Kallen's Atonement
Read Kallen's Atonement Online
Authors: Stephani Hecht
Tags: #Gay, #Shapeshifter, #GLBT, #Paranormal, #Erotic Romance, #Adult
To Ken, I will always love you.
Sometimes you have to love yourself before you can learn to let somebody else love you.
Out of all the breeds in the shifter world, Hyenas are one of the most hated—even if they are only half-breeds like Kallen. So when Kallen joins up with the feline coalition, his welcome is less than warm. But at least he has his brother and a small group of friends to count on. Even though the rest of the felines and Hawks make it no secret that they hate him.
Tiger shifter Drake has been enamored with the Hyena ever since he saw him working as a medic in the infirmary. But so far, all his attempts to get closer to Kallen have fallen short. The Hyena seems skittish and afraid to trust anyone. Drake is determined not to let Kallen push him away.
Then old friends turn out to be new enemies of Kallen, and he’s in more danger than ever. Will he be able to trust Drake to protect him? Or will his fears be his own undoing?
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Kallen’s Atonement
Copyright © 2013 Stephani Hecht
ISBN: 978-1-77111-594-0
Cover art by Angela Waters
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 eXtasy Books
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Kallen’s Atonement
The Lost Shifters 25
By
Stephani Hecht
To Ken, I will always love you.
Chapter One
Kallen sat alone in the sill of a large window at the back of the compound and looked out. He really didn’t have much of a view. Just the freeway that banked the back of the building, but it sure as hell beat going out and facing the others in the coalition.
At least in this place, he had some peace. He didn’t have to face the sneers or hear the names that were thrown his way. He didn’t have to smell the hate that came rolling off the others or feel their hostility. Most of all he didn’t have to see the looks of disgust on their faces as they looked down their noses at the dirty Hyena.
It didn’t matter that he was half Hawk also, all they cared about was the fact that when he shifted, it was into Hyena form. So to them he might as well be a full-out Hyena. Whereas his brother, Gage, was part Hyena, but since he transformed into a Hawk, they still treated him like one of their own.
Kallen wanted to hate his brother for that. It might be rotten of him to admit that, but he did and in the end he loved his brother too much for that. Gage had taken him in and given Kallen something that his mother and father had never been capable of, a caring hand and a good home.
“Hey, what are you doing out here by yourself?” Ash asked as he sat down next to Kallen.
A Hawk and one of Kallen’s few friends, Ash always had a smile on his face and a mouth that never stopped talking. Or at least he did now that he was mated and healed from his injuries.
“I’m trying to hide out,” Kallen admitted.
“I thought you usually did that on the roof?”
“I did, but the other Hawks found out and started to fly over and throw rocks down on me,” Kallen said, a heat coming over his face.
Outrage showed on Ash’s usually easygoing face. “Are you kidding me? Did you tell anybody?”
Kallen shook his head, his brown shaggy hair falling into his face. “No. It’s too embarrassing.”
“Bullshit! You can’t let them get away with treating you like that. You should at least tell your brother.”
“He already gets into enough fights over me as it is.”
“Then tell Colin or Daniel.”
“I don’t want to bother them. They have enough problems as it is without having to worry about me.”
Ash threw his hands up into the air. “Well, how about Riley? He’s good at making the Hawks behave.”
“Riley has enough on his plate at the moment.”
What Kallen couldn’t divulge is that Riley was in the infirmary the night before because he’d hit a bump in the road with his battle against bi-polar. They’d had to pump him full of thorazine to calm him down it had been so bad. So the last one Kallen could go to was Riley.
“Well, how about Jayce? He’s your boss, isn’t he?”
Kallen gave Ash a sideways look. “He’s also a feline. I don’t think the Hawks will listen to him.”
Ash tilted his head to the side. “You have a point there. You could always go to Shane. He could scare them into being nice to you.”
Kallen shivered. “No, thank you. That guy terrifies me. I’m afraid to be in the same room as him, let alone tell him that I’m being picked on and to please help me. It makes me sound like a little kid going to the big bully in the playground and asking for help.”
“I guess you’re right about that one. I wouldn’t be able to go to him on that one either, and he actually seems to like me.”
Kallen let out a deep sigh. “So it looks like I’m stuck with this being my new thinking spot.”
Ash looked out the window. “It’s not that bad. You have a great view of I-75.”
Kallen laughed. Leave it to Ash to find the positive, no matter how sucky the situation might be. “Yeah, who could ask for more? It even has a sign for
Hooters,
boobs and all. Too bad I don’t like cleavage. Now if it were a sign for a male gay bar, I’d be all set.”
They fell silent for a moment before Ash asked, “How are things going between you and Gage?”
“Okay, I guess, considering the start we got off to. You know, with me trying to blackmail him and all. He seems to have gotten over that. Or at least I hope he will get over it soon.”
“I think he knows it wasn’t your fault. You were pretty desperate at the time.”
“Yeah, I just can’t help but think that it still stands between us, though. Sometimes when he doesn’t think I’m looking, he gives me these funny stares like he doesn’t know whether to trust me or not.”
“I heard they let all your buddies go. That has to say something.”
“They were nothing more than harmless strays anyway, so that’s no big deal. They would never harm anybody. The reason why they were kicked out of their packs in the first place was because they refused to prey on humans,” Kallen pointed out.
Baxley, a small, dark-haired Spider shifter came over and took a seat next to Kallen. “Hi, guys. What are you doing here?”
“I was trying to find a spot that was hidden, but I guess I’m not doing a good job of it,” Kallen said with a smile.
“Well, the window is kind of big,” Baxley pointed out. “If you really want some good hiding spots, I could show them to you.”
“No offense, but I probably couldn’t fit into most of them,” Kallen said.
Baxley looked down at his tiny frame before he replied, “You’re probably right. Especially since I was in my Spider form when I was in most of them. What are you hiding from anyway?”
“Come on, Baxley, you have to know that most everybody hates me here,” Kallen said, his breath hitching just a bit.
Baxley frowned. “Only because they’re idiots who haven’t taken the time to really get to know you. If they did, they’d realize what a sweet guy you really are.”
Ash snorted. “Plus, I don’t see too many of them turning away your help in the infirmary when they’re injured. You’re a damn good medic, and they all know it. They’re just too stubborn to admit it aloud.”
Baxley nodded in agreement. “Some of the people here can be real assholes at times. Don’t let them get you down, Kallen. Besides, you have us. We’ll always be your friends, no matter what.”
Baxley reached out and gave Kallen a small hug. Kallen stiffened at first, not used to displays of affection. Lord knows he never got any from his parents or his old pack members. After a moment, he relaxed and let himself enjoy it. It was nice to have somebody he cared about touch him, even if it was only a friend.
“Thanks, Baxley,” Kallen said.
He was lucky to have his small group of friends. While he might have a whole lot of hate coming his way, he did have some love, too. He just needed to learn how to focus on the good and block the bad.
A couple of Hawks walked by, both of them throwing looks of hate Kallen’s way.
“Stupid Hyena hybrid, they should have culled him a long time ago,” one of them said.
Ash sprang to his feet. “And they should have culled you for being ugly and stupid, yet you’re still here.”
He then gave the two Hawks a one finger salute. Kallen held his breath, waiting to see if they were going to come back and fight, but, to his surprise, they kept on walking. Maybe it was because Ash had developed a reputation of being a scrappy fighter. Lately, he’d been putting in a lot of hours in the training facility, and it was beginning to pay off.
“God, Hawks can be such assholes at times,” Ash said as he sat back down.
“But, Ash, you’re a Hawk,” Kallen reminded him.
“I wasn’t talking about me. I was talking about the other ones,” Ash replied.
“What about Tatum?” Baxley demanded.
“He’s not too bad, either. Even if he’s a bit bent mentally.”
Baxley sighed happily. “Yes, he is.”
Ash and Kallen exchanged is-he-serious looks. But, then again, that was Baxley. In his eyes, his mate could do no wrong. Tatum could be standing over a dead body and Baxley would just blink, smile at his mate, and tell him what a good job he’d done.
“Riley’s great, too,” Baxley added.
“He doesn’t count since he’s an Eagle,” Ash said.
“That is true,” Baxley agreed.
“And of course there’s Gage,” Ash interjected.
A pit formed in Kallen’s gut at the mention of his brother’s name. “Yeah, there’s him, too.”
He knew he should be more grateful to Gage, but yet he still kept going back to that wall that continued to be up between them. Kallen knew that Gage didn’t completely trust him, and it hurt—bad.
“Most of the rest of them can jump into the Flint River, though,” Ash grumbled. “Do you know they have the gall to call me too talkative?”
Kallen chuckled. Most days Ash acted like a kid who had eaten too much sugar, then washed it down with a six-pack of
Red Bull.
“How dare they?”
Ash gave him a narrow-eyed looked. “Sarcasm doesn’t fit you well.”
“Yet that doesn’t stop me from using it,” Kallen drawled.
“It doesn’t seem that everybody hates you,” Baxley said as he nodded off to the right of them.
Following his gaze, Kallen’s stomach dropped when he spotted Drake, a Tiger shifter who had the most amazing set of eyes that Kallen had ever
seen. They weren’t just blue, they were like chips of ice that seemed to stare straight into one’s soul. The fact that Drake had the most amazing body, too, didn’t hurt matters. He was a warrior, and every inch of him screamed it, from his thick biceps to his tight abs. Even his short, blond hair showed him to be a military man.
“I thought that once he was out of the infirmary, his infatuation with you would end,” Ash mused.
“It doesn’t look that way. If anything, he looks more interested in Kallen than ever,” Baxley pointed out.
While Kallen had to agree there was no mistaking the lust in the Tiger’s eyes, what he couldn’t figure out was why. Who in their right mind would be attracted to a half-breed, and a Hyena one at that? If Kallen didn’t know better, he would think that Drake was playing some game on him.
But the one time when Kallen’s life had been in danger, and he’d been injured, there had been no mistaking the rage from Drake. There was no way that somebody could have faked that. So his attraction was real. The question remained— why?
Kallen shook his head. What was he thinking? There was no way that anybody like Drake could ever want him. He was crazy to think otherwise.