Chapter Three
Mal kept reading his journals through the afternoon. At one point two men came in with a message from Doctor Nelson saying they were moving them both to a private room where they would be more comfortable. Mal had the use of a private bathroom, a coffee machine, and another recliner plus a table. He found a playlist on his phone, keeping the sound low so as not to disturb anyone else who might be around, and tried to relax.
Reading back over the entries he made, Mal noticed just about every page had something about Rocky on it – some fun, some sad, some cases where Mal had wondered if Rocky had left his brain on the pillow that morning. Anytime he found something funny, he would read it out loud to Rocky, chuckling as if they were sharing a joke. Mal had no idea if Rocky could hear him, but he’d read somewhere that unconscious people, or those in a coma, seemed to react to stimuli around them, and he was happy to talk himself hoarse if it did any good.
It was getting dark when Doctor Nelson came in, carrying a clipboard and dragging a chair close to Mal and the bed. “Did they feed you? Do you need anything?”
“I had a lovely meal about an hour ago, thank you.” Mal nodded. “Do you send an account for all this at the end of the…treatment, or?”
“Please don’t worry about it,” Doctor Nelson said quickly. “This entire facility is financed with grants. There are people who consider my work important.” He shrugged, clearly embarrassed at having admitted it. “Rocky’s case is extremely unusual so as long as neither of you worry about me writing a case study, completely anonymous of course, once the treatment is successful, any expenses are covered by those grants.”
“I appreciate it, thank you.” Mal indicated his journal. “My friends in Arrowtown think that the only time Rocky could’ve come into contact with a curse was during those times he would disappear for a few hours in an evening. They don’t believe he was actually having sex as I had feared, but none of my friends – who we’ve traveled with for years before settling in Arrowtown – none of them believe he was aroused by anyone but me.”
“Which would indicate a mate connection – something that was only partially formed, perhaps. What about you? Did you hook up with anyone at all since meeting Rocky?”
Mal shook his head. “I’m omega. It’s not something I share readily, although Rocky knew, obviously.” He sighed. “I didn’t think we had any secrets and yet clearly I was wrong about that. But anyway, yeah, I have never felt that urge and even went to Doctor Farriday, wondering if something was wrong with me at one point.
“He said that it was normal for wolves like me to not react to anyone unless they were my mate. So you see…” He indicated the bed. “I love Rocky. I don’t believe I could ever love anyone else as deeply as I care for him. I can appreciate his looks, because I’m not blind, and the way he treats me makes me feel really warm and safe inside, but that’s not arousing. So we can’t be mates.”
Pulling his pen out of his shirt pocket, Doctor Nelson tapped it on his bottom lip. “You could also be on the spectrum – asexual, pansexual, or demisexual for example. From studies conducted in this facility when that occurs, your body’s reaction to a mate would be muted – although arousal would develop over time, after you’d been claimed. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. You met Rocky when you were in your early twenties?”
Mal appreciated the doctor’s discretion. “Yes. I was twenty-three, twenty-four, something like that.”
“And you believed Rocky was about eighteen or nineteen?”
“I thought so. As I said, he was at that gangly stage alphas go through before they start to bulk up, which Rocky did…” Mal had to think back. “I believe it was about three years later, which would fit with the guess. I did ask Rocky his age once, wanting to know when his birthday was, and he told me to pick a date for him, because he had no idea.”
“How long had Rocky been on the streets when you met? Do you know? Did he ever tell you anything about his life before you?”
“No, although I got the impression it had been for a long time.” Mal felt the frustration stemming from how much he didn’t know. “I did ask him – two or three times back in the early days. But I remember the last time I asked, he took my face in his hands and said, ‘Mal, nothing that came before is important. Neither one of us can change the past. The only thing that matters is me and you going forward’. I believed in him. I still do.”
Mal’s frustration must’ve leaked through his tone. “You’re not letting me down, Mal. You’re not letting Rocky down either. I have to ask these things, but I’d rather you told me you didn’t know than tried to make something up.”
“I wouldn’t do that. But what happens now? Ra, that’s our friend back in Arrowtown, wanted me to get some more information about curses so my friends could help track down where Rocky used to go. They want to help, and that’s the only thing we really don’t know about Rocky, apart from his past, obviously.”
“I’ll share what I’m thinking, only because I don’t want you believing I’m not doing anything at all. My working theory at the moment is that Rocky was cursed well before he met you.”
“But how did he function?”
Doctor Nelson held up his hand. “It’s just a theory. It is possible for a person to carry a curse for the longest time without it impacting their day-to-day life. In those cases, the curse only starts to get destructive when something triggers the magical mechanism. Now that trigger could be anything, which I know isn’t very helpful.
“But the theory I am running with is that Rocky was under some form of curse when you two met. For what it’s worth, I also believe you two are mates, but we’ll come back to that in a second. If we assume that Rocky was under a curse from the beginning – something minor that simply stopped him from being able to recognize his mate – then there are two possibilities from there.
“Either the conditions of the curse changed due to an outside event, or Rocky was recursed which caused his obsession with sweets. Looking at the data Farriday provided, Rocky’s obsession, addiction, or however you want to categorize his behavior, is causing behaviors very similar to those experienced by a wolf who has been kept from his mate. He’s being tortured by it.”
“Except that instead of reaching for me, he breaks into Fergus’s bakery to take out a cake.” Mal huffed out a long breath. “All right. I’ll accept that theory about the curse angle for now. What evidence do you have that supports the theory that Rocky and I are mates? He’s an alpha. He was already hardwired to protect a wolf he perceives as weaker.”
“It’s not his behavior toward you that leads me to that conclusion, it’s the anecdotal evidence Farriday provided about you two as a couple.” Doctor Nelson held up a sheaf of papers. “Your doctor has been working on this case for months, and he documented everything he thought was remotely connected to changes in Rocky’s behavior. For example, if Rocky was angered by anyone, you were the only one who could soothe him. You were the only one who’s opinion he valued.”
Mal frowned. “Rocky was close to all of the friends we rode with – Ra, Lucian, Liam, Simon, and Brutus – not just me.”
“Farriday provides examples where Rocky has faced off against all of them at some point or another, and that in each case, you were the only one who could get Rocky to see reason and stand down. He never liked to ride without you. You said yourself he automatically assumed you would work in the sheriff’s office with him. Aside from sex, you two have lived as mates pretty much from when you met.”
Mal closed his eyes. He wanted to believe that so badly, but after decades of living with hope and never having it be realized, Mal wasn’t sure he had the strength to cope if the doctors were wrong.
“I can see this is overwhelming for you. You have to remember to look after yourself or you will be no good for Rocky as we work through this. We’ll leave off the questions for now and I’ll just explain what’s going to happen next.”
Plans. Yes. Mal nodded.
“With your permission, I’m going to take some blood from Rocky and from yourself. I know Farriday already did extensive blood work on Rocky, but we have a few extra machines here that might shed some further details on how this curse is impacting Rocky at a cellular level. I also want to run a small experiment with both of your bloods, to see how they will react with each other in a test tube.”
“You want to try and get our blood cells to claim each other?” Mal chuckled and Doctor Nelson smiled.
“Something like that. You also need to get some sleep because in the morning I am going to reduce Rocky’s sedatives and the moment he’s conscious and starts to get obsessed again, I will force his shift.”
Mal winced. Even though he expected it, and Ra had said it was a good idea, his own wolf wasn’t happy about that plan. Forcing a shift could be really painful.
“I want to see for myself how his wolf reacts to you in human form, and perhaps later in your wolf form too. But we’ll take this one step at a time.”
Mal nodded. “I do realize this needs to be done. If Rocky lost his wolf form…”
“Rocky would die or go mad from it.” Doctor Nelson nodded. “There are risks attached,” he warned. “Once in his wolf form, Rocky will have to stay that way until we can find a way to break that curse. We’re going to be under a time crunch. As you know, there is as much danger to a shifter who remains in animal form for a long time as one who refuses to shift at all. The spirit that is being suppressed can die, or in Rocky’s wolf case, he could forget their humanity. You’re going to be key to making sure he doesn’t forget he has a human side too. Do you understand the risk?”
“You didn’t see him when our friends were bodily dragging him out of the bakery after hours,” Mal said in a low voice. “Likewise on the plane. Rocky knows something’s impacting him. He called it a devil sitting on his chest. The Rocky I know, the one that I love – he would risk anything to be well again. Anything at all.”
“Then I suggest you get some sleep.” Doctor Nelson stood up and moved the chair back to the wall. “I’ll send in a nurse to take some blood from you and Rocky and I’ll see you both after breakfast.”
“Thank you, Doctor. Thank you.” Once the doctor had left, Mal rested his elbows on the bed, taking Rocky’s free hand as he let his tears fall.