Protecting Ally

by Tianna Xander

  Kalen still held the man by the neck while she paced in front of him, gesturing with her umbrella. She stopped occasionally to narrow her eyes and shake her umbrella at him. She couldn’t believe how angry she was that the strange man, werewolf, whatever had peed all over her beautiful sofa.

  Shoot him, Ally. You know you want to.

  “I can’t do that!” She stared at Kalen, her mouth open. Have you lost your mind? I can’t shoot him. Bad guy, or not, it’s just not in me to do something like that. She looked at the man and her anger returned. Though, I might be able to rip his heart out.

  Boy, aren’t we bloodthirsty today? He chuckled. You’re holding a dart gun, Ally. It’s not going to do any permanent harm and we’ll be able to stuff him in Milly’s trunk and take him to the healer unharmed. The healer will hold him in one of his kennels until the alpha returns.

  That was true. Ally looked at the guy who had probably just permanently stained her beautiful cream-colored sofa, raised the gun and shot him in the leg...three times.

  “Why couldn’t he have sat in my ratty old recliner?” She tossed the gun down and waved to the old chair. “Noooo, he has to sit on my new couch, then pee all over it. How much do you want to bet he’s dehydrated, too? The stain is probably dark yellow, dammit!”

  Kalen looked up at her and grinned. It looked funny on the wolf’s face. He opened his mouth, letting his tongue hang out, then barked.

  “Don’t act like a dog now, you.” She pointed toward the front door. “Go drag your clothes in here and get dressed while I go pack. Don’t worry about me. I’ll protect myself against inept criminals who should be wearing diapers with this.” She picked up the gun and shook it. Turning, she stomped into her bedroom, yanked her suitcase out of her closet, and packed everything she could fit into it.

  Ally dragged her suitcase out of her bedroom and left it in the hall outside her office where she packed her laptop and its accessories along with her e-book reader and the cord that would charge both it and her cell phone that she’d found on her bathroom counter when she’d packed her toiletries.

  She took one last look around, making sure she had everything she wanted. Now, it was time to go do the same for Milly.

  She turned to the door, jumping when she saw Kalen standing there. “You know that was a dirty trick you played on me to try to get me to stay on the porch.”

  “What?”

  Kalen looked confused, but she knew it was nothing more than an act.

  “Don’t give me that I’m-innocent-and-don’t-have-a-clue-what-you’re-talking-about look, dammit. You know exactly what I mean. You thought telling me you love me would keep me on the porch in shock.” She stuck her chin in the air, proud to know she had figured out what he was up to before he came into her house and got himself shot and maybe killed.

  Based on what he’d told her about that doctor and his men, they wanted women to breed, not men. They had plenty of men volunteering to become super soldiers, from what she’d seen so far.

  Kalen moved closer, his expression difficult to read. “Keeping you on the porch would have been a good thing, yes.” He kept advancing until he stood right in front of her, looking down at her with those intense gray eyes that seemed to change color with his moods.

  “There’s something you should know about our people, sweetheart. Mother Nature chooses our mates, we do not. We also mate for life.” He skimmed his hands up her arms to rest them on her shoulders.

  “Another thing Mother Nature does for us is make certain that we don’t let our mates get away once we find them. We recognize them immediately and...” pausing, he bent toward her before adding, “...we fall in love with them very quickly.” He pressed a gentle kiss against her lips.

  Ally closed her eyes as warmth stole through her. For the first time today, the heat she felt in her face, and throughout her body, wasn’t from embarrassment, but desire. Everything seemed to slow down. It felt as though time had somehow shifted to low gear. Her heart thudded in her chest and it was difficult to drag air into her lungs. It should have felt as though it were racing. Instead, her blood thickened in her veins and caused her heart to slow to a sluggish pace.

  Her stomach flip-flopped and her legs grew weak. Lightheaded, she swayed beneath his hands, and instead of letting her go, he moved closer, wrapped his muscular arms around her and deepened their kiss.

  Kalen cupped her cheek, then tilted her head back and trailed his lips over her jaw to her ear. His lips and tongue burned a path down her neck before he finally lifted his head to look deep into her eyes.

  “Remember this, Ally. I have never, in my life, uttered those words to another female, save my mother and sister. Like it or not, you are my mate, and we owe it to ourselves to at least try to find a way to get used to that fact.”

  Swallowing, Ally looked up at him and didn’t know what to say. Exactly how was a woman supposed to reply to such a declaration from a man she barely knew?

  Things had gotten so strange. Yesterday she had been living her life oblivious to all these strange... paranormal things, now she was a strange, paranormal thing. She wanted to laugh, cry or even scream about it.

  How many times had Ally wished that she had called in sick today and never walked into that room? If she had, she wouldn’t have been there when the doctor and his companion arrived.

  When she looked at Kalen, she realized that had she called in, she never would have met him either. She wouldn’t have met a man who didn’t complain about her weight or do just about anything to keep from having to spend time with her.

  Heck, he’d even carried her several miles and didn’t even become short of breath. Not to mention the fact that he thought he was in love with her and he was hot with a capital H. There was that.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked up and stared into his gorgeous, changeable gray eyes.

  “So... what do we do about it, then?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “We get to know each other,” Kalen said with a smile. That was his Ally. She met every new challenge head on with a courage that he’d seen only in the bravest of men. Perhaps her spunk had drawn him to her.

  He stared at her mouth. God, he loved those full lips of hers. All day he had wondered if they were as soft as they looked, if she would taste as good as she smelled, and it had been driving him crazy. Now that he knew, matters weren’t any better. In fact, they were worse.

  Kalen wanted to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and savor her scent. He wanted to lean down, press his face to her neck, and inhale so deeply that he could hold her delicate fragrance within him all day. He knew it was impossible, but it didn’t stop him from wishing for it.

  “That sounds easy enough.” She smiled and looked past him to the hallway. “But we should get back to Milly’s, don’t you think?” She checked her watch. “We left her house a little over thirty minutes ago. We want to get back before she changes, don’t we?”

  “We do need to get back there.” He turned and picked up both of her bags. “I don’t think she can change, actually. Not yet anyway. She might have internal injuries that will have to heal first, and she’ll heal more slowly as a human.”

  “That’s good, isn’t?”

  “I don’t know. I have no idea what will happen if the serum is trying to force a change when her body is incapable of such a thing.”

  “Crap!” Grabbing the dart gun from her nightstand, she hurried toward the door. “We have to get back to her. What if she’s suffering? You can help her the same way you helped me. The pain wasn’t so bad then.”

  “I don’t think I can help her the way I helped you, Ally.” He grinned when she lifted the gun and shot the stirring intruder two more times as they passed.

  “Take that, you jerk.”

  It was obvious that she was still upset about the man urinating on her furniture. He followed her out onto the porch, set her bags down, then pulled Milly’s keys from his pocket to lock the door.

  “Why can’t you
help her?” She stood with her arms crossed, the dart gun hanging from her fingers as though she held one every day.

  Kalen hated the scowl she turned toward him. It was as though she thought him capable of helping her friend but didn’t want to do so.

  “It’s not as though I don’t want to help her, Ally. The reason I could help you is because we have a connection.”

  “I don’t understand.” She scowled at him. “I thought you had this connection with all were-beings.”

  “All of us have a community or a common connection with those we know or have at least met in person. I can reach our alpha Jake, and Bastien and he and I can communicate with you, I will even be able to speak mentally with Milly when she’s fully turned, but I can’t connect with another were the way I connect with you.” He held his hands out palms up. “I have no idea why. Only mates are connected fully enough to block one another’s pain. That, and someone we have a blood or bite bond with. I have neither with your friend.”

  He wanted to help Milly, if only because he knew it would please Ally, but short of biting her, or letting her bite him, he just didn’t know how. Kalen had already thought of letting the woman bite him, but he’d needed help getting Ally off him when she’d attacked. He wasn’t taking chances with Milly.

  If what the healer suspected was true, she could come out of it a seventy-year-old wolf female in her prime. If that was the case, he was going to have his hands full enough without getting in the way of her teeth.

  “I’ll carry my laptop bag, so you won’t have to carry them both.” She blushed and looked away. “I’d carry my suitcase, but I know it’s too heavy for me.”

  Kalen picked up the larger bag and followed her to Milly’s. He had no doubt that she would have been able to carry both of her bags if she set her mind to it, but her mind still held its human limits.

  It didn’t matter either way. His parents had brought him up to be a gentleman.

  The house was quiet when they entered. Too quiet, and Kalen feared the worst. None of them knew what would happen in this situation.

  The older woman could have had a heart attack while they’d been gone. He only wished he would have thought of that before they had left her. Either way, it was a good thing he hadn’t let Ally go to her side of the duplex alone. If she had, she would already be on her way to the doctor’s clutches.

  “Do you suppose she’s still sleeping?” Ally asked as she set her burden down on the kitchen floor.

  “I hope so.” The thought that the older woman could have died, had a reaction or something equally unthinkable, was something he didn’t want to think about. “Whatever condition she’s in, we need to get her and the asshole at your house in her car along with the luggage. Please tell me she doesn’t drive a compact.”

  Ally laughed. “Milly would never be caught dead in a dinky car. Her vehicle is one of the largest SUVs you can buy.” She bit her lip, her smile fading. “I remember she told me that she bought it because that’s the type of vehicle her husband would have wanted.”

  Kalen couldn’t have been more relieved. “Great. We’ll check on her and if she’s doing okay, I’ll leave you to pack her things and go get mister nice guy, tie him up and carry him over here.”

  They paused outside Milly’s bedroom door as though afraid of what they would find on the other side.

  “Here goes something,” Kalen said as he reached around Ally and opened the door. Nothing could have prepared them for the sight that greeted them.

  Milly sat on the edge of her bed, her head in her hands. At least Kalen was fairly sure it was Milly. The woman he saw now no longer had gray hair. Her hair was a glossy black. Thick ebony waves spilled around her shoulders, contrasting with the sunflower yellow t-shirt she still wore.

  If he wasn’t mistaken, the young woman on the bed was Milly Jenkins, reborn female wolf-shifter. Only the bloodstains on the t-shirt would tell.

  “Milly?” Ally stood just inside the door, obviously afraid to approach the woman for fear it was some sort of trick.

  Even Kalen didn’t know if it was a trick or really Ally’s friend sitting on the bed.

  The woman looked up. “Ally. What, what’s happened to me?” She looked down at her hands, then felt her body. “How did this happen? How can I be young again?” She laughed, almost hysterically. “Hell, even my boobs are perky again. Can you believe it?”

  She stood and turned to them. “The last thing I remember was those criminals breaking into my home and beating the hell out of me.” She turned toward Kalen and smiled. “Then you came in and saved me from them.” Frowning, she added, “But not before they injected me with what they called werewolf serum.”

  Kalen examined her clothing. Yep, that was Milly all right. She looked like a younger her, sounded like her, smelled like her and was wearing her clothes. There was no other explanation than the woman standing in front of him was Milly Jenkins.

  She looked down at herself and grimaced. “I need a shower.” Then I’m going to burn all of my clothes and go out and buy me something sexy. I have the youth and the body for it now.”

  “You can’t, Milly.” Ally stopped her on the way to the shower. “Oh, you can shower the blood off you, but you can’t go shopping. The men who injected you have friends and they’ll be back to get you and they will do their best to make good on the promise of raping you and impregnating you.”

  “Then I’ll just go all bitch on them and rip their damned throats out.”

  “You won’t be strong enough, Milly,” Kalen interjected. “We’re talking about wolf males against a wolf female. They’ll be much stronger than you are.”

  “Well, you took care of those other two easy enough.”

  “They were recent turns and I’ve been a shifter all my life. I’m stronger than they are.” He leaned against her dresser and crossed his legs. “I’d guess that I’m about six times stronger than a newly turned were and about twelve times stronger than you two.”

  “He wants to take us somewhere where we’ll be safe.”

  “And you trust him?”

  “Yes,” Ally said with a nod. “He’s already saved my life at least twice, but I think it’s more like three times.”

  “Brave and handsome, huh?” Milly stared at him for a minute. “He’s got eyes only for you, you know,” she whispered.

  It was all he could do to pretend he hadn’t heard the older woman when he wanted nothing more than to grin and agree with her.

  Straightening, Kalen moved to the door. “I’ll let you ladies pack. Try not to take too long though. It’s only a matter of time before Doctor Thornton sends more men to see what’s taking the others so long.”

  He turned to Milly. “Make sure you take anything you can’t replace or that is valuable. We have to leave your back door ajar to convince the police and any investigators that the men have gotten attacked by coyotes, or wolves. Hell, even an out-of-control dog would do.”

  They wouldn’t have to worry about it if they could get a sterilization team here to clean up before the police arrived to investigate Ally’s disappearance.

  If not, Kalen could only hope that the authorities would take the simple explanation. He didn’t want the women investigated.

  “I’ve been wondering if we could convince them you two took off together for a holiday, but we’d have to come up with an excellent excuse as to why Ally would have left her car at work instead of driving it home.”

  Whatever they came up with, Kalen wanted to leave Ally and her friend out of it. They both had already been through enough.

  He left the room wondering if Milly had changed while they were in Ally’s side of the duplex, but his senses and intellect told him it was impossible. She smelled like pre-adolescent wolf that had never changed, but she wasn’t suffering the way Ally had. Why?

  He stayed in the house instead of returning to Ally’s side of the dwelling. Something told him the danger still hadn’t passed. He stayed and he would protect the two women,
with his life.

  Fifteen minutes had passed when Ally ran from Milly’s bedroom, her eyes huge with the smell of fear rolling off her in waves.

  “It’s Milly. Come quick. I think she’s changing. I saw what was left of her bruises fade from her face almost like magic, then she started to convulse.”

  Kalen jumped up from where he sat and ran into the bedroom where Milly thrashed about on the floor, her wet hair flying around her. Wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she flopped around like a fish out of water.

  “Breathe, Milly.” He took her delicate fingers in his right hand and used the other to brush the hair from her face. She opened her eyes and growled at him.

  “Leave me alone.”

  “I’m trying to help you.”

  “Leave me alone. I deserve this.” She stiffened, her body bucking up off the floor. “Gerald died because of me. He could have left me, instead he tried to protect me, and they killed him.”

  “What?” Ally moved to her other side. “You said he died on a camping trip.”

  “He did. He died protecting me so I could get away from the hunters.” Milly squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. “He saved me and died for it. I deserve to die a horrible death. Leave me alone.”

  “You aren’t dying, Milly.” Ally stroked her arm. “You’re changing into a werewolf, like... like Kalen and me.”

  Milly opened her eyes with a groan. “Not you. They didn’t get you, too.” Tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “Yes, Milly. They got me at the hotel. I’ve changed into a wolf a few times already. I know it sounds crazy, but it doesn’t hurt as much if you reach for it. If you imagine what it will be like to be a wolf, to run on all fours, to have a soft pelt covering your skin.”

  Kalen watched, proud of what his mate tried to do to help the other woman.

  “I can’t do this. I’m going to have a heart attack. A woman my age shouldn’t have to go through something as painful as this.”

  “Perhaps that’s why your age went through the conversion before your body,” Kalen said, as he held one arm and kept stroking her hair from her face with the other. “You haven’t seen yourself the way we have.” He smiled down at her. “You’re young again.”