Thaddeus POV

Grace is like a mother to me. She practically raised me. She moved into the pack house when I was still in diapers to help take care of me.

She's older, in her 80s but you can't tell. With werewolf aging, we age much slower than humans. 

She looks more like she's in her mid 30's. 

She became the head cook in the kitchen when I was in my early teens.

Grace is a kind lady, she's sweet, and has that motherly personality to her. She's the perfect person to send up to Aiden and hopefully make him feel more comfortable.

Grace is already aware of the situation with Aiden and knows he's my mate. So after talking to Grace, I head over to my office.

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Aiden's POV

I sat there and just stared at the door for a while. I was so confused I didn't know what to think. 

When he told me he was an Alpha, I was terrified. I thought for sure I just found myself right back in the same situation. I kept waiting for him to hit me, or grab me by my hair, and drag me into the basement. 

I've been dragged into the basement by my hair so many times, I'm surprised I still have any! 

He is bigger and stronger, I thought a certain he'd rip my hair clear out of my head! With the muscles he has, I knew I would never make it out alive after one beating...

But instead of getting angry, instead of hitting me or hurting me or even yelling at me, he looked sad... He somehow seems different from my last Alpha. 

Even though he looks scarier, his eyes were softer. They didn't have that hard mean stare I always got from Alpha Maxwell. He didn't have that bad aura I always felt from my old Alpha. The way this Alpha seemed sad at my reactions, puzzled me...

I eventually started looking around taking my surroundings in. I was laying on a big soft bed with giant poles coming up from all four corners.

They had beautiful carvings going up them, I'd never seen anything like it before. The sheets were so soft and silky. I didn't know sheets could be this soft. 

I looked to the right of the bed, and there were windows from the floor to ceiling. The sun was shining in, and it looked really nice outside. 

I tried to talk to my wolf but I couldn't reach him. It's like he was sleeping or not there. It made me feel empty, but it's nothing new for me. After a severe beating, I normally can't feel my wolf for days because he's trying to heal me. It usually takes a long time before he's strong enough to come forward and talk to me. And if he's not trying to heal me, it means he was hurt too bad, and he needs more time to heal.

As I look around, I can't believe how nice this place is, and he left me here instead of showing me the basement.

'Maybe he just didn't have time to show me where I'll be staying, and he'll take me to the basement when he comes back.' I thought to myself.

As I sat here, I realized how bad I needed to pee, my bladder felt like it was going to burst. I decided to get up and see if I could find a place to go to the bathroom.

I pulled the covers back, and slowly pulled my legs over the edge of the bed. As I did this, I felt really weak and dizzy. I grip the bed, and wait for it to subside.

I put my feet on the floor and stood up, and my knees felt wobbly. I stood there for a moment, holding onto the bed before I started to take a couple steps. Unfortunately, my knees buckled and I crumpled to the floor.

Just then someone lightly knocked on the door before it opened, and a lady walked in.

I immediately looked down, afraid to make eye contact. I was never allowed to make eye contact with anyone at my old pack. I didn't want her to tell the Alpha on me for disrespecting her, so I quickly dropped my gaze to the floor.

She immediately gasped when she saw me on the floor.

"Oh honey what happened?" She said, then quickly walked over to the table and set the tray down.

She walked over and reached for me, and I flinched away, thinking she was going to hit me.

She stopped reaching for me and slowly knelt down next to me. 

"Honey I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you up. Here, let me help you." She said, her voice was so calming, she sounded so nice, which was different than what I'm used to. At my old pack, no one ever talked to me nicely.

I slowly looked up at her and nodded my head. She reached under my arms, and helped me up, then sat me back on the edge of the bed.

"So what happened, how did you end up on the floor?" She asked, smiling at me as she knelt down.

"I-I was t-trying to go to the ba-bathroom." I said quietly, stuttering like always.

"Oh honey, here let me help you!" She said. 

As she reached for me, I lifted my arm to her and she wrapped her arm around me, and helped me into the bathroom. I was thankful she didn't stay in there with me, and gave me my privacy. As soon as I was finished she helped me back to bed.

Once I was in bed, she walked over to the table and brought a tray over to me then set it down on my lap.

"I brought you soup, dinner rolls, and fresh squeezed orange juice. We need to get some food in you so you'll get stronger." She said.

It smelled delicious! My mouth instantly started watering. I looked at her as she sat on the edge of the bed, and she looked at me with a gentle smile on her face.

I looked back down at the food and brought a shaky hand to grab the spoon. I was nervous because I was never allowed to eat something this nice before. I've only ever been allowed to eat scraps. 

I wasn't sure if this was a sick joke, and she was going to smack it out of my hand once I started eating and laugh at me. 

I looked at her again, but all I saw was kindness in her eyes, and a gentle smile on her face. I slowly brought a bite to my mouth. As soon as I tasted it I closed my eyes and hummed, I couldn't believe how good it was. 

My eyes popped open immediately, embarrassed by the sound I made. I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit. 

She chuckled and smiled real big. 

"Oh honey you're so cute! I'm so glad you like it!" She said.

"My name is Grace darling, what is yours?"

"Aiden." I said quietly, then took another bite. The flavor instantly explodes in my mouth and I close my eyes and slowly chew again. It's been so long since I've been able to eat a nice warm meal that wasn't scraped off of someone's plate.

When the Alpha did decide I was able to eat, it was after everyone was done eating. As I cleared the plates, he would pick two or three plates that I could scrape the scraps from. 

I would have to scrape them onto another plate as everyone watched. Then stand there, and eat it with my hands as they laughed at me.

So this might only be soup, but it's the best thing I can ever remember eating!

'My goodness this is so good!' I thought to myself, then quickly took another bite, then another bite.

"Whoa, slow down sweetheart. Don't go too fast, you're going to make yourself sick!" She said then chuckled again. 

I glanced at her after realizing how fast I was eating, hoping I didn't upset her. But when I looked at her, she was simply smiling and still had that warmth about her. I looked back at my bowl then continued eating, this time a bit slower.

After I was finished she took the tray from me and set it aside.

"Would you like to take a shower and get cleaned up? I can help you in there and get everything set, then I'll grab you some fresh clean clothes."

"A-a shower?" I asked as my eyes lit up. I've never been able to take a shower before.

She furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side. 

"Yes honey, a shower... You have used one before right?"

I looked down at my lap and started playing with my fingers.

I was a little embarrassed and felt my eyes sting a little bit. I shook my head no, afraid to use my words. 

I've never had a shower, although I have cleaned them. But none of them looked like the one in that bathroom. It didn't even have knobs. I noticed when I used the bathroom, I glanced around briefly when she was helping me back to bed. 

"Oh honey." She said as she reached over and rubbed my arm. "Come on, let me help you in there."

She showed me how the shower worked, and what to use, before leaving the bathroom and closing the door.

I took my clothes off, and that's when I noticed for the first time what I was actually wearing. I had no idea whose clothes these were, but they were nice, and smelled really good! The t-shirt was huge! It came all the way down to my knees!

I brought the shirt to my nose and sniffed it and realized how good it smelled. It smells like him, the Alpha! I took another deep breath in, and my eyes closed. His scent was so intoxicating, it almost made me lightheaded. Why did he smell so good?

I stepped underneath the water, it was so warm and felt so good against my skin. I laid my head back and closed my eyes as I let the water run over my body.

After staying like that for a while I grabbed a washcloth and cleaned myself up. When I was done I got out and dried off with the biggest fluffiest towel I've ever seen. I was shocked at how soft and fluffy it was.

I wrapped the towel around myself and slowly opened the door and peeped out. I glanced around, looking for Grace or the clothes she said she was going to grab.

I saw a stack of clothes sitting on the end of the bed but I didn't see grace anywhere. I carefully walked out, thankful my legs don't feel like noodles anymore and grabbed the clothes, then slipped back into the bathroom.

When I came back out I wasn't sure what to do, so I just climbed back in the bed. I sat there for a little while, just looking around the room or out the window. I thought Grace and the Alpha would come back soon, and I didn't want to be laying down when they did. So I sat here until I eventually got tired then laid back down.

As I laid down I realized something strange, for some reason I missed the Alpha. 

"Thaddeus." I said quietly, wanting to see how his name felt, saying it. It was the first time I said his name and I liked it. It made me smile as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.