by Kian Rhodes
"Okay," I agreed, taking another pull from my bottle. "I did a little research, but why don't you tell me?"
Zade's eyes clouded and he sat for a long minute before speaking. "You already know that we aren't sure what happened to him."
I nodded.
"The suspicion is severe sexual trauma, but because his body had already healed when he was dropped off, we won't know what kind unless we can unlock his mind. The amnesia could get better at any time, especially if we can find a way to trigger his memories. The dissociative fugue, on the other hand, is the scary part. He's completely separated himself from who he is. From what he is."
Zade shook his head and drained his bottle in a long swallow. "He blacks out, so he has to be watched constantly."
"The haircut wasn't the first time?"
Levi shook his head and joined the conversation. "No, Scott. We've also caught him cutting himself, so we have to be on the watch for knives and sharp objects."
"Okay. Then it really sounds like you need someone following him around constantly. I can do that. I'm happy to do that."
Zade narrowed his eyes and I held my hands up in surrender. "Man, I know we just met, but I swear, I am not that Alpha. I would never take advantage of him."
Zade didn't respond, but Levi kept talking. "He also has nightmares, Scott. Terrible ones where he wakes screaming and begging for help, but in the morning, he doesn't even remember having had one."
"Okay. So I'll sleep with him." Zade's eyes narrowed further until they were just slits in his face and I sighed. "In furry form, Zade. I can even sleep on the floor, if it will make you happy." I drew in a slow breath, weighing my options and decided to play my hole card. "Although, one of the things I learned during my internet search was that a dissociative Omega still needs Alpha contact. If I sleep on the bed with him, it will keep him from going into neglect and should speed his healing."
Zade closed his eyes and I could see his brain working through my words. Finally, he looked to Levi and then back at me and sighed.
"One wrong step, Scott, and I'll be using your pelt to wax my truck."
Chapter
Six
Harley
It was still early when Doc announced that we were done, but after being up all day and then trying to focus on Doc's cognitive exercises half the night, I was exhausted. It must have shown on my face, because Levi took one look at me and clucked his tongue.
"Why don't you lie down for a bit, Harley?"
I glanced at Zade and then down at Scooter who had greeted me with a small lick on my hand as soon as the door opened.
"He can go, too," Levi said softly. "Just leave the door cracked open in case he needs to go out."
"Thank you." I looked down into the intelligent eyes watching me and smiled when my heart seemed to lighten a bit. "Let's go, pup."
I stripped down to my boxers before noticing that Scooter had positioned himself at the window, looking out into the moonlight. "Would you rather go out? You don't have to sleep with me."
Scooter snorted, almost as if he understood, and after I slid under the covers, he jumped up next to me and cuddled against my back. A warm, peaceful feeling settled over me and I was asleep before I had time to wonder what had caused it.
Unfortunately, it didn't last.
The air around me was deep and dark, without even a hint of the moonlight that I'd expected to light my path, but, somehow, the hulking trees and scraggly brush were all sharply defined. Without a breeze, the forest was oddly silent.
I was walking through a thicket of dense pine trees with the black wolf by my side when a twig snapped behind me, echoing in the silence. I hesitated – not scared, exactly, because somehow, I knew I was supposed to be safe – and then I turned and froze, a scream building in my throat. The moon snuck out of the clouds to send a ray down to shimmer on the upraised knife blade, making the blood dripping off the blade glow with an almost ethereal light. Backing away, I sucked in a deep breath and spun on my heel, running for my life.
I cleared logs and boulders, fighting to keep my feet churning beneath me when I slipped on a patch of damp moss at the base of a tree. A choked snarl came from behind me as razor-sharp claws bit into my shoulder, the forced stop spinning me around to face my attacker.
I gasped for what I knew would be my final breath and closed my eyes against the red-eyed monster preparing for the kill. Then, everything was eerily still and I knew I was dead.
A loud whine startled me out of my fear-induced fog. A cold, wet nose was pushing into my armpits and against my cheeks and the sides of my neck. Realizing I was safe, I wrapped my arms around the wolf, buried my face in the ruff of fur around his neck and let his strength support me while sobs wracked my body.
"Harley?" Levi's voice came from the hall. "We're coming in."
The door creaked open and Levi pulled me close – wolf and all – while Zade placed his hand on the back of my neck. I wasn't really sure why he did that, but it must have been his thing because he did it whenever anyone was upset.
"Another nightmare?" Levi's voice was soft.
"I..I don't know. I think so." Even more frustrating than not being able to get enough sleep was the speed with which the memory of what had woken me dissipated.
"Do you remember any of it?"
I shook my head, my face still pressed to Scooter's fur.
"Okay." Zade moved his hand from my neck to pat my shoulder. "Doc said it's not a great idea to try and go back to sleep right after one, so why don't we go out and raid the 'fridge?"
I wasn't hungry, but I felt bad enough about waking him and Levi up, I didn't want them to think I was on the verge of another episode, too, so I nodded and forced myself to release my grip on the wolf. Wiping my eyes on the blanket, I stood and reached for my pants. "That sounds great."
Somehow, raiding the fridge took a weird turn and the three of us – four, if you counted an amused-looking wolf – ended up baking a ton of oatmeal cookies. When every surface in the kitchen was covered with cookies cooling on paper towels, I yawned.
"I think I'm ready to go back to bed, now."
Levi looked concerned, but Zade put a restraining hand on his arm and Levi managed a weak smile. "Okay. If you need anything, Levi, you know where to find us."
"Thanks, Levi." I gave him a quick hug before following Scooter back to the bedroom. When I got there, he's already stretched out on the bed.
"Hey. Scoot over." I nudged the wolf, but he only opened one eye and stretched. Rolling my eyes, I climbed over him and settled into the space between his warm body and the wall. "Fine, but don't think you're gonna get away with that all the time."
I was pretty sure I heard him snort as sleep quickly overtook me.
Chapter
Seven
Scott
"Run that by me again?" Zade was staring at me, his disbelief obvious.
I swallowed an impatient sigh, well aware of just how crazy I sounded. I glanced at the closed bathroom door, the only barrier between Harley and us. "I said, I was in his nightmare," I repeated.
"So, what, you're a psychic now?"
"Of course not." I groaned and reached for the bottle of water in front of me. "Look, I don't know how," I admitted, "but I saw everything that was happening."
Zade's head just swayed back and forth. "It's not possible, man."
"What if it is?" Levi asked, breaking his silence. "I mean, I know Trevor can sometimes communicate in dreams." When Zade snorted, Levi frowned at him. "He can, Zade. I've seen it." Levi studied me seriously. "Maybe if you told Doc what you saw, it would help."
When Zade snorted again, Levi's eyes flashed. "Well, it's not like it can hurt, now, is it?" he snapped at his husband.
"No, of course not," Zade agreed quickly. "I'm sorry I'm being an ass." He turned to me. "Can you write down what happened or describe it?" When Levi huffed, Zade smiled at him. "I'm trying to help, V, I promise. I don't kn
ow how we can explain Scott's absence?"
I considered that for a minute. "Why don't you just tell him I went out to pee and you saw me chasing a rabbit into the woods? That way he shouldn't worry, and it'll buy me enough time to make it to town."
Zade nodded slowly. "All right. How are you traveling?"
I laughed. "Well, as long as no one has towed or stolen my ride, I'll be fine. Maybe even get a chance to sneak it up here."
Zade nodded again. "Be safe."
Thankfully, my van was right where I'd left it. Even better, with the rain we'd gotten the day before and the late afternoon sun beating down on me, the solar-heated water tank was primed for a hot shower. I climbed into the tiny shower stall, my shoulders touching the walls as I scrubbed three days of accumulated grime from my body. As much as I enjoyed being a wolf, there was really no better way to get clean than a hot, soapy, shower.
The sky was streaked with red and gold when I parked in front of the small building that housed Doc's main practice.
"Come on in, son," he greeted after the receptionist had announced me. "Zade called and told me to expect you."
"Great." I followed him into a cozy office and lowered myself into the stiff wooden chair he gestured to. I took a deep breath and repeated my story of being in Harley's dream to Doc, holding my breath when I finished.
Unlike Zade, Doc seemed anything but disbelieving. "So you say you were in the dream?"
I nodded.
"Could you hear anything? Smell anything? Or was it just visual?"
I closed my eyes and concentrated. "We were in a forest – I'm pretty sure it was the one surrounding Zade's house – but there were no forest sounds. No wind rustling the leaves, no night birds calling, no rodents scurrying through the leaf litter on the ground." I made myself rewind the tape in my head and replay it. "Harley was panting. The thing chasing Harley growled right before grabbing him." I popped my eyes open. "There weren't any other sounds."
"What about smells?"
"Just the usual. Dirt. Bark. Rotting leaves." I closed my eyes and again concentrated on the memory. "He was facing into the wind," I surmised. "When he was grabbed, I think he was too terrified to look for a scent."
"Very well done," Doc said approvingly. "I'm not sure how you managed it, but it sounds like you are correct. You were in the dream." He scribbled a few notes on a pad in front of him. "We're going to need to figure out how. Tell me about your relationship with Harley. Zade mentioned you had a history, but didn't have many details."
Of course. "What do you need to know?"
Doc smiled kindly and leaned back in his seat. "Start at the beginning, son."
"Well," I said hesitantly, "I've known Harley since we were young. His mother was the Alpha of small pack in the Everglades. My parents were Betas, nomads, and we spent a lot of time in an unclaimed territory nearby."
"You're older than he is."
It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. "I am. Ten years. He was sixteen when we started to see each other as more than friends, as potential mates."
Doc raised a brow. All I could do was shrug. "We waited until he was eighteen to get physical," I tried to defend myself. "I had just finished my doctorate and landed a job at the community college as a junior professor when his mother sold him to Zade's pack.”
I knew I was scowling as I looked down at the smooth, dark-brown skin on the back of my hand but couldn't help it. "When I got to their lands to offer for him, she sneered and told me that she'd sent him somewhere that I couldn't pollute the bloodline."
"Oh, dear."
I blew out a breath, struggling to keep a hold on the beast inside me. He was not a fan of rehashing the past. "Yeah. Then she told me that I'd be wasting my time looking for him, because she'd assured him that I'd been offered the chance to claim him and I refused."
Doc made a small pained sound and scribbled more in his book. "Then what?"
I shrugged. "Then, I quit my job and started looking for him."
Chapter
Eight
Rafe
"You busy?"
Colby's voice pulled me away from the paperwork I was halfheartedly working my way through.
"Never too busy for you," I responded, the same way I did every time he asked. I was rewarded with the smile that my Omega saved just for me. The one that made me feel simultaneously like a hero and the luckiest bastard on earth. "What's on your mind?"
Colby waved a sheaf of papers in the air. "Cyber finished their report on Harley's tablet."
"Awesome." Unlike the human population that we live among, shifters don't tend to be technology obsessed. Yeah, we use computers and cell phones and so on, but we don't live by them. In most packs, only a handful of members besides the Alpha even have cell phones – after all, our howls can be heard miles away – and there is usually a central computer bank that everyone uses when they need to. Individual laptops and the such aren't common unless they are needed for work. We'd been more than a little surprised to find a tablet computer when we searched Harley's room.
So had his Alpha.
I raised a brow and spun my chair, holding out my hand and biting back a grin as my very obviously pregnant mate closed the door to my office and sashayed his way across the room to stand between my knees.
I ran my hands up the back of his thighs, caressing his firm ass as I kissed his protruding tummy. "How's my baby?"
"We're both fine, Alpha," Colby said softly, stroking my hair as I nuzzled his stomach. "You?"
"Good, baby." I braced my feet against the floor and tugged Colby down into my lap, running my nose along his neck and drawing in the deliciously spicy pheromones there. "What's the report say?"
Colby tipped his head back, allowing me more room to kiss along his neck. "They found an online dating account and some messages that suggest Harley may have been arranging to meet up with someone just before he was taken."
“Anybody in the pack mention it? I don’t remember Zade saying anything.”
“That’s because he didn’t,” Colby confirmed for me. “In fact, I pulled Zade’s interview transcripts, and he was asked three different times about social media accounts and so on. He said there weren’t any.”
"Shit."
Colby just nodded and lifted his shirt to lay my hand on the tautly stretched skin of his tummy.
"You're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, but I’m kind of craving your touch," he admitted.
Setting Colby back on his feet, I rose from my seat and reached for his hand. "Let's go."
"What?" Colby seemed both bemused and confused. "The shift just started two hours ago."
"We have some time off accrued," I reminded him, all but dragging him behind me to the parking lot. It only took a quick glance to find Fugly sitting in the corner of the lot. There was no way the ugly-ass monster of a minivan could fit in the assigned space intended for my Omega’s sleek motorcycle.
At the end of the driveway, I hesitated briefly. If I turned left, I'd be headed toward our pack lands where a nearly endless number of responsibilities – including the target of the investigation we'd been discussing – waited. I turned right and pulled out onto the highway.
That Colby sat quietly as I drove, gazing out the window and commenting on the scenery, spoke volumes about the progress in our relationship since those early days when he constantly questioned my commitment to him, to us. "Don't you want to know where we're going?"
Colby's hand landed on my dick, cupping me through my jeans and squeezed gently. "As long as we're together, I'm good, Alpha."
I barely managed to keep the van on the road as all of my blood ran south. "Damn it, Coby. You know what that does to me."
His answering chuckle assured me that I was right and it hadn't been an accident.
Silently praising the brilliant individual who designed push-button fold-flat rear seats, I pulled off the road and parked in a secluded area. Colby was al
ready unbuttoning his jeans as he climbed into the back.
~*~
“It’s bugging you.” Colby was spooned up in front of me on the flattened seat where we had collapsed after our rather frantic coupling. His back was against my front and his words vibrated against me.
“That Harley had that dating profile?” I asked even though I was already sure what Colby meant. He nodded and I sighed, brushing a kiss over the nape of his neck. “Yeah, it is. It sure increases the number of potential suspects.”
“And the fact that no one in the pack admitted knowing about it is either suspicious as hell or proof that he was sneaking around,” Colby observed. “Which, of course, is why the three of them are crammed into a Blood Valley guest house.”
As much as I wish I could say that offering to put Zade, Levi, and Harley up while they were on our side of the mountains was done with nothing but altruistic goals in mind, I've never really been one to lie to myself. The truth was that no one in the COPSD office was quite convinced that Harley had really lost his memory.
I shrugged. Colby already knew the answer.
Chapte
r Nine
Harley
“Harley? What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
Hearing my name in a smooth baritone voice caught my attention and I blinked my eyes open slowly. I gasped when the sight below me sharpened into focus and I was staring over the edge of a rock face into the canyon below.
“I..I..” I stuttered as I tried to scramble backward away from the edge. My shoe caught on a loose stone and I stumbled, pitching forward toward the yawning chasm in front of me.
“Harley!”
This time my name was a shout. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, jerking me back from the edge and off my feet. I landed hard on my stomach and felt the breath forced out of me as I was crushed beneath the heavy body of my rescuer.