Doc Featherstone's Return Read Online Free PDF Page B

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