Kallen's Atonement (6 page)

Chapter Six

Kallen sat wedged between Ash and Gage in the back of the van on the way to his first mission. He was so nervous that he was shaking from head-to-toe and felt sick to his stomach. It didn’t help matters that Gage kept barking orders at him, either.

“Make sure you stay right next to me the entire time.”

“Got it,” Kallen replied, putting his hands on his knees to keep them from bouncing up and down.

“Keep your head up the entire time.”

“Will do.” Kallen swallowed hard in an effort not to throw up.

“If I tell you to take cover, you do it. No playing hero out there.”

“I will.” Kallen doubled checked the Velcro on his body armor to make sure it was in place.

“If you get shot, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Okay.”

All too soon, the van pulled up to an old parking garage. It had been abandoned years ago and had now been taken over by Spider shifters. Spider shifters who had developed a love for human flesh. The human government had ordered the coalition to clean the place out. So there they were, like some souped-up version of
Raid Insect Killer
.

They got out and took a minute to look at the parking structure. From the outside, it looked innocent enough. It was just an ancient looking concrete building that was about five stories high. The grounds around it hadn’t been kept up. There were weeds and patches of tall grass mixed in with garbage and other waste.

Then the wind picked up, and Kallen smelled it, the sharp scent of decay. Unlike most other Hyenas, it didn’t appeal to him. It made his stomach turn, and he gagged.

“What? You don’t like the smell of rot? I thought all Hyenas liked that.” A Hawk smirked.

“Don’t forget he’s half Hawk, too,” Gage snapped.

“And that part hates the smell,” Kallen said.

Gah, was it strong, too. It didn’t help that it was mixed in with the stench of Spider, which had its own bitter scent. That and the usual city stank was enough to send Kallen’s canine nose into overdrive. He shook it off though, he wasn’t going to give the Hawks the satisfaction of seeing him so worked up before the mission even began.

Vapor was leading the mission. He came to the front of the group and began to address them. “Okay, I want everybody to keep their eyes open for the shadows. That’s where these bastards like to hide.”

Even as Kallen nodded, a shiver of revulsion went through him. He’d never seen a Spider shifter in its arachnoid form before, but he could only imagine how horrifying it was going to be. He only hoped he didn’t freak out and scream like a girl. Gage would never let him live it down.

They got into formation, Ash on one side of him, Gage on the other, and began a slow but steady march into the garage. They were one of two teams. The other going into the south entrance. The plan was to cut off any escape routes, so the Spiders would be squeezed in and eventually all killed off.

With each step that they took, Kallen’s heart beat a little harder. A sweat broke out under his body armor. His breathing kicked up. He gripped his gun like it was his lifeline.

“It’s okay to be nervous. Everyone here is. They’d be a fool not to be,” Gage assured him.

That made Kallen feel a little better. It was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one who was two steps from pissing his coalition-issued underwear. He’d have to remember to thank Gage later on for passing along that little tidbit.

They finally reached the entry to the parking garage. Since they were in the middle of the pack, there was already action taking place in the front. Kallen could hear the sounds of gunshots, shouts and the inhuman screams that must be from the Spiders.

“Look to your left!” somebody yelled.

Kallen did, and he finally saw a Spider for the first time in his life. It was huge and ugly. With a large, shiny, black body that had a red marking on its back and numerous, red, glowing eyes, it was something straight out of a nightmare.

Instead of running away, like he’d feared, all of Kallen’s training kicked into gear. He lifted his rifle and began to fire. Gage and Ash joined him. They filled the Spider with bullets, but it continued to advance on them.

Just when Kallen thought that they were in trouble for sure, the Spider let out a heave and wobbled, its spindle-like legs trembling. It then fell to the ground with a loud thud.

“Shit! That was close,” Gage breathed.

“Tell me about it,” Ash said.

“Medic!” somebody yelled.

Ash patted Kallen on the back. “They’re calling for you.”

Kallen felt his stomach do a little flip before he went running off into the direction of the voice. When he saw that it was Shane who was kneeling over the supine body of a soldier, Kallen’s stomach did another flip. Great! Just what he needed, something even scarier than the Spiders.

Kallen still forced himself to move forward. After all, Shane had never been anything but nice to him, and Kallen did have a job to do. He knelt on the other side of the soldier, noting it was one of the Hawks who had given him a hard time.

The Hawk had a huge, gaping wound to the stomach. Kallen blanched. He almost turned to call for Doc Featherstone or Jacyn for help, but they weren’t there. It was only him. He was the only one there to save this Hawk—this Hawk who had gone out of his way to make Kallen’s life a living hell.

Oh, the irony.

“What happened?” Kallen asked as he pulled his first aid kit off his back.

He unzipped it and quickly got out the supplies. Moving efficiently, he started an IV and prepared to push some O Neg into the guy, then did his best to patch up the wound to stop the bleeding.

“Stupid bastard wasn’t looking where he was going and stepped right in front of a Spider,” Shane said, his voice full of disdain.

“Whatever the reason for his injury, we need to get him out of here and back to the infirmary, STAT. He needs to get into surgery right away,” Kallen said.

He and Shane scooped and carried the injured Hawk out. While a backboard would have been optional, there wasn’t time, and the conditions weren’t the best. They somehow managed to get him out of the garage without encountering any Spiders and to one of the waiting vans.

As Kallen jumped in the back with his patient, he yelled to Shane, “Make sure you let Gage know where I went. That way, he won’t worry about me.”

Shane raised a bloodied hand. “Will do. Now just worry about doing your thing.”

The ride back to HQ seemed to take forever. Twice, Kallen had to do CPR to bring the Hawk back. But by the time they arrived, the Hawk was intubated and still alive.

They opened the back of the van doors, and Kallen had never been so relieved in his life to see Doc Featherstone and Jacyn. He began to bark out a report. “We have a Hawk with a massive stomach injury. I gave him two bags of O Neg en route. I had to bring him back twice. He’s intubated, and I have two large bore IVs started.”

“Let’s get him to OR 1 now,” Featherstone said.

Kallen hopped out of the back of the rig and helped wheel the cot to the infirmary. He went as far as the OR doors and stopped. Only then did he allow himself time to breathe.

It was then he began to shake all over. He knew it was the adrenaline crash, but he couldn’t stop it from happening. A cold sweat even broke out over his body.

“Kallen, come over here,” Drake called from his bed.

Kallen didn’t even think; he just went over. Drake scooted over and made room for Kallen. Kallen crawled in, boots and all, and cuddled up next to Drake. Drake wrapped an arm around Kallen and held him close.

“Shhh…it’s going to be okay. It’s over now. You can relax,” Drake soothed.

“It was nothing like I expected it to be,” Kallen admitted.

“It never is what we think it is going to be,” Drake said. “Otherwise, none of us would sign up to be soldiers.”

“I’m still going to go back.”

“I know you are.”

“I got my first kill today. Well…Ash and Gage helped, but I think it still counts.”

“Yes, it does.”

“They were Spiders. I never realized they were so big and terrifying,” Kallen admitted.

“Would it help you to know that we are all afraid as hell of them?”

Kallen surprised himself by snuggling deeper into Drake’s side. He just needed the comfort that only Drake could offer at that moment. “Yes, it does make me feel better. Thank you. I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No, actually I’m feeling much better. I was able to shift a couple of times today, and I’m mostly healed.”

Kallen tipped his head up and looked at Drake. “Cool. How long before you get out of here?”

Kallen was suddenly aware of how close their lips were to each other. All Drake would have to do was dip his head down just a bit, and they would be kissing.

“They think in a couple of days. Why?” Drake asked, his voice getting just a little husky.

The sound went straight to Kallen’s cock, making him hard. With as close as he was to Drake, there was no way that the Tiger couldn’t feel it. But for the first time, Kallen didn’t care that Drake knew that he was turned on—in fact he
wanted
Drake to know.

“I was hoping that you would come out for a cup of coffee with me?” Kallen asked.

“I would love to, but only on one condition.”

“What’s that?” Kallen asked, his body aching with desire.

“You let me kiss you, and by that, I mean right now.”

“Okay, I think I can live with that.”

Drake finally dipped his head and lightly brushed their lips together. Kallen gasped for breath before Drake deepened the kiss, his tongue delving into Kallen’s mouth to lick and explore.

Before Kallen was even aware of it, Drake rolled over and pinned Kallen under him as he plundered Kallen’s mouth. It was as if Drake was a man starved, and Kallen was the only one who could feed his need.

Kallen relished in the sensation of having Drake’s hard body pressing him down. He rolled his hips up
so his cock rubbed against Drake’s, relishing in the friction it caused. Kallen knew that if they had just a few more minutes of time and some real privacy, he could come from what they were doing.

Alas, the infirmary was not the time or the place. Kallen reluctantly broke away from the kiss. “We need to stop before we get too carried away.”

“
Before
you get too carried away?” a patient from a nearby bed called out sarcastically, but going by the smile on his face, he wasn’t offended.

Drake rolled off Kallen. “Okay, we’ll be good. At least for now. But once we’re out of this place, you’re all mine. That is, if you’d like that.”

Kallen decided that he was no longer going to deny his attraction to Drake. He was sick of beating himself up and worrying over what might go wrong. He was going to start living his life and stop living in the shadows of the past.

He smiled. “I’d like that a lot.”

Drake ran the pad of his thumb over Kallen’s cheek. “Good, why don’t you go grab a shower, then some rest? You earned them.”

Kallen could go for a shower, but he had no intentions of getting any rest. He wanted to get back to Drake as soon as possible, but he still said, “Okay.”

He got up and went back to his room. After taking a shower, he started to get dressed, he almost had his boots on before he fell back on the bed, exhaustion finally taking its toll on him.

* * * *

Gage walked into Kallen’s room and stared down at his sleeping brother. Kallen had one boot on and the other off. He was on his back, deep asleep. It appeared he’d been in the process of getting dressed before he’d finally succumbed to overexertion and had finally crashed.

Moving in as quietly as he could, Gage carefully slid off Kallen’s boot, then tucked the covers over him. After making sure Kallen was comfortable, he took a moment to study his brother.

It was funny how quickly he’d grown to care for a brother, a brother he hadn’t even known existed until recently. But Kallen had quickly wiggled his way under Gage’s skin, and now Gage would kill anybody who dared harm his little brother.

Speaking of which, Gage needed to have a serious talk with Drake. Leaving his quarters, Gage went to the infirmary and made his way to the Tiger’s bedside. If Drake was surprised to see him, he didn’t show it. If anything, Drake acted as if he’d been expecting the visit.

“I was wondering how long it was going to take before you came to see me,” Drake said, confirming Gage’s suspicions.

Gage took the seat that Kallen usually sat in and eyed up Drake. “I want to know how serious you are about my brother. If this is just some sort of game for you, you need to stop it now before he gets hurt.”

Drake met his gaze. “Kallen means more to me than anything in this world, and I’m not saying that lightly. I don’t play games with people’s emotions, especially people as vulnerable as Kallen. In fact, if I find out that anybody is messing with him, I’ll rip them apart with my bare hands and ask questions later.”

Gage stared him down a few more minutes longer, looking for any signs that Drake was lying, but all he saw coming from the guy was the truth. What’s more, Gage could smell that the Tiger wasn’t lying.

So Gage finally nodded. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

Chapter Seven

“How’s your coffee,” Kallen asked, all the while trying not to show how nervous he was.

He could hardly believe that he was on a real date, and it was with Drake of all men. Yet there they were in a public place, drinking coffee, like a normal couple, and Drake only had eyes for him.

“It’s good, but not nearly as nice as being able to finally have you all to myself,” Drake said.

Kallen ducked his head, not used to having such praise lavished on him. He had to admit, it was kind of nice. He could get used to it if he wasn’t careful.

“I like having you to myself, too,” Kallen admitted.

Drake tilted his head to the side. “Really? That’s not something I would have thought I’d ever hear you say.”

Kallen took a sip of his coffee before saying, “Let’s just say, seeing you almost die helped me put things into prospective.”

“How so?”