Protecting Ally Read online

  Table of Contents

  Protecting Ally (Shifters of Wolf Lake)

  Protecting Ally

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  About the Author

  Mating Kendra

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Working as a hotel maid had never seemed like a bad thing—at least, not until a lunatic bursts into the room Ally is cleaning and injects her with a serum that will change her life forever. Can she overcome the fact that she might never be able to go home?

  When confirmed bachelor Kalen sees Ally on the hotel bed face down, he thinks she’s dead...until she bites him. Are these strange feelings he keeps getting because they now have a bite bond, or does he really want her in his life forever?

  Dear Reader,

  I got the idea for Kalen while writing Embracing Carly. Once I mentioned Carmen Tolbert’s brothers breaking Kyle’s legs, I knew they each had to have their own story—one that would keep them busy enough to leave Kyle alone as he searched for his own mate.

  If you have enjoyed reading about the Night Forest pack, you’ll be happy to know that there are many more books to come and other books in the series about other types of shifters, including tigers, panthers, bears and others who will introduce themselves in time.

  All of them live near Wolf Lake, because living in an area with other shifters, even if they aren’t of the same species, is better than risking life alone. There’s safety in numbers and all of that.

  This series is in the same universe as that of the Zolon Warriors and one of the Wolf Lake Shifters, who has been missing for a long, long time will return home, thanks to the efforts of the alien male tiger shifters in that series, but that’s another story...

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Protecting Ally: Shifters of Wolf Lake Book 3

  Copyright © 2012 & 2021 Tianna Xander

  Cover art by Misty Kitzul

  Except where otherwise noted, the images used for the cover image are available under CC licensing as detailed below. The image of the leather jacket man is © Shutterstock.com, used with permission, and is not part of CC licensing. The image of the moon is © Scott Veenstra Photography, used with permission, and is not part of CC licensing. CC licensed images used in the book cover art include the following: CC BY 2.0: Historic Property, BFS Man, https://www.flickr.com/photos/bfs_man/6591298717/, CC BY 2.0: Gray Wolf, USFWS Midwest Region, https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest/6545954933/

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Tianna Xander

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  www.tiannaxander.com

  Protecting Ally

  Shifters of Wolf Lake Book 3

  Extended edition

  By

  Tianna Xander

  Chapter One

  The door banged open, crashing against the wall, and Ally spun around, her hands held against her chest. Her heart slammed against her ribs at the facial expression of the man in the doorway. The dust rag she held in her hands fell to the floor, forgotten as two angry-looking men stalked into the room.

  “What are you doing in here?” the older, balding man snarled. He bared his crooked teeth, his body shaking with anger. An air of menace surrounded him as he approached her. All Ally could think about was how his sexy English accent and deep voice didn’t match how foolish he looked with those horrible teeth and his mousy brown hair in that ridiculous comb-over.

  Why did men, especially rather rotund men, with pasty complexions and potbellies, think comb-overs made them look good? In Ally’s opinion, what it did do was make them look foolish. She refrained from telling him that, however. He looked angry enough already, though what he had to be mad about was anyone’s guess.

  “I’m cleaning your room, sir. I’m the maid.” Her cleaning cart was outside the door. Was the man dense, as well as blind? Now that her shock had worn off, she was back to her old snarky self and just a bit angry at the man’s overbearing attitude.

  Who did he think he was, banging in here and scaring her half-to-death? If she’d planned to do anything underhanded, she sure wouldn’t have left the door propped open with her cleaning bucket.

  “No.” He scowled at her, his splotchy face getting redder by the minute. “What I think you are, is a spy, missy. I left the do not disturb sign on the door for a reason.” His comb-over fell into his face and he shook his age-spotted head as he dug through a drawer. “Pack our things, Martin. It looks like we’ll be leaving today after all.” Having evidently found what he had been searching for, he turned back to Ally with a sneer. “This will teach you to snoop in rooms with the do-not-disturb sign on the door.”

  “There wasn’t a sign on the door, sir. Perhaps you forgot to hang it before you left.”

  “I never forget to hang that sign. I never ask for maid service in hotels. Never.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Well?”

  For the first time, she noticed the guy who stood just inside the door near the man with the combover. He was big. Bouncer big. He also looked mean. He wore his dark hair cut short in a military-style, high-and-tight. An ugly scar on his right cheek ran from his eyebrow down to just below his ear, though he could have been handsome if it hadn’t been for the cruel set of his mouth and his narrowed eyes.

  He looked like a mercenary even in the khaki slacks and button-down shirt he wore. No amount of expensive clothing could change the air of menace surrounding him. Whoever these people were, they obviously weren’t working within the law and they thought she’d found them out.

  “There was no sign on the door, sir. I swear.” She shook her head and moved back as the older man headed toward her with a syringe. At that moment, Ally knew she was about to die.

  Gone were her dreams of a home and family of her own. Gone was the possibility of meeting Mr. Right and having two point five kids and living happily ever after.

  “Don’t think I believe that you didn’t read my papers.” Mr. Combover flicked a glance over to the pile of folders on the table that she had barely glanced at earlier. “I wish I could believe you, but I can’t take that chance.” />
  Why do people always think the hotel maid has the time to snoop? She had sixteen rooms to clean in an eight-hour day. If she didn’t hustle, she wouldn’t get her work done. Not finishing on time ended in a write-up and a disciplinary action in her record. She couldn’t afford that. She needed this job.

  Ally looked around the room for a weapon. There was nothing within reach. The motel management had bolted down the lamp on the desk to deter theft and the phone was out of her reach on the nightstand next to the bed.

  “Get over here and help me, Martin.”

  Ally wasn’t sure if that was the big man’s first name or his last and she wasn’t sure she cared. He was about to become an accomplice to whatever Mr. Combover had planned for her.

  “Yes, Doctor Thornton.”

  Doctor? That man was a doctor? From where she stood, he looked more like an escapee from an insane asylum. A good portion of his mousey-brown comb-over stood up on the top of his head, his wrinkled navy-blue suit looked like he’d slept in it, and the crazy look in his eyes told Ally she didn’t have long to live.

  She wanted to cry. Not one of the things on her bucket list would get scratched off. Hell, she hadn’t even made love with a man, the huge mistake in Brian Culver’s backseat when she was a teenager notwithstanding.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear!” She continued to move away from the man until she found herself backed up against the wall, trapped with nowhere to go.

  The man shrugged. She refused to believe a real doctor would act this way. What kind of doctor killed people for cleaning their motel room? Moreover, what kind of real doctor stayed in cheap motels?

  “It doesn’t matter, now. You’ve seen Martin and me and you know our names. There are only two things that will keep you from going to the authorities. One is death.” He held up the syringe and smiled. “This is the other.” He turned to the other man who must have been his assistant, since the guy seemed to jump every time the doctor spoke. “Get her and hold her down.”

  Ally made a break for it. Deep down, she knew she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of making it to the door, but she had to try. Leaping over the bed, she dove for the door.

  Martin grabbed her braided hair from behind and yanked her backward. She screamed at the pain. It felt as though he’d pulled out her hair by the roots all at once.

  She could hear her neighbor, Milly Jenkins’, voice in her head chastising her. You see. Didn’t I tell you that women who wear ponytails are more likely to get attacked? I saw it on the news. They even interviewed convicted rapists. They stalk women with ponytails and buns. They said it gives them something to grab onto.

  Now wasn’t the time to call Milly and tell her she was right. Though she wished she could tell her and scream for help while she was at it.

  Ally didn’t think these men were going to rape her. In fact, she was certain the syringe contained some sort of lethal overdose. The authorities would find drugs in her system and everyone would think she was an addict. She screamed for all she was worth, but it was only for a couple of seconds. Martin clamped his hand over her mouth while he yanked her head back by her hair and pushed her face down onto the bed. Please don’t rape me. Please don’t rape me. She thought she chanted that in her mind until the crazy man who called himself a doctor snarled.

  “We aren’t going to ravish you, you stupid girl.” He laughed a strange, high-pitched maniacal snicker that made Ally’s skin crawl. “Just a little pinch,” he said with a giggle before he jabbed the needle deep into her upper arm.

  Ally screamed for all she was worth, but it did little good with her face pressed into the bed. Whatever it was they’d injected her with burned like acid as it penetrated her flesh. She couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything beyond thinking of how much it hurt. Martin lifted his weight off her and she tried to sit up, but she couldn’t. The pain was just too intense. For some reason, she didn’t even have the strength to turn over onto her side.

  “Get our things packed, Martin. She isn’t going anywhere. The sedative should be taking effect any moment now.”

  So that was why she couldn’t move. At least if she had to die, it seemed like it was going to be quick, if not painless. That was a good thing, wasn’t it? She drifted in and out while they continued to gather their things.

  “We can’t leave her here.”

  Ally wasn’t sure, but she thought it was Martin who had said that. She could only see two blurred shapes as they stood next to the bed talking about her as though she wasn’t there.

  “Of course, we can. If they’re following us, which I have reason to believe they are, having to take care of her will be a priority for them. When they find her—and they will—they’ll have to deal with her. It will slow them down and give us time to increase our lead. I always listen to my gut. It’s saved me more times than I can count. We leave her here for them to find and get moving. It will give us some much-needed time to escape.” The doctor chuckled. “And if they don’t find her and she goes to the police, when they check her blood there will be a media frenzy like you wouldn’t believe to help cover our trail. Either way, we’re home free at the next lab.”

  Ally didn’t hear much after that. The two figures moved around the room packing up. After a few moments, she closed her eyes and lost awareness of them. Besides, she was just too darned tired to care. All she wanted to do was sleep.

  Chapter Two

  “They’re gone. The scent left behind is at least four hours old.” Kalen checked his watch as they stood outside the motel room. “It’s two hours past checkout time. I doubt their stuff is still inside. We’re getting closer, so we should just keep moving.” Kalen looked at Bastien Sinclair, the official healer of their pack and owner of the multi-billion-dollar corporation, Loup-Tech, with a shake of his head. “I don’t know why you want this asshole to bother picking the lock. They’ll have left nothing, as usual.”

  He pushed the maid’s cart out of the way as he moved to join the others. Why were the maids always blocking doors with the damned things?

  Kalen couldn’t wait to catch the crazy scientist who insisted on changing soldiers into shifters. Sure, their species was a dying one, but they wanted to choose who they added to their ranks.

  Soldiers and mercenaries were on part of the list they had cut out and burned. The last thing they needed was a bunch of gung-ho soldier-types with ego trips mucking things up and getting them noticed. Not that it mattered much anymore. If the government knew about them, it was only a matter of time before they started trying to round them up like cattle.

  Pacing, Kalen ran his fingers through his hair as he watched Kyle Ward pick the lock. It didn’t help that he didn’t like the other man either. He would rather be on the road with anyone else but a mated pair and that piece of shit, Kyle. He didn’t add in the others because he didn’t know them well enough to form an opinion either way.

  His only other worry was the fact that there was a set of human twins with them. What stake the retired Army Rangers—the MacDonald brothers—had in all this, he had no idea. And he didn’t care.

  He only wanted to make sure the Rangers didn’t get them all killed. They might be trained soldiers, but shifters knew when to follow orders and when to tell the general to fuck off and die. From what he could see, the MacDonald brothers were order takers, plain and simple.

  “Damn it all to hell,” Kyle said as he looked back. “Get over it, Kalen. I slept with your sister. She’s a consenting adult. It’s not as though I coerced her.”

  “Shut up, you waste of fur, before I break your legs again.” He growled a warning. “Just because I agreed to work with you, doesn’t mean I like you.” He growled at the other man he’d just as soon skin and stuff as to work with. “Just shut up and pick the fucking lock.”

  Still on his knees, Kyle shook his head, then grinned when the lock snicked, and the door opened. “Technically I wasn’t picking the lock. It’s electronic.”

  �
�Whatever.” Kalen glanced over at Bastien. “Can I kill him now?” He would have added an exaggerated please to that, but Kalen didn’t beg anyone.

  Bastien chuckled. “I know there’s no love lost between you two, but you can’t fight forever.” He turned to the men who had come as protection. They all carried concealed weapons and held themselves at the ready.

  “Okay, Randy. It’s your call.” Bastien always deferred to the well-trained humans as though they were the heads of his security, though Kalen knew that honor went to Bastien’s friend, Dimitri, a Russian immigrant who had married the MacDonald twins’ sister, Charity.

  Randy Macdonald stepped forward along with his twin brother, Cameron. They drew their weapons as they quietly entered the room.

  “You’re going to want to see this, boss,” Randy called from near the bed.

  Kalen followed Bastien into the room. Nothing that had happened recently had prepared him to see a dead woman on the bed. “Well, hell. What are we going to do about this?” The woman lay face down, her rich brown hair spilled around her head like sable silk. It was as though she was asleep. Yet, she was too still.

  Randy reached down to feel for a pulse. “She’s still alive. It looks like someone has drugged her.” He pointed at a nasty-looking red spot on her upper arm. “They injected her with something. Anyone care to guess what it was?”

  The twins holstered their weapons against their sides and searched the room. “Man, am I glad you let us join you on this.”

  Me, too,” Cameron agreed. “The only way it would be better is if they had some of that serum to give to us. I’d change in a heartbeat if it meant being able to protect Chas better.”

  Randy snorted. “You just want to do it because you think it’s cool.”

  “Well, there is that,” Cam said with a shrug. “The only thing I can think of that would be cooler than watching these guys change is doing it myself.”