by Kym Grosso
Placing his hands on her shoulders, he rubbed them gently. A small moan escaped her lips. “That’s it baby, relax. I want you to enjoy my gift.” With a final caress, he let his hands roam down her bare arms, never losing contact with her skin. When he reached her hands, he pulled them over to the fence and placed her palms on the cool iron bars. He proceeded to wrap each of her fingers around the metal until she fully grasped it.
Sliding his hands around her waist, he pressed his body against her until the hard bulge of his erection was nestled into the crease of her bottom. She released a small gasp at his delightful intrusion.
“Okay, Kalli. It’s time. You can do this. Your Alpha is with you. And you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you. You must trust me. Ready? One, two, three. Open your eyes. Now,” he demanded.
By the time her eyes flew open, she was so aroused she’d forgotten where she even was. With Tristan holding her waist, and her hands clasped to the bars, she let her fear go and gasped at the incredible sight. The city vista danced with lights to an orchestra of urban music. It was magnificent, like nothing she’d never experienced.
“Tristan, oh my God. It’s beautiful. Thank you,” she breathed, aware that she truly had been given a gift, one that she’d never have experienced if it weren’t for Tristan and the trust she put in him.
“What do you see Kalli?” he asked.
“Lights, buildings, shadows…” she wasn’t sure of what he meant.
“Yes, all that is true. But let me tell you what I see. I see my city, my wolves. I see my responsibility. And whether my wolves are up the mountains or in the city, they know they can trust me to lead them and protect them. And you Kalli, you can trust me too.”
“Yes, I know,” she moaned again. She trusted him. But part of her was done talking; she simply wanted this man. “I have to tell you. Tristan…my apartment. They took something. Something really important.”
“What, chére? What did they take?”
“Pills. My medicine. But I’m afraid… I need…I need…” She took one of her hands off the iron and reached behind her to touch his thigh.
Something in Tristan snapped. He knew he should keep up with her confession, but the feel of her warm hand on his thigh, mere inches from his hard arousal, flared his desire. His fingers slid under her stretchy cotton cami, until his hands were full with her soft breasts. He gently pinched her nipples, enjoying the feel of her tender, excited flesh.
Kalli released a loud breath at Tristan’s touch. The sweet sting sent a rush of desire to her core. Needing more, she wriggled backward, relishing the feel of his cock on her ass.
“Yes, please,” she begged.
“Ma chérie, what do you need? Tell me,” he whispered into her ear. As the word, ‘chérie’ left his lips, he briefly took note of what he’d called her. It was a term he’d reserved only for a girlfriend. Intellectually, he knew that she wasn’t, but his body disagreed.
“Please. Please touch me. I want you.”
She was begging for him to take her. At her admission, Tristan groaned. He swore his dick was going to tear through his zipper as it pulsed in exhilaration. He promised himself he wouldn’t make love to her without knowing everything, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get a small taste. While sprinkling small kisses behind her ear, he slipped his hand into her panties. Stroking his forefinger into her slick folds, he ground into her from behind. Damn, he felt as if was going to come in his pants like a teenager.
“Fuck Kalli, you are so wet for me,” he grunted. He slowly brushed her clit back and forth, loving the feel of her smooth skin.
“Tristan, yes,” she cried. The touch on her bundle of nerves sent chills through her body; she could feel the precipice of her orgasm within reach. She didn’t want to come so quickly but she could no longer control her own body. He was powerful and sexual and Alpha. And she wanted all of him.
He was teasing her, circling her nub then backing off. Reaching down further, he finally plunged two long fingers into her hot sheath, thumbing her clit. “Ah, that’s it, baby. Take my hand. You are so damn tight.”
She was panting hard. The city lights flashed in the sky, horns beeped. As soon as he penetrated her, Kalli’s body exploded as the wave of a release crashed over her. She shook in orgasm, while he supported her body with his arm, clutched her waist.
“Tristan, yes!” She screamed, unable and unwilling to restrain her emotion.
“Ma chérie, you’re so beautiful when you come,” he crooned as he spun her around to face him.
Without giving her a chance to recover, Tristan quickly kissed her. It was a hard, forceful kiss that let Kalli know that he was her Alpha. She responded in kind by hugging her arms around his neck and jumped to wrap her legs around his waist, while he supported her butt. Their lips sucked and bit, tongues dancing with each other. Kalli had officially lost control. Her wolf cried, begging to be released. This man was hers; she’d give up anything to be with him, even being human.
“Tristan.” A male voice called from inside.
“Ignore it,” Tristan growled as Kalli bared her neck to him. His wolf howled at the submission. He gently bit at her throat, alternately licking and kissing it.
“Tristan!” Logan yelled again. He stopped still, watching Tristan and Kalli on the balcony. Was she submitting to him? He wished he didn’t have to interrupt the intimate and very erotic sight of his Alpha at her neck, but he had no choice.
“Tristan,” he repeated softly as he approached them. He knew Tristan was far gone and his wolf would consider attacking him, given the interference.
“Go away, Logan. Not now,” Tristan ordered without turning around.
“Tristan, it’s Toby and Ryan. Something’s happened. We’ve got to go now.”
Chapter Thirteen
Tristan had hauled ass on his bike, knowing city traffic could be a bitch by car. In the rush, he’d forgotten his helmet, but took off anyway. He asked Logan to drive Kalli, so they’d be there shortly. But he couldn’t wait; nothing mattered, but the kids. He barreled into the Intensive Care Unit, seeking out a nurse.
“Ryan Pendleton. Toby Smith. Where are they?” Tristan more demanded than asked.
A young nurse peered up at him, while still typing into the computer. “I’ll be with you in one second,” she replied. After a few more key strokes, she looked up at him expectantly. “And you are?”
“Their father,” Tristan bit out angrily. Toby and Ryan should not be in the hospital. Wolves rarely ended up in a human hospital, given their extraordinary healing powers. Generally, most injuries could be healed with a shift. And in other cases, they paid witches who could help with healing spells.
The nurse eyed him over and came around the desk. “Come with me, please,” she instructed. “Their mother is already here.”
Tristan assumed she meant Julie, who he’d been advised was already at the hospital. As they walked down the hallway, he caught sight of Detective Tony Bianchi, talking with doctors and nurses. What was he doing here?
The nurse pointed on the left. “Here we are.”
“Ma’am, what’s his condition?” Tristan asked quietly. He could see through the long rectangular window, Ryan appeared unconscious.
“The doctor has explained his condition to your wife, um, their mother,” she corrected. “He came in with multiple gunshots. One in the leg. Another to his shoulder. The hits weren’t in vital areas, but he lost a considerable amount of blood. So we’re keeping an eye on him here for a while before transferring him down to Med-Surg.”
“And Toby?”
“Sir, I’m terribly sorry,” she said looking to her watch. “I’ll send the doctor down to speak with you as soon as she’s done with the detective. You go on in now….only two people at a time, okay? The doctor will be right with you, I promise.”
A surge of grief hit Tristan upon hearing her words. He’d been around long enough to know that the nurse was avoiding telling him that Toby was dead. As he p
ushed his power outward in search of the boy, there was nothing. His jaw tightened in anger. He wanted to force the nurse to tell him more, but through the glass, he could see Julie crying. She needed him. And so did Ryan. Goddammit, why hadn’t the boys just shifted?
Julie looked up through puffy eyes, tears still evident on her face. She rushed into his arms. “Alpha, thank God you’re here. The boys. Ryan, he’s better. But Toby. Oh God, Toby,” she cried. “They killed him. He’s dead.”
Hearing the actual words of Toby’s death felt like someone had shot him; his gut burned in grief. It wasn’t possible. How could he be dead? Both boys were like sons to him. He and Logan had unofficially adopted them when they were just pups, late teenagers really. They’d lost their parents in a territorial fight, and Tristan found them wandering the city streets. He took them into his pack, gave them shelter and food, sent them to school. The other mothers in the pack helped raised them. Pack was like that. It was everyone’s responsibility to help raise pups. A parent was never left short of support.
Tristan held Julie, hysterically crying in his arms. He stared at Ryan, praying to the Goddess that it wasn’t true. It didn’t make sense. Gunshots could seriously damage a wolf, but a shift would surely heal most wounds. It could take several shifts before they were truly back to normal functioning, but most wolves survived.
Filled with rage and sorrow, Tristan stoically shoved his emotions away. He’d deal with it later. Right now, his pack needed their Alpha. The calm in the storm, he’d guide them out of the pain.
“Julie, what happened to Toby? Have you talked with Ryan?” he inquired.
Wiping her tears, Julie sat down again next to Ryan and held his hand. “Toby was shot, multiple times. But I think they may have used a knife,” she cried; her voice wavered. “The doctor wouldn’t let me see him. Whatever it was, it was awful.”
Tristan moved to the other side of the bed, sat in a chair and took Ryan’s hand. He stopped and sniffed Ryan’s wrist.
“Did you smell it?” he questioned her with a firm voice.
“I know, Alpha. He smells…he smells…”
“Human.” Tristan finished her words as she nodded in confirmation. “What the hell happened? We both know he’s wolf.”
“He took something,” Julie replied. “Before you ask, I don’t know what it was. He was awake for like a minute and said they’d been at a college party all afternoon. He and Toby took something…a drug.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. I know my boys; they don’t take drugs.”
“I know. But what else could it be? Something had to do this to him.”
Tristan shook his head in confusion. None of it seemed real. Sensing Logan, he worried they would make it down to the room, given the rules. But then again, a little rule breaking was the least of their problems. Before he had a chance to ask Julie to go get Logan, both Logan and Kalli came into the room.
“Sorry we’re late. Traffic was a killer as usual. Had to sneak in here ’cause they said only two people were allowed, so I arranged for a distraction. What is going on with…” Logan’s words ended abruptly as he noticed it too. He rushed toward the bed and sniffed. “What’s wrong with Ryan? What did they give him? He smells…” Perplexed, Logan ran a hand over Ryan’s forehead in concern.
“Human. I know. We smell it too. Julie said he may have taken something,” Tristan added.
“Where’s Toby?”
“He didn’t make it. He’s gone.”
Logan stumbled toward a chair in shock. “No, no, no.”
Julie ran over to Logan and hugged him as they both wept openly.
Anxiety seized Kalli as she came to terms with what must have happened. There was no way in hell someone went from wolf to human without intervention; without CLI. Someone had taken her pills, and that same someone had given them to Tristan’s wolves. Someone took the CLI, and used it as a weapon just like she’d imagined in her worst nightmares. Her heart sank in guilt and anger. Like it or not, she had to confess.
“CLI. Canis Lupine Inhibitor,” Kalli whispered. “It’s why he smells human.”
Stunned, Tristan turned to Kalli. Did she just say she knew why Ryan scented human? How did she know this? Missing pills. On the balcony. She’d said that they took something from her apartment. His vision tunneled onto her, and for a few seconds, he felt as if he was seeing things through a kaleidoscope. Kalli was involved in Toby’s murder?
Before he realized what was happening, he’d sprung out of his seat, growling. Logan jumped in between them, holding up his hands. “Calm down, Tris. Just let her explain,” he pleaded.
“You knew about this?” Tristan accused Logan.
“No, I don’t know anything. But we need her help. She might be able to help him or at the very least, tell us what the hell is going on.”
“By all fucking means, Dr. Williams, which probably isn’t even your real name, explain away. I mean, one of our young wolves is dead. And Ryan, here, is apparently human. For once, I’d like the damn truth,” Tristan yelled at her.
Both Julie and Logan cringed slightly upon hearing his voice raised. Tristan was consistently calm, even during the most tense discussions or negotiations. But Toby’s death had sent him completely off the edge; he was boiling over in anger.
Kalli, unable to deal with the situation on a personal level, reverted back into her professional persona. The only way she could deal with violence or death was to compartmentalize the information, otherwise she’d simply break down in tears, especially knowing it was her formula that had caused this. She straightened her spine, readying to face the Alpha.
“I tried to tell you earlier, Tristan. You know I did. But we…we ended up, you know what happened,” Kalli insisted. “Can I look at Ryan? I mean, I need to see him to be sure.”
Tristan nodded furiously and gestured for her to move toward the bed. He was pissed at her, and he was pissed at himself for fooling around on the damn balcony. He should have pressed for all of the truth but instead, he was weak. He darted his eyes to Kalli, watching her grab a stethoscope off the wall. She inserted the ear tips and began pulling open Ryan’s hospital gown.
“I’m sorry Tristan. So sorry I didn’t tell you everything but I was scared. And now,” She looked down to Ryan. “Well, you wanted the truth? Here it is…the sad horrible truth. I told you that my parents died, but what I didn’t tell you was that I was pack. That’s right. My son of a bitch father was wolf, and my mother was human. And I was a lowly hybrid. Cross that. I was a lowly hybrid, who managed to survive abuse day after day. I was the hybrid that the great, almighty Alpha planned to utilize as concubine for the wolves who weren’t allowed to breed. I hated that pack and everyone in it. So I ran far and wide. Changed my identity. But it wasn’t enough. I needed to be human. Nothing else would do. They’d find me. Excuse me a minute.”
Kalli stopped to listen to Ryan’s heart. Then she picked up his wrist to listen to his pulse. Tristan and Logan stared at her in disbelief as she continued her confession. “I’ve been working on the formula ever since I was in grad school, but it wasn’t until two years ago that I perfected it. No more shifting during full moons, waking up alone naked in the woods. No more fear of being discovered and dragged back to that hellhole. For once in my life, I could just live quietly with my work and my animals.”
Kalli pushed the hair out of her face, and walked over to the other side of the bed. Her voice started to waver as tears brimmed her eyes. “And if I hadn’t gone for a walk that day, saved your damn snake, I’d still be living that way. But that wasn’t in the cards. The wolves I saw, they’re from my old pack; I recognized the faces. As for the pills, someone, I don’t know who, knows about my research. It’s what they were looking for. They took my spare pills, and it’s without a doubt what is running through this boy. But after looking at him, it appears that they didn’t give him a full dose. Maybe they slipped it in his drink and he didn’t drink it all?”
Kalli pulled the ophth
almoscope off the wall, lifted Ryan’s eyelids and examined him. “I’d say, from my experience of taking CLI, he should be able to shift in another two to four hours. It’s wearing off already. Whoever gave this to them knew what it was supposed to do. They probably were testing it, wanted to see if he could shift when injured, because that is exactly what this drug does, prevents shifting.” Kalli sighed, looking to the exit.
She’d had enough: enough lies, enough violence, enough of pack. But at least it was out in the open; they all knew. And even though she was terrified the wolves from her old pack would find her, the worst thing was how Tristan was looking at her; she couldn’t bear it. She feared that he’d never forgive her. Even though she hadn’t intentionally set out to hurt him or anyone in his pack, her creation had killed that boy. Sure, it kept her hidden from others who’d see her dead, but now someone out there was using it to kill wolves.
Feeling as if she was going to be sick, she made toward the door. She had to go. She didn’t belong here with Tristan or his wolves. After everything she’d told him, she wouldn’t be surprised if he loathed her.
Tristan balled his fists at his sides, reeling from her confession. She was a fucking wolf and hadn’t told him. He wanted to hate her, yet his wolf wouldn’t allow it. But his human side was enraged. He watched in astonishment as she tried to leave the room, without even discussing it. So not happening, Doctor.
“And where the hell do you think you’re going, Kalli? Is that even your real name?” he sneered.
“I told you that I had to change my identity. I had no choice. They’d find me. But just so you know, Kalli is my real name. Williams isn’t, but I’m still the same person inside. And for all intents and purposes, Dr. Williams is who I am,” she countered, stifling a sob.