Desired by Wolves [Call of the Wolf 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Diane Leyne

about six inches long, and she almost didn’t see it because it was beside the bomb scar. The surgeon had done a great job with the stitching. But she needed a better look.
    “I need you to go lie on the couch on your right side so I can examine you better.”
    “It’s not necessary.” She could hear the impatience in his voice. For a second, he sounded like the old Alex, decisive and annoyed by her demands, and then he flinched as if he expected to get hit, that brief moment of defiance gone.
    “Go. Now,” she ordered, and immediately regretted her harsh tone as she watched how his shoulders slumped again as he levered himself up from the chair, Otis in one hand and the other bracing himself. Naturally, the towel fell, and she was treated to another look at his now-deflated cock. It was still magnificent. And it still worked. As if aware of her gaze, it started to harden again, and Alex made an inarticulate noise and turned away from her, trying to balance himself and Otis and pick up the towel at the same time. He almost fell, but she knew better than to help him.
    “Forget the towel. I’ve seen you naked before. Just go into the living room and lie on your side. I have to go upstairs and get something. I’ll be back in ten minutes, and I’ll expect to find you ready for my exam.”
    She hurried out of the room and upstairs before she burst into tears. Her beautiful Alpha. She didn’t care about his scars. Those were superficial. But somehow those bastards had broken his spirit. He was just a shell of the old Alex except for that one brief comment. She sobbed. All of her anger seemed so irrelevant now. He could have died.
    She gave herself five minutes of loss of control and then pulled herself together. She went into the bathroom and washed her face and fixed her hair and headed down the stairs.

Chapter Six
     
    Alex felt his face grow hot from the humiliation of the dropped towel. He couldn’t even stand up without embarrassing himself these days. And his brothers wondered why he didn’t want to see anyone. Alex James had had a golden childhood. He was a star athlete and an honor student and voted most likely to succeed. He was valedictorian and class president and captain of the fucking football team. He was it.
    Then he went away to university and got a degree in business and graduated Summa Cum Laude. Then he went to war and had a chest full of medals and a bum leg to show for it. Now he couldn’t stand without aid, he jumped at loud noises, and he found himself unable to deal with harsh voices without having immediately going into submissive mode so he wouldn’t be beaten.
    He was okay at home and mostly could hide these things from his brothers because he did feel safe in their home, but even there he tended to keep to himself. It was far worse when he went out when he could feel the panic inside him rising at the slightest sound.
    It was like he only ever felt really calm these days with Otis. The little guy looked up and licked his face. Alex found himself smiling and blinking back the tears. He set Otis down on the floor while he braced one hand on the seat and bent to pick up the towel. No matter what Lena said, he wasn’t going to lie completely naked on her couch.
    “Come on, boy. Come on over to the couch.” Carefully he made his way over to the living room, pausing momentarily in the hallway. He could open the door and shift and be on his way home before she knew it. He was so tempted, but then he realized he really had no place to go but his brothers’ house, and Lena would just head over there, blazingly angry with him, and he couldn’t bear that. He couldn’t deal with negative emotions any more. He used to love nothing more than a blazingly good argument which would then lead to blazingly good sex, and Lena could give as good as she got. Now when he heard a voice raised in anger, he could feel the fear coursing through his body and the need to placate the speaker would overwhelm him.