Sold To The Alphas I Hate - Chapter 187

Chapter 187: He Wasn’t Born Mute
Jason’s POV

I watched how Kael and Rafe were taking care of Raven. How Kael assured her Raven is the son of this family and she agreed.

In the past, I once dreamed of having a family and lots of kids with her, but didn’t expect the day would come like this. She and her kid were there, but I felt distant. I couldn’t bring myself to go to her and tell her let’s be like a family.

Others told her, but I couldn’t, and that was more hurtful. I wish things weren’t like this.

“Hey bud, want to watch TV?” I heard Rafe ask as both of them went towards the sofa.

Raven didn’t reply, but anyway both of them settled on the sofa close to each other, Rafe’s one hand resting on the backrest of the sofa behind Raven, as if sitting like a protective father.

Rafe picked up the remote. “How about an animated movie?” he asked, “Good for little kids,” he concluded on his own and started already.

Rafe’s connection with the kid looked so natural and flawless, the way he treated him and called him bud. Even during the journey back home, Raven was mostly with Rafe and Lucian, and I was busy driving.

I talked to him once in a while. The fact that he was her son already made my heart close to him. There was a certain affection I felt for him. Maybe because I loved his mother in the past, and I still do.

For a short while during the journey back home, when Lucian was driving, he sent me to rest on the back passenger seat as I drove for a long time. I fell asleep soon, but not alone. I had Raven in my arms, snuggling against me in his sleep. Though he matured, he was still a kid and needed comfort and coaxing in sleep.

I held him affectionately like he was my own, and I swear I never had such a comfortable sleep in the past six years. As if that kid had cast a soothing sleeping spell on me.

“Caldwell, do you want to watch TV?” Rafe’s voice brought me back to the present.

Eira looked at him, and he said again, “We need another kid at home to accompany Raven, and you are the only one around.”

She gritted her teeth and looked away.

“See, acting like a kid again,” he commented playfully, and he looked at Raven, “Do you want her to accompany you? Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite even if she looks like she could.”

Eira’s face turned angrier. She was holding back just for the sake of Raven.

And then, Rafe whispered something in Raven’s ears.

In response, Raven looked at Eira and she calmed her expressions, meeting his gaze.

Not sure what Rafe whispered to him, but Raven looked back at Rafe and nodded.

Rafe looked at her. “You are the youngest one in this family after Raven. Even he wants you to accompany him. So be good and come here. Don’t make me repeat it.”

Eira, holding the hamster in her hands, stood up and went to them, her angry gaze calm down under Raven’s.

Damn! How could he warn her like this? And she didn’t refute? What was this bastard holding against her, or she was willingly obeying him, despite her anger?

Rafe always had a way to make her do what he wanted. He angered her, teased her, but she was helpless in front of him to overpower him. Even now all the time she spat venom, it failed against him.

Maybe because Rafe was never worried about upsetting her, as in the past he always did it and even now he was the same. His carefree attitude, unlike us four who now acted like walking on thin ice around her, made him win over her.

Could I ever be like this to her? Could I go to her without feeling the guilt I am having in my heart? If I do, what will she do? Will she blame me for these things and hate me more?

I had been hiding behind my brothers, keeping my distance with her. But how long could I do it?

Just then, Lucian, who had attended a call and returned to the kitchen shortly, had serious expressions.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

Roman waited to hear as well.

“Alpha Asher is turning his pack upside down in search of Raven,” Lucian replied. “His people are catching everyone suspicious and the entire pack is on high alert. No mercy is shown to those who are caught.”

“Your people are already out of there, right?” Roman asked.

Lucian hummed, but the seriousness from his face didn’t fade even a bit. “The way he is carrying out the search like a madman, seems like Raven isn’t just a pureblood kid he kept by his side, but something more. Something far more precious.”

“It can only mean Raven is his son, and as a father he is going mad?” Roman said.

“We can’t deny the possibility,” Lucian said, though conflicted over the conclusion.

I looked at Eira. Did she truly have a relationship with him six years back? My heart hurt to think about it, but I shrugged that thought aside and said, “The kid is pureblood, that’s more of a reason to keep him.”

Lucian hummed, worry painted on his face. “They had been taking the kid to the hospital frequently for some reason. Our people couldn’t reach that deep to know what exactly they were taking him there for. It was totally a secret matter.”

“We can talk with Liam. He will come tomorrow as he needs Raven’s blood sample for some tests,” Roman added.

We looked at the kid in worry.

“I wonder what they had been doing to him, that he is not like other kids,” Roman added. “He doesn’t talk at all. If he was abused in some way, he would have been a mess, but he is well composed and well behaved, so there are no signs of any abuse.”

“Sometimes, the abuse is not physical, but mental,” I said.

I had been playing with the psyche of people I tortured to get information and most of the time, I didn’t even have to lift a finger to hurt them. Hurting psychologically was worse than hurting physically.

“Isla will come to see Eira, so we can talk to her about Raven,” Roman said. “We need to know what they did to him and why he doesn’t talk.”

“Was he born mute?” Lucian asked. “In the situation she had been pregnant and given birth, it must not have been a healthy condition for a child inside her.”

“He wasn’t born mute,” Roman said with confidence.

“Did she tell you anything?” I asked.

Roman shook his head. “She didn’t say directly, but a while back when I talked to her about feeding a child, she said she never fed a child. He was crying so loud but they didn’t allow him, other than just holding him for a few moments.”

“So he cried when he was born,” I concluded, my doctor’s insight kicking in. “And he isn’t deaf either, which can affect a child’s talking ability. Then definitely a trauma caused him to be mute, or he was raised in a way that he chose to be mute.”

The other two offered me a worried gaze.

“I am sure Isla can explain better,” I assured them.