Protecting Ally

by Tianna Xander

  As soon as the wild side of her scented her home, Ally took off at a run. She was working on the wolf’s pure instinct now. It smelled home and safety and she couldn’t have stopped herself from heading that way if she tried.

  But she didn’t try. The human part of her wholeheartedly agreed. Home was where she wanted to go, regardless of Kalen’s warnings. There was no way she wasn’t at least stopping by her house to pack a few of her things, and Kalen could take her extra set of keys and pick up her car since he could change at will. To hell with this walking nonsense. She was tired, darn it, and her new weird feet hurt.

  Chapter Ten

  Where the hell do you think you’re going? Kalen asked as he fell in beside her, and nudged her shoulder several times, trying to get her to turn around.

  Home, she replied, determined to ignore his attempts at changing their course.

  Ally kept running toward her house, no matter how hard he tried to get her to turn around. I swear I’m gonna bite you if you don’t stop that crap. She pushed him back and lifted her upper lip just enough to prove to him she meant what she said.

  Kalen laughed. You’ve done that already and I didn’t turn into a human or get rabies. I think I’m safe.

  Shut up, you jerk. I’m not diseased.

  I never said you were. Kalen chuckled. I was worried about turning into a full human, though. I like being a were. It’s fun.

  Not from where I’m standing, it’s not. Ally continued to run what must have been all out for her. The lower lids on her eyes began to droop as though she was getting worn out. I’m not stopping until I get home.

  Dammit, Ally. I told you—

  I don’t give a good damn. She did stop then, just to look at him, most likely so he could see that she meant what she said. Now look at what you’ve done. You’ve made me swear. I promised myself I’d clean up my language. It offends my neighbor when I swear. She was quiet for a moment, catching her breath. She looked back the way they had come, and her expression grew grim.

  Okay...I’ll go with you if I must, but I refuse to go without my things. I need my purse or at least my ID. I never go anywhere but work without it. And I need my car. I worked hard for that darned thing. I want it back. And I refuse to wear the same clothes day in and day out. I want to pack some clothes to take with me.

  Kalen relented with a sigh. If you insist, but remember, if there is anything off about your home, the way it looks, or smells, we’re not going near it.

  The only thing that would get him anywhere near her home if things seemed off, would be if the lunatics who changed her were trying to inject more humans. He couldn’t allow that, no matter how much he wanted to avoid getting her into a conflict.

  That’s fair, I suppose. She turned and continued on at a more sedate pace. I really don’t want to get captured by that nut. He’s already ruined my life. The last thing I want is for him to end it next time.

  That’s a good sign. At least you’re thinking about a future now, instead of wanting someone to kill you.

  I figured I’d give you the benefit of doubt since I can run out in front of a car anytime. Some jerks even aim for dogs.

  How many times do I have to tell you?

  I know. I know. I’m not a dog, Ally said with a laugh.

  Kalen stayed by her side as they walked for another two or three miles. When he heard Ally groan, he glanced over at her, worried. She looked distressed, rings of moisture surrounded her eyes, and she had started to pant.

  Please tell me we’re almost to your house.

  We are, she said on a groan, but I don’t think I can make it that far. It’s about another mile in this direction. She headed for a copse of trees to their right, her head hanging low.

  Run then.

  I—I can’t. Just after they reached the cover of the trees, Ally’s legs gave out and she fell to the ground with a grunt. At least I don’t have so far to fall in this form. I’d laugh about it, but it hurts too darned much.

  Kalen could almost feel her pain. It tingled just on the edge of his consciousness and he frowned. He shouldn’t be capable of feeling her pain, unless... He shook his head in denial.

  Still, he stared at Ally for a moment. He could do a lot worse. Ally was beautiful when she wasn’t being difficult. Hell, if he were being honest, she was beautiful even when she was being snarky. His cock stirred as he remembered what she looked like in her human form, naked.

  With an ease borne of repetition, Kalen pictured his human form, meticulously remembering what it felt like to be human, with two arms and legs, ten fingers and toes and his clean-shaven face.

  After a few moments, his bones popped and cracked, his organs reshaped themselves and he grew in stature until he towered over Ally as she lay on the ground still in her wolf form.

  Kneeling next to her, he smoothed the thick fur on the top of her head and rubbed her behind the ears. “Reach for it, Ally. Reach for your human side. Don’t fight it. It won’t hurt as much if your mind helps your body shift its shape.”

  You make it look so simple, so easy.

  “It is easy.” He continued to talk to her, unwilling to continue using the too-strong telepathic connection they had. He wanted to bring her out of her other form as quickly as possible to prove to her that she would have less pain if she would only stop fighting it.

  All right. Looking weary, her eyes met his, filled with a reluctant trust. I don’t like it, but I’ll try it, just this once. If you’re lying to me, I’m gonna kick you right in the golf balls when I’m human again.

  “Golf balls?” Kalen winced at the thought, then chuckled. “I guess it’s a good thing I’m telling you the truth, then, isn’t it?” He watched as she writhed on the ground, showing him just how much pain she went through during the change.

  “Remember, you must concentrate on your humanity.”

  I’m trying, dammit. It’s not easy concentrating on that. All I can think about is how much it hurts. She curled up, her nose touching her tail, and sighed.

  “Try to push the pain into the back of your mind.” He unhooked his carry bag and pulled their clothes out. “I wish I could help you, but our connection isn’t strong enough. If I could connect with you mind to mind better than I did before, I might be able to block some of your pain.”

  I think you probably can. Every once in a while, I’ve felt...something brush against the edges of my consciousness since I bit you and I’ve blocked it. As weird as this might sound, it feels like your thoughts brushing against mine. If I reach for you, will you try?

  Shit! Kalen would have shouted the word, but he didn’t want her to know what she’d said had upset him. There was no way for her to know it, but a more powerful link could only mean one thing.

  What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?

  Hell, if she could hear him when he didn’t want her to, it didn’t bode well for his freedom. Kalen immediately slammed a barrier down on his thoughts. Dammit! He didn’t want a human for a mate. Not after what his best friend had gone through.

  “No. You didn’t say anything to upset me.”

  He conveniently overlooked the fact that she was no longer human.

  Good. She groaned. Because if you’re going to help me, now would be the time. It’s getting to the point where I can’t bear it.

  With a sigh, Kalen lowered the barrier he had erected and reached for Ally’s mind. The pain hit him almost immediately, driving him to his knees.

  “Hell, Ally, no wonder you can barely think of anything else.” It was obvious now why she had begged him to kill her before. If he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn someone had lit him on fire.

  Taking a deep breath, he managed to help her block the pain. Even then, what remained was excruciating. With his mind linked to hers, blocking what he could of her agony he could feel every little bit of discomfort she endured.

  How strong was she that she managed to keep her irreverent sense of humor even while faced with the knowledge that s
he must repeatedly endure such horrendous torment?

  Turning his undivided attention to her, Kalen acknowledged that she was stronger than he’d first believed. Any man would be lucky to have a female like her for a mate.

  “I think we’ve done the best we can blocking the pain. Now, think of what it’s like to be human.” He waited a moment while she imagined her arms and legs, smooth legs, he noticed. He also noticed how she remembered her curvy body and the way she looked fresh from the shower with the water still beading on her smooth, unblemished flesh.

  His cock hardened at the thought. As much as he kept telling himself he didn’t want a mate, he wondered what it would be like to come home to this woman every afternoon, and to make love to her every night. His breathing grew shallow as he thought of their bodies pressed together, his lips against hers. What would it be like to sink his cock deep inside her, to suck those rose-tipped nipples?

  “You’re a pervert, Kalen,” Ally said as she curled up in a little ball her arms wrapped around her knees. “Did you think I couldn’t pick up on your thoughts while you were so tuned into mine?”

  Kalen pulled away and severed their mind link before he gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that. I think it was your image of yourself, fresh from the shower that did it.”

  “Ha! If I remember correctly, you got hard at my legs, you degenerate. Now, give me my clothes and turn around, please.”

  Kalen did as she asked. He didn’t need to watch her dress with the image of her naked still fresh in his mind. Hmm...maybe he was a degenerate.

  “I think it might have had something to do with the way you smell as well.” He grinned. “It could have been my thoughts that took you there, but you can’t deny the thought aroused you.”

  “Yes, I can,” she sniped as he listened to her pull his shirt over her head. “Okay. I’m as decent as I can get, I suppose. You can turn around now.”

  Kalen turned back to her, his slow perusal traveling up from her feet and pausing at her thighs for a moment as he wondered if they were as soft and creamy as they looked.

  “Hey, lothario, my face is up here,” Ally practically snarled as she waved her hands in his face.

  Pink cheeks were so becoming on her that Kalen couldn’t help but smile and wink. He loved watching her as she blushed when he did something outrageous. Maybe he’d do that more often.

  She might deny her feelings, but her blushes gave her away. No matter how much she verbally denied her attraction, Kalen knew she was just as drawn to him beneath that veneer of indifference.

  Even as she professed her abhorrence of his arousal, so did he sense hers whether she cared to admit it or not.

  Kalen allowed his inspection of her lush body to linger a bit longer before he raised his eyes to meet hers and smiled. It wasn’t the easy grin he gave to everyone during their monthly runs. The smile he gave Ally was the one he practiced in the mirror to catch the attention of any female he wanted. While he hated to admit it, because he knew he would only get razzed by his asshole of a brother when he did, he wanted this one.

  His wolf was impatient to feel her submission as he mated her. It seemed that, like it or not, Kalen had just lost the battle with his beast never to mate. He only hoped that, unlike George, he would survive it.

  “Let’s go.” Kalen held out his hand. “The sooner we get there and leave, the better off we’ll be.” Who knew what Richard Thornton had in mind? If she was lucky, he would forget about her, but Kalen doubted it.

  So far, nothing about Dr. Richard Thornton had been predictable. The lunatic was like an injured and hungry animal, traveling with no real destination in mind until he heard from his henchmen about a safe laboratory where he could again set up his cruel experiments.

  If Kalen and his friends had their way, that would never happen. In a perfect world, they would finally apprehend and eradicate the rabid doctor with extreme prejudice. As far as he was concerned, no one deserved it more.

  Ally stood looking at his proffered hand for a moment before biting her lip and gingerly resting her hand in his. He looked down into her beautiful violet eyes and wondered how long she would continue to push him away.

  Now that he had come to terms with the fact that she was his mate, whether he thought he would survive one or not, he planned to jump in with both feet and take their relationship wherever it would go.

  Apparently, Ally still didn’t want it to go anywhere. While the human half of Kalen might have been okay with that, his wolf demanded its mate. It had waited long enough and planned to claim her, come hell or high water.

  “Let’s try to keep out of sight, shall we?” He pulled her gently to the edge of the woods where they walked until he noticed her discomfort. Looking down, he cursed. “Why didn’t you remind me you had no shoes?” Bending, he swung her up in his arms, cradling her to his chest.

  “Because I knew you would do something like this, and I didn’t want you to feel obligated to be my taxi.” She crossed her arms and relaxed against his chest. “I can walk, you know.”

  “I know, but it causes you pain. You aren’t wearing shoes and there are thorns and sharp rocks around here, among other things.” He moved deeper into the woods, knowing now that as he carried her, her rear was exposed on the side toward the road. While he might like looking at her nicely rounded ass, it didn’t mean he wanted everyone driving by to get a free show.

  Kalen rolled his eyes at the thought. This was ridiculous. He was even acting jealous already. What was it about her that drew him to her so unerringly? Was there some mystical connection between mates as his mother once suggested, or was it merely coincidence that he’d met her now? Whatever it was, it stirred his wolf’s interest, causing his other half to insist on the claiming.

  No matter how much he had originally fought it, Kalen fell deeper and deeper under Ally’s spell the more he held her, scented her and merged his mind with hers.

  Clenching his jaw, he refused to give his beast any leeway. His wolf wanted its mate and demanded he take her here, now. Since he was in charge and not his wolf, he refused to be so base. Yet, there would come a time when he wouldn’t be able to control his other half if he didn’t either mate her soon, or leave her.

  One thing was certain. He wouldn’t leave her alone any time soon with the threat of Richard Thornton out there. Especially when the other man had the knowledge that if his serum had worked yet again, she was now a shifter and capable of giving him the cubs he so desperately craved.

  Chapter Eleven

  What was wrong with her? Ally stopped complaining and let Kalen carry her without a fuss. Maybe she was whining so much because her feet hurt, and she was just plain tired. Heck, she was fairly certain she had run thirty or so miles since she had jumped out of the van. After her long and frightening day, she wanted nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed, but she couldn’t.

  There was no doubt that her Neanderthal of an escort wouldn’t allow her to stay even one night in her own home. She knew she was being unfair. She could also understand his apprehension, but what if that crazy doctor never contacted her again? This would all have been for nothing. Still, she supposed he knew best. He did seem to have experience with this sort of thing.

  Apparently, keeping their existence a secret from humans was what he did for a living. Why exactly that was, was still a mystery to her, because she was sure he, or someone else, would spill the beans sooner or later.

  Still, it left her to wonder if they were always so willing to share information about themselves with others of their kind. Would it be possible for someone to infiltrate their pack or whatever and get information on them and then release it to the world?

  It wasn’t hard to guess that there weren’t very many of them. If there were, the crazy man who called himself a doctor wouldn’t have had to come up with a serum to breed his super soldiers. He wouldn’t have had to go any further than kidnapping a few were-beings to make them breed. Heck, he could even have harvested eggs a
nd sperm and bred them in test tubes. Why go to such a bother to inject and then kidnap people?

  She looked up at Kalen’s unreadable face. She didn’t know what it was, but something had changed about him when he had helped her shift her shape the last time. He had suddenly become more attentive or something. It was as though he couldn’t get the image of her naked out of his mind. Not that she had any more luck getting the memory of his naked body out of hers.

  Still, Kalen’s entire attitude about her had changed. Before, it had seemed as though he resented her presence and didn’t want to be around her. At first, he’d made her feel as though he thought her nothing more than a waste of time and skin.

  Now, though, he seemed almost nice. He paid special attention to her needs. She even noticed how he moved deeper into the woods when he lifted her into his arms. She had hoped he wouldn’t carry her so close to the edge of the woods with her butt hanging out from under his shirt the way it was, and he’d moved deeper into the trees and protected her modesty. Was that in deference to her, or was he just making sure no one could see either of them from the road?

  Either way, he was being nice, or they still had a mental connection. Whichever it was, he no longer treated her with the slight hint of rudeness he’d displayed almost from the start. Whatever it was, she decided she liked the more charming side of him.

  Maybe his lack of manners had something to do with the fact that she’d bitten him so hard in the motel room, but she doubted it. Heck, the wound had already healed over. How could he still be angry over something that had healed so quickly and left no trace?

  No. Something else bothered him and it had something to do with seeing her naked. Ally frowned. She knew she wasn’t perfect, but she’d never had a man get angry because he had seen her in her birthday suit. A few had gotten angry because she wouldn’t let them see her without her clothing, but in a crazy chauvinistic way, that was understandable, she supposed. This was not.