"Sorry?" Elias asked confused. The woman bit the inside of her cheek and tried again since it didn't make sense the first time.

"I trouble, I sorry" she said pushing herself slowly further into the bed she laid on.

"No. You're no trouble, love. We found you in the woods. So we brought you here to heal, you've been sleep a long time. Be careful moving around too much may be difficult" the woman frowned understanding every other word he said. She was slightly irritated with her mind, being stupid was a huge disadvantage here. Even if her thoughts couldn't fully comprehend that her body did. Everything on her was at attention, she was aware of every sound. Every movement. Every word.

"I no trouble? But run away?" Were these not friends of Pete? She thought as she assessed her surrounding for the 5th time. Trying to decide how to run, she would be beat senseless for this. She may not survive. And there wouldn't be anything she could do to stop him.

"Why did you run?" Elias asked.

"I broke Pete radio. He love radio. Svetsie said she would tell. I ran when I do laundry. I hear coming" the story made the woman hyperventilate and Elias grabbed her hand again bringing attention to him. And the tingles from her hand. She snatched it immediately assuming her hand fell asleep.

"Does Pete beat you" Elias said venom slipping into his voice negligently. The woman noticed the change in his mood and found herself shaking again.

"Yes. Please don't hurt me" Elias' anger fell away immediately and he relaxed them tried to hide his offense.

"I won't hurt you. I'm not Pete. I don't know Pete. I want you to stay with me, I can keep you safe" he said leaning forward a bit deciding that was all the questions Helios could take at the moment.

"Safe?" The woman asked.

"It means no one will ever hurt you. Here I'll make sure of it" she watched him a moment. Unsure of his words, she'd never heard of safe but it sounded better than Pete. So far he hadn't hurt her, she was in bed still and he didn't make her clean anything. Her body actually felt better than it had before she ran. She noticed the cast on her arm and leg and Elias sighed.

"Lilo did what she could. You'll have to come back weekly to be sure it heals right." The woman watched him with confused eyes and he decided he'd leave the medical stuff to Lilo to explain it would take forever if he did. He stood and the woman froze "Let's get you in a more comfortable bed" the woman frowned not understanding.

"Bed? I in bed now" he had to stop himself from chuckling and instead he picked her up gently. The woman froze again under his touch but allowed him to carry her to the bed he was talking about. With every step her breathing hitched and she fidgeted in his arms the tingles and other feelings altogether making her uncomfortable. Once Elias got to his room he opened the door and sat her on it. At that point the woman began to understand.

"Safe" she whispered to herself feeling the much softer bed under her. She'd never been in a bed that soft even the bed she was in before was softer than the ones Pete laid her on. This man was much better than him. She'd be a good pet for him. She didn't want him to give her back to Pete.

"Thea" she said pointing to herself. Then pointed at him her eyebrow raised in question.

"Elias. Do you like it?"

"Elias. Thea. I like bed. I stay here" Elias sighed upon hearing that. At least he didn't have to worry about her running from him. His next task would be to keep it that way. He had a feeling Thea would be easy to scare.

"That's good Thea. I want you to stay." Thea stood and limped over to him before she propped herself up on his shoulder and placed a small kiss to his lips.

Elias froze unsure of what to say or do. Helios took over and grabbed her kissing her more deeply. He wanted more of her than just a peck. Elias tanked back control and he released her slowly. Thea's head spun with the emotions that his kiss stirred in her. If that's how it felt she could understand why Pete did it all the time.

"What was that for" Elias asked. Thea didn't understand and started to feel nervous that she did something wrong.

"Pete and Svetsie do that when make happy. You make Thea happy I sorry" Elias softened a bit at that but he also couldn't ignore the slight burn he felt knowing she didn't kiss him for the right reasons.

"It's ok. I understand. You should lay down, I want you to stay off that leg" he said as guided her back to the bed.

"You want that now? Ok I see" Thea began to strip and Elias froze again as he took in what was happening in front of him.

"Thea stop" Elias said grabbing her arms.

"You don't want either? Am I no good? I ok with hurt I can take it. Don't send me back" Elias breathed in and put her hands down. He could feel Helios in the back of his mind shaking with fury. This man took advantage of something he knew she didn't understand and didn't even have the decency to be gentle. Elias swallowed his disgust and pulled tight on the reigns to keep Helios locked away. If he snapped now he knew he'd scare her.

"It's called sex. And it's not supposed to hurt. And you don't have to do anything to stay here. That's not why I want you here. Well not completely" Elias said a little too honestly.

"What here for"

"You're... Special to me. And I am special to you, I will take care of you and you will be safe" those words Thea understood and it made her want to kiss him again. Even though she knew it might be the wrong response, she liked the way it felt and he made her happy again. But Thea stayed put, she could tell she upset him and for whatever reason he wasn't hurting her. She didn't want to give him any reason to change his mind. He didn't want her for what Pete had Svetsie for. And he still hadn't asked her to clean or cook. Whatever safe was, Thea was in love with it and would do whatever she could to keep it.

Thea laid down finally at Elias' urging and once he walked out he gently closed the door behind him. As soon as it shut he walked off his skin steaming with anger. Everyone parted when he came through shooting each other concerned glances as he passed. The Alpha was always a bit strange offish but this was a level of anger no one had ever seen from him. So of course they all reach out to Ethan. Ethan's brain felt like it was melting with the amount of messages he kept getting about Elias. When he found him finally he'd torn his armchair apart.

"Elias?" Ethan asked hesitantly.

"I need a run" Elias breathed out hunched over his desk.

"Let's go" without much else said they left the castle and out into the territory. They got about 20 km before Elias stopped at his usual spot by the waterfall and roared as long and loud as he could. Ethan watched with concern as his brother began to shift back. Ethan's wolf, Apollo, went to the usual tree and pulled some clothes for the two of them to change into. They changed and say asking the edge of the cliff. It was about 15 meters to the bottom and neither wolf feared the fall. They'd already fallen off it a couple times.

"You gonna tell me what's up" Ethan asked finally still staring out at the view.

"She doesn't know anything Ethan. Like nothing. Talking to her was difficult. Not because it was annoying that she didn't understand me. Instead, it was heartbreaking to put together the fact that she was being held captive by a man named Pete and was made to fuck him, whilst Pete had a woman he actually likes around. She couldn't understand what safe meant... Do you get that? Helios was fighting the entire time to storm off and find him. Now that time has passed her scent is beginning to change and that disgusting smell we thought was human. It's him. I still can't put my finger on her specific smell yet but I do know his. I want to pull his soul from his chest and shred it. I want to remove his spine and feed it to him. A man like that deserves morning but pain and when we find him that's what he'll get." Ethan listened his own anger flaring. Not because he liked her, but because any decent person would find that deplorable.

"The only human interaction she understands is what she saw from Pete. Beatings, kissing and sex. How am I supposed to change that" Elias said. Ethan hated seeing his brother so downtrodden.

"It's a big task. Make it smaller. Don't try to change everything. Try something small, she's never done a lot I'm guessing. Show her freedom" Ethan said what made most sense to him. And while he stared out into the view before him he was completely unaware of how important what he just gave Elias was. Elias was seconds over the abyss and here's Ethan with just what he needed to hear. Elias placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and the two sat in silence for another half hour before they decided to head home.