy Jenks, party-boy Jenks—hiding his pain with false joy.

“Do you think your mom will come back?” I ask sleepily.

“No,” he says. “She adds money to my account. Sends an occasional email. She is scared of my father, I think.”

“Where is he? Who is he? If you think she’s scared of him, does that mean he’s from an enemy pack?”

“Maybe,” Jenks says. “But he could be anyone—or anything.”

“What do you mean?”

Jenks sighs, holding me gently. “No one knows this.”

“It’s okay.”

“Mom is Carla’s half-sister. They have the same mother, different fathers. It was kept a huge secret.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. The deeper you dig into a small town, the weirder it gets. But the thing is, Mom wasn’t just a wolf. I’ve always worried that she went looking for her own kind, and that’s why she couldn’t reveal who my father was.”

“What do you mean?”

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