Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

D own, boy. Dylan giggled across their link.

Ross didn't say anything, knowing that, with his luck, he was going to broadcast it. He just growled under his breath. This was new to him. He'd never been this possessive about any man before.

The doc pointed Dylan to a chair, but Ross held him back for a moment. The room was still full of people who didn't need to be here.

"Everyone who isn't involved, go away. Ross, keep your claws under control for this examination otherwise I'll send you out of the room. I need to touch Dylan and you're going to find it hard especially if you're new to being a mate."

The room emptied, leaving just Peter and Joe Senior behind. Ross had a feeling that was a strategic move, the two strongest wolves in the room.

"What are you going to do?" Ross asked, looking around. He couldn't see any medical equipment anywhere.

"Unlike a human doctor, I don't need x-rays. I can feel the damage with my hands and senses. And before you ask, I'm a fully trained human doctor too."

Ross snapped his mouth shut because of course that had been his next question.

The doc's mouth curved into a smile. "Don't worry. You're not the first to want answers before you let me near your mate."

"I'm here too," Dylan muttered. "It's my head that's on the fritz."

"So let's do something about that. Sit."

Dylan looked at Ross who nodded, then he sat. Ross wondered if the doc knew it was Ross's usual seat in the kitchen. Of course he did. He was a shifter. He could smell Ross's scent on the chair. Sensible move.

The doc sat on another seat and regarded Dylan, all humor gone. "I'm going to examine your head and spine first, then ask you questions."

Dylan looked nervous but he nodded. "Go ahead."

As the doc laid his hands on Dylan's shoulders, Ross became aware of the two other wolves flanking him. He turned to Joe Senior. "I'm fine. The doc is fine. You don't have to guard me." He watched the doc press down Dylan's spine. See, he wasn't ready to rip out the doc's throat…yet.

"It gets harder the longer it goes on," Peter said cryptically.

Ross squinted at him. "What does?"

"Other wolves touching your mate."

"I didn't know that." He didn't remember the other human mates saying this even when Cal was in hospital after they were T-boned in a car accident.

"Joe probably didn't realize," Peter said. "The pack was learning on the hoof."

Ross wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but he guessed the new pack hadn't had time to process half the emotions that came with being mated because they were always in a crisis.

He'd expected the process to be quick but after thirty minutes of the doc feeling over Dylan, Ross was getting fidgety. He watched the doc close his eyes as he almost caressed the back of Dylan's head. Why was he caressing him? What was wrong with an actual examination with machines?

Peter wrapped a tight hand around his bicep. "Get yourself under control. It's the way it's always done in a wolf pack. Pope can see all the damage done to Dylan from the time he was a pup. Every injury he's ever experienced. You'll get some of the answers you've been waiting for."

"I'm not used to this," Ross muttered. He hadn't realized he'd been growling.

"Of course you're not. Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

As the middle-aged guy standing next to him could turn him into a pretzel with one flick of his claw, Ross did as he was told.

"Now reach out to your mate. If Dylan allows, he'll let you experience what he's feeling, what the doc is doing to him."

Ross took a deep breath and reached out to Dylan who seemed to open a door. Ross could hear a voice, and he realized the doc was murmuring something. An incantation, maybe?

"I can hear the doc," he murmured, not wanting to disturb the process.

"He's calling on the wolf ancestors to help him heal Dylan," Peter said.

Ross wondered sourly why the doc couldn't do it by himself.

"Because that's how a wolf healer works," the doc said. "Now stop thinking and let me work."

Ross flushed with embarrassment, but Dylan kind of hugged him inside and he felt better. Not thinking was hard, but Ross did his best just to listen. He had to admit it was very soothing and quite emotional on a visceral level. And the harder he listened, he was sure he could hear a multitude of voices answering the doc.

"The ancestors from beyond human existence," Peter whispered.

Swallowing hard, Ross thanked those ancestors for helping the doc. He didn't know if they'd hear, but he felt it was the right thing to do.

The doc turned to him and sighed. "They heard." He took his hands away which allowed Ross to breathe easier. "Your mate is lucky to be alive. Without his desire to find you, I'm not sure he'd have survived the last few days."

Dylan turned to Ross who rushed over and wrapped him up tight. "Thank you for lighting my way." His voice was muffled as he buried his face in the crook of Ross's neck.

"I knew you were out there. You're mine," Ross said, rocking them both for comfort. "Well, doc?" Then he saw the confusion on the doc's face. "What's wrong?"

Dylan raised his head. "Is there a problem?"

"This is the strangest case I've come across," the doc admitted. "You have nothing wrong with you. You haven't been in an accident. You haven't suffered a brain injury, your skull is fine too."

Dylan stiffened. "I'm not faking the amnesia."

"I know you're not. The ancestors know you're not. We can feel the emptiness in your head."

"Was he drugged?" Ross asked.

"No. I'm trained to sense drugs that have been in a wolf's blood going back years because we're so sensitive to being drugged."

"You're a wolf sniffer dog," Ross said.

The doc glared at him. "Like I haven't heard that before."

Ross yelped as Dylan elbowed him in the ribs. "What did you do that for?"

He received a scowl from his mate. "You've got to quit calling wolf shifters like me a dog."

Ross raised Dylan's hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. "No more dog jokes."

"Does that apply to me?" the doc said.

"I'll think about it."

"But it doesn't prove to Eli I'm not a traitor," Dylan said.

The doc gave a satisfied smile. "The ancestors threw us a bone. They have a message for Eli."

"I'll fetch him," Joe Senior said, the first time he'd spoken since the doc had started work and disappeared out of the door.

"If he'll listen," Dylan muttered.

The doc shrugged. "That's down to him."

Dylan sighed.

A few minutes later Eli appeared with Milo and Niles, and Joe and Cal, on his heels. He looked expectantly at the doc.

"What did you find out?"

"I think what was done to him has a supernatural element."

Eli's dark brows knit across his nose. "What do you mean?"

The doc turned to Dylan who shrugged. "You may as well tell him."

"The amnesia is not physical or mental. Dylan wasn't in an accident or drugged. He's a perfectly healthy shifter, if a little underweight."

"You mean he's faking the amnesia."

"I'm not faking it," Dylan snarled.

The doc threw his hands up. "Do humans ever listen? Something has wiped his mind."

"Like what?" Eli demanded.

"Could be a spell."

"Are you saying magic did this?"

Ross heard the skepticism in Eli's voice. He couldn't say he blamed him. It sounded a little fantastical to Ross.

"Yes."

"Magic," Eli said flatly.

"Before you say you don't believe in magic, what do you think shifting is?" Cal said. "And you didn't believe in shifters before Milo proved it to you."

Ross whispered in Dylan's ear, "Milo stripped off in front of Eli and shifted. Eli called him a nice doggy."

"Shifting is magic," the doc said. "The ancestors have told me Dylan's memory has been wiped by another form of magic."

"But it is coming back slowly," Dylan said.

"It is," the doc agreed. "They think whoever did this wanted Dylan to forget something he'd witnessed so they wiped his mind. But they did it imperfectly."

"Why didn't they kill him?" Eli demanded.

Dylan flinched and Ross held him close, scowling at Eli.

"I'm sorry, Dylan," Eli said. "I'm trying to get answers and all I get are more questions."

"He's not a traitor," the doc said.

"How do you know that?"

"Our ancestors told me."

Eli scratched at his chin. "That's nice but I can't accept something intangible as proof. I need physical evidence."

The doc huffed out a breath. "I am the physical evidence."

"Sorry, doc, I need something more."

"You need the ancestors to talk to you direct?"

Eli's eyes widened, looking alarmed at the prospect. "You want me to believe a bunch of long-dead wolves?"

Every wolf in the room groaned.

"Eli, you've got to learn to be more respectful," Cal scolded. "I know it's hard when you're a human, but our ancestors are important to us."

Eli folded his arms across his stocky chest. "I'm not trying to diss your ancestors, alpha mate, but I need to find out what happened to my operative. Dylan is important to me. The Cavalry is important to me. I need answers and so far, I know Dylan is healthy and I'm glad to hear it, but all you've given me is magic did this. Who else does magic? How do I find out who did this to my operative?"

The kitchen was silent. Ross held onto Dylan, needing the comfort of his mate's strength. Dylan was looking less like he wanted to melt Eli with one of the human hunter's bullets and more like he understood Eli's perspective.

You don't seem surprised by this, Ross commented.

I'm a wolf. I know magic exists. Humans tend to be very black and white. Like Eli. If it's not physical, and we don't get ill because shifting makes us heal, then magic makes sense.

Ross understood…as far as he was able. He was a human, after all.

You've accepted shifters exist. Why is it so hard for you to accept other magic exists?

Your magic is tangible. Human to wolf etc. What Eli is asking for is the proof of what happened to you. What magic exists that could have done this?

That's the difference between us, Dylan said. I don't need the proof because I know all kind of magic is in the world. I mean, I don't remember it, but I'm a magical being. Of course it exists.

Ross leaned against Dylan while he processed that for a long moment. He was mated to a magical being. Yeah, that was kind of hard to handle.

"Can your ancestors tell me what happened to the other shifters that left with Dylan?" Eli asked, breaking the silence.

Ross had a feeling Eli had been talking to Milo in the silence to get some perspective. The sheriff had the ability to calm Eli like no one else. Maybe it was because he had always walked between two worlds, wolf and human.

"Ah." The doc nodded. "That's down to Dylan and Ross to find out. The ancestors want you to find them and bring them home."

Dylan furrowed his brows. "Why don't the ancestors know where they are?"

The doc shrugged and Ross got the feeling he was holding something back.

"It's something to do with Sapphire Ranch, isn't it?"

"The ancestors are being closed mouthed about this. They've given their orders."

Niles levered off the wall where he'd been watching the proceedings in silence. "Which means the road trip is still on."