Kia stacked their empty bowls back on the cart then migrated to the bed and the open laptop. Jackson dug through his bathroom drawers for a comb. It’d been awhile since his hair had been long enough to require a comb to tame it, but he knew he had one hidden somewhere.
Wren sat in the wooden chair and didn’t move. Jackson wondered how his hair was taken care of before, though judging from the scars covering his face and the visible area of his arms, he’d take a guess that it wasn’t taken care of at all.
Finding the comb, Jackson paused with a good bit of space between him and Wren. “Someone needs to comb the mats out of your hair. It’s your choice who does it; you, me, or Kia.”
Wren didn’t say anything, but his shoulders tensed and his hands clenched into fists.
“Choices might be difficult,” Kia spoke from where she was laying on the bed with his laptop open on her stomach. “I mean 24 years in the fights, and according to this article I’m reading, fighting wolves don’t really live happy lives where they might be allowed to make choices.”
Articles. Why hadn’t he done even a basic search on how to deal with potentially traumatized wolves? “You’re a fucking genius. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”
Kia rolled her eyes at his words.
At least he now had a game plan for tonight after he talked with his dad. There has to be some sort of advice out there for his situation. “All right. I’m going to comb the mats out of your hair. Don’t growl at me. If you need a break, say ‘I need a break,’ and we’ll stop for a bit.”
Wren didn’t respond, but his hands unclenched, even as his shoulders stayed tense. That was good enough for Jackson. Jackson stepped behind him and stared at the mess.
“Start at the bottom,” Kia said. “I think Sue-sue has some detangler stuff that her mom uses on her. I can go see?”
“Yes, please.”
Kia pushed the laptop aside but kept it open on the internet page she’d pulled up. Jackson carefully held the first bit of hair between his fingers and tried to force the comb through. It didn’t work.
“All right. Let’s cut the mask and see if we can just work that out first.” He grabbed some scissors from his desk, but froze before reaching for the blindfold. “I have scissors. I’m just cutting the blindfold and then I’ll set them down.” No response.
Jackson cut the blindfold as close to Wren’s hair as he could without cutting the hair itself. It took a bit of tugging, and a bit of finger picking at the knots, but he was able to get the blindfold worked free. The hair was still matted and a disaster, but it looked better without the wet fabric hanging from in.
Kia returned as Jackson chucked the mask toward the trash can. He missed. She rolled her eyes and tossed it in herself. “Got the spray. You just spray it on the knots. Not that hard.”
Jackson looked at the bottle. Unscented detangler spray. He shrugged and sprayed at the first spot he’d tried to comb. Wren jerked, then froze. “Whoops. I’m going to spray this a couple more times on this spot and see if it helps.”
He sprayed it three more times then set the bottle down. Wren was almost shaking, he was so tense. “We could just cut your hair?”
“No,” Kia spoke from where she was lounging on the bed. “I’ll comb it out if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’ve got it. This is just… really bad.”
The spray helped. It took entirely too long to get even a small section combed out, but he managed to get it done. “Hey, there’s a new piece of legislation being discussed on werewolf freedom,” Kia said.
Jackson didn’t want to have to use the detangler again, but the spray had helped. “I have to spray down more of your hair. I’ll be quick.” Wren’s only response was to tense back up. “Doubt it’ll pass. Not while we have fuck-face as president-extraodinaire.”
“I know,” Kia sighed.
Wren’s hair was surprisingly soft under hand as he worked the tangles out. It hung in loose curls down to his shoulders. “Have an extra hair tie?”
Kia tossed the one around her wrist at him without looking up. It fell short. Jackson ran his fingers though Wren’s hair. The silky strands were damp from the washing and the spray. He ignored the way Wren jerked forward when his fingers brushed against his scalp and separated it into three pieces. It was a short braid, but it would keep the hair nicer than just leaving it down.
“What do you think?” Jackson asked the room at large. Wren didn’t respond.
Kia looked up from the computer. “Turn around,” she said to Wren. Wren stood and turned. Jackson stepped back as Wren towered over him. His heart skipped in his chest and Kia’s eyes shot to him. He stared back at her. “It looks good. Good job.”
“You can sit back down,” Jackson said.
Wren didn’t move. Kia frowned and exchanged a tense look with Jackson. Jackson shrugged. “When’re you going to see your dad?”
“Soon. I want his hair to dry a little more.” Jackson glanced at Wren. “Sit down.”
Wren sat down on the floor, exactly where he’d been standing. Jackson sighed and let him stay there. “Come look at this,” Kia said and patted the bed next to her.
Jackson climbed into the bed next to her. She had the legislation pulled up. Jackson skimmed it, but there was no chance of it passing. No chance. “I’ll keep an eye on it,” he promised her.
If it would just pass then the next year wouldn’t matter. Kia was his best friend. He wouldn’t let his dad change that. He wouldn’t let his dad take away all the best parts of her. He glanced over at her. She was leaning in close to the laptop, eyes skimming down the lines quickly.
“Your mom would be so excited for you,” Kia said out of nowhere.
“Mom would have made sure you were the one coming with me.”
It was hard not to be bitter. His dad worked best under contracts, agreements, favors… Power. It was always and forever just a power play when it came to him, and Jackson turning 18 took away a big part of the power his dad held before. With the law no longer keeping him under his dad’s control, his dad turned to Kia. The only person, or wolf, he would willingly stay under his dad’s control for.
Jackson flipped the switch on the bedside box as they left the room. “Come back in an hour with some lavender tea,” Jackson spoke clearly as soon as they stepped out into the hallway.“Yes, sir.” Kia blew him a kiss and laughed as she left.“Follow me.”Barely in his peripheral, Wren kept pace with him. Down the hallway, up another staircase. They stopped in front of a set of intricately carved double oak doors. Jackson ran a finger over the nose of a carving of a wolf and steeled himself before knocking.“Come in.”Jackson straightened up and opened the door. “Dad.”His dad was sitting behind his desk, bent over some paperwork. His glasses rested on the end of his nose. His dark hair was starting to gray around the edges. A shadow of stubble told Jackson enough about what kind of day he’d had, and he straightened his spine further.With a heavy sigh, his dad took
Wren almost cowered. The garden was so big. Flowers as far as he could see with small trails through them, some brick, some dirt. Every breath brought more information to him. Lavender, honeysuckle, lilies… Fresh, overturned soil. The pine trees in the distance. The sky was so high above. There were no walls to hide in. Nothing. Just space, and room… He focused on Jackson. Followed Jackson in the right position. Let his entire world shrink down to just Jackson.His panic diminished once they stepped into the gazebo. It was a small space. Enclosed. Safe.He loved being outside. He just needed a smaller amount of outside. But… Feeling that breeze. Listening to the leaves of the vines rustling. Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal and he risked looking up at Jackson.Jackson was completely turned away from him. Wren followed his line sight to see a little pond in the not too far distance. It’s surface was highlighted orange fro
Jackson opened the door across the hall from his room, then stepped aside and gestured for Wren to step in ahead of him. Wren hesitated, then stepped forward. The room was dark and smelled faintly of disuse. Jackson stepped in behind him and Wren forced himself not to whip around. He didn’t like people at his back.“Light is here,” Jackson said and the lights came on. Wren turned around at a normal, sedate pace, in direct odds to the pounding of his heart. Jackson had his hand on a panel at the door. “Bed, couch, bathroom.” Jackson pointed at each thing in turn. “Just come to my room when you wake up in the morning. Kia’s bringing breakfast up.”Wren stared over Jackson’s shoulder. The words Jackson said were all normal, easy words… They just didn’t make any sense. Why was he leaving Wren in this room? Where was his cage? The bars with the slot so food could be pushed in to him. The flat pillow and thin
Kia shoved his laptop towards him as he fell face first onto his bed. “What am I doing, Kia?” He turned his head to her.Her gaze was sympathetic. “A good thing. You know as well as I do that the chances of him being alive this time next year was next to none. Besides, it could always be worse. According to this some former fighters are near uncontrollable without constantly manipulating the collar.”Jackson pulled the laptop on top of him. ‘Severity of Aggression in Rescued Fighter Wolves.’ He scanned through the article. A lot of it wasn’t very optimistic. The best results seemed to come from wolves who were saved at a young age. They were successfully switched to other positions with fairly minor leftover effects.“Did you notice the ages?”“Yeah.” The oldest wolf they had ever rescued was 22 and he was damn near feral according to the article. “I think once they found out
Jackson showered before going to get Wren. He assumed Wren would be enjoying his time alone to relax, or maybe Wren was sleeping in. He hoped Wren was sleeping in. Which is why it took him a moment to comprehend what he was seeing when he opened the door.Wren stood leaning back against the fireplace. His arms were crossed when Jackson opened the door, but fell to his sides as he stepped into the room. Dark circles were under his eyes, clear even from across the room. His hair hung in loose waves around his shoulders. Jackson glanced over. The bed was either perfectly remade or Wren had never touched it. “Good morning,” Jackson said, looking back at Wren.Wren didn’t answer. Jackson hadn’t expected him to.“All right, follow me.”Wren followed. Jackson had him sit at the table again. All at once, Jackson was overwhelmed. Wren wouldn’t talk. Wren wouldn’t sleep. Wren wouldn’t… No. He stopped. He
Wren floated in the river near his home. The water in his ears muffled the cries of his baby sister and the laughter of his mom. The sun warmed his face. He couldn’t figure out why his chest ached when it was such a pleasant day. The scent of his mother’s lavender water was surprisingly strong in his nose. It brought a smile to his face. That scent had never come with anything negative. That scent had never hurt him.The river pulled him down stream and he heard his little brother banging a stick against a tree. He frowned. The day was peaceful and calm and his brother always had to be so loud. He opened his mouth to respond, but remembered his mother’s unhappy frown when they fought and closed it.He kept it shut and the banging kept going on. It would pause. Then three rapid bangs would happen. Then a pause. Frustrated he opened his eyes and froze.There was no river. There was no forest. There was no mother, or brother, or baby sister. The s
It was a little intimidating, just a little, to see the massive wolf come sprinting straight for him. Wren’s ears were flattened back, his head and tail held down low. It wasn’t a friendly approach, but it wasn’t aggressive either.Wren slowed to walk and slunk into the gazebo. He crawled under the table and lay down. Jackson stared at Wren’s tail - the only visible part of him from where Jackson was sitting.“Kia will probably be out there for awhile.” There was no response, but Jackson hadn’t expected any. When Wren was human he barely responded, as a wolf, Jackson figured it was useless. “Why don’t you get up on the bench? It’s more comfortable than the floor.”To his surprise, Wren slowly crept out from under the table. His ears were still flattened tight to his head. He stepped up on to the bench and lay down. Jackson held back his laugh. Wren was almost too large to fit, but he squeezed his
Jackson left Kia in charge of showing Wren how to use the tub and shower. She joined him not long after. “You showed him the selection of soaps?”“Yeah. He seemed a little overwhelmed so I pulled out the ones you use in case he just wanted to stick with that.”Jackson hummed. Kia’s hair was stuck in unattractive clumps. He thought he saw a twig buried in the thick strands. “You might want to shower too.”“Yeah.”She fell onto his bed instead. He pulled his feet out of the way just in time for her land with a muted thump. “He was protecting you earlier.”In the gazebo, when he’d growled at Kia. “That’s what it was? Thank God. I thought he saw you as a threat.”She snorted and rolled her head to the side to look at him. “Nope. He was just telling me to watch it. I just can’t decide if that’s a good sign or not.”Yeah. He kne