Page 3 of Lost Mate

Ross saw Eli relax a fraction at the praise. He knew it was hard for an alpha guy like Eli not to be in charge, but they all knew Eli would defend them to the end of days, him included.

“Do you want me to go?” Dylan asked, his face pinched.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Ross assured him.

Joe coughed and they both turned to him. “Dylan, you get to eat, decompress, and meet your mate. Ross will take care of you. You’re welcome on these terms. I’m gonna listen to what Eli has to say and maybe we can make sense of your past. Owen here is real good at working out who’s talking bullshit. He’s got those instincts.”

As Dylan shrank back, Ross wrapped his arms around his mate, scowling at Joe. “We can go elsewhere if you’re gonna throw threats at him.”

Dylan tipped his head to look at him. “You can’t speak to your alpha like that.”

Cal snorted as he placed a plate on the table with a thick, juicy steak, a baked potato with all the trimmings, and mac ‘n cheese. “Dylan, this is going to be hard to understand, but Sapphire Ranch isn’t like a normal pack. We’ve all got a voice here. From the alpha to the omega, from the exiled wolf to the newest member, that’s you, even if you’re still finding your way. We’re an unusual pack.”

“I don’t think I’ve met a pack like yours,” Dylan admitted.

“I don’t think anyone has a pack like ours,” Cal said and turned to his mate. “I guess we won’t be going to your apartment right now?”

Joe shrugged. “Not until we find out what’s going on.”

“You can stay with us,” Milo said.

“I don’t want to throw you off the ranch,” Joe Senior said.

Joe rolled his eyes. “So you haven’t been telling me it’s your ranch and I’m just the hired help every other conversation?”

“He’s got you there,” Peter said.

Joe Senior grunted. “Maybe.”

From the whimper, Ross had a feeling Dylan was more focused on the food than the discussion around the table. He could feel the hunger pangs in his belly as if they were his own.

“Eat,” he said gently, and Dylan tore into the meal like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Ross caught Owen’s sympathetic expression. The exiled wolf knew what it was like to be hungry.

Owen raised his eyes to Ross. “Take care of him,” he mouthed. “He’s empty inside.”

He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he nodded and kept his arm around Dylan even as his mate ate as if this was his last meal.

Ross knew he was going to have to make nice with his boss before the evening was out. Eli was fiercely protective of his security company and his pack. Since they’d discovered shifter traitors in their ranks, Eli’s protective nature had intensified to where Milo grumbled that Eli would send every pack member with a guard, no, two, if he could get away with it. Eli never denied it.

But for the first time, Ross understood what it meant to have a mate. He would stand between Dylan and the world to keep him safe, even if it meant leaving the job he loved and the pack that had become his new family. Dylan was his and there would never be anyone else. Ross was also a Cavalry man to his fingernails and knew his boss was right. He needed to know what lay behind Dylan’s vanishing act and sudden reappearance. It was suspicious to say the least.

Dylan stared at his empty plate as if he couldn’t believe he’d finished it. He whimpered as Cal took it away.

“It’s okay,” Ross said. “He’s refilling it for you.”

“I don’t want to be greedy.”

“No one goes hungry here,” Cal said, returning to the table with another plate, and Ross noted the pointed stare at Owen.

“I’m used to being hungry,” Owen said with a shrug. “Being part of a pack that gives a shit whether you live or die is new.”

“I will always care,” the Black guy by his side rumbled.

Ross had known Zeke for years and still found it hard to believe how loving and gentle he was with his mate. The man scared the daylights out of some of the other operatives, but Ross had seen another side of him since meeting Owen. He’d wanted that for himself and now he had, he wasn’t sure how to handle it.

He glanced at his mate. He had the feeling Dylan was still only half-listening as he dove into the second plate, as full as the first one. Dylan hadn’t moved out of his hold. He seemed to need the touch as much as he needed the food. Ross caressed Dylan’s back in soothing circles.

---