A/N: I am adding more details to this than we're in the original fic so if you read Hidden Hearts you will realize I am expanding the overlapping scenes.
P.O.V. Bran:
I watched as SeoHyun began to eat and it was all I could do to keep my hands in the pockets of my jeans. She was so emaciated, so frightened of me I dared not attempt to touch her again. The stress on her was just too great. I wanted her trust me but it was clear that would happen on her terms not mine.
I backed up and after some more gentle crooning from Charles, he closed the hatch of my Humvee and climbed into the back passenger seat which put him closer to SeoHyun if for no better reason than to keep her calm as I drove.
Somewhere along the way I heard her give a distressed whimper and watched in the rear view mirror as Charles climbed over the seat to sit in the very back with her. I didn't say anything, my son knew where he was needed and as a werewolf was safe to do just that.
I looked at Anna and knew she shared my son's desires to shelter and protect this tiny wolf. Get her healthy and take away the fear that had her hiding from wolves who only wanted to care for her.
We got to their house and when I opened the hatch SeoHyun was laying between the back seat and Charles, her tail tucked in fear. He lifted her head in his hands cupping it gently as he spoke to her.
"SeoHyun, that's enough of that, this isn't San Diego and my da is not Everett. He won't hurt you and he won't let you be hurt." He said to her as she whimpered in fear.
We went inside and Anna began to go through her clothes so she would have something to wear after her change. After 2 months of not having clothes on we weren't going to further rob her of her dignity by forcing her to stand in front of us naked.
"Da I will help her change. I thought you might be better but…"
"She trusts you, not me… that trust will make it easier for you to call her change than it would me." I replied
I listened as Charles took SeoHyun into the bathroom and helped her begin to change. As she did I heard him moving things around.
"Once you've completed your change you can go ahead and take a shower, we will wait for you in the front room."
He returned to the living room once he was sure she'd finish her change alone. After about fifteen minutes we heard the shower turn on and SeoHyun got in. This was her first shower in two long months.
She came out a little while later and I got my first look at her in human form.
If she was more than four feet tall I would have been shocked. I would have been equally shocked if she weighed 50 pounds. She looked at Charles and I saw her features leaned heavily, as expected, towards the Korean definition of beauty. Her almond shaped espresso eyes looked at me warily and I did something that I hoped would set her wolf at ease. I looked away tipping my head giving her my throat as to say I, the most dominant wolf in North America, submitted to her. My wolf didn't like it she should be submitting to me not the other way around but she was weak and scared and I, like my son, would do anything to help her.
I watched her relax subconsciously, it worked. Though it would take longer for the human to lose that wary look, the wolf trusted and that was a start.
She helped Anna with dinner and I asked my son what he planned to do. I was unsurprised when he announced that he and Anna wanted to keep SeoHyun.
Leah was already asleep when I got home. That was fine, I had too much on my mind to deal with her petty reaction to why I had decided to take the new arrival to my son's house rather than here as I'd done with every other new arrival to Aspen Creek. The problem was I'd never been handed such a fragile case. SeoHyun needed sheltered and I feared for her. The fact that she let Charles and Anna in meant there was hope for Lee SeoHyun to recover. It would just take her a long time.
To be continued...
