Page 7 of The Devil on my Chest

“Rocky, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

But Rocky’s body was going into what looked like a full-fledged panic. His eyes were wide and bulging, his throat was working but nothing was coming out. Strange noises like an ack-ack-ack sound erupted from his throat. Mal realized in that moment it was him that caused Rocky’s panic. Rocky thought Mal believed he’d been lied to.

“It’s all right, Rocky, please,” Mal pleaded. “I didn’t need to know. We’ll find out another way. Don’t do this to yourself. Just forget I asked.”

“Can’t breathe,” Rocky gasped. “Can’t breathe.” He started clawing at his throat.

“Rocky, no, stop it.” Mal tried to catch Rocky’s hands in his. “It’s all right. I’m sorry. I should never have asked you. Doctor Nelson! Doctor Nelson, hurry! Get in here!”

The door burst open, and Doctor Nelson and two large men came running in, one going to Rocky’s head and one to his feet. “Hold him down,” Doctor Nelson ordered.

“This is the doctor, Rocky, he’s trying to help you. Stop fighting, Rocky,” Mal pleaded, as Rocky started to fight, kicking, trying to punch out with his fists, rocking his body from side to side trying to evade the hands working to hold him down. “It’s all right, Rocky. Please, calm down.”

For the first time since they found each other, Rocky wasn’t listening. It took both big men and Doctor Nelson to hold Rocky’s body down before the doctor could jab him with a huge syringe and remove his saline line and monitoring wires. “Shift Rocky,” Doctor Nelson bellowed. “Shift into your wolf form, now.”

But Rocky was still fighting. There was a part of Mal that was amazed his longtime companion still had the energy to fightboth the drugs and the men. Doctor Nelson was a very powerful shifter – Mal’s wolf would’ve shifted just from his order alone.

But Rocky was resisting even as Rocky’s wolf was trying to come through. Mal could feel him, sense the desperation in the animal as he clawed his way free. Mal lent all the strength he could to the poor wolf, offering compassion and soothing vibes as the pain kicked in. Even so, it was at least another two minutes before the wolf finally emerged from the wreck of Rocky’s clothing, lifting a painful howl to the ceiling.

“Oh Rocky, I’m so very sorry,” Mal said as he clasped his hands around the wolf’s neck. “It’s going to be okay, baby. I promise we’ll work this out. You’re going to be okay.”

A long wet tongue lapped up Mal’s tears, causing those tears to start falling all over again.

Chapter Five

“I admit it, I made a mistake, I made a mistake. But now we know that, we should make some progress, I promise.”

Mal looked up at the doctor in surprise. Rocky had been in his wolf form for two days and seemed perfectly happy so long as Mal was within touching distance.

They’d had walks in a heavily warded garden outside the facility a couple of times, and the staff always brought Rocky raw meat in a bowl, even though he didn’t stop sniffing at Mal’s human food.

Some things hadn’t changed. Rocky still seemed to think he owned all the bed, even as he was nudging Mal toward the hospital mattress, which wasn’t as comfortable as the recliner, in Mal’s opinion. But curling up with Rocky at night reminded Mal of happier times when he and Rocky were alone against the world.

Back in Arrowtown, Ra had put the word out, and everyone was working hard to identify where Rocky went when he left town roughly once a month. Even Mrs. Hooper didn’t know for sure, but Ra did report that she was certain Rocky hadn’t been out getting laid the way he claimed. “He always looked too clean and tidy when he came back into town,” she said firmly.

Simon was working with Trent’s brothers, as well as the phoenix brothers, and Dion and his friend Eagle to go through Shifter Council records to try and determine Rocky’s original pack. They weren’t confident they could find anything as Rocky was born before shifters came out and historic records were sparse, but they were trying. Doc Farriday supplied genetic material from Rocky, for the council, in the hopes of getting a lead throughDNA. Again, a long shot, but worth the effort for a friend everyone loved.

Meanwhile Mal was going through his journals. He still read some of the stories out loud to Rocky who always listened intently, oftentimes nodding when Mal said something like “did you have to do that?”

“Of course you did, even when you were worrying the crap out of me.” Mal would shake his head and within seconds the big wolf would be nudging his hand with his head, looking for pets.

It was relaxing in a lot of ways – if Mal excused the fact they were in a special facility and Rocky couldn’t shift back to his human form. But Mal hadn’t realized how tense the past months had been until he had a chance to stop. Enjoying the quiet bustle of their room, Mal finally felt like he could take a breath.

No, Rocky wasn’t healed, and Mal still worried that he might never be the same again, but the wolf still loved him, and Mal had to believe that Rocky the man did too. In the meantime, he got as much rest as he could in between fielding demands from Rocky for attention and the texts and messages from their friends.

The last thing Mal expected to be confronted with was a flustered doctor. Looking more closely at the man, Mal could see he dark smudges under the elephant shifter’s eyes, and he was sure Doctor Nelson had been wearing the same shirt the day before.

“Are you saying that Rocky’s not cursed? Why did he have such a strong physical reaction to the word, then? He was choking.”

Doctor Nelson shook his head. “No, Rocky is definitely cursed.”

“Then what?” Mal put the journal he’d been reading aside, reaching to stroke Rocky’s fur. “You’ve found out he and I aren’t mates after all? That’s not going to change how I feel about him.”

Rocky whined, pressing closer to Mal’s body and showed his teeth at the doctor.

“What he said, but put those teeth away.” Doctor Nelson pointed at Rocky. “I’m certain you and Rocky are fated mates.”

“Then what is it? What mistake?” It was amazing how quickly all Mal’s fears and worries could come flooding back in an instant. “I just want him well.”

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