Doc Featherstone's Return (4 page)

The clothes swam on him, showing how much weight he’d lost. Damn, Ash knew he’d shed a few, but he hadn’t realized it had been that much.

No wonder the doc had looked so shocked when he’d first seen him. He must look like a skeleton.

When Kallen pulled back the curtain, Isaac was still sitting there, a hopeful look on his face. It was only then that Ash realized how much of an asshole he’d been to his friends. While he and Isaac had only known each other for a little while, they’d become close in that time and, since he’d been injured, Ash had been pushing him away.

Talk about being a jerk, Ash had won the award on that one.

“Thanks for the clothes,” Ash said.

“I was glad to help. I hope what I brought was okay,” Isaac replied.

“It’s great. How are things going with you and Ackley?” Ash gestured to a nearby chair.

Isaac looked surprised, but took the seat.

“Great. He still goes out on jobs, which scares the hell out of me, but then I go out on missions, so I have no room to talk.”

“I’ve noticed that there haven’t been that many wounded coming in. Have things quieted down?”

Isaac frowned. “For now, but I think it’s just for now. Kind of like the eye of a hurricane. Does that
make sense?”

“Yeah, it does.”

Ash had been thinking along the same lines himself. With all the enemies they had out there, it was only a matter of time before somebody stirred the pot up again. Things never stayed quiet in their world for long.

“So, it looks like the doc is back,” Isaac said. “I wonder why?”

“He said he came back because of me.”

Isaac cocked a brow. “Really?”

“I guess they think that he’s the only one that can get me out of my funk and make me want to get better.”

“Well, you are up and talking again, so maybe they’re right,” Isaac pointed out.

“But what if I can’t get better?”

“Then you learn to adjust. If there’s anybody that can do that, it’s you, Ash. I know you, you can do anything.”

“Except piss standing up.”

Isaac gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

“That’s way overrated anyway.”

They both shared a laugh before they sobered.

“I’m really sorry for being such an ass these past few months to you,” Ash said.

“It’s okay. I know you were going through some tough times,” Isaac replied with a tiny smile.

“I probably would have reacted the same way.”
“Still, you didn’t deserve that. I was a real jerk.”

“Yes, you were, but we’re buddies, and we can move past it. It’s over and forgotten.”

Ash couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have such a good friend like Isaac. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“I’m just glad to see you up and talking. That’s all that matters to me. Well, I would like to see you gain back some of your weight. You’re so thin, you could be a runway model right now.”

“Except I would have a little trouble walking down the runway at the moment,” Ash pointed out.

“Just for now. Remember, you’re a shifter, not a human, so you have much faster healing abilities.

You can beat this.”

“Yeah, tell that to Scarlett.” Ash nodded over to the former assassin.

Scarlett sat in her bed, just staring off in space.

One half of her once beautiful face was covered in burn scars and only patches of her blonde hair remained. On the rest of her body were various other scars left behind by shrapnel or stab wounds, courtesy of her own twin sister.

“Has she spoken yet?” Isaac asked.

“Not a word. At least they’ve been able to do some surgeries to help with the burns. They used cadaver skin from her sister. At least the bitch was good for something,” Ash said bitterly.
If it hadn’t been for Blue and her Ravens, then none of them would have been in this mess. First, she had attacked them outside of the compound, and, when that hadn’t killed Scarlett, Blue had attacked HQ directly. That was when Doc and Ash, along with many others, had been wounded or killed. The only good thing that had come out of it was that Blue had died during the attack as well.

Featherstone came over. “Sorry to interrupt, but Ash has to go to physical therapy now.”

Ash let out a grunt of aggravation, but nodded in agreement. Isaac gave him a smile, then patted him on the shoulder before getting up and leaving.

“Do I need to go down there to make sure you cooperate?” Doc asked.

“No, I’ll be good.”

The last thing Ash wanted was for Featherstone to see him being manhandled and flopped around.

So it was decided that Kallen would take him down instead. Ash could take Kallen seeing it since Kallen had already seen him at his worst and then some.

By the time Ash came back a couple of hours later, he was exhausted. He’d never realized that doing those exercises could be so grueling. When Kallen lifted him up and put him into bed, all Ash wanted to do was fall asleep and take a long nap.
But damned if there wasn’t another tray there waiting for him.

Featherstone was immediately on him. “Are you going to feed yourself or do I have to do it again?”

“No, I can do it myself.”

Ash hadn’t missed the way the doc’s hand had trembled ever so slightly the last time he held the spoon. It made him wonder what kind of lasting injuries the doctor might have from the shooting.

Ash picked up the utensil and began to eat. It wasn’t the best meal he’d had, but it still tasted good after starving himself for so long. After he ate his fill, he pushed the tray to the side and laid down.

“Is that all you’re going to eat?” Featherstone nagged.

“I promise I can’t eat another bite,” Ash said, his eyelids already drooping closed.

He was relieved when the doc didn’t push the issue, instead turning to talk to Jacyn. Ash fell into a comfortable sleep, the sound of Featherstone’s voice soothing him.

nce he was sure that Ash was resting and O comfortable, Joshua went to Mitchell’s office for an update. He knocked once he reached the door.

Dean answered, a bright smile on his face.

“We’re so glad that you’re back,” he said.

“Well, when you send somebody like Shane to come fetch me, I really don’t have a choice, do I?”

Joshua retorted.

“Shane would never hurt you.”

“I know, but he can be very persuasive when he wants to be, even to those he calls friend.”

Dean laughed. “You do have a point. Come in, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

Joshua walked in and immediately sensed that Mitchell was upset. The leader was hunched over his desk, and his hair was messed up from running his hands through it. Joshua looked back over at Dean and noticed that while he had been
smiling, he, too, showed signs of strain. There were tense lines around his eyes and a worried appearance in his gaze.

“What’s going on?” Joshua asked.

“My brother Chris is at war with another pack that wants their land,” Dean explained.

“How long has this been happening?” Joshua inquired.

“It just started. We’re worried, not only because it’s our siblings who are involved, but because of Cassie’s pregnancy. Who knows what that kind of stress can do to her. This is the last thing she needs right now,” Mitchell said, running his hands through his hair.

“Are you going to send backup to help him?”

Joshua asked.

“That’s just it, I can’t. Chris has to win this war on his own or else it will make him look weak as an Alpha to all the other Wolf packs,” Mitchell bit out.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Joshua exclaimed.

“It’s a Wolf thing,” Dean said, as if that explained everything.

“Can’t you do anything?” Joshua said.

“Not that we’ve been able to think of,” Mitchell said, with an irritated sigh.

They were silent for a moment before Dean snapped his fingers. “I have an idea that may just
help some.”

“What?” Mitchell asked.

“Why don’t you ask Shane if he knows of any assassins who would be willing to work for my brother’s pack? If they were to swear loyalty to him, then they would be technically members of his pack, so Chris would be able to use them and still save face. They may just be enough muscle to help him win the war. Or, at the very least, they could assign them to protect Cassie.”

Mitchell got up from the chair, grabbed Dean into a hug and spun him around a few times. “You are the most brilliant mate in the world. Call Shane and have him come right here.”

While Dean was making the call, Joshua turned his attention back to Mitchell. “How have you been feeling?”

Mitchell shrugged. “My leg still bothers me from time to time, but otherwise I’m fine.”

“Does Dean still have panic attacks when you go out on missions?” Joshua asked.

Joshua was the only one outside of Mitchell’s family who was privy to such information. It was a closely guarded secret since Mitchell was the leader of the coalition and they didn’t want to make him or his mate look weak.

“Yes, but we’re learning to deal with it. The pills you gave him help some. I have to admit that when Jacyn was shot, it didn’t help matters any.
Even though Jacyn wasn’t hurt that badly. It just brought up a whole bunch of bad memories for Dean.” Mitchell let out a deep breath. “Damn that bitch and her Ravens. They’re still managing to fuck with us even after they’re dead. If I could, I would kill her all over again.”

Thinking back to Ash and how thin and hopeless he looked, Joshua couldn’t help but agree with his leader. The aftereffects of the battle were still hanging over all of them in some way or another. It was going to take a long time for them to heal mentally and physically.

“I see you have Kallen working in the infirmary now,” Joshua said.

“Yes, I hope you don’t mind, but he wanted to prove his worth by contributing somehow, and I thought that this would be the best use of his skills. With you being gone and a portion of the staff dead or still too injured to work, we needed the help.”

“I’ll admit at first I was a bit leery, but he seems to know his stuff. Plus, Ash appears to like him.”

“That means a lot to you…that Ash likes him, doesn’t it?”

Now it was Joshua who ran a hand through his hair. “It shouldn’t, but yes, it does.”

“You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter if I am or not. It can never be.”
Mitchell crossed his arms over his chest. “Why not?”

“For one thing, he’s my patient. It would be unethical.”

“He wasn’t your patient before you left, and you were attracted to him then. Don’t even deny it. So what other reasons are there?”

“He’s ten years younger than me?”

“So what? Shifters live a lot longer than humans, so an age gap like that really is nothing but an excuse.”

Joshua could feel his frustration building as Mitchell batted away each of his excuses. Leave it to Mitchell to see through all the excuses and get to the root of the real problem. There was a reason he was the leader of the coalition. He was the brightest of them all.

“My family would never allow it. I’m only supposed to mate with another Bobcat, and it’s supposed to be a female.”

“Wow, that sounds familiar,” Dean said as he set the phone down.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joshua bit out angrily.

“It’s the same thing that kept Mitchell and I apart for years. Had we just stood up and admitted how much we cared for each other from the beginning, we wouldn’t have wasted so much time that we could have been happy together.”
“It’s different,” Joshua defended.

Dean cocked his head to the side in a confused manner. “Really? I don’t see how it is.”

“Is that why you called me back? To make me and Ash mate so he’ll get better? Because if so, that’s never going to happen.”

Dean shook his head. “I’d forgotten what a bastard you can be at times.”

“I may be a bastard, but I’m also realistic. Just because you and Mitchell were lucky enough to find your happily ever after doesn’t mean that I will find mine with Ash. Life doesn’t work that way.”

“You always were jaded,” Mitchell said with a shake of his head.

“No, like I said before, I’m just realistic. I’m not going to deny that I have feelings for Ash, but that’s as far as it’s going to go.”

Dean gaped at him. “You realize that kid thinks the world of you. God knows why after the way you’ve treated him, but he thinks the moon and the stars hang off you.”

“I know that,” Joshua sighed.

Dean moved in a step closer, his eyes narrowed with anger. “Do you really?”

“Of course I do. The kid jumped into the line of fire to save my life.”

“Then why in the hell do you keep shoving him away?”
“Because I have family obligations. I already let them down once, so I can’t do it again.”

Why in the hell couldn’t Dean see it? He of all people should understand where Joshua was coming from. He came from a Wolf pack and they were all about obligations and expectations.

“So what? You’re going to come back here, give him some false hope only to break his heart?”

Dean demanded.

“I’m not going to promise Ash anything that I can’t give him,” Joshua said.

“You better make sure you don’t, because if I find out that you’re leading him on…”

“Enough!” Mitchell slammed his hands on the table. “We have enough to worry about without arguing with each other. Did you call Shane?”

“Yes, he should be here any second.”