Awakened Animals (A Shifter Novel Book 15)

by Jaden Sinclair

  “All right,” Stray said, nodding. “Let me get dressed and let Vesper know. She might want to come with us.”

  “Fine, I don’t care. Just hurry.”

  “I was wondering when you were going to come and see me.” Kurt Stockton smiled big and had his arms out for Kaley as she walked up to him on his front porch.

  Kurt happened to be the same height and build as Mika, which might explain why she was drawn to him. As to having that pull she’d heard about—not so much.

  Kaley let Kurt embrace her and kiss her on the cheek. With his arm still around her, they walked through the house to the back, toward the party that he called her about—one that looked like it was in full swing and many people were already drunk.

  As they walked, Kaley started to rethink coming here. After they all woke up from the binge-movie night, she found that she couldn’t go back to sleep. Her mind refused to shut down then Kurt called. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Now—well, it didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do.

  A drink was placed in her hand, and Kurt kept his arm around her. She smiled at people she somewhat knew, drank, and stayed with Kurt while he talked to his friends, keeping her close. When one drink was gone, it was replaced, and another. Soon she lost count of how many she had and was starting to feel the effects.

  Kaley lost herself in the drinks, like she had so many times before. The music in the background started to put her in a trance, one that she didn’t mind. Hell, the party seemed to finally be doing what she wanted it to do—make her forget about all of her problems.

  Downing yet another drink, Kurt then pulled her away from the people. Faces became blurry, talking and other sounds disoriented and muffled. And with yet one more drink in hand, the room started to spin and she found she couldn’t stand on her own.

  “What’s happening?” she asked, the glass falling from her hand to the ground. She heard it shatter and thought she was falling but Kurt was there, helping her.

  “You’ve had too much to drink.”

  “But…but…I’ve never felt like this before,” she breathed out, reaching up to touch her face. Only when her hand touched her eye did she stop. It looked like there were two of everything. “Did…did you give me something?”

  “Come on.” Kurt practically held her up off her feet. “You’re about to pass out.”

  “Then you better call Mika,” she slurred. “He’s going to be pissed.”

  “I think I can take care of you.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Haven’t I always been there to take care of you?”

  “I-I want to go home,” she breathed out right before she felt herself falling again.

  It felt like she was flying. Kaley couldn’t keep her eyes open, and she didn’t have the strength to walk away. She felt herself moving, felt arms under her—holding her—but couldn’t do a thing about it. Then it stopped. The moving stopped, she could hear muffled sounds and then her body shifting. Opening her eyes, she saw that Kurt no longer had ahold of her, but Mika did.

  “Mika,” she breathed out, then all went dark.

  When Kaley was able to open her eyes again, she saw herself lying in the back of a moving truck. She bounced with it and saw the night sky flash by quickly. She wanted to ask where she was going, but couldn’t and ended up just closing her eyes again.

  Later, opening them up, she felt herself being carried once more. It took several blinks before she got her eyes to focus on the one who was carrying her. Mika. The concern mixed with anger on his face confused her. Just like she didn’t understand why he was carrying her since Kurt happened to be the last one she knew had ahold of her.

  Kaley half expected his hold to be hard and cold. What she felt was the opposite. Mika held her tight, close to his body as he walked into the house. Almost with a bit of tenderness even.

  A cold cloth touched her forehead, helping to clear her fogginess. Blinking again several times, her eyes focused on Mika who now sat on the side of the bed with his arm over her, holding the cloth in place.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, fighting to keep her eyes open and focus on him. “I keep messing up.”

  “Won’t argue with you there.”

  “Do you hate me?” she whispered at him.

  Mika left the cloth on her forehead and the back of his hand touched the side of her face. The tenderness had tears coming into her eyes.

  “No,” he breathed out.

  “You should.” The tears fell and he wiped them away. “You should hate me for everything I’ve done. For not telling you about her. About everything.”

  “I think you’re punishing yourself enough, don’t you?”

  “She hated me.” Kaley closed her eyes and licked her lips. “My own mother hated me. Lora was her favorite. I was her mistake.”

  “You weren’t a mistake, Kaley.”

  “Yes, I was.” She nodded, the tears now falling faster than he could wipe them away. She opened them and looked at him. “I heard my mother say it. Said I shouldn’t have been born. Lora was perfect. Lora was always perfect.” Unable to stand his tenderness she rolled over, giving him her back. “Then my father said the same thing. It should have been me, not her.”

  Mika’s hand touched her back and slowly started to rub in a comforting manner. “Kaley, your father was hurting just like everyone else. And when we hurt that bad, have that much pain in us, we say things we don’t mean.”

  “He meant it.”

  Things went quiet and then she felt the bed shift, felt him stretch out behind her, arms going around her. She couldn’t see much, thanks to whatever Kurt drugged her with. Add the tears, and Kaley just lost it.

  She turned back over and wrapped her arms around Mika’s head, holding tight and letting all the emotions out. She cried, pressing her face into his neck, and Mika just held her.

  “It’s all right, Kaley,” he said, a kiss landing on the top of her head “It’s going to be all right, I promise.”

  “You think he roofied her?” Stray asked Mika as soon as he came out of Kaley’s room. Stray waited in the hallway alone.

  “Yeah, I think he did. Fucking Stockton was carrying her into the house when I showed up. No doubt the bastard was planning on raping her or something.”

  “That sick fucker,” Stray growled. He rubbed his face, looking around, trying to think of what to say next.

  “Where’s Vesper?” Mika asked.

  “She and Margret went to town.”

  “Town?” With a frown Mika looked around. “What time is it?”

  “Almost six.”

  “Where the hell did the time go?”

  “Well, we did spend an hour hopping a few bars before stopping at Stockton’s place.”

  “True.” Mika avoided looking at Stray, which had Stray picking up on something.

  “Okay, give,” Stray said.

  “Give what?”

  “You’ve been acting very strangely, even for you. What’s going on?”

  Mika shook his head. “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Well, you have gone from a super hostile controlling dick to mellow and confused. A big one-eighty in my book. So how about you just spill it?”

  “That’s just it, Stray, I don’t know what to spill. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

  “We talking about you or her?’

  “Both.” Stray raised both eyebrows up at him and crossed his arms over his chest. “It bothers me how blind I was to all of this.” Mika motioned with his hand across the spacious hallway. “I mean, I looked around and I didn’t see nearly as many photos of Kaley growing up as I did Lora. I never saw them push Kaley aside when I was here. How could I have missed it?”

  “They wanted you to miss it.”

  Mika shook his head again. “No. I was blind and fucking stupid.”

  “Mika…”

  “I never felt the connection with Lora. I knew I didn’t, and didn’t give a shit. The few times I held her in my arms, man, there wa
s a coldness to it and I never saw that. Never felt it for Christ’s sake. I just held Kaley as she cried, which I think is the first time in maybe a year or so, and it felt so different.”

  “You mean it felt right.”

  Mika looked Stray right in the eye. “Yeah, it did.”

  “You stupid little bastard!” Jim Stockton slapped his son so hard across the face that Kurt flew out of the chair he was sitting in. The few servants that were leaving the house since Jim came home early stopped to look at the scene before them. “Get out!” he yelled at them. They jumped and ran from the room. “Your stupidity can cost you your life, do you understand that?”

  “What can he do? He’s nothing,” Kurt said back, not getting up from the floor.

  “He can do plenty!” Jim snapped back. “He is the head of that household.”

  “He is nothing!” Kurt spit a small amount of blood out and got back up on his feet. “She will be mine by the full moon.”

  “You stupid fool,” Jim sneered, shaking his head. “It is already done. She belongs to him, not to you.” Jim turned his back and started to walk away. Kurt followed.

  “Father, she is still untouched,” Kurt called out, trying to keep up.

  “Says who?”

  “I know it for a fact.” Jim stopped but didn’t look back. “No scent is upon her. He has not mated her.”

  “You are so fucking stupid if you think that taking her will make it right with your brother.” Jim looked over his shoulder at Kurt. “He is gone, never to come back. Nothing you do will change that.”

  “No, but taking her and all she has will make it right.”

  “He is dead, Kurt!” Jim yelled. “He hung himself right after Lora’s funeral. He’s not coming back!” Jim turned the rest of the way around and rushed up, taking Kurt’s face in his hands. “This need to get even with that family is eating you up.”

  “I will only give it up once that bitch is under me and baring my mark.”

  Jim’s eyes narrowed, he shook his head then shoved Kurt away. “That thinking is going to get you killed, just like your brother.”

  “No,” Kurt said and smiled. “This thinking is going to kill that bastard Mika and bring the bitch to heel.”

  Mika walked out of Kaley’s room, worried. He went back in to check on her and found her hot, burning with a fever. He didn’t understand, didn’t know what could be wrong with her or what to do.

  “Stray!” Mika called out, going down the stairs as fast as he could. “Stray!”

  “Yeah,” Stray answered, coming out from the kitchen, phone in hand.

  “Where’s Margret?” Mika asked.

  “That’s what I’m trying to find out. I’ve been calling hers and Vesper’s phone. Nothing.” Stray sighed. “I’m starting to get worried. They should be back by now.”

  “I need Margret.” Mika looked around the room, rubbing the back of his neck. “Something isn’t right with Kaley.”

  “Hasn’t she woken up yet?”

  “No, and she’s burning up. Don’t know what the hell that fucking dickhead Stockton gave her.” Mika thought about it for a moment, then said, “You need to go and see if you find them. I don’t like this either.”

  “Yeah, it’s not like Margret to not check in.”

  “I’ll stay here with Kaley. You call me the second you find them. And if this damn fever doesn’t break soon, then I’m going to take her to the hospital.”

  “Gotcha.”

  They parted, Mika going back up the stairs. Again, he went into Kaley’s room. She didn’t move from the bed at all. He sat on the side of the bed and touched her forehead. Still hot, and there was something else in the air he just couldn’t put his finger on.

  He got up, went to her bathroom, and wet a washcloth. Back to the bed he headed, sat down and wiped her face, wishing like hell she’d wake up.

  “Come on, Kaley,” he said. “Time to wake up and give me some hell.” No response. “Damn it, Kaley, what is going on with you?”

  Mika kept wiping her face until the cloth got hot. Bending over he kissed her on the forehead, then tucked her in and left the room. He went back to his room and looked at the cell phone. No message from Stray, something else that had him worried.

  His gut screamed that things were not right. He wanted to go out and help Stray find Vesper and Margret, but he couldn’t walk away from Kaley either.

  Sliding the phone into his pocket, Mika left the room and headed down. Maybe food might help Kaley. Maybe she just needed something in her stomach to fight out whatever the shit Kurt gave her.

  Kaley woke to this burning pain throughout her body. She was on fire! Pain that shouldn’t be there—not this month or even the next for that matter—hit, and it stole her breath. She flung the blankets from her body and rolled from the bed, landing on the floor. As fast as she could she stripped off all the clothes before another wave of pain hit. And when it did she doubled over on the floor, holding her stomach, holding in the cry that threatened to slip from her lips. It took several minutes before she could move, and when she did she grabbed her robe from the foot of the bed and slipped into it as she worked her way to the door.

  She needed help and she needed it now!

  “Mar—Margret?” Kaley stumbled out of her bedroom and almost fell to the floor. Sweat covered her face and another wave of pain started.

  Her cycle!

  Shit!

  And it isn’t even close to a full moon—fuck!

  She shouldn’t be having it. She never had them this close together. They always came three months apart since she had more human in her than shifter. So why the hell was it happening now?

  The house happened to be very quiet, thank God. But she also wondered what the hell she was going to do. Margret had her shot. Where the hell was Margret?

  Her robe irritated her flesh and each step she took seemed to cause her damned clit to throb painfully. Need hit hard like a punch in the gut, knocking her to the ground and stealing her breath away. She never had to experience it like this. Ever! Whenever it started in the past, when she began to feel it coming on, she took the shot and slept through it all. Without Margret here, or the shot, she didn’t know what she was going to do. She couldn’t get through this.

  “Fuck,” she groaned, covering her face and trying to keep her shit together.

  The waves that hit came fast and hard. She couldn’t pull herself up from the floor. Couldn’t get herself back into her room and even down the stairs to find the shot for that matter. She was hit with this need that refused to let her go for even a moment to catch her breath.

  “Kaley?”

  Mika’s voice seemed to trigger another wave as well, yet calmed her. She closed her eyes, fighting it, and wishing like hell she could just crawl into a hole and die.

  Mika came up the stairs in a hurry. His scent carried with him, wrapping around her like a lovers’ arms around her body. Kaley couldn’t suppress the moan that slipped from her lips or hold back the tiny orgasm that hit without warning.

  “Jesus,” Mika breathed out, dropping to his knees before her. “Your…your cycle?” He reached for her and she jumped back, falling right on her ass.

  “Don’t,” she said, panting, trying to scoot herself further away, not giving a damn that the robe opened and one breast was exposed. “Don’t…touch…me.”

  She met the look in his eyes, and the way he stilled, the way his eyes changed and his nose flared…she also knew Mother Nature was taking all the choices right out of their hands.

  Somehow, Kaley managed to get up on her feet and rush back to her room, closing the door and hoping he wouldn’t follow her. No such luck. She managed to get to the foot of her bed and had just sat down when the door opened and Mika came in. She stared at him and he closed the door behind himself, staring right back.

  Kaley shook her head. “You…you don’t want this,” she breathed out.

  She shook as they had the stare-off. She moaned when his head went up an
d his nose flared again, eyes not leaving hers. She knew without any doubt that he was sniffing the scent of her cycle. That provoked another shiver of raw excitement in her. But when he said nothing, the hands that she had dreamed about upon her body for so long pulled the shirt from his jeans and over the head. Kaley almost fell off the bed. All words of protest went away. Seeing his chest, the muscles, and the way his shoulders seemed to thicken had every damn nerve ending in her system screaming.

  Then he took a step forward.

  “Mika, please…” she panted. “Think. I’m…I’m begging you here.”

  Kaley’s mouth went dry as she watched him kick the shoes from his feet as he ambled toward her. She couldn’t say a damn word to stop him either. She managed to stand up when his hands went to the snap of his jeans, but one eyebrow came up from him and she sat right back down, gulping.

  The jeans came open, his fingers linked inside, and Mika stopped in the middle of her room, bending over and pushing them down his long muscled legs. She wanted to beg him to stop, beg him to hurry up. Hell, she just felt like begging.

  As he bent over, the jeans came off, socks next, and when Mika stood straight again she got her first full view of his whole body in all its masculine glory. He was tan, lean, and all-powerful with just a hint of softness. Another slam of raw need hit and Kaley tore her eyes from the glorious sight of his nakedness to bend over and moan with the pain. So lost in agony, she didn’t even hear or notice that Mika had come closer, until he was standing next to the bed, and his hard cock right at her eye level.

  Slowly, Kaley looked up his hard body to his face.

  “Take what you need,” he said low, with a husky sound in his voice.

  She opened her mouth, a tear fell down her cheek, and all she could do for a moment was shake before speaking. “Please. Can’t.” She had to swallow hard again. His scent was starting to drive her even more nuts. “You…you don’t…know what…you’re saying.” Talking was so damn hard.

  “Take what you need, or I’ll do it for you.” The intent look in his eyes had her stilling, and for a very short tense moment, everything stilled. The heat, the need, the burning desire, it all stilled, but only for a split second. “No more fighting. No more blaming. And no more you in the background. This is your time, your need. I’m giving myself to you, Kaley. Take me.” He breathed out slowly.