Feral Northern Shifters 2

well.”
“ Quite well? ” Bram forgot all about being apologetic. The least Doug could do was acknowledge this was hell for Ethan. “I felt his heart beating out of his chest. I was worried he’d go into cardiac arrest.”
The way Ethan’s voice had broken on that last word, can’t , had made Bram choke up.
Doug grabbed hold of Bram’s nape and shook him. “Keep your voice down or you’ll disturb his sleep. He needs the rest.”
Bram bowed his head, accepting that hand on him.
“Normally I wouldn’t put up with this kind of attitude, Bram, and you know it. However, I understand your nerves are a bit frayed.” Doug’s grip turned painful, squeezing Bram’s neck to emphasize his point.
Doug was right, Doug was always right. Bram repeated the mantra. He had to put all his anger away and remember that he was doing a job. A job he wanted. He was lucky the alpha had chosen him to be involved in rehabilitating a feral cat.
Doug kept talking. “This guy has likely been a cougar for eight years straight. After that length of time, it’s frightening and confusing to become human again. Or so I’ve been told. I’ve researched this carefully, remember. I know exactly what I’m doing. Not that I need to justify anything to you.”
“Yes,” said Bram, enduring Doug’s continued grip, trying not to resent the accompanying pain.
“Of course you can sense his terror. So can I. But it should lessen over the next few days as the cat gets used to being human. I told you this was going to take time and patience.” The alpha’s fingers pinched nerves and Bram hunched even more.
“Yes.” Bram wanted Doug’s hand off . Even if he craved contact with his alpha, he recoiled from pain of any sort.
“Do you have the patience, Bram?”
“I have patience,” Bram returned immediately.
It was the response Doug demanded, and it was also true.
“I’m sorry, Doug.” But only when Bram trembled under Doug’s hold did the alpha release him. Bram resisted giving himself a full-body shake. The grip reminded Bram of late-adolescent punishments meted out, beginning with a neck-grab and becoming far worse.
However, this wasn’t about Bram. It was about Ethan. If Doug had been interested, Bram would have told him that patience wasn’t a problem at all . It was simply hard to feel, to smell, Ethan’s terror.
“I thought he wouldn’t fear me,” Bram explained, still apologetic. “I’m sorry I wasn’t better prepared.”
“I warned you. You need to listen to everything I say. Do everything I say. It is critical you obey and if you can’t control yourself and these outbursts, you’re out of here.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
Mollified, Doug fixed him with a wry expression. “Of course Ethan is going to fear you. He’s not a wolf, and you’re not omega to this guy.”
Bram flushed.
“In fact, you’re a large wolf, a good-sized man. Ethan has no reason to be more trusting of you than anyone else.” Doug paused. “Especially if he remembers you and associates you with Gabriel’s reign.”
“God I hope not.” Bram had been sixteen back then, gangly but full-grown, and perhaps still recognizable.
“Assume he does.” Doug wrapped a large hand around Bram’s arm and pulled him farther away from Ethan. Bram didn’t fight the alpha’s now-gentle manhandling. Doug sat him down at the table and pointed at the plate. Obligingly, Bram shoveled in the food since he was still recovering from the chase and the shifting.
He paused and glanced at the bed. “Ethan needs to eat.”
“He’s too skinny,” Doug agreed. “But it’ll be less traumatic if he eats on his own rather than us deciding to immobilize him and stick in an IV. I don’t want to make him crazy, so I consider that a last resort.”
Bram nodded to acknowledge Doug’s reasoning, and kept eating, but with an eye on his alpha who had more to say.
“The truth is, Bram, we have to careful. Ethan might have gone feral-vicious.” At Bram’s headshaking, Doug added, “It happens with cat shifters. My cousin apparently had to euthanize a number of them.”
Bram shouldn’t glare at Doug, he knew, but he never learned. Too many years as omega and he couldn’t learn to control his anger and remain subservient. He couldn’t learn control period. Sometimes he wondered how he survived. Still, he managed to keep his voice calm, respectful. “I remember what Ethan was like, Doug. He wanted to save Lila. He wasn’t vicious.”
“He wasn’t vicious then,