Kallen's Atonement (10 page)

Drake pulled up his gun and fired, taking one of the Hyenas down. But as soon as he did, another was there to take its place. It would seem that Crispin had done some recruiting because Drake didn’t remember there being this many in the pack when they’d captured them the first time. That had been when Kallen was leading them.

He glanced over to see that Gage was sticking to Kallen like glue. Which was a good thing since the Hyenas were gunning for Kallen. They seemed to have a vengeance against him and were going out of their way to attack him. Shane was there to help, too, and he was doing a great job at keeping them at bay.

“If you guys want the bitch to see another day, you’ll all drop your weapons,” a voice called out.

They all looked over to see a Hyena who had to be Crispin holding a gun to a pregnant feline. She had tears running down her face and was clad only in a white nightgown and a pair of dirty socks.

Kallen stepped forward. “What in the hell are you doing? You have to know that they’ll never let you get away with this.”

Crispin let out a dark laugh. “All I want is one thing, and we’ll leave peacefully. I’ll even let this whore live.”

“What do you want?” Kallen asked.

“What you couldn’t get. The list of the Lost Shifters.”

“Are you out of your fricking mind? They’ve already found a lot of the felines on the list, besides they aren’t going to let you just walk away with the list,” Kallen reasoned with the Hyena.

But Crispin was too far gone to listen. “Oh yes, they will. That is if they want this woman to live.”

The pregnant female used the opportunity to elbow Crispin in the stomach. He bent over in pain. She ran away. When Crispin raised the gun to fire at her, Drake’s heart dropped into his stomach. At the same time, he heard a snarl, and a Hyena jumped out of nowhere and attacked Crispin.

Kallen!

While Drake had never seen his mate in his animal form, he had doubt in his mind that it was Kallen. At the same moment, Crispin shifted into his Hyena form as well. The two Hyenas leapt into the air and clashed in a fury of claws and teeth.

They went to the ground and began to roll. Drake’s heart skipped a beat as he lost track of who was who as the two animals fought for dominance. One of the Hyenas let out a howl as it was bit in the leg, blood spurting out and mixing in the dirt. Drake said a silent prayer that it wasn’t Kallen.

The battle seemed to go on forever as the two Hyenas continued to battle. One moment, one was on top, then the next, positions were reversed. Finally, when it looked like there would be no end in sight, one of the Hyenas grabbed the other’s throat. With a vicious snarl, it ripped through flesh and bone, killing it.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they waited for the victor to shift. Drake put his finger on the trigger. If it was Crispin, he was going to shoot the bastard dead.

Please, don’t let it be Kallen who is dead. I can’t live without him. Please, let Kallen be alive.

Drake held his breath, his heart pounding so hard that it actually hurt. It had to have been Kallen who survived. It just had to be. The other option was just unthinkable. He couldn’t live without his little Hyena.

Finally, the Hyena shifted. Drake let out a shout of relief when he saw it was Kallen. He had won! He had a nasty leg wound, there was scratches and blood all over him, but he had survived.

All around them, the remaining Hyenas were running away. Now that their leader was gone, they wanted no part of a losing battle. The coalition soldiers and cast members broke out in cheers.

Kallen wobbled a bit before he fell to the ground. The first one by his side was the pregnant woman. She was raining kisses on his cheeks, while she sobbed and thanked him for saving her life.

Drake was the next one there. He cradled Kallen in his arms and held him tight. “What were you thinking? Challenging him like that.”

“It was my responsibility,” Kallen reminded him in a weak voice.

“I am taking you home and tying you down to the bed. It’s the only way to keep you out of trouble,” Drake said.

“Not until I treat him,” Ash interrupted as he pushed his way through.

He assessed Kallen’s wounds, then said, “Not too bad. It would help some if you could shift again for me.”

Kallen shook his head. “I don’t want them to see me that way again.”

“Shift, Kallen,” the pregnant woman pleaded.

“Yeah, shift,” a soldier added.

“Shift,” a Hawk called out.

The word was repeated again and again until it had become a chant. Another Hawk looked down at Kallen. “You’re one of us now. We don’t care what your animal form is. All that matters to us is that you get better.”

“Do you hear that?” Drake asked. “Now will you shift? Do it for me. Please.”

Kallen nodded, then shifted to his Hyena form. Drake still continued to embrace him, holding the animal in is lap. Stroking its fur, Drake said, “See, you’re beautiful.”

Kallen gazed up at him with those same amber eyes of his before he shifted back to his human form. “Thank you, but I still like it better when I’m like this.”

“You look just fine to me both ways,” Drake argued.

“Maybe, but when I’m human I can do this.” Kallen leaned up and gave Drake a brief kiss.

Drake helped Kallen to his feet. “Do you feel well enough to walk?”

“Yeah. I’m much better after the shift. It hurt when that fucker bit me, though.”

“I’ll bet it wasn’t half as bad as when you ripped out his throat,” Ash said, slowly shaking his head.

“He deserved it. What kind of bastard threatens a pregnant woman?” Kallen asked in disgust.

“The worst kind.”

Everybody dispersed. Some to put out the fires, others to help with the wounded and dead. Soon, it was just Drake and Kallen.

Drake pulled Kallen close to his chest. “I was so worried I was going to lose you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“All I could think of is how you’d be dead, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to tell you how much I love you.”

Kallen pulled back, a look of shock on his face. “You love me?”

“More than anything.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’m really glad you said that, or it would have been a really awkward moment.”

Kallen laughed. “Yeah, it would have been.”

Drake ran a hand through Kallen’s hair. “Let’s get you home, so I can kiss all your wounds better.”

Kallen grinned up at Drake. “I like the sounds of that.”

* * * *

After the battle was over, all Shane wanted to do was go home to Trevor and Ava, but instead, Mitchell had insisted that he come to his office. Shane let out a grunt of irritation. It better be important, or he was going to kill somebody to bring their head back and put it on the leader’s desk, just on principle alone.

When he went in and found his foster brother Owen there, too, Shane became intrigued. What in the hell was he doing there? Shane recalled they had taken his blood the other day. Had they found out something was wrong with it?

He swore that if he had caught something from that Spider that bit him in the battle the other day, Shane was going to go back and off the fucker again. He didn’t care if the thing was just a rotting corpse now. He would blow its ass to smithereens and laugh the entire time.

Shane sat down heavily in one of the empty chairs and gave Owen and Mitchell one of his best bored looks. “What was so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“We found something in your blood work,” Owen started.

“Am I going to die?” Shane asked.

“No.”

“Then once again, why couldn’t it wait until tomorrow.”

Owen gave him
the look,
the one he only used when Shane was really annoying him. “Listen up because this is important.”

“Fine, go ahead.”

“We also tested the new assassins from the Wayne County Wolf Pack.”

Shane cocked a brow. “So?”

“You know the one named Toby? The Leopard?”

Shane snorted. “Of course, I do. I’ve almost offed his ass a few times. He’s annoying as hell.”

“You’re going to be glad that you didn’t kill him after I tell you what I found in the blood work,” Owen said.

“Will you just tell me already,” Shane snapped.

Owen took a deep breath. “Shane, Toby is your brother.”

About the Author

Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all things about the state, from the frigid winters to the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. Go Wings! You can usually find her snuggled up to her laptop, creating her next book.

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