For perhaps the first time since Kade had known him, the seasoned Beta seemed utterly unable to conceal his emotions. The color drained from his face as his eyes remained fixed upon the child, and when he finally spoke, his voice was little more than a disbelieving whisper.
"My God..."
Marcus had witnessed the horrors of war. He had walked battlefields littered with fallen warriors, rescued children from villages destroyed by rogue wolves, and stood amid tragedies that most people would spend a lifetime trying to forget. Yet none of those memories prepared him for the quiet devastation of this room.
This was not the body of a child wounded in battle.
It was the body of a child who had been starved.
Beaten.
Neglected.
A child who had been denied food, comfort, safety, and even the most basic kindness for so long that his body had begun surrendering to the suffering imposed upon it.
Without consciously deciding to do so, Kade stepped closer to the bedside.
