Doc Featherstone's Return Read Free Page A

dealing with Shane, and that little bastard never missed a damn thing.
    “How is he?”
    “Do you want the bad news or the terrible news?”
    Joshua felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach.
“Is it that awful?”
    “He can’t walk or shift. Well, he possibly could if he were to work at it, but he refuses to leave his bed or wheelchair. It’s like he’s checked out or something.”
    “That doesn’t sound like Ash at all.”
    Shane sat down on the arm of the couch. “Yeah, well, he’s changed a lot since the attack. He sometimes goes for days at a time without talking.
    He’s refusing to eat. He’s asked both Mitchell and Daniel to cull him.”
    “Are you shitting me?” Joshua cried, alarmed and terrified.
    “Don’t worry, they both turned him down. As did I, when he asked me to kill him.”
    Joshua brought a shaking hand up to his mouth. “He wants to die?”
    “He thinks he has no reason to live anymore.”
    Shane shrugged.
    “But, if he walks again…”
    “For some reason, he doesn’t believe that. He thinks he’s going to be in that chair forever,”
    Shane interrupted.
    “Well, you guys have to find a way to prove to him otherwise. Give him a reason to hope.”
    Joshua grabbed the glass to take another drink, but Shane took it from him and tossed it across the room. Getting right into Joshua’s face, Shane said, “Why do you think I’m here?”
Now Joshua was confused and drinkless.
    “What in the hell are you talking about?”
    “For some reason, Dean seems to think that you’re the only one who can get through to Ash.”
    Joshua pointed to himself. “Me? In case you didn’t get the memo, he hates me.”
    “Which is why he threw himself in front of you and took six bullets for you? Boy, for somebody who’s so smart, you can be fucking stupid sometimes. Ash worships the ground you walk on. You’re just too dense to see it. Or maybe you just don’t want to see it.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Joshua demanded.
    “That maybe you don’t hate Ash as much as you claim you do, and the reason you’ve been hiding out here is out of guilt. Because you know that you can’t or won’t give him back what he needs.”
    “Exactly what are you trying to say?” Joshua began to feel a bit frustrated and angry. Both of which were not new emotions as far as Ash were concerned.
    Shane gestured to all the family portraits hanging on the wall. “I would bet my best gun that all of these are felines. I’d go even further and say that they’re all Bobcats like you. Am I right?”
    “Yes,” Joshua admitted, his stomach sinking.
    “So, if you were to become mated to a male
Hawk, they wouldn’t be too happy, would they?”
    Damn it, but Shane had caught on sooner than Joshua had expected. “No, they’d disown me.”
    “So, instead of owning up to your feelings, you did everything in your power to push the kid away.”
    “It’s more than that, Shane. He’s ten years younger than me. Even you have to admit that’s a huge age gap.”
    Shane cocked his head to the side. “It sounds to me like you’re just looking for more excuses.”
    “That’s not fair.”
    “Neither is abandoning him when he needs you the most. Now, are you going to get into the car or do I physically have to drag you there? Because either way, you’re going back to him.”
    Joshua sighed. He would go back. He knew he had to the moment Shane told him how bad Ash was doing. In fact, the Bobcat in him was screaming to go rescue Ash. To go soothe the poor Hawk. To somehow make him better.
    All of the sudden, Joshua wanted to kick himself for staying away for so long. Granted, he hadn’t known how bad Ash had been doing, but he could have at least called to find out. Instead, he’d played the coward’s role and stayed away.
    “Just let me pack my bag.”
     
    They drove through the night and arrived at
HQ just as the sun was beginning to rise. As soon as they parked and entered, the first place Joshua