Kalen Read online

  It was strange how the facility was so empty. Perhaps the pureblood wasn’t here. Or perhaps the doctor just assumed, however incorrectly, that his secret here would never be discovered, or perhaps he thought one were didn’t warrant a larger contingent.

  They moved slowly down the hall until they reached a steel-reinforced door. Bastien and Merrick reached the door first. They looked at each other and shrugged. Reaching out Merrick rested his hand against the door then shook his head. It’s not hot and I don’t hear anything from the other side, but that doesn’t mean a thing.

  No it doesn’t, Bastien agreed. Perhaps we should open it.

  No! Do not open the door. It is booby trapped. You must know how to open it. The mental voice sounded weak. The warning did nothing but make them more determined to save the man on the other side.

  How far are you from the door?

  I am in a large laboratory. They have me in a caged cell on the other side of the room. I think I am about fifty feet from the door.

  Are you alone? Kalen asked to find out if they would endanger others if they did what he suspected they were about to do.

  Why are you even worried about others? Merrick asked with a scowl. If they’re here, they deserve whatever they get.

  Not if they have been coerced like most of the others who work for us have been.

  There is no need to argue. There is no one here with me. There has not been anyone here with me for several months. I am lucky they still feed me when they think of it. There was a short pause. Who are you? Are you but another fantasy my brain has dreamed up?

  No, Bastien replied. We are not a fantasy. I am Bastien Sinclair, Alpha to the North American pack. I believe we are the last of our kind. Who are you?

  The North American pack? If there are enough of you to call a pack, you are lucky indeed. I have thought of myself as the last of my kind for the last two-hundred years. Several years ago, I finally found my mate, but she was not one of our kind. Still, it didn’t matter. She was mine. Now, she is most likely dead.

  The man’s sorrow was so great, Kalen could feel it though the link even though it was the connection used by his kind that usually did not include emotions.

  Randy and Cameron used the time they spoke to rig an incendiary device against the closed door. They motioned everyone back as they led out the fuse approximately forty feet.

  Cover your ears. It’s about to get loud.

  Randy grinned and looked at his brother. “Big steel door go boom!”

  The device they attached to the door exploded and the door burst inward. Debris and dust flew through the air. They all remained with their arms covering their heads until the dust cloud cleared then they made their way into the room.

  On the far side of the laboratory was a large, caged cell housing a tall, thin man with pitch black hair.

  “You aren’t a fantasy?”

  Kalen approached the man while the others investigated the computers, pulling hard drives and sifting through files. “No, sir. We aren’t a fantasy.” He paused outside the door. “Can I trust you not to attack us if I release you?”

  The man stood on the other side, his hands clenched to his sides. “Yes, but I must warn you that I will not stay here. I must try to find my wife.” He swallowed and looked away. “I know she is probably dead, or remarried, but I must find her to tell her I didn’t leave of my own free will.”

  Kalen nodded. “I understand your desire to find your wife. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my mate.” He sat on the corner of a desk and tilted his head as he looked at the other man. “You know, I met a very interesting woman recently. I think I should tell you about her.”

  “I do not know why. I have told you I wish to find my wife, if she still lives.”

  “A few minutes either way shouldn’t matter, should it?” Kalen asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “After all, if she’s dead, she’s dead. Right?” He didn’t wait for the other man to answer. Instead, he began to tell the man what he had to say.

  “Two days ago,” he paused and shook his head. “It’s hard to believe it’s only been two days. It seems like I’ve known her a lifetime.”

  “Mates will do that to you,” Bastien interjected with a grin.

  “Anyway,” Kalen continued, swinging his leg, taking his sweet time while the others searched the facility. He had to buy them time, otherwise the man in the cell would bolt the minute they let him out. “I was taking my mate back to her house so we could run away from the same people who put you here. I met the nicest old woman. She spun a fantastic tale about her husband who was over one-thousand years old.

  “Milly.” The man breathed her name as though saying it gave life to hope. Perhaps it did.

  “Yes, sir. The old woman’s name was Milly.” Kalen continued to tell his story, though the man had become agitated and started to pace. There were men in her house when we arrived. Bad men. They injected her with a serum.”

  “No.” Gerald fell to his knees.

  Kalen couldn’t let him keep thinking the worse so he told the rest quickly. “She’s fine, Gerald.”

  He looked up, hope filling his gaze. “She spoke of me? She doesn’t hate me?”

  “How could she hate you? She completed the bond with you. She’s waited for you all these years even though she feared you were dead.”

  “What did the serum do?”

  “It made her one of us. Your mate is no longer human, Gerald and she no longer looks like a seventy year-old woman. She looks like a seventy year-old were.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ally sat in the bolt hole with the other women. The six-inch thick steel door stood opened. Neither she nor Charity could bear to close it. The room was positively claustrophobic.

  They would seal themselves in if they heard noises from the ground floor. Until then, they all sat staring at the open door waiting for their men to return.

  “I’m sure they’ll find him and bring him home to you, Milly.” Charity shifted her position on the large chair where she sat and looked around the room.

  It wasn’t a small room, but a person knew they were underground while in it. The absence of windows alone was almost enough to have Ally running out to face whatever unknown there was on the upper floors.

  Along with the sitting room were two bedrooms complete with king-sized beds. Apparently, werewolves knew how to hide in style. Either that, or this was just a very well-stocked storm shelter.

  Milly didn’t answer Charity. She just sat in her chair and stared at the doorway as though her will alone would bring her husband back to her.

  “Forty years.”

  That was about the twentieth time the old woman uttered those words. Did she wonder what he looked like now? Did she fear he would no longer love her?

  If what Kalen had told her was true, the older woman had nothing to fear. Wolves mated for life and, so it seemed, did their shapeshifting counterparts.

  She smoothed down her glossy hair and turned her haunted gaze toward Ally. “It’s been forty years, Ally. What if he doesn’t love me anymore? What if he blames me for his incarceration?”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks and Ally wanted to do nothing more than comfort her old friend. “It’s going to be okay, Milly. He’s going to take one look at you and thank God that you’re still here for him to love and cherish.”

  She rested one hand on Milly’s and pointed to the door with the other. “He’s going to walk through that door any minute and pull you into his arms as though he never left.”

  Ally glanced toward the door. “Did you hear something?” she asked the others.

  “I never hear anything you guys hear,” Charity groused. “I wish I was a were. That way I could run with my husband when he feels the urge to stretch his legs.”

  Frowning, Ally stared at the door, wondering if she’d really heard something, or if her mind was playing tricks on her. She moved to the edge of her seat, ready to jump up and move if she needed to.

  T
here was nothing at the end of the hall but the dark shadows that were there when they first came to the room. She rubbed her arms as the hair stood on end and she jumped up and ran to the door.

  Too late. She tried to slam the thick door on the large wolf that lunged from the shadows. Its dark fur and glowing black eyes glared into hers as she stood trembling before it.

  Thinking of Charity, the only human in the room, Ally stood her ground and growled at the intruder. “Go away.”

  She snarled when she didn’t even know she was capable of such a thing. What was it about the wolf that looked familiar?

  Tilting her head to the side, she scowled. “What are you doing here? Did you come to urinate on this furniture, too?”

  How could they not know this…beast had followed them to the safe house? How many more of his friends were on the way here now?

  Ally looked around, searching for something she could use as a weapon. Nothing was there but a floor lamp in the corner and the fireplace tools that were too far away to reach.

  Closing her eyes, she thought about her wolf. She wanted to change. She needed to change to protect Milly and Charity from this salivating beast.

  Almost immediately, her bones cracked and popped as she changed into her wolf. Wasting no time, she attacked the larger male, hoping the other women would escape while she fought for their lives.

  It seemed like forever before Milly charged in, nipping and biting at the male’s paws and legs. Ally wasn’t so merciful. She’d watched Kalen when he attacked the twins in the woods and knew to go for the neck, one of the most vulnerable spots.

  Two more wolves joined the first. One attacking Charity who brandished the fire poker while the others concentrated on Milly and Ally.

  It seemed as though they’d been fighting forever when three pure black wolves burst on the scene, their teeth bared and lethal. Each of them attacked one of the assailants, drawing blood almost immediately. Each large wolf put himself between the attackers and a female, each of them snarling as they advanced on their prey.

  Get out of the way, baby, Kalen said as he kept his body between them, protecting her with his large bulk. I’m going to kill this bastard this time.

  Ally moved to the side, panting as the gray-eyed wolf in front of her lunged toward her attacker. The man yelped and tried to run, but Kalen wouldn’t let him go. He circled the other wolf, his larger body driving him toward the others who stood panting, their heads down.

  In one last concerted effort, the three unknown males attacked, meeting the three larger males head on, even though they must have known they couldn’t win. Blood sprayed as Kalen and his friends each lunged for their enemies’ necks, ripping and shredding flesh as they fought for their mate’s lives.

  Ally and Kalen watched as Charity knelt next to the wolf who protected her and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you.”

  Milly stared at the other wolf with unblinking eyes for a moment before she moved closer to sniff the new wolf. Snorting, she shook her head and backed off.

  What’s the matter, Milly? Ally stared at the two who looked more like strangers to each other than reunited lovers.

  I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s him when he looks like that.

  As I couldn’t tell by looking at you, but your delicious scent gave you away. The larger wolf moved closer to Milly and took a deep breath. Did I not say that I could find you anywhere by your smell alone, mate?

  Gerald? Milly stepped forward, her legs shaky as the male moved closer and nuzzled her face and neck.

  Yes, my love, he said as he herded her toward the door. Let us go talk and get away from this blood and madness.

  I thought you were dead. All these years, I thought you were dead.

  And I have never stopped dreaming of you being so very much alive, my love. I could never let the dream of you go.

  The two wolves left the room. Kalen turned to glare at Ally. I told you to seal yourselves in.

  We couldn’t. This room seemed too much like a tomb.

  And it almost became yours. What were you thinking? Kalen pushed her out of the room and up a flight of stairs.

  I guess I was thinking you’d rather not come home to a raving lunatic. Silly me.

  Kalen pushed her up two more flights of stairs until they were standing just outside their room. With a sigh, he pushed open the door. After they entered, he leaned against it to push it closed.

  In a blink, he stood before her in all of his naked glory. Blood oozed on his shoulder and she frowned. Thinking of her human self, she swiftly changed forms and stood looking at him, her brows drawn together. “You’re bleeding.”

  He shrugged. “It’s nothing and it will heal.” He moved closer. “You have that idiot’s saliva all over you.”

  Ally shrugged and grinned. “It’ll wash off.”

  “Yes,” Kalen agreed as he picked her up and strode for the bathroom. “It will.” Bending toward her, he covered her lips with his. And what fun it will be washing it off.

  About the Author

  Tianna Xander is the author of several paranormal, time-travel and science fiction romance novels. She loves reading everything from romance novels, murder mysteries and encyclopedias to handbooks on solar energy. Tianna is the first to admit she spends far too much time surfing the internet and chatting with her online friends and critique groups.

  Having written several novels and working on at least one more at any given time—Tianna still finds time for her family, friends and her many pets. She currently lives in Michigan with her husband, two children, four cats, one big dog and one occasionally terrorized Netherland Dwarf bunny that loves raisins. Her life is anything but boring.