The entire village. Everyone who stood by and knew what was happening and did nothing to stop it. Every one of them who overlooked Kurt's bruises, their fear, their misery, who turned the other way and slept peacefully at night with the rationalization that it was none of their business. Every one of them will pay.
The thoughts aren't exactly verbal, more an echoed cacophony of emotions between the pack, telegraphed through the link and through the scent in the air. Corrigan and his wolves are of one mind on this, and the promise of future vengeance is enough to calm their ferociously protective instincts. For now.
Kurt hopefully misses it -- they might protest, might insist they deserved it all, the mistreatment and violence and abuse. It'll take time for them to understand that they're safe, not only to weep and mourn their stolen life, but to look back and recognize it was stolen in the first place. Corrigan understands that much, an old internal wound from the months after Naseer's rescue from another village, remembering the way his Beta had behaved in those days -- like a caged beast relearning how to walk and talk and exist without fear. Corrigan remembers how long it takes to unlearn that kind of terror.
So he settles in the hollow of a tree, back against it's trunk, rocking and murmuring to Kurt as they sob against his chest. When it passes, when his mate is weary and weak, he kisses their forehead, strokes their hair back. "I know you didn't, love," he responds softly. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault, all right? Not a bit of it."
He'll say it until Kurt believes it. Until they accept that it's true.
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Date: 2023-06-22 05:42 pm (UTC)The thoughts aren't exactly verbal, more an echoed cacophony of emotions between the pack, telegraphed through the link and through the scent in the air. Corrigan and his wolves are of one mind on this, and the promise of future vengeance is enough to calm their ferociously protective instincts. For now.
Kurt hopefully misses it -- they might protest, might insist they deserved it all, the mistreatment and violence and abuse. It'll take time for them to understand that they're safe, not only to weep and mourn their stolen life, but to look back and recognize it was stolen in the first place. Corrigan understands that much, an old internal wound from the months after Naseer's rescue from another village, remembering the way his Beta had behaved in those days -- like a caged beast relearning how to walk and talk and exist without fear. Corrigan remembers how long it takes to unlearn that kind of terror.
So he settles in the hollow of a tree, back against it's trunk, rocking and murmuring to Kurt as they sob against his chest. When it passes, when his mate is weary and weak, he kisses their forehead, strokes their hair back. "I know you didn't, love," he responds softly. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault, all right? Not a bit of it."
He'll say it until Kurt believes it. Until they accept that it's true.