Stray Echo

Self-Control

POV: Alpha Atlas

It takes every ounce of self-control that I have to set Echo down in front of the basement door instead of taking her right here and now. The biggest thing stopping me is knowing what she’s been through, and that she is definitely not ready for something like that.

I knew I’d messed up after the first couple of steps. Who’d have thought that carrying your mate like that would be so damn arousing!?

I feel apprehensive about seeing her room, now that I realize it’s in the basement, and not with the rooms for the rest of the pack. ‘Maybe they have more rooms down here?’ Zev chimes in hopefully.

They had been calling her the pack slave, and when I saw the varying locks on the door in front of us, my entire body tensed. I don’t know what I’d expected after seeing how badly marred her body is, but I thought she was only locked in the basement for punishment.

She opened the door, and while I had intended for her to show me the room herself, I couldn’t stop myself from slipping past her and looking around. It reeks of old, dried blood in here. I look at the shelves of folded laundry, overflowing with clothes she folded.

I walked past a table of folded clothing with baskets full in varying places around it. See the washing and drying machines that she would have loaded and unloaded repeatedly each day. The laundry chute, of which an entire pack house worth of laundry that she had to collect, wash, dry, and fold, came down.

Turning, I finally see the first sign of her existence other than her hard work. A bed, if you could even call the thin foam chunk on the floor with a ratty blanket, a bed, was shoved in the corner. It was right up against the wall on one side, and a small, sagging bookshelf sat at the head of it.

I forced myself to take each step toward this corner of her existence, kneeling on her bed and feeling how thin her blanket was. The mattress sinks down to the cold, damp cement, only barely better than kneeling on the floor itself.

I can’t help but wonder how cold she must have gotten at night, especially in the winter. Add her regular injuries on top of it, and it truly is a wonder how she’s made it this long. I can’t help but curse the bastards who forced her to live like this, and those who saw it and did nothing to stop it.

I look at her shelf, seeing only a handful of ragged outfits, a brush, and a toothbrush. I hold and assess each item and return it to the shelf. As I looked at her hairbrush, and then her toothbrush, seeing how worn they were from years of daily use, I couldn’t stop the rage bubbling from within.

I slam them back on the shelf and move on quickly before I smash the entire shelf to bits. Seeing a little doorway, I move to it; only hoping to find something in there that isn’t complete s**t. When I see it doesn’t even have a door, and a literal steel horse water trough serves as her tub, I see red.

I take deep, even breaths, trying to calm myself, failing miserably. I turn away and wander into the room, head down, so I don’t see the offending corner again.

‘You will scare mate if you lose it here. If you can’t control yourself, let me take control.’ Zev states, hyper-aware of Echo’s gaze following us around the room.

‘I’m fine!’ I snapped, rolling my eyes at his lack of faith in me. Focusing on the floor in front of me, I immediately wish I hadn’t. I jerked to a stop and surveyed the floor in front of me. There were blood stains of all sizes and of varying ages all over the floor here.

I can’t move a muscle, knowing I would absolutely destroy everything in the basement if I did. Zev slams into control, dropping us to our knees and closing our eyes, and I gladly let him take over.

He fights both my rage and his own, pushing it down and gaining full control over us again. I listen to Echo calling out to me and wish I could have kept it together for her. After everything I’d seen and heard today, it was finally too much.

Zev perks up when he hears her call out to him when I don’t respond. My clever mate is realizing that he is prone to taking over when we can no longer contain ourselves around her.

While Zev may have a temper and can be quite rash, he really is the perfect balance for me. When he is spiralling out of control, I can keep him contained and steady. When I spiral out of control, he can step in and keep me contained and steady.

Zev whines when Echo asks him to open his eyes. He was scared we would lose control again. When she touches our cheek, he pushes it into her hand, purring at her touch. She reaches up and holds his other cheek, tilting his head up towards hers.

He holds off until she says she needs him, needs me. He literally swells with pride, opening his eyes and saying,

“Mate needs me.” It hits us both hard, and neither of us can stop the tears that build and fall.

Echo is the one who has gone through all of this alone for ten years, and we are the ones falling apart. She dries our tears, asking what’s wrong and calling us her love. The new term of endearment is like music to our ears, and our body tingles at the sound of it.

Seeing our reaction, she asks if we like it, and wants her to call us that more often. Zev just about nods our head off our shoulders as he hastily agrees, a soothing jolt of pleasure shooting down our spine as she says it again.

We are snapped back to reality by the sight of the surrounding basement. Zev expresses our sadness at how she lived here, and she deflates in shame. He comforts her immediately, reminding her she didn’t choose this, and we both feel Tala’s approval through the bond.

He makes the mistake of looking at the bloodstains, expressing his displeasure. Of course, the overwhelming rage pushes to the surface, and he uses Echo’s scent to help tame it. The sneaky wolf must have been blocking me from his thoughts because he unexpectedly tells her it hurts for us to see what she has been through because we love her. And then he kisses her, hard.

Echo and Tala both respond to our touch, and we can feel Tala push to control just enough to grant us access to her mouth, distracting Echo from wherever her mind tries to take her. I push for control, and he shoves me back, only breaking the kiss when they are both panting for air.

He tells her I am pushing for control and nuzzles her once before moving aside for me. Dirty wolf… no self-control!

He is lucky Tala pulled her out of whatever hell her mind went to, and that she didn’t end up in a full-blown flashback because of him. I internally roll my eyes at him as he retreats smugly.

Back in control, I can scent just how aroused that kiss made her. I can’t help but comment on not needing to hold back and teasingly peck her on the lips.