The painful past

>>Filtiarn's PoV<<

In the small medical room, the child lay on the bed, monitors connected to him and an IV bag in his arm, Mrs Hersha held his small hand and turned to look at me, "It would be best if you were seated, this will take a while."

I took a seat and looked over at the child, I could see him more clearly now, he was the most beautiful child I had ever seen, the beauty was ephemeral like he could disappear at any moment.  I heard Mrs Hersha shift uncomfortably in her chair, I turned and looked at her expectantly. 

"This is a story that I have only told your mother, father and Mall; Lyall only knows a small part, it isn't something I am comfortable talking about often, it isn't a nice story."

She halted and took a deep breath steadying herself ready to speak. 

"I was 18, I wanted to find my mate but he wasn't a member of my original pack; then I met the most wonderful man, he wasn't a wolf, but he wasn't human either, honestly I don't know what he was but he was beautiful and mysterious. I fell in love, I knew he wasn't my mate but he was special, he accepted me and I soon fell pregnant with little Mallory. His father named him, he stayed until he was born and then disappeared after telling me he was sorry." 

I could see tears in her eyes, I knew that Mr Hersha was her true mate; for this man to still be in her heart he must have been truly special.

She wiped her eyes dry, "Mallory was born a very special boy, he had this light that drew people to him and made them love him, just like his father, at a week old he phased, I was so shocked I spoke to my alpha about it and he came and took Mallory away from me; he told me it was to keep him safe, I wish I had never listened, but he was my alpha I trusted him." 

She was sobbing, obviously, this story was painful, losing her first love then having her child taken way; it was an awful story but I felt like she hadn't got to the worst of it.

She looked up and continued, tears still running down her face; "I was so lonely without my baby I went on a journey to find my mate and it took 3 years, when I meet Jarvis, my mate, I told him my history and he said we could go back and claim my son and he would be his father.

I was overjoyed that he would accept Mallory; we arrived at my pack and went to see the Alpha immediately, he seemed annoyed and lied saying that I didn't have a child, he said that my ex had left me and I had a phantom pregnancy and that I stole another wolves baby and pretended that it was mine.

We both knew it wasn't true but I had no proof beyond a few photo's, the alpha had hidden his existence as if he had never been born to 'protect him'." 

I felt tears stinging my own eyes; it sounded crazy, but the child was in front of me and I could certainly understand what she meant about the pull. 

"We came and told your dad my story, he said he would help us, so we went to the council of elders, strangely they believed us and forced my old alpha to hand over the child, he refused, needless to say he is no longer alive, the elders wiped out him and anyone involved in the kidnapping.

When it was over my baby was already 4 years old, we found him but the result shocked and horrified everyone. He was chained up in a dark cellar, he had been tortured his body to this day is covered in the scars of what those b******s did to him, but worst of all to punish him for trying to run away and find me, they" she sobbed hard as if she was about to say admit the most horrifying truth in the world.

"They blinded him, they took away his sight, my poor baby will never be able to see, the shock was horrific his wolf disappeared, we think he most likely died, although its possible he is just so deeply asleep that no one can feel him."

After being told his story, I thought to myself what a poor child, I looked over and said, "So you were afraid that he would mistreat and hid him from the pack". 

She looked at me, "It was your father's idea, the mistreatment caused all sorts of complications for his health, he was blind, his growth slowed down, he can't absorb enough nutrients into his body and is always underweight. We knew he would be seen as a wolfless runt, so we hid him away."

As I took it all in a few things didn't add up, he was 6, 7 at most yet this story, if I calculated properly, would make him 15, could he really be 15? Also, why was he at college, not school. 

Mrs Hersha could see the confusion in my eyes; "He is special still you know, when we got him back it didn't take long to realise he is a genius, he graduated high school at 11 years old and next year he starts med school, he said he wants to help others. Yes I know what you are thinking but he really is 15, Lyall looks after him at college, they both want to be doctors."