Protecting Ally

by Tianna Xander

  He pressed his lips against hers. Using the mental bond of their kind, he said, Do your best to make it look real or they’re apt to attack me. Right now, I think they’re confused.

  That shouldn’t take much. I don’t think either of them is too bright. Leaning back, she looked up at him, smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I should have listened to you, lover. I’m sorry.”

  But they scared you. Now, open your mouth and make it look like we are lovers, Kalen said, unsure whether he wanted to convince the men, or if he just wanted to taste her again. Something other than a desire to get out of this situation drove him to plunge his tongue into her mouth, especially after her lover comment. He had wanted nothing more than to throw her on the ground and sink himself into her warm and waiting flesh since she’d said it.

  She did as he bid. The moment their tongues met, he lost himself in their kiss. Nothing mattered but the woman in his arms. It was as though there was no one in the world but the two of them, standing in each other’s arms with their tongues tangled together and their bodies pressed close. He could feel how cold she was, and how scared, but mostly, he felt her arousal and it did nothing to help him keep his head.

  He brought his hands up over her back, his fingers gently massaging her shoulders as he ground his hips against hers. Kalen lost himself in the kiss as he shared his warmth with her, willing his body to warm hers even as they both put on the show of being lovers.

  If they kept this up for long, he had no doubt, at some point, it would no longer be a show. At that moment, every nerve ending seemed to reach for her. Every cell cried out to be close to this woman. It didn’t matter that he knew nothing about her. His cock along with the rest of his body seemed to have a mind of its own.

  With a jerk, she pulled back and looked up at him with wide eyes. She blinked several times, and it took a moment for her to play along. Then when she did, she could have won an award for the acting job.

  Her eyelids lowered and her bottom lip thrust out in a pout. “Not here, lover,” she said in a stage whisper as she slowly ran the tip of her finger down the center of his chest. “I do like a bit of privacy.”

  Kalen grinned down at her. Two can play that game, you little minx. He almost laughed out loud when her eyes widened to the size of dessert plates. He could tell by the nervous shifting of her eyes and the little crease that had formed between her brows, that she had finally realized she’d heard him in her mind and wondered how she had.

  Now that she no longer feared him, she recognized they were talking straight into each other’s minds. You can hear me because our kind have a... sort of community communication channel tapped into our thoughts. We can reach each other through a mental link if we are close enough.

  Then you can’t read minds?

  She appeared worried that he could, and he smiled. Only those tied through a blood bond, or a mating ceremony can do so. Though there are some legends that speak of mates who were so attuned to each other, they could read each other’s minds and fell in love almost as soon as they met.

  Also, if you think about it, we can regulate our temperature. Try to think about being warm.

  Hey there, mister,” tall and skinny said. “We found her. She’s ours.” He looked to the other man for confirmation of his claim.

  Kalen fought the urge to step back from the horrendous odor emanating from his mouth when he spoke.

  “No. You found my woman.” Kalen brought himself to his full height and flexed his muscles. He might not look like a man who could take on this pair, but his shifter genes gave him enhancements these two bumpkins didn’t have.

  He then turned his attention back to Ally. What’s your name? I can’t very well claim you if I don’t know your name.

  It’s Ally Morgan, she said with a sideways glance to the other two, but I told them my name is Alice. She shuddered. I couldn’t stand the thought that they would know my real name.

  Good thinking. He smiled at her and gave her a small wink before returning his attention back to the two men who were subtly attempting to gain positions that would give them the advantage in a fight. Little did they know, there was no advantage for an unarmed human when facing a wolf shifter. Kalen tucked her under his shoulder. If they attack me, I want you to run.

  I can’t do that. It’s my fault we’re in this situation. If I hadn’t panicked and jumped out of that van... She bit her lip. It’s just that I was so scared. How is this happening? People just don’t change into animals. She glanced down at his wrist and her eyes widened yet again. I bit you hard. I know I broke the skin. She reached down and took his wrist in her hand to examine it.

  The action only served to make the other men anxious. It was more than obvious they could see the prize they thought they had found slipping away and they wanted to keep her.

  “Just wait a minute, here,” the stockier one of the two complained. “She’s ours. We found her.”

  “I’m not a possession.” Ally scowled at the two men. “I appreciate the use of your jacket and your very...” she paused to clear her throat. “Very kind offer to let me spend the night with you, but now that my fiancé is here, I’m leaving with him.”

  “The hell you are,” short and thick said with a scowl.

  “You found a woman already claimed. She is under my protection. Surely, even you two should be able to see that we have a connection.” It was a good, damned thing they had their telepathy to fall back on. Otherwise, these guys would never have believed they knew each other.

  “It don’t matter, does it, Bobby?” the taller one asked.

  He didn’t seem too bright and appeared to defer to his brother’s judgment. They had to be brothers. They looked too much alike to be anything else.

  “No, Billy, it don’t matter. It don’t matter a bit.” Bobby spit tobacco juice toward Kalen’s feet.

  Kalen took it as the insult the other man intended for it to be and growled. He knew it sounded animalistic, and frankly, he no longer gave a shit. The longer he stood here with his arm around Ally, the more his instincts told him to protect her, to care for her and to get her to safety.

  Usually, he didn’t give females a second glance unless he was horny. This woman brought out something in him that he wasn’t sure he cared to examine too closely.

  This woman was mate material. His beast knew it. While he didn’t necessarily think mates were a bad thing, he just wasn’t ready to settle down himself.

  He glanced down at Ally and pressed his lips together. While he didn’t think he was ready to take a mate, he knew he wasn’t ready to see her with another male either, especially the stinky twins.

  The thought of her being mated to another almost made him snarl. She’s mine, dammit! Kalen paused at that. Where in the hell had that thought come from?

  “Come on then, you two. What are you waiting for?” Kalen held out his hand, his fingers beckoning them in an invitation for their attack.

  “I’m not waiting for a thing,” Bobby reached into the deep pocket of his overalls and pulled out a gun.” He pointed it at Kalen’s chest.

  “That was your first wrong move, mister.” Kalen let his animal rage take over.

  Ally screamed when she saw the gun leveled at his chest.

  “Run, Alice,” Kalen snarled over his shoulder just before Bobby pulled the trigger a split second too late to hit him in the heart.

  “Missing my heart was your second mistake.” Kalen grinned as he allowed his wolf to take over. His muzzle elongated, his teeth growing into that of his wolf as he rushed the man and knocked the gun from his hand. Partially changed, he was stronger than when in his human form.

  He took the large man by the shoulders and bit into his stinking neck. “You will never prey on someone weaker than yourself ever again. If you do, I will know about it and I will exact retribution.” His words came out muffled around the man’s neck, but he knew Bobby understood. Kalen released him and turned to Billy. He could hardly blame the other man for his broth
er’s form of leadership, but he couldn’t leave him untouched. If he did, Bobby could use the less intelligent Billy to carry out his perverted plans.

  Kalen reached for the other man and curled his lip as Billy wet his pants, his knees shaking and threatening to buckle. It was always this way with humans. They thought themselves invincible, on top of the food chain when armed. Take away their advantage and they became nothing better than mewling babes in search of their mother’s teat.

  Kalen drew Billy close, sank his teeth into the other man’s wrist and made their exchange. Now, he would know if these two were up to no good. He might not be close, and he might not be able to do much about it until he returned, but he would know, and the link would give him the power to direct their thoughts away from nefarious activity. The only way it wouldn’t work was if the two were too evil, too depraved, or too simple-minded to maintain a connection. He hoped that wasn’t the case.

  How far their two minds were gone would determine the amount of his control. If he couldn’t control them, they would have to send an extermination team back after the two men, or he’d have to kill them himself.

  The last thing he wanted was to see them on the news, talking about the wolfman who attacked them in the forest, and he would never kill them in front of Ally unless her life was in danger.

  He pushed Billy away and toward their cabin. “Go inside and wait for your brother.” When Billy turned to head for the structure, Kalen reached out and grabbed his arm, holding him in place. “From now on, you’re in charge. If Bobby wants to hurt someone or something other than killing an animal or fish for food for your table, you have the authority to stop him.”

  “Not likely,” Bobby snarled. “That’ll be the day when I listen to the likes of him!”

  With a smile, Kalen turned and pinned Bobby with a glare. “You will listen to him, Bobby.” He moved closer, allowing the other man to see the predatory glow in his eyes. “You will listen to your brother, or you will die.”

  The other man’s eyes widened, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he listened to Kalen’s instructions. Nodding, he turned and shuffled past them and into the house.

  “Let’s go. I’m not sure how strong my hold is on them and I don’t want to give them a chance to get their rifle loaded and come after us.”

  Ally squealed when Kalen picked her up and ran with her. “Put me down. I can run all by myself.” She wriggled in his arms, trying to get him to put her down. He almost dropped her a few times, she wriggled around so much.

  “I have no doubt that you can run all by yourself, but you aren’t wearing shoes.” Stopping, he closed his eyes for a minute, concentrated on the brothers, then shook his head with a sigh. He took off again at a faster pace. “They aren’t staying put. They’re coming after us. Stop wiggling, dammit. I can’t run as fast with you trying to make me drop you.”

  “I told you, I can run. I’ll ignore the sticks and stones biting into my feet.”

  “Why should you have to?” Kalen knew his expression showed her just how idiotic he thought her idea was as he glanced down at her for a moment, brow raised. “I can run just as fast holding you as you can run by yourself, perhaps faster.” She was a new turn, after all. Who knew how long it would take her to come into her full power?

  “I just don’t think it’s proper for you to carry me like this when I’m not wearing any pants.” She crossed her arms and thinned her lips, showing him she wasn’t pleased with his arbitrary ways.

  “Too bad, sister.” He grinned at her, just to get her to scowl again. It would probably piss her off, if she realized how cute he thought she looked when she turned it on him. “You should have thought of that before you jumped out of the van and started running through the woods with nothing more than a too small t-shirt and a lacy thong to wear.”

  He tried not to think about how delicious she looked and smelled in her sexy, almost nonexistent underwear. He couldn’t help but see the dark thatch of hair at the apex of her thighs through the lacy material. Not to mention the fact that her damned thong did nothing to cover up the delicious smelling aroma that came from her nearly naked body.

  “You’re nothing more than a brute,” she practically snarled as she glared at him.

  If she knew how much her anger turned him on, Kalen was certain she would have been appalled. She might even start being nicer. He shook his head with a grin. Nah. He didn’t want that.

  Chapter Seven

  Ally glared up at Kalen, her arms crossed in front of her breasts to hide her hard nipples that tented the thin material of his windbreaker. She hardly wanted the jerk to think she could be attracted to him. He was a highhanded, chauvinistic prick. Maybe chauvinistic was a good thing when she was barefoot in the woods, but it didn’t make her any less embarrassed that her rear end was pressed against his forearm... her almost bare rear end, among other parts of her nearly naked anatomy.

  “Um, seeing as we’re forced to be so intimate, do you think you might introduce yourself?” It amazed Ally at how fast he could run while carrying her. She was five-foot-eight and not a skinny miss. As much as she hated to admit it, the man could run faster than she could without carrying anything.

  “Kalen,” he replied without missing a beat.

  “I knew that much.” She frowned up at him.

  “How’s that?”

  “I heard the others call you that at the motel.”

  “Oh.” He offered no more information.

  “Is it going to kill you to tell me more about yourself, Kalen?” Well heck, the man wasn’t even out of breath. It made her sick. What was he, some kind of triathlete? “That’s an unusual name.”

  “Yeah, well, my mother loved the name Galen and when my brother and I were born, she wanted us to have names that rhymed.”

  “Oh, twins huh?”

  “No. I came along a couple of years later.” He shrugged, which was a feat considering he still held her in his arms while running full speed. He grinned. “I think she was on crack.”

  “I don’t think crack was around when you were born.” She bit her lip. “Was it?”

  “Definitely not, but she was on something.” He laughed.

  It amazed her that the man could run at top speed and still manage to carry on a perfectly normal-sounding conversation while doing so. He wasn’t even slightly out of breath.

  “So...” she licked her lips. Ally wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have heard him groan. “If I’m too heavy for you, you could always put me down. I think we’re far enough away that those two idiots won’t be able to catch up.”

  “They will if they use the four wheelers they had stashed under tarps behind the cabin.”

  “Crap.” So much for that idea. Ally shivered. The action probably only proved to Kalen that she needed him to carry her, if only to keep her feet off the cold ground. “It’ll be full-on dark in a few minutes. Why would they bother?”

  There was a long silence before he said, “I think you already know.”

  Yes, Ally was afraid she knew, and she didn’t like the idea. She shuddered at the thought of either of those two men laying one large and dirty paw on her. “It’s just my luck that the only two people out here when I needed help had to be smelly, mentally challenged criminal types.” She heaved a sigh and finally gave in to rest her head against his shoulder.

  “That’s it, sweetheart. Get some rest. I know shifting twice was rough on you and you’ll need all the energy you can muster when the change comes upon you again.”

  Ally wasn’t sure how she felt about this complete stranger holding her in his arms and calling her sweetheart, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Her insides began to ache and burn again, and she shook her head in denial.

  “Not again. Please, God. Not again. I can’t take it.” She moaned as another wave of pain overtook her.

  “Holy shit, Ally.” Kalen stopped to sit her on a large boulder and bent to peer into her eyes. “Take off your clothes.”

  �
��If you think I barely escaped Dumb and Dumber back there just so you could force yourself upon me, you’re out of your cotton-picking mind.” Crossing her arms, she glared up at him even though she felt like she was burning up from the inside out.

  Kalen cocked his head and grinned. “Darlin’, if I wanted to have my wicked way with you, that tiny bit of cotton and scrap of lace wouldn’t stop me. Take off your clothes so you won’t ruin them when you change. It’s a miracle you didn’t tear that tiny, almost non-existent excuse for underwear the first time you shifted.”

  “Oh!” Ally’s face burned at his comment. She hadn’t thought of that. “Turn around.” Just because Ally had decided that what he said made sense, didn’t mean she had to like it and it especially didn’t mean she would let him watch her get naked.

  Sighing, Ally stood and removed her clothes when he turned around, then folded them into a neat little bundle and hid her thong inside her shirt. She hated the thought that he would see her underwear and she resented the fact that he would have to carry it for her.

  Why in the world had she decided today was the day to wear the most impractical clothing she owned? One thing was certain, she thought as she glanced up at the sky. Someone up there must have thought she needed an attitude adjustment. Or they had a sick sense of humor, one or the other.

  “Are you done?”

  “Yes, but don’t turn around.” Ally clutched at her stomach. “I’m still not a dog.”

  Kalen shook his head. “You never were a dog. You were a wolf.”

  “A wolf?’ She felt her eyes go wide and looked down at her hands. Her fingers ached and her insides were on fire. She groaned, her body beginning to convulse. “Do me a favor, will you?”

  “What?” He started to turn around but stopped when she cried out.

  Ally immediately crossed one arm over her breasts and placed a hand over her crotch. “Don’t turn around. I’m naked!” Ally saw him grin as he once again turned away.

  “I can’t help you if I can’t touch you, sweetheart.”