Kallen's Atonement (7 page)

“It made me realize how much I was going to miss if I didn’t give you a chance.”

“Don’t you mean give
us
a chance?”

Kallen smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, I’m glad you did. For a while there, I thought I was going to have to chase you down and tie you up, just so you would talk to me.” Drake took a big gulp of his coffee.

“Who knows, I may just have liked that.”

Kallen didn’t know who was more shocked by his statement. He or Drake. Going by the way Drake was choking on his coffee, Kallen would go with Drake. Kallen laughed, even as he felt himself blushing with embarrassment.

“I can see that I’m always going to have to be on my toes around you,” Drake said once he recovered.

Kallen shook his head as he fiddled with the rim of his cup. “Usually I’m not this bold. It’s just something about you that…”

He trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

“I know, I feel the same way about you.” Drake filled in the blank. “I have since the moment I first saw you.”

Kallen cocked a brow. “Even though I’m a Hyena.”

“I didn’t care. That didn’t even factor in for me.”

“You’d be the first.”

“The rest of the world are idiots, Kallen. The sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be.”

Kallen paused, suddenly sad that Drake seemed so jaded. “That seems a bit harsh.”

“Maybe, but it’s what I’ve learned.”

“What happened to your family? I was told that you didn’t have any.”

“I lost my parents in the Great Raven Attack, and my aunt raised me. She died four years ago on the battlefield.”

Kallen let out a breath. “Please tell me it wasn’t to Hyenas.”

Drake gave him a sad smile. “No, it was the Ravens again. My family just seems to attract them.” He gestured to his chest, which was now nearly healed.

“Well, I won’t let them take you, too, not while I have breath in my body,” Kallen vowed.

There he went again, making shocking statements. By the time their coffee date was done, he would be declaring his undying love to Drake or something else equally as dramatic.

“Do you know how much it scares me to know that you’re going out into the field?” Drake asked.

“Probably as much as it scares me to know that you’re cleared to go back out next week,” Kallen countered.

“Touché. Well, at least we’re on the same team, so we can watch each other’s back.”

“Great!” Kallen groused. “Now, I’ll have both you and Gage jabbering at me.”

“Yes, you will. I’m going to do everything to protect my little Hyena.”

My little Hyena.
Usually, Kallen hated to be referred to as a Hyena, but when Drake put it that way, it sent a warm sensation through Kallen’s chest. It felt nice. Almost like an endearment.

“And I’m going to do everything I can to protect my Tiger. I can fight pretty well, in case you haven’t heard,” Kallen shot back.

“Yes, I have. Vapor told me all about it. He’s been bragging to everybody who will listen about your skills.”

That shocked Kallen. “He has?”

“Yeah, believe it or not, you’re beginning to earn some respect out there. It’s happening slowly, but it’s coming along.”

Kallen couldn’t help but smile over that one. He did have to admit that the slurs and the dirty looks had been fewer and farther between. He’d just thought it was his imagination or wishful thinking, but maybe it had been the truth all along.

After they finished their coffee, Drake asked, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

“In the city of Flint?”

“Sure, why not?”

“You don’t mind being seen with me? There are a lot of shifters out there who may not like seeing us together,” Kallen warned.

“Screw them.” Drake stood up and held up his hand.

Like Kallen could resist. He got up and took Drake’s hand. They left the coffee shop and began to walk down the street. Since they were in an area that was populated mostly by shifter-run bars, there weren’t that many humans around. There were shifters of every breed around, though.

Just as expected, the sight of a feline and Hyena shifter together got a myriad of reactions. Some were shocked. Others seemed pleased by the gesture of peace. While others were just plain pissed off. Kallen and Drake did their best to ignore them all.

“Are you still sure this is a good idea?” Kallen whispered after a Spider shifter called them every name in the book and then some that Kallen was sure he had made up for the occasion.

“If we’re going to be together, we’ll have to get used to it sometime. The sooner the better,” Drake said, giving Kallen’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Kallen, is that really you?” an all-to-familiar voice called.

Turning, Kallen saw Albert, one of the members from his old stray pack. Kallen was relieved to see that Albert looked clean and well-fed. He was dressed well, too—almost too well. He wore high-end shoes and had on clothes that had to cost more than a week’s worth of Kallen’s salary.

“Albert? What are you doing here?” Kallen asked.

All of the sudden, Albert’s expression became closed. “You know, just taking care of business. Ever since Crispin has taken over the pack, things have changed.”

Alarm bells rang in Kallen’s head. Crispin had always been the hot head in their group. Kallen might not have been proud of some of the things he had done while leader of the group, but he knew it was small beans compared to what Crispin was capable of doing. To put it bluntly, Crispin was a fucking nuts.

“Changed how?” Kallen asked.

“Sorry, since you’re no longer part of the pack, that’s really none of your business. You made your decision to stay with the coalition.” Albert looked pointedly at Drake and Kallen’s linked hands. “It seems you made yourself really comfortable there, too.”

Panic and anger filled Kallen. “I hope you guys aren’t hurting anybody. The entire reason we left our pack was because we didn’t want to harm humans…remember?”

“Yet you were willing to sell the list of the Lost Shifters to the Ravens. How many felines do you think would have gotten hurt if you had been successful with that?” Albert reminded him.

Guilt hit Kallen like a kick to the gut. “But I didn’t.”

“Only because your precious brother interfered and saved your ass. Otherwise, you would be no better than any of us.”

“Shut up,” Drake growled. “Kallen is nothing like you.”

Even though Kallen appreciated Drake standing up for him, a part of him found himself agreeing with Albert.
No, it’s different now. I’m making up for my past sins. I’m nothing like the others. At least, not anymore.

Albert sneered. “Kallen can dress up like a soldier all he wants. He will always be one of us.”

Kallen gasped. At the moment, he was in his civilian clothing. So how could they know that he was dressing up in uniform? Unless…

“You’ve been watching me!” Kallen accused.

Albert shrugged. “We were curious to see how you were getting along. We saw you fighting the Spiders and saw you saving that stupid bird. I would have left him to die.”

Kallen took a step back in shock. This wasn’t the Albert that he’d always known. Albert had always been shy and sweet. Now, he seemed mean and so jaded. What had changed to make him that way?

“Albert, what’s going on with the pack? Why are you acting this way?” Kallen reached out for his former friend only to have Albert jerk away.

“What happened is we wised up. Your way was only leaving us starved and digging in dumpsters for survival. Now we have the best of everything. Face it, Kallen, you may be a sweet guy, but you were a shitty leader.”

Drake stepped forward and grabbed Albert by the front of the shirt. “You better treat him with more respect, or I’ll beat you within an inch of your life.”

Kallen put a hand on Drake’s arm. “Forget it. He’s not worth it. Let’s just get out of here.”

Kallen meant it, too. If that’s what his former pack thought of him, it hurt, but he would get over it. It just reconfirmed his decision that staying with the coalition had been the right thing to do. Now, he didn’t have to live with the doubt any longer. In a strange way, he felt a sense of relief. As if he didn’t have to feel guilty for abandoning them.

Drake gave Albert one last shake before letting him go and walking away. Kallen held out his hand, and Drake took it. They then turned and gave Albert their backs as they walked away.

Once they reached HQ, an awkwardness settled over them. Kallen didn’t want the date to end, but he wasn’t for sure how he should tell Drake that. He didn’t want to come off as a needy slut. Yet, at the same time, he was so horny that if he didn’t get some action soon, he was going to die, and the only one he wanted said action with was Drake.

Thankfully, Drake finally had the guts to say, “Kallen, I hope you don’t think that I’m moving too fast, but I don’t want this night to end yet.”

“Thank God, because neither do I,” Kallen breathed as relief flooded his body.

“Do you want to go to my room?”

“More than anything. Just let me text Gage and tell him I’ll be out late.”

Drake hooked his arm around Kallen and pulled him in close. “How about you text him and tell him you won’t be in at all tonight and that you’ll see him in the morning?”

Drake then gave Kallen a kiss that was so blistering hot that it literally made Kallen’s toes curl. He even let out an unmanly whimper, not even caring that they were in the middle of HQ’s common room, and anybody could have heard him.

“Okay, I can do that,” Kallen said once they broke apart.

His mind still spinning from the kiss, he somehow managed to get the text out. “Done. Now let’s go.”

Drake took him by the hand and led him toward the feline side of the HQ. While most feline’s lived away from HQ, Drake was one of the few single soldiers who lived on base. Which made things so much easier for them at the moment.

Drake took him to a small room that was more like a small apartment of sorts. It had a small kitchen and an even smaller living room, but all Kallen cared about at the moment was the bedroom.

“Where is it?” he asked, not even bothering to say what
it
was.

Luckily, Drake didn’t need to be told. Starting to strip, he led the way. Kallen followed suit, taking off his clothes, too, and following. By the time they made it to the bedroom, they were both already naked.

Drake had a nice queen-sized bed, for which Kallen was glad. They wouldn’t have to squeeze onto it and be bumping into each other while they tried to maneuver around. It had been so long for Kallen that things were already going to be awkward enough as it was.

Drake sat on the edge of the bed and opened his arms out for Kallen. “Come here.”

Kallen didn’t hesitate a second. He went instantly into Drake’s embrace, relishing the feeling of the skin-against-skin contact. It was smooth. It was rough. It was hot. It was decadent. It was perfect.

Drake laid back, then rolled over so he was on top of Kallen. Taking Kallen’s wrists in one of his hands, Drake held them over Kallen’s head, trapping them.

“Keep your hands here and don’t move them. No matter what,” Drake ordered in a rough voice.

“Okay,” Kallen agreed.

At that point, he was so turned on he would have said yes to anything. Drake could have asked him to jump from the Chrysler Building, and Kallen would have given a great big
You got it, buddy!

Drake let go of Kallen’s wrists, and, like the good boy he was, Kallen kept his hands in place. Even though it was hard to do once Drake began to slowly kiss his way down Kallen’s body.

He started with Kallen’s throat first before working his way down his chest. When Drake got to Kallen’s nipples, Kallen almost broke formation. It felt so good that he wanted to thread his fingers through Drake’s hair and urge him on. But Kallen called up every ounce of his self-control and remained in position.

Then Drake, ever the bastard, began to move even lower. First, he took the time to lick every inch of Kallen’s abs, even going so far as to trail a circle around his bellybutton.

As Drake moved closer to Kallen’s cock, Kallen gave an internal shake of his head. Surely, Drake wouldn’t take things
that
far and expect Kallen to keep his hands in place. That would be sure torture.

Then just as he was sure that there was no way that Drake would be such a tease, a warm heat surrounded Kallen’s cock. Kallen let out a cry of pleasure as he arched up against the bed. But one thing remained sure, he never once moved his hands out of place. He didn’t disappoint Drake.

Chapter Eight

The entire time Drake was working his way down Kallen’s body, he was doing his best to rub his scent on the other man. Drake didn’t even know if a feline’s scent could stick on a Hyena, but he was going to do his best to try.

When he got to Kallen’s cock, Drake lingered for a while, sucking him off for a few moments before he moved back up. All the while, he continued to rub his face all over Kallen’s sweet body, alternating the motion with love bites and licks.

Kallen moaned and undulated under him, but he never once moved his hands, being a good boy and following orders. It gave Drake a heady thrill to know that he had that much control over his soon-to-be lover. It made him wonder just what other things he could tell Kallen to do.

“You smell so good,” Drake said as he licked a path up Kallen’s sternum.

“I smell like a Hyena,” Kallen argued.

“No, you smell like my Kallen, and that’s a wonderful scent that I could never get tired of.”

Drake was telling the truth, too. Kallen had an earth tone to him that Drake could go on breathing in forever. It was unique to Kallen, and Drake was addicted like it was the strongest drug known to man or shifter.

“When I’m done, you’re going to smell like me, too,” Drake promised.

“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Kallen said, putting voice to Drake’s biggest fear.

Drake wanted Kallen drenched in his scent. Not because he wanted to drown out Kallen’s scent, but because he wanted every male feline in the coalition to smell Drake on Kallen so they’d know the Hyena belonged to him and to back the fuck off. That he was taken and nobody else was to touch.