Stray Echo

My Name is Echo

POV: Echo

I tried to slow my racing heart, curling in on myself, and wrapping my arms around my knees to form a ball in Atlas’s massive lap. I try to think rationally about the insane situation I’ve found myself in, but there is nothing rational about the man I am afraid of.

Reflexively, I flinch away as Atlas tries to rub my arms in comfort. Tala whines at me, witnessing my internal spiral. I am not sure if I can even trust him. Maybe Alpha Brady set this all up to test me, and he’s waiting just outside the room to drag me back to the basement and torture me.

‘Atlas is not working with Brady. I trust him. His wolf, Zev, is kind. Zev says Atlas loves us so much already, but that he worries about accidentally hurting you while trying to help you. He carries no ill will towards us.’ Tala tries to convince me.

We can feel Atlas sitting under me, feel his rising concern as he waits for me to emerge. I slowly lift my head, resting my chin on my knees, hair falling over most of my face. I stared at the floor, internally wrestling with the confusing thoughts swirling in my head. Atlas shifts to a more comfortable position before taking a deep breath. He blows it out slowly, thinking for a moment.

“Can we start with something that’s a little easier, maybe?” His head turns to the side slightly as he smiles at me. Lifting my eyes, intrigued, I nodded slowly. He smiles in relief as the other two wolves in the room each pull up a chair to sit and talk with us.. “Okay, let’s start with your name and age.”

“M-my.” I sighed in frustration before taking a steadying breath. Unwrapping my arms from my legs, I slowly stretched back out. Atlas meets my eyes and slowly shifts me onto the bed before moving to rest his back against the headboard.

Opening his legs to make a space for me between them, and when I hesitate, he leans forward and scoops me up, placing me between his legs, and facing the rest of the room. He pulls my back against his chest and wraps his arms around my waist and rubs those calming circles against my abdomen with his thumb. Relaxing a touch, I tried again.

“My name is Echo, and I think I turned 20 years old yesterday. I got my wolf late in the afternoon.” I said, my voice hardly louder than a whisper. I can hear the smile in his voice as he replies.

“Hello, Echo, my name is Atlas, and I am the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack.” I smile, finally knowing something about him besides his name. “How did you get here?” He asks.

“That’s a bit of a long story,” I winced, thinking about how he is going to respond when he hears about my past. I feel myself relax against him despite myself, the other wolves nodding at me in encouragement.

“I guess I will start from the beginning, or at least, the beginning for me. But… it-it’s… not pleasant.” I saw them nod again and felt Atlas nod against the top of my head as he breathed in my scent. Inhaling a deep, shuddering breath, I blow it out slowly before I share my story.

“When I was ten years old, I woke up alone and covered in blood in the forest. I followed the smell of food to this pack, where the previous Alpha then tried to kill me. His Beta, Seth, intervened on my behalf and saved my life. I have no memory of anything that happened before that day. I don’t even know whose blood I was covered in or why.” Summarizing as best I can, I started from the first day I can remember.

“As luck would have it, this was not my first time coming to this pack. Apparently, my parents and I had moved into the pack just two months before this. They were the rogues who infiltrated the pack to murder the previous Luna. Apparently, they were killed trying to escape afterward, and no one knew where I’d gone.” I continued, picking at the side of my finger. Beta Travis shares a look with his Alpha behind me before asking the next question.

“Why would he try to kill you for something your parents did? Surely you weren’t involved?” I sighed before I answered.

“I-I don’t know. He wanted to punish my parents for what they did, I guess. He decided that if he couldn’t outright kill me, then he’d make me suffer for the rest of my life instead. I was made into a pack slave that day, as I hadn’t formally joined the pack yet.” Travis frowned as I spoke, thinking hard before speaking again.

“That is insanity. Abusing a ten-year-old won’t affect someone who is dead and gone. Why did no one help you?” His anger was barely contained, and I shrank into Atlas’s chest, his arms squeezing lightly to let me know he had me.

“The pack hated me; they supported the Alpha in killing me. There was an Elder who tried to make him see reasons, but he left the pack and never came back when Alpha Jarrod refused to listen to him. Over time, they hit me if I messed up my chores. It would be worse if I displeased the old Alpha. He would not hesitate to beat me or lock me in the basement for a week with half a slice of bread a day for food if I did.” I saw Travis and Cordelia share a look before turning to stare at me, eyes wide. Atlas stiffened behind me, bending down to scent my hair to calm himself. Once he relaxed, I continued.

“Things were hard. I only got the worn-out clothes no one else would wear, and I had to work hard to avoid punishment. My saving grace was Beta Seth. He was always kind and would buy things I needed and sometimes even bought me new clothes and would sneak them to me. It was rough, but it was manageable.”

“The Alpha’s son, Brady, was always cruel toward me. He would set traps for me to get me into trouble with his father. If that didn’t work, he’d wait until he could get me alone, and then he’d beat me himself. He was always a little obsessed with me.” It was my turn to rub soothing circles on Atlas’s arms, sensing his rising anger. Cordelia nodded at me to continue.

“I’d feel his eyes on me throughout the day, following me as I did my chores. When he took over the pack five years ago at age 20, things took a turn for the worse. He banned Ex-Beta Seth from having contact with me on the threat of my life. I now get no new clothing, and very few of the other items I need. It is a regular occurrence for him to deny me food. He has made daily sport of beating me for the smallest of mistakes, as you saw earlier. He…” I stopped as my voice broke. I just wanted to get everything out there, so Atlas could reject me, and Brady could kill me. I can feel Tala’s love flooding through me as she lends me the energy to continue.

“He started making late-night visits after his first year as Alpha. H-he wouldn’t d-do anything at first, j-just stare at me while I-I shook in f-fear.” I ignored the sounds of indignation from Travis and Cordelia. I closed my eyes, the memories of those nights threatening to drown me.

“Th-then he began m-making me strip.” I took a deep breath, determined to push on. Unable to keep the whimper from my voice as I continued. “He wouldn’t t-touch, just l-looked. U-until I w-was 18, then he started t-to t-t-touch. He never mated me, b-but he used our h-h-hands and m-mouths instead.” I shuddered, bile rising in my throat. I opened my eyes and stared at the floor, noticing that Atlas had gone completely still.

“I’d hoped it would stop when he claimed his Luna last year, however, she was and is my second worst abuser after him.” My voice is barely a whisper now.

No one so much as took a breath as Atlas’s Alpha aura spread across the room, suffocatingly thick with outrage at the abuse I’d suffered. It was so strong I felt my body quake as it forced a whine from me. The aura lifted as I felt him struggling for control. Taking a deep breath, I continued on.

“It had been ten years since someone had celebrated my birthday. The date of it was something I’d forgotten, along with everything else, before coming here. I only knew I turned 20 this year and was waiting for my wolf to arrive. She is the only thing that’s given me hope since I arrived.” Feeling a curious gaze, I went on, refusing to look up.

“I knew once I had her, I’d be able to sense my mate. My only hope of escaping this place was to find my mate.” I closed my eyes again as the tears flooded down my face.

“Somehow, he knew my birthday was close. Said I’d turned ten when my parents and I stayed here before everything that happened or something like that. Six days ago, he came to see me in the middle of the night, choking me until I passed out.” I stopped for a minute, hungrily inhaling deep breaths as I prepared myself for the rest of the story.