Chapter 2

Chapter Two

R oss would have preferred the ground to open up and swallow him whole as the entire table turned to stare at him. How did he answer that?

"I…uh…"

Dylan pulled away from him. He turned to Joe and Cal. "Thanks for the food, alpha. I need to go. I need to find somewhere to sleep tonight."

Cal rolled his eyes. "You're staying here. Ross just got the words stuck in his throat. What he meant to say was ‘I'll take care of you until the end of my days.' But he's a stupid human and they don't know how to say things like that."

"Hey, I can tell you we're together forever," Joe protested.

"You normally tell me to stay in my bedroom and try to cover me in bubble wrap," Cal said snippily.

Dylan looked between them, then turned to Ross. "I've never met an alpha pair like this…I think," he added before Eli could leap in. "I don't remember anything."

Eli glowered. "We need to find out why you've gotten amnesia." He couldn't have screamed ‘very conveniently' more than if he'd yelled it out.

"We can take him to the hospital," Joe suggested.

Cal shook his head. "We need a shifter doctor. You remember what it was like when Ross and I were in hospital, and I healed quickly."

"Thanks for the reminder," Ross said sourly. He'd taken months to recover. Cal was healed before they'd smuggled him out of the hospital.

Cal's lips twitched. "Sorry."

Ross glared at him. Could he sound less sincere? Cal just smirked.

"You were hurt?" Dylan asked, looking horrified.

"Someone totaled our SUV," Ross said. "Cal recovered quickly. Me, not so much."

Dylan's hands fluttered over him as if they didn't know where to land. "Are you all right?"

Ross smiled and took his hands, anxious to soothe his concerns. "I'm fine."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Is there such a thing as a shifter doc?"

"I've known a few," Peter said, "but most of them are retired now."

"I know a doc in the Wild Creek Pack," Cal said quietly. "He survived the massacre because he was away at the time. He returned home to help them. But I don't know if he'd come here. He was one of the betas and friends with my brothers."

"If you invite him here, I'm out," Owen said harshly.

"We go together," Zeke assured him. ‘You're my mate. I won't let you run away again."

Ross kept quiet. This was above his pay grade. He just wanted someone to look at his mate.

You still think I'm your mate?

I know you're my mate, Ross assured Dylan. I don't know all the words yet, but I'm here for you until the end of our days.

Joe pointed at Owen. "You can't go. You're pack. You will always be part of my pack. We'll go to them, if necessary."

Dylan leaned against Ross who gathered him in close. I should go. I didn't mean to cause trouble. But he buried himself against Ross's chest, clearly not wanting to move away from him. Ross held him tightly in his arms because he wasn't letting Dylan go, not when he'd just found him. Ross had prayed to find his mate and the shifters in the pack had always believed he would. That was good enough for him.

The conversation swirled around them, mainly focused on how to contact the shifter doctor. Ross didn't join in, his whole attention on the young wolf in his arms. Dylan was exhausted. That was clear when he heard a soft snore, then the wolf jerked awake.

"Guys," Ross said, repeating it a second time when the conversation didn't die.

They turned to look at him. "Dylan is worn out. I'm taking him to bed." He would not blush. "Joe, I can understand if you don't want us to stay with your dad."

"Don't be ridiculous," Joe Senior snapped. "He's not going to harm us. Peter could twist him into a pretzel. No offense, Dylan."

"None taken." But Dylan didn't take his eyes away from him. He looked worried.

Ross chuckled through their link. You should have seen Joe's dad a few weeks ago. He was dying of cancer. Now he wants to take on the world.

And you? What do you want to do?

I'm a soldier, my mate. I take orders. I'm not interested in taking over the world. Just saving the ones I love. Ross hoped his mate would hear the love in his voice and understand that it was meant for him.

You're not an alpha?

Was that disappointment in Dylan's voice? Ross bit his lip. He was never going to be an alpha. He was one of the pack but he'd never wanted to be in charge.

Dylan turned to look in his eyes. I don't need an alpha. Just a mate. Alphas hurt their pack.

Ross frowned. "Joe and Cal aren't like that. Is that what happened to you?"

"I…don't know. I think so." Dylan seemed to be thinking it through. "I don't remember what happened. I think ‘alpha' and feel pain. Here." He pointed to his kidneys. "I don't feel that when I see you."

Ross looked up. The conversation at the table had died and everyone stared at him and Dylan.

"Your alpha beat you?" Owen asked, his voice harsh.

"I don't know ," Dylan said, clearly exasperated. "I don't remember a thing."

Except that wasn't quite true. Dylan may not have remembered specifics, but he could remember the pain, and that came across their link as if it were Ross being beaten. That was something he hadn't appreciated about having a mate. He could feel the pain that Dylan had experienced too. He wondered if that worked the other way. If so, they were going to have to stay away from danger.

Cal leaned forward, his gaze fixed on Dylan. "But you feel the pain."

"I do. Every time I hear the word ‘alpha'."

Ross held him close. "You're safe here, honey. I promise. Our alphas are not like that. Not Joe and Cal, not the others."

He barely knew the boy and already he was calling him endearments. But this was his mate, his forever. Honey was only the start of the names he would heap on Dylan.

"We're here to protect you," Joe agreed and there was a murmur of agreements around the table.

"Even me," Eli muttered.

Milo laughed and leaned against his mate. "Especially you. You're the worst mother hen of them all. Stop spluttering. You know I'm right."

"You don't know how true that is yet," Owen added. "I didn't believe it either. Pack meant pain for me. I was a rogue wolf until I came here."

"You had no pack?" Dylan asked, clearly horrified.

Owen's mouth twisted in bitterness, but Zeke gathered him close. "I was exiled from my pack."

"Owen was part of my family's pack," Cal said, "until my father and brothers, the alpha and betas, threw him out for trying to show them a better way of working. Owen has more brains than all of them put together, but they wouldn't listen. They only respect brawn, not brains."

"The Wild Creek pack?" Dylan asked.

Cal gave a curt nod. "Do you know the name?"

Dylan shook his head. "No, but I don't know the name of any pack, even my own."

"Yet, you knew to come here," Eli said.

"I came for my mate, not for the pack. I felt him from miles away. He was like a beacon in the darkness of my mind."

Ross had never been a beacon for anyone. He wanted to curl around Dylan and hold him tight forever.

"Don't say that to Ross," Eli muttered. "Look at him. He's just melted into goo."

Ross glared at his boss. He was a bodyguard, a protector. Not a gooey thing.

And you also melt into goo? Dylan suggested.

He huffed through the link and Dylan laughed.

"Like you're any better when it comes to me," Milo pointed out to his mate.

"We're all suckers for the wolves in our lives," Joe agreed.

Eli focused his attention on Dylan. "Where were you before, when you felt this beacon?"

"Uh…" Dylan wrinkled his forehead. "I don't know."

"That's enough," Ross said firmly. "Leave Dylan alone. He's tired. I won't let you exhaust him."

He ignored the collective gasps around the table. He knew why. Ross rarely stood up to his boss or confronted anyone. He was the calm one, the one who just got on and followed orders. He was reliable, not scary like Zeke or a maverick like some of the other operatives.

But Eli gave him a curt nod instead of reaming him out. "Take care of him. I'll arrange cover for Joe Senior and Peter tonight."

"We don't need babysitting," Joe Senior snarled, but Peter leaned toward him and the newly made wolf subsided.

No one said a word, although Joe seemed to be staring at the ceiling. It was clear he was trying not to laugh at his dad.

Joe Senior sighed. "Thank you for babysitting…guarding us."

Eli snorted. "You're welcome. If the hunters come through the door, you can eat them."

"Deal," Joe Senior said, a little too enthusiastically.

Peter sighed, then gave a rueful smile as his mate nuzzled against him.

Are the hunters bad guys? Dylan asked through their link.

God, how did he explain the hunters, without giving too much away?

Worse than that. They're evil. You've gotta be careful, Dylan. Stay with me at all times.

I will.

With that tired agreement from his mate, Ross breathed easier. He stood and scooped up Dylan, picking him up without asking. "I'll be on duty in the morning," he said to Eli.

Owen suddenly burst out, "I'll stay with you."

Zeke coughed and they all turned to look at him. "We were just discussing arrangements. Ross, take my keys and go back to our house. The spare room is made up. Owen and I'll take your room tonight. I'll cover for him, boss." He threw his keys and Ross caught them one handed.

It was as easy as that.

Ross didn't argue and Dylan seemed to be half-asleep already, his face buried in the crook of Ross's neck. Ross laid him on the backseat of his pick-up. Dylan sighed and grumbled a little, but he didn't wake up.

Ross tangled his fingers in Dylan's soft hair. "Sweet dreams," he murmured.

Before he could drive away, Owen darted out of the house. Ross didn't know Owen that well. He'd been recovering from a car accident when Owen appeared on the scene. But he was pack and that was all Ross cared about.

"Ross, wait up."

He leaned against the pick-up, waiting for Owen to reach him.

Owen looked worried. "Listen, Dylan's been missing for weeks, maybe longer. He wasn't with the Streersons when Jake kidnapped me. I don't know where he was, but he wasn't one of the shifters who tortured me."

"You know that for sure?"

"I do, and I told Eli too."

"Good to know," Ross said. He tapped his head. "I can't sense it up here yet. I can hear him now but not beyond that."

"It takes time and you're human. Your senses are dulled."

Ross tried hard not to be offended, knowing that Owen was right. He was still only a human. He shouldn't even know that shifters existed. Now he was part of a wolf/human pack and for the first time, had another being in his head.

"You'll learn," Owen said with a smirk. "Zeke is amazing."

Ross smiled at him. Zeke was freaking scary, but around Owen he was a different man. "Why did you come out to tell me about Dylan?"

"Because he needs to know someone is on his side."

"And you want him to know you are?"

Owen gave him an ‘are you stupid' look that should have reduced him to ashes. "That's you, you idiot."

Ross flushed. "Sorry."

"He needs a friend. That can be me. I'll come home tomorrow, and we can talk. But you're his mate. You must have his back, no matter what the others say."

"Even if it means leaving the pack and the Cavalry?" Ross wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement.

"Yes."

No ifs or buts. Ross's priority had to be Dylan now. He nodded slowly. "Keep reminding me, yeah? I know I'm going to screw up and say the wrong thing."

Owen gave him a wicked grin. "I'm real good at being the mouthy asshole, don't you worry."

Zeke appeared in the doorway, looking concerned until he saw Owen talking to Ross. He strode over to them and wrapped a meaty arm around Owen's shoulders, engulfing him. The man made four of his shifter lover. "I was worried." His tone was gentle but chiding.

Owen tilted his head to smile up at him. "I was just giving Ross the shifter facts of life."

"You were telling him what to do." Zeke knew his mate well.

Owen shrugged. "Someone has to, you know? The others are so busy seeing the bigger picture, they forget what it's like for the rest of us."

"Dylan needs Owen. I need Owen between us and Eli," Ross admitted wryly.

"You have me too," Zeke said, squeezing Ross's shoulder.

"Take him to bed," Owen said, then groaned. "I can't believe I just said that."

"Thanks," Ross said to them both. "I owe you one." He focused his attention on Owen. "Thanks for giving him a chance to decompress in your home."

He knew what giving that up, even for a night, meant to Owen who hadn't had a home to call his own in too long.

"You're pack." Owen said it like that was all that mattered.

For the first time Ross understood what that really meant, but was it enough for Dylan to be accepted by the others?