Feral Northern Shifters 2

this asshole said such ludicrous things.
“I’ll agree that Gabriel was a vicious killer,” Doug acknowledged. “But since he’s dead, no one can euthanize him. I am now in charge of the Winter pack. And you were in my territory. I decided to bring you in.”
“I am here so you can judge me? If I’m deemed a child murderer, you’ll kill me?” A slightly hysterical note had entered his voice, and he didn’t have the strength to suppress it.
“I won’t kill you now that I can talk to you.” Doug paused. “If you stay human and cooperate, there will be no problem.”
“No problem,” Ethan repeated. “You are unbelievable.”
Doug stared him down and Ethan shrank a little.
“Let me go, please.” Ethan shouldn’t ask, and shouldn’t ask with a pleading note, not after everything he’d been told, not given the way Doug regarded him as a test case . But the room was getting smaller and smaller, and his lack of control unbalanced him.
“No.”
“ Now .”
“You’re almost starving to death, Ethan. Let us fatten you up.”
Ethan was being fattened up for some kind of sacrifice, but it meant he had some time. Careful, be careful. Don’t lose it completely. “I want to be left alone, that’s all.”
“Sleep,” commanded Doug and he dragged the chair closer. He sat there and waited for Ethan to obey his latest command. Doug was toying with Ethan, and Ethan had to keep his shit together.
“I can’t sleep. Not with you here.”
“Try.” Those bland, smug, hateful tones almost sent Ethan over the edge. He pulled in three long breaths, no longer looking at the alpha as he slid down to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling. He listened to Doug breathing beside him for the longest time.
~ * ~
    Ethan was tired of sleeping, tired of waking, and still damnably exhausted. He sat up and looked down to see that he was naked again, and braced himself for someone to put their hands on him, since that seemed to be their MO.
“Hi.”
    Ethan jerked his head up to find Bram standing in the room, but no Doug. He could barely contain his relief.
“You took off your clothes in your sleep.” Bram pointed to the small pile on the floor.
Ethan glanced at the clump of oversized clothes before looking at himself again. His body was in crappy shape. A long time ago, he’d been young and toned. Since then he’d lost his humanity and now? Scrawny limbs, knobby knees, he could see his ribs. He raised his face to scrutinize this dark man who carefully kept his gaze trained on Ethan’s face and off the rest of his body. What role was Bram playing in the werewolf game of Tame the Cat?
“It’s just me here.” Bram offered a half smile and to Ethan’s consternation, he wanted to respond to that smile. Mighty desperate for friends, his human, and Bram was the only possible choice. Doug had crossed himself off the list with, among other things, grinding Ethan’s face into the bed.
“Hungry?”
“Always. Ready to feed your test case?”
Bram frowned, but didn’t respond, simply handed the tray to Ethan who sat cross-legged on the bed and inhaled the contents. As usual, eating made Ethan groggy. He didn’t know why he had to be so wiped out all the time. He’d never get out of this room at this rate. He’d fall asleep in the middle of an escape and they’d find him snoring two meters from the building.
“Are you drugging me?” Not that he’d necessarily get the truth, but at least Bram projected earnestness.
Bram slowly shook his head. “Nope.”
“Someone else is drugging me?”
The slightest hesitation before: “I really don’t think so.”
“Then why am I so tired?”
“We think it’s because you haven’t been human for years, so it’s exhausting for you. Everything feels new with the different senses, different body, so there’s an adjustment period.”
Adjustment period sounded so innocuous that Ethan had the urge to laugh in Bram’s face despite his serious expression.
“Also, you’re malnourished.”
“I’m scrawny,” Ethan agreed. “You must get tired of holding me.”
Bram went quiet, apparently searching for an appropriate response if the look on his face was anything to go by. Interesting that he cared so much about what he said. He finally settled on, “No. I don’t get tired of it.”
Good . Maybe Ethan could somehow use that. Even if a traitorous part of Ethan welcomed Bram’s touch.
“Doug said that I had exhausted you.” Ethan got off the bed and went to the bathroom,