Hagen, Lynn - Remi's Pup [Brac Pack 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (2 page)
Read Hagen, Lynn - Remi's Pup [Brac Pack 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Online
Authors: Lynn Hagen
“You’ll have to rely on everyone here, Remi. He’s going to try and sneak out, lie and trick people to escape. He’s going to be desperate to get that fix. Hang in there. He’ll make it through. He’ll never be over it, but we’ll all be there for him.” Remi nodded as Commander Hawk sat back. No one should have to go through what Drew was fighting right now.
* * * *
Drew woke in a world of pain. He pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead, nausea threatening to empty his stomach. His whole body ached, and his mouth felt as though he had been sucking cotton balls all night.
“Tank, grab the bucket.”
Who the hell was that? Before Drew could even try to care, he vomited. Hands rolled him over to his side as he threw up absolutely nothing. His stomach was empty, and trying to hurl your stomach lining hurt like a bitch.
A cold rag wiped across his face and mouth, hands rolling him back. This had to be the bowels of hell. His body sure as fuck felt like it was on fire. “It hurts.” Drew’s muscles felt as though he had hit the weights for nine straight hours. His stomach muscles cramped, and he was shaking again.
“I know, baby. Hang in there. I got you.”
He remembered that voice. The guy from the mall. Drew had yet to open his eyes. They hurt. Where the hell was he? It didn’t feel like his bed. “Can I please have something to drink?”
“Storm, can you get him some water?”
How many people were here? Wherever here was.
“On it.”
Drew needed to get out of here. The craving was driving into him like a sledgehammer. He wanted to go home. He wanted to stop hurting.
“Lay down. You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”
Huh? He hadn’t even realized he was struggling to sit up.
Drew felt himself being slightly lifted. Something hard pressed against his lips, and then something wet touched them. The water. He took tiny sips, not wanting to throw that up. Drew was laid back down, someone holding him.
He drifted back to sleep.
* * * *
“Ahhhh! It hurts. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.” Drew shot up out of his sleep, pain racking his body. The craving was clawing at his skin. He had to get out of here, needed to escape. Drew fought, swinging his arms and legs, biting and spitting. The pain was too much. Too damn much.
“Hold his legs.”
Drew felt his legs being pinned down, his arms in a vise grip. “Get off me, damn you. Let me go! You fucking cocksuckers, get off me!” He fought against steel restraints, unrelenting, non-giving. Drew reverted to begging, “Please, it hurts. Just once, just once. Please. I promise, just once.”
“No, baby. Fight it. You have to fight it.”
“Fuck you!” He renewed his struggles, screaming to the top of his lungs. He was still trapped. Exhausted, he lay back, eyes still closed, panting.
“Bucket!”
Drew rolled over and vomited again before passing out.
* * * *
It had been three days. Three days of vomiting, screaming, crying, begging, fighting, cursing, shaking, and fitful sleeping. Remi felt like roadkill.
The Sentries had taken turns helping him hold Drew down, bucket patrol and face wiping. Remi was indebted to them all. The moral support alone helped him handle this.
It was late afternoon on the third day when Drew had finally opened his eyes.
“Where am I?”
“Safe.” Remi pulled his mate closer, running his hands through his hair and watching for any signs of nausea or combativeness. Drew just lay there, looking like he had walked through the fires of hell.
“Who are you?”
“Remi. Someone who cares about what happens to you.” His mate’s voice was raspy, strained from the countless hours of screaming and vomiting. When his nausea dissipated, he would tend to it. For now, he just held him.
“I hurt.”
“I know, baby. I know.”
Chapter Two
Drew sat back and watched as Cecil beat Oliver in another game. They were two guys that lived here. He thought the guy Oliver a bit strange with all his piercings. Cecil seemed cool.
It had been four days since he woke in this housesince Remi changed his life.
He tugged at the cuffs of his long sleeves, a nervous habit he had developed with hiding his arms. Thoughts of escape were forefront, but every time he attempted to leave, someone was there to stop him. Drew got up, wanting to go back to Remi’s room. He didn’t like being around all these strangers. He didn’t like the fact that they all had witnessed his shame.
“Sure you don’t want to play, Drew?”
Drew stopped, turning back to the room to see Cecil’s arm extended, handing him the controller. He wasn’t into video games, much less having every eye on him in the room. Drew felt like a bug under a microscope, everyone watching his every move.
“No, thanks.” Drew left the den, wandering aimlessly around the enormous home. He stopped to study paintings of kids playing in a park or ancient cities. One in particular had caught his eye. Two wolves stood facing each other, nuzzling necks, the forest surrounding them and the moon silhouetting their beautifully colored coats. The painting drew him in, capturing his attention. He reached a hand out, lightly petting the fur that looked as though it were real, as if he could actually touch them.
Drew wanted to be one of those wolves. He wanted someone to look at him the way it was staring at its mate. Who would want a junkie? Who would want someone with all the issues he carried? Even if Remi succeeded in getting him clean, his body was marked, forever carrying the signs of humiliation. He was tired of hurting, tired of fighting. He didn’t want to do this anymore. “If only you were real,” Drew whispered to the pair. He continued on, wrapping his arms around his midsection, holding the pain in. If only he could go back in time before all this began, before that fateful day that had ruined his life.
“Hey, need some company?”
Drew looked up from his thoughts to find a young guy with long black hair down to his waist, brownish orange eyes that held pity in them. He didn’t want pity, just wanted to be left alone. Without an answer, he just continued on.
Drew stopped, leaned his back to the wall, and slid down. Pulling his knees in and hugging them to his chest, he felt so damn lost.
He woke with a start as he felt someone sitting next to him. Had he dozed off? Looking to his right, Remi sat silently in the same position, hugging his legs. Neither said a word.
“You’ll rise from the ashes and be a stronger man for this.” Remi broke the silence.
Drew laid his left cheek on his knee, staring at the strength he wanted to have, the confidence he used to possess. “I” Drew’s voice caught. He cleared it and tried again. “I wasn’t always like this, you know. I was actually pretty good in school, a good kid.” Drew wiped the tear that had managed to escape. He was struggling to hold back the tears and pain, only wanting peace right now.
Drew exhaled and then continued. “At first it was pills, to help me sleep. I suffer from insomnia. I found my tolerance was high. It took a large dosage to even take the edge off to relax, let alone sleep. It escalated from there, needing stronger stuff to work. Then one night at this party, me and this”Drew hesitated, locking gazes with Remi before continuing“
guy
I was dating at the time, well, let’s just say he saw something he shouldn’t have and, after that, he did everything he could to destroy me. Mike is a dealer. I didn’t know it at the time. He gave me something to help me sleep, and then he gave me something stronger, and so on. Until I got to where I am now.”
Drew waited for Remi’s disgust at his sexual preference. All through high school he was ostracized for being gay. It isolated him, made him work harder in school and at home. Hoping someone would notice and be proud of him.
Someone.
“We’ll get you through this. I’m not leaving you out there by yourself. There’s a whole house of people backing you up. Use them. Use all of us. That’s what we’re here for.” Drew was relieved Remi wasn’t judging him. The guy seemed pretty cool now that he was somewhat calmed. He wasn’t so sure about going to strangers for help, other than Remi.
“You want to go upstairs?”
“No. If you don’t mind, can we go back with everyone else? I kinda don’t want to be cooped up in that room right now.” Drew stood and stretched. His muscles sore from sitting in that position for so long.
“Want me to go with you?”
“To be honest…” Drew shoved his hands in his front pocket, looking down at his sneakers, “I don’t want you to leave my side.” He glanced up to see Remi’s reaction.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you look like Gerard Butler?”
Only ten times as handsome.
Remi rolled his eyes.
* * * *
Drew watched as a guy with blond curls down to his shoulders pointed his finger up into Oliver’s face, screaming at him. What the hell was going on?
“What do you mean the movie was gay? What’s wrong with gay? I’m gay. Are you trying to say something bad about gay people? You…you…weenie head!”
Drew stepped back. Whoa, the little guy was bringing out the big guns.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. You just took it the wrong way. Grow up!” Oliver smacked the blond guy’s finger from his face, and all hell broke loose.
The guy Remi introduced as Commander Hawk growled as he advanced toward Oliver as the guy Micah grabbed Oliver around the waist, hauling him from the den. Drew didn’t know what to do. He had never been in this kind of violent situation with men as large as these.
Hawk blocked Micah’s path, his canines punching through his gums.
“He will apologize to my mate!”
“He will. Give me a moment with him, Hawk,” Micah said.
Drew heard none of that. He was shocked. All reasoning fled as he ran from the room, losing himself down the maze of hallways. He couldn’t breathe. He needed air. Were those really canines he saw? No, he had to have been seeing things. He found a side door and bolted through it, out into the rain.
Drew ran for the forest, not caring that the rain was biting cold or that he didn’t even have a coat on. He came to a skidding halt, slipping in the wet grass and landing on his ass as two large wolves emerged from the trees, growling.
Drew flipped over to his hands, pushing himself back up and took off to his right. The wolves ran on both sides of him, boxing him in. Drew slipped again, trying to turn to head in the opposite direction when another wolf cut him off. Three. There were three of them.
Drew fell into a crouch, his eyes shifting and his canines extending, ready to defend himself. A growl ripped from him, his heart pounding, his eyes darting everywhere, trying to find a break that he could use to run through.
Drew shifted to the left, taking off back toward the house when he ran right into a wall.
Remi.
“Get in the house, Remi. There are wolves out here!” Drew tried to grab Remi’s hand to run to safety, but Remi didn’t budge.
“Remi, hurry!”
Remi grabbed Drew by the back of his neck, yanking his jaw down. “You have canines. How? How can your eyes shift?” Drew whimpered at the shocked look on Remi’s face.
“It’s not my fault! Please. Let me go.” Drew tried to pull his head from Remi’s grip, but he wouldn’t release him. Now Remi knew his secret. He would yell at him to get out. Call him a freak. Try to destroy him just as Mike had.
