Ivory

The concrete floor beneath me was freezing cold. I could feel the familiar ache that racked my body intensely in my lower spine. Above me, the voices of men were mostly indistinguishable. I heard them laugh, felt their eyes searing into me. I knew this situation well.

Sure enough, I soon felt a hand in my hair, dragging me up to look into his face. I recognized these alphas, their voices, their scents. I was dropped back on the floor, and immediately shrunk back, pulling myself away from them as best I could. They were faster than me, stronger than me. I begged and screamed, writhed and kicked. Nothing I could do would make them stop.

The alpha in front of me grabbed my shoulder, shouted my name. My name? I was never called my name at home... Tyler, it was Tyler's voice. I opened my eyes, looking up to see his worried face staring down at me. Tears welled in my eyes, it had all seemed so real, exactly like it had been at home.

My skin crawled with their touch, I could smell them in the air and hear their cruel laughs. No, that wasn't right. I'm here, in Tyler's room. It's his scent I can smell, that gorgeous sandalwood that makes me feel safe, for once. His voice is in my ear "You're safe...you're with me." Yes, I am here with him, he is protecting me.

Slowly, I began to calm down. My tears slowed and my heart rate evened out, soothed by Tyler's gentle words. I was so, so tired. Sleeping felt like the only thing my body could handle right now. But it was scary, I was afraid to fall asleep. The nightmares came again and again, as if I could never have even a moment of peace.

I laid quietly in Tyler's arms, wondering whether or not it was a good idea to fall asleep again, when the sound of a ringtone made me jump. Tyler picked up his phone, answering the call, "This is Tyler Dunwood..." he was silent for a moment, and I watched his face turn serious as the person on the line talked.

It's a mystery to me who would be calling Tyler, and I am just happy to be so close to him for so long. After a few moments, he thanked the caller and set his phone down on the bed next to me. He sat up, and immediately I knew something was wrong. Was the caller looking for me? Was it my father? Was I going back to that hell?

Obviously catching my growing anxiety, Tyler put his hands on my shoulders to guide me to sit up. His steady hands and calm voice reassured me, "It's okay Ivory, I promise that I will never, ever send you back there." I nodded, hoping that his words were true, and sat quietly as he continued. "This is going to be very difficult, but I need you to be brave. Can you do that for me?"

I wasn't sure if I could be brave, I had never really been brave before. But for Tyler... for Tyler I would try anything. He took a deep breath and continued, "I called the police, they've opened a case. Just now they raided your house. They have your father, he can never hurt you again."

His words seemed to ring in my ears. How? How is this possible? How is this happening? He wasn't finished, "They're going to put him in jail for a long, long time. But they need your help." No, there's no way they need me for anything. No one has ever needed me. What could I possibly do to help?

"The police need you to tell them what happened, what he did to you. They want to help you, but they can't do that unless you tell them what you need help with." What the hell was going on! I know the rules. I am never never never allowed to tell anyone about what father did to me. No one could ever know. It was our little secret, that's what he always said.

I shook my head, and immediately realized my mistake. I said no to Tyler, to an alpha. I have been breaking so many rules, maybe this was all a test, to see if I truly knew my place. I have been speaking, and looking at an alpha in the eyes, and sleeping on a bed and-and-and...

Tyler's room was gone. The leering faces of my father and his friends are bearing down on me. Their hands are pulling at my shirt, my hair, my skin. Someone is touching me, hands on my cold skin. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please just leave me alone, please... no more.

Someone was calling my name. It was father, but... it couldn't be. He's never used my name. Once again, Tyler's voice was breaking through the crazed scene in my head. He was here, holding me close, my head on his chest. "Can you hear my heart, Ivory? Count them, count my heartbeats, focus on the rhythm." I listened to him out of instinct, tuning in to the steady beating of his heart, counting each time it beat in his chest.

"It's okay baby, it's okay if you don't want to talk to them. I know it's scary and strange, they can find some other way to figure out what happened." He was right, this was scary, I was going to have to trust him completely. Trust this wasn't a test from my father, trust that Tyler wouldn't get rid of me as soon as he figured out how disgusting, how dirty, I am.

But I had to try. I had to be brave for Tyler. He had done so much for me, the least I could do is try to make him proud. My voice was shaky and cracked, "N-no. I want-I want to t-try." He wrapped his arms around me and stroked my hair, leaning down to rest his cheek on the top of my head. "You are so brave love, so brave and so strong."

Tyler held me for a moment more before he pulled away and took my hands. "I'll be with you the whole time, I promise." Standing up from the bed, he lead me to the dresser, and helped me put on a pair of sweatpants. I was in a sort of daze, still not really processing the news I had just received. Before we left his room, Tyler grabbed a blanket from his bed, and we headed through his house and out to his car.

The sky was pitch black when Tyler's red mustang pulled into the parking lot at the police station. I was curled up in the passenger seat, my head a tangled mess of memories and worrying. How was I going to explain what happened to me, how could I ever tell anyone all the things they had done, all the things I had let them do? What would Tyler think? Would he hate me?

Tyler opened the door for me, and took my hand to help me get out of the car. The police station was lit with bright fluorescent lights, and cops gathered around desks and whiteboards. I didn't like all the noise and people, and tried to hide myself against Tyler. He put his arm carefully around me, and spoke with someone at the front desk. After that, we walked through the mess of desks and filing cabinets, I was only dimly aware of what was going on.

Soon, thankfully, I was being led gently into a new room. There was no one inside, and Tyler closed the door to bring silence to the little office. There were windows on both sides of the room, one set looking out into the night and the other across the station, which Tyler drew the shades to hide. There was a soft, worn, brown couch against the back wall, with a. Table and chairs facing it.

Cautiously, I sat down on the couch, and found it to be as soft as it had looked. The room was lit in a warm yellow light by a lamp in the corner, and I liked the silence and seclusion. Tyler sat down next to me and wrapped the blanket he had brought around my shoulders. I pulled my knees up to my chest and cuddled into the corner of the couch, feeling relatively safe and calm with just him there.

"Someone is going to come in in a few minutes, she's going to ask you some questions. If there's anything you don't want to answer, just say so and she'll move on. I'll be here with you the whole time. If anything happens, I'll keep you safe." I nodded, listening carefully as I always did when he told me anything. If he trusted this person, maybe I could too. Or, at least, I would try.

After a few minutes of silence I was mostly comfortable with the cozy little room. A gentle knock came from the door, and a police officer entered quietly. She was a beta, tall and strong looking, but with a kind expression on her face. Closing the door behind her, she approached slowly, sitting down in the chair across from me.

I eyed her warily as she spoke in a gentle voice, "My name is Officer Dell Boone, I'm going to ask you some questions about your past. If there's ever anything you don't want to tell me, just say so. Your name's Ivory, right?" I nodded, and she continued, gesturing to Tyler next to me, "And who's this?" She asked me, although I was almost positive she knew exactly who he was.

"This is um... this is Tyler." I said simply, feeling nervous and jittery. "That's great, I'm glad you have someone to help you. We'll talk more about Tyler later. First, we need to start at the beginning." She pulled out a legal pad and clicked a pen, writing something down before she looked back up at me and asked her first question, "When was the first time your father did something to you that you didn't like?"

I took a deep breath, sifting through painful memories and shuddering at the mental images of my past. "When I was 12... my mom-my mom passed away. She uh, she left me with-with him. H-he would come to my r-room at night. He would... he would touch me." The words came with difficulty, as if I was choking on the syllables.

Officer Boone asked me lots of questions. She sat patiently as I tripped and stumbled over my words to tell her about all the times my step father and his friends had touched me. How they had their way with me. How they tied me up so I couldn't run, and left cuts and bruises all over me. I told her about the whips and the scorching hot brand. I showed her the bruises around my wrists, ankles, and throat, the cigarette burns on my legs, the hickies on my collarbone.

The whole time I was talking, she didn't react. I was grateful that she didn't cringe or pull any faces, but I felt as if I was all alone in the world. I twisted my fingers in my lap, and nervously picked at my cuticles. My stomach was churning, and I felt lightheaded and dizzy. We sat for what must have been hours, and I talked and talked. Never before had I even dreamt of telling anyone about what happened to me at home. The reasons I was so submissive, why I took suppressants every day.

Finally, after I had described the generalities of my tortuous life, Officer Boone set her notepad down. She looked up at me, meeting my nervous eyes as she spoke, "thank you so much for your help, we're going to put your step father away for a very, very long time. I am truly sorry for everything that happened to you. For now, you're going to stay with Tyler. He's going to attend some classes we have here for people caring for omega victims. I'm going to do everything in my power to close this chapter of your life."

I nodded, overcome by a fresh wave of drowsiness. Officer Boone stood, nodded to Tyler, and made her way back out to the station. Alone in the room again, I reached out with needy hands to Tyler, who pulled me close and rocked me gently. "You did so well Ivory, I am so, so proud of you." I just caught his words, and whispered back to him that he couldn't leave me alone, before I fell sound asleep.