by Kym Grosso
“I’m calling security right now,” the doctor tried interrupting.
Tristan grabbed the receiver from his hand and forcefully ripped the phone out of its outlet. Flecks of dry wall splattered all over the floor.
“So glad to have your attention. As I was saying, my name is Tristan Livingston.” He deliberately emphasized his last name.
“Livingston? As in the Livingston Equine Rehabilitation Center?” The doctor’s face paled. Mouth agape, he sat silently stunned.
“Yes, that Livingston. Now this is what’s about to happen. You’re going to apologize to Dr. Williams for your atrocious behavior. And if I ever hear you speak like that to her ever again, you’ll be looking for more than a new job. Are we clear?”
“Yes, yes sir. I’m terribly sorry, sir. Mr. Livingston, please know that we very much appreciate your donations and contribution to our fine institution. We wouldn’t be able to function without donors such as you.”
Tristan rounded the desk in two seconds, grabbing the man by the scruff of his collar, lifting him out of the chair. “Apology. Now.”
“Yes, yes, I’m so sorry Dr. Williams. Don’t worry about a thing. Dr. Kepler can take over your caseload, and everything will be in order when you return.” He actually looked like he was about to cry.
Kalli’s eyes widened at the display of her Alpha’s protection. Her Alpha. Her wolf wanted to roll over and bare her throat.
“Glad that’s settled. Thanks so much for your understanding, Dr. Cramer. We’ll be leaving now,” Tristan snapped at him, taking Kalli’s hand and gently helping her to her feet.
As they walked down the hallway, Kalli said nothing. She wasn’t so much upset about what Tristan had done as she was about her reaction to it. To say she was aroused was an understatement. She swore silently as she felt the dampness in her panties.
“Tristan, I have to grab a few things from my office. Right here.” She pointed to an open area, with several cubicles. “Um, I’m in here…over in the corner. Oh hi, Lindsey.” She waved to a young woman whose cube was directly across from her office door.
“Hi, Dr. Kalli. Where ya been?” Lindsay, a pretty young graduate student shuffled papers behind her desk. Her long blond hair, streaked with bright red highlights, fell into her face.
Kalli had befriended Lindsey when she’d started interning over a year ago. She taught her how to help with research projects, and also the basics of day to day animal care. Kalli admired Lindsey’s determination and strong work ethic. Her compassionate attitude toward the animals had her convinced Lindsey would make a fine veterinarian someday.
“Hey, just wanted you to know that I’m going to be on leave for a few weeks. If you need something, call my cell. Also, expect a call today or tomorrow for a pickup on the yellow boa. I signed the release.”
“Okay, Doc. Is there anything I can do while you’re gone? I can work on compiling the statistical data for you on MAO36, but I’d need access. Is your laptop here?” she asked cheerfully.
“No, all research will go on hold until I get back. I don’t want anyone messing with my data. You know how it is,” Kalli called through the opening of her door. She was shoving a few files into a bag, looking through her stuff to see if there was anything she really needed to take with her. She was hoping to be back in the office within a couple of weeks, but she wasn’t entirely sure when things would be back to normal. Looking over at Tristan and Logan who both seemed to be studying her overflowing bookshelf, she was pretty sure things would never be the same for her again.
“I scent wolves. Stay back,” Logan directed, as he pushed open the door to Kalli’s apartment. Kalli had insisted on getting a few things to wear, since she was going to stay at Tristan’s. But as soon as they entered the building, the smell was so strong that even Kalli had recognized its deathly scent: wolf.
“Hey Tris, maybe you ought to take Kalli back down to the car,” he suggested, eyeing the disheveled mess they’d made.
“No,” she cried, pushing past Tristan. “Goddamn fucking wolves.” She could not believe they’d torn her apartment apart.
“Don’t hold back, Kal,” Tristan joked, slightly amused at her temper. Good, she needed to get mad, pissed even. This fight wasn’t going to be easy.
“Why the hell did they have to do this? I mean, if they wanted me, they could have just opened the door, had a looksee and left. Why tear everything up?” she huffed.
The sofa was torn apart, knifed. Her bookshelf had been dumped. All the kitchen cabinets had been opened; the dishes and canned goods were strewn all over the counters and floors. She sighed, looking around at the mess. Sitting on a kitchen table chair, she put her head in her hands, while Tristan and Logan poked around in the bedroom and guest room.
She couldn’t believe her world was coming unhinged. Why had they made this mess? It was as if they’d been looking for something. Something important. In a split second, Kalli’s heart began to race in panic as the reason for the mess became altogether apparent. No way. No one knew. They couldn’t know. All her research had been secret. She’d told no one. No one even ever saw her take the pills. Sure, in the beginning stages of her research, she’d taken her laptop to work. She printed only a few things off, but always on her private printer and always making sure there were no copies, shredding any remaining trash.
Since the actual development of CLI, she’d stopped carrying her laptop completely. After memorizing the composition and deleting all the data off her computer, she’d stored all the information on a flash drive which she kept hidden. But if someone knew….if they knew of CLI’s existence or even suspected it was possible to devise a like drug, it’d be disastrous. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t gone through the scenarios during its creation: its possible use by the unscrupulous as a punishment by preventing a wolf from shifting, or worse, deriving the compound into a weapon. In the wrong hands, wolves everywhere would be vulnerable.
But she couldn’t be sure that’s what had happened. At this point, she had to assume that the wolves most definitely had seen her leaving the fire, and knew where she worked and lived. They could have just been on a power trip, trashing her apartment to scare her. There was only one way to find out if they knew. The only other supply of pills besides what she had left at Tristan’s was her emergency supply, which she also hid. And she had to look for it now without alerting Tristan and Logan.
She jumped, startling as Tristan laid his hand on her shoulder. “Kalli, the bedrooms are a mess. I’m really sorry. Do you want Logan and I to help you get a bag together?” he asked softly. No matter how tough she was, this intrusion was bound to shake her.
Standing up, she pulled away from him. The impending lie felt like a lump in her throat. If the pills or thumb drive were missing, then she had to come clean. There was just no other choice.
“Can I just have a minute alone in my room?” she asked.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I can do this. I have to do this.”
“Hey Logan,” Tristan called.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Logan answered, walking back into the kitchen.
“She’s going back to get her things. Alone.”
“I just need some privacy. A minute to think.” She gave them both a small smile, which didn’t reach her eyes.
“Hey Doc. I’m real sorry about this. Assholes,” Logan remarked, taking in the mess all over the kitchen. Cracked eggshells and dried yolk stuck like glue to every surface.
“Yeah, I won’t lie. It feels like such a violation. Strangers going through my house, tearing it up. Really, really sucks. But you know, this stuff,” she gestured to her torn books, cracked pieces of china and knickknacks. “It’s all just…well, it’s all just stuff. As opposed to animals or people, it can all be replaced.”
Logan set a comforting hand on her shoulder. At the same time, he shot Tristan a nod, careful not to overstep his boundaries. Logan loved his Alpha. He knew things were changing. He’d dreamed of Tristan’s mate.
But unlike his Alpha, he’d had time to mentally prepare. However, he never imagined the sense of protectiveness he’d feel toward her. Confusion swept over him as he tried to resolve why. Considering she was human, not pack, it didn’t make sense to him that he felt so compelled to shield her from danger, hurt. He’d first noticed it at the hospital. While he always enjoyed watching his boss dominate, hearing Tristan attack her nasty boss had given him unusual delight. He’d known that if his Alpha hadn’t intervened, he would have been the one to do it.
Tristan studied him, tamping down his unreasonable possessiveness regarding Kalli. It continued to aggravate him that he cared at all. He kept coming back to the fact that he’d just met her. On top of that, it wasn’t as if he didn’t ever share women with Logan, so why was this any different? Logan was more than just a friend, given how many times they’d been intimate. They never were intimate with each other sexually during their trysts, but they did touch each other, share a caress; perhaps even direct each other’s play with the lucky woman. Whether it was Logan’s girlfriend or Tristan’s, it was always understood that neither man was with their mate. Therefore, jealousy never reared its ugly head. There were no limits.
But with Kalli, he’d felt the need to possess her, mind and body. And if he ever shared, he knew it would be on his terms only. No one would touch her without his permission, and she’d only be touched the way he commanded. It could be no other way. Tristan grew irritated as his territorial feelings grew stronger every hour he was around her. It felt uncomfortable to think about a woman in this manner, yet it seemed as natural as being born.
As Kalli caught a glimpse of Tristan observing her interaction, she pulled away from Logan’s touch. She was appreciative that he cared, but guilt ate her. She had to tell them about her formula. Dreading it, she’d have to confess sooner rather than later if the flash drive or pills were missing.
“Guess I’d better get my stuff,” she commented as she resigned herself to her task. Looking terribly defeated, she walked out of the kitchen. When Kalli reached her room, she locked the door. She knew that either wolf could easily break it down if they really wanted to, but they didn’t seem the type who’d go bursting in on a lady in a locked bedroom.
She ran into the master bathroom, trying to avoid the shards of glass scattered all over the room. They’d smashed the mirrored closet doors as well as the sink mirror. Opening up the vanity drawers, she searched for the small pill boxes where she kept the spares. One by one, she came up empty. Her stomach lurched at the thought. They’d stolen the CLI. Thinking she might vomit, she bent over at the sink and took deep breaths, willing the bile back into her stomach.
She prayed silently that they hadn’t taken the thumb drive. Without the data, they probably wouldn’t be able to replicate it. Even if they analyzed the chemical composition, its creation was a complicated process. And said process and all the underlying details were on that drive.
Opening the bottom of the vanity, she looked for her cosmetic bag, the one she used to hold her makeup. Cleaning supplies had been spilled inside the cabinet and the boxes of tissues had puffed up, smelling like pine and bleach. What she didn’t find was the drive. Bending her knees, she squatted, scanning the entire floor. Behind the toilet, her little pink bag peeked at her. She leaned over and scooped it up; even though it was open, most of the contents were still in it. Eyeshadow. Eyeliner. Foundation. Blush. Lipstick.
“Thank God,” she breathed. Her pink lipstick was still there. Gently screwing off the top, it popped open, revealing its secret compartment. The drive was safely nestled inside. She’d bought the little diversion safe on an online spy shop. Given a choice of soda cans, shaving cream and books, she’d decided on the lipstick. It was small enough that she could easily transport it, but easily concealed, especially among a collection of lipstick tubes.
Pressing it into her pocket, she exited the bathroom and went to her closet to pack a bag. After collecting some casual clothes, underwear and shoes, she unlocked the door. Luckily, she had a small bag she kept for traveling which was already stocked with toothbrush, baby powder, razor and other convenience items. With a sigh, she took once last glance at the mess that used to be her room and shut the door.
They rode in silence on the way back to Tristan’s condo. Tristan and Logan had both heard the lock click as she went to retrieve her things. Why did she feel the need to lock a door unless she was doing something in secret? Something she didn’t want them to know about? She hadn’t changed her clothes and was barely gone for ten minutes. What was she hiding? A nagging pull at Tristan’s gut reminded him that she hadn’t been entirely truthful. The feeling of distrust was confirmed when she refused to look him in the eyes after they left the building. It also didn’t help that he could not stop wondering about the way the wolves had torn apart her place. Sure, they could have done it out of spite, but more likely they’d been searching for something. And if that was true, then Kalli was involved up to her eyeballs in trouble.
As the elevator ascended, Tristan decided he needed a break from her. He was angry she wasn’t telling him everything. If he stayed with her, he was either going to force her to tell him what the hell was going on or take her up against the wall again. While both were feasible options, neither seemed like the right thing to do. He needed space. Time to think and get his head together. Tristan really didn’t want to leave her alone with another man, but even he had his limits.
When they got to his floor, he addressed Logan, ignoring Kalli completely. “I need you to stay here with Kalli for a few hours, okay? I’m goin’ up to my office to do some work and then may go for a ride or hit the gym. If you need me, text me.”
“No problem. Take your time,” Logan replied, sensing the tension. His Alpha looked like he was about to snap. And Kalli was running a close second.
Kalli said nothing as the elevator doors closed. She dropped her bag at the door, walked into the living room and fell back into an overstuffed lounge chair that faced the long wall of ceiling to floor windows. Throwing her head back, she put her hands over her eyes and blew out a big breath. She needed to tell them about CLI.
“Hey Doc. What’s going on? Wanna talk about it? I’m a good listener,” Logan offered, sitting on the sofa perpendicular from her.
Removing her hands, she stared out the windows. “I’ve gotta talk to Tristan about what happened today.”
“What happened with your boss or what happened to your apartment?”
“They were looking for something,” she stated flatly.
“Yeah, I assumed as much. Pretty sure Tristan already suspects that too.”
“They took something.” She bent over, placing her forearms on her knees and pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.
“You wanna tell me what it was?” he asked, biting his upper lip. He wished she’d just spill it.
“Yes. No. Okay, yes, but I have to tell Tristan first.” She sighed in frustration. “Tell me, Logan, did you ever have to tell somebody something? Something that was a really big secret? But by telling the secret, you’d be putting your own life at risk?”
He silently regarded her, well aware her life was already on the line. She was a smart woman and had to know how much danger she was in; she had agreed to stay with Tristan after all. What the hell did she know that would put her in even more danger? Whatever it was, he could tell it wasn’t going to be good.
“Here’s the thing, Kalli. In Lyceum Wolves, we’re pack. Lies don’t fly too well here. And yes, I’ve kept things to myself on occasion.” He didn’t want to mention his visions to her yet. “But I can’t say it put my life in danger. If my life were in danger, my pack would be behind me, so I wouldn’t keep the secret.”
“How well do you know Tristan?”
“Like a brother. Hell, I know him as well as I know myself.”
“So what’s he really like?”
“He’s badass,” he boasted smiling. “Has more confidence than I’ve ever seen
in a wolf, but it’s well deserved. He’s extraordinarily powerful, both physically and mentally. Fierce in battle and loyal as the day is long. And here’s something you’d do well to remember; at the end of the day, he’s fair. I’d even go as far as to say that he’s caring.”
“You love him, don’t you?” she blurted out.
“Well now, aren’t you the inquisitive one? Come on, Doc. Of course I love him. I’m his second. We’re best friends and do almost everything together. It’s our way,” he revealed thoughtfully.
“Wolves?” she questioned.
“Yeah. I mean, sure, there’re fights within the pack every now and then, but we live to support each other. It’s how it’s meant to be. The communal love and devotion, it’s in our nature and whatnot. Kind of hard to explain to someone who’s human, but I’m sure you feel it a little. Right?” He wanted to tell her she was Tristan’s mate, but it wasn’t his place. They needed to find their way to each other via their own journey.
“Yeah, but what about the brutality? You know, the forced breedings and matings? The fights for dominance? That’s not so loving,” she remarked directly, remembering her life in South Carolina.
“Hold on there, Doc. That’s old school shit and I can assure you that it doesn’t happen around here. Now, it could be part of the reason we’re about to have a territory war, who knows? I can tell you that Tristan and Marcel don’t schlep out our females like prostitutes. They make their own decisions about mating when they’re damn ready. As for the violence, put a group of human men together and you’ll see what happens isn’t too much different than around here. But I’ll guarantee you won’t see any ‘brutality’ as you so delicately put it.” Logan narrowed his eyes on Kalli. Where the hell was she coming up with these things? Sure, brutality was common long ago, but things had changed, in most packs anyway.
“I’m sorry, Logan. I didn’t mean to insult you or the pack. I…I just have a different experience is all. I spent some time around wolves before…not here…it wasn’t pleasant,” she admitted.