The Alpha's Mate (2 page)

Incredibly horny, but uninjured. Kelly and her escort walked back inside, Max had disappeared and so had his clique. Kelly's folder of work still sat at her table undisturbed. She scooped it up and headed for the parking lot, sliding into her truck and pulling out on the road to head home.

She walked into her small one bedroom apartment and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, barely remembering to set the alarm before going to sleep.

Max pulled up the long gravel driveway to his house outside of Boise. His property overlooked the mountains and covered several hundred acres, more than enough room for several members of the pack to run at any one time. The house hadn't always been his, and he had no say in the design. It belonged to the pack Alpha, not him. If anyone ever unseated him from his position, he would lose the house, the land, everything. But that prospect was unlikely. He ran his pack fairly, giving each member enough say to not feel neglected, and never making demands too harsh for any person to shoulder.

He was a good alpha, he knew that.

In control, cool headed, someone you could count on.

So what the hell had just happened?

He stormed in through the front door, slamming it behind him and tossing his keys on the front table. At first he made for the kitchen to pour himself a stiff drink of something, but thought better of it and merely removed his boots and coat before sinking into the ridiculously plush black couch in the living room. He ran his hands through his hair before throwing himself back against the backrest.

He had fucked up. There were no two ways about it. Would she change from that bite? He didn't know if a human could get infected that way, but his teeth hadn't felt normal. If he had undergone a partial change...It shouldn't have been possible. It took complete control and concentration to shift from man to wolf and sustain the transformation. And he most certainly hadn't been concentrating on that.

He needed to see her again, to see that she was okay. He could control himself this time.

The front door opened and Andy Olson walked through. He was a longstanding member of the pack, had been in since he was a teenager along with the rest of his family. He stood at just under six foot, stocky with wavy dark hair and the hint of a tan. Andy stomped into the room and stood staring at Max for a few moments. Max met his eyes calmly.

"Have you gone crazy?" He didn't yell, in fact he may as well have been asking about the weather.

Max didn't answer. He continued to stare, daring Andy to continue.

"Max, this isn't a joke. You attacked some woman behind our bar, what on Earth were you thinking? You're lucking she wasn't actually injured or this could be bad."

Max let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding. Good, Kelly hadn't been hurt. That was important. "If she's uninjured," he said as if he had no care in the world, "I hardly see a problem." He gestured for Andy to join him on the couch.

Andy sat down close enough to touch. "Since when do you act like that? Panting after some human?"

Max grabbed his hand, clutched it tight enough to hurt. But he didn't say anything. Andy had no right to speak to him, to speak about Kelly, like that. But he had a point. One Max could not, would not acknowledge. He loosened his grip but kept hold of the hand. "Is that why you came her, Andy?"

Andy looked at him, leaning in slightly. Max stared into his bright green eyes and couldn't help but wish it had been Andy that had brought up those feelings in him. They had tried to make a go of it years before, and it had been fun, but there was none of that wildness that he had felt from the moment he laid eyes on Kelly. Kelly what? He didn't even know her last name and already he wanted to make room for her in his life. That was crazy.

Andy dropped his eyes, his breathing deepening, but he stayed still as Max took him in. Max circled his thumb slowly on Andy's wrist, feeling his pulse speed up. Oh yes, those days had been fun. But even this close, the scent of Andy's budding arousal seeping into the room, Max felt hollow. He dropped the hand and pulled away. Whatever this was, it was too much for him. He couldn't think straight.

"Did you get her information?" He asked.

Andy continued as if he hadn't felt the moment between them. "Kelly Shaw, her papers belonged to a Silver Sky Research facility in town." He set down a driver's license on the table. "I lifted it while she was out."

Max tamped down the growing rage within him. Had Andy touched her? No, that way lay even more madness. "What kind of research?"

Andy shrugged, "Looked like something about wildlife, I didn't have much time to glance through between you storming out and, well..." He trailed off. "She said she felt fine, but maybe we have someone drive by her place in a few days? Make sure nothing is wrong."

Max should have been the one to suggest that. He picked up the license and studied it. It was a Montana license, so she was probably new in town. He hoped she wasn't here on business. That would be unfortunate. Twenty-nine years old, blond hair, blue eyes, everything he had seen earlier, though with none of the punch her presence brought. Even from her license picture he saw that she was beautiful, but he felt no compulsion. Perhaps it had just been something in the air, some strange smell that caused him to go temporarily insane.

"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Andy's voice broke in, his hand waving in front of Max's face.

"Yes," Max said, "Someone will check up on her, everything will be fine."

Andy looked at him for a long moment and Max wondered if he had missed something. Instead, Andy stood and bid him farewell as Max continued studying Kelly Shaw's license photo.

Someone would check up on her.

He was sure it would be him.

Max stood and calmly disrobed, folding his clothes and setting them on the couch as he walked out the door to his backyard. There were no neighbors for miles to see his nude form, and he would not be nude long enough for anyone to get a good look.

Slowly he breathed in, clearing his head of all thought and focusing on the wolf that lived within him. He felt for the fur of that beast, running his hands over it, felt it lap at his hand. He could hear wolves howl in the distance. The change took him quickly once he caught the feel of the wolf. And where once stood a man stood a huge beast covered in gray fur.

He padded away from the house, gaining speed as he entered the forest. An owl hooted in the distance and he ran towards the sound, the joy of the run surging through him. Small game fled, but he gave no chase. This night was simply for the speed.

He couldn't wait to show this to Kelly.

His pace stuttered and his wolf shivered with that thought. There was no room for anything besides the wolf right now. But with a shudder he collapsed into his human form, unable to hold to the concentration he needed. He lay shivering on the ground, a naked human exposed to the harsh night air.

Max stood. That was unacceptable. One by one he cleared his thoughts once more and focused on the wolf. His form shifted and he ran. Flying down the path as naturally as if he was born to it. He was fine now, no outside thoughts intruded into this wolf's head. He circled back to run from where he came. With a calm sort of defiance he padded to the edge of the woods and deliberately thought of Kelly. For one second, Max's wolf was fine. He held his concentration and remained that gray beast.

But with a whine and a whimper he convulsed, falling to the dirt on all fours and once more transformed into his human shape. Max had no energy to stand after that, and lay there, feeling the damp earth all around him. Kelly was a distraction. That was alright, he had handled distractions before. All he needed to do was figure out why and then everything would be fine.

Max did his best to convince himself of this as he lay on the ground. That owl hooted mockingly once more.

Kelly woke with a headache, but her excitement for her first day at her new job quickly overpowered it. While she got ready she examined her hickey from the night before. And that's all it seemed to be, a very bad hickey that covered several inches of the side of her neck. So whatever had happened last night, it clearly hadn't been as weird as she thought.

She kept telling herself that as she covered the mark with concealer and foundation, hoping that it blended well enough with her skin that she would raise no eyebrows. Just to be safe, she wore a high necked collared shirt and buttoned it all the way to the top. On final examination, she looked unquestionably professional and not at all like she'd let an unbelievably gorgeous man chomp on her neck in an alley behind a bar.

Though if he turned out to actually be a vampire she would need to reassess the situation.

Smiling at the thought she headed into the lab and didn't even mind the mild traffic clogging the streets. The ride passed quickly, and almost before she knew it Kelly sat inside the large reception area of Silver Sky Research and waited for her new supervisor Abigail McKinney to come give her the tour.

A tall African-American woman walked into the room. She wore a light purple business suit and her curly hair was held back by a silver headband. She approached Kelly's seat, "Kelly Shaw?"

Kelly stood and offered a hand, nodding. "Dr. McKinney?"

The woman laughed, "Abigail, please. Let me show you around before we get you started for the day." Abigail nodded to the receptionist and took Kelly through the door which lead to the rest of the facility. They walked down halls painted a stark white, the color only broken up by the portraits of past and present benefactors of the lab and of various pictures of wild wolves and other predators studied by Silver Sky. She met several of her new coworkers and almost thought she could remember the layout of the place before Abby handed her the new hire packet which included an office map.

"Thanks," Kelly said as she tucked it in with the rest of her belongings.

"I'll need to take a photo copy of your license for our records if you just want to wait in my office right here." They walked into one of the biggest offices on the floor. It overlooked the city of Boise out of two windows and could easily accommodate ten or more people. Kelly sat in a chair and dug through her bag to find her wallet.

She flipped through each of her cards twice before pulling the stack out of her wallet and going through them one by one. She looked back at Abigail sheepishly, "It looks like I left my license at home. I can get it for you after lunch if that's alright?"

Abigail looked her over for a moment, "I suppose that will work. But we can't go into the labs until we have it, it's a security thing. Do you need a water or something?"

Kelly shook her head. "I've already done the background and medical tests, what good is my license?" She smiled. The heat in the room hit her all of the sudden and she shrugged out of her jacket. "Is it alright if I leave this here?"

Abigail stood and grabbed a small bottle of water from the mini-fridge beside her desk. "You don't look too good right now, are you sure you're all right?"

Now glad for the water Kelly uncorked it and drained it in two gulps. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she fanned herself. "I felt fine this morning."

Abigail checked her watch. "It's about time for lunch, how about we go eat at the cafe across the street, see if you feel any better?"

Kelly agreed and stood to go with her, but it seemed her legs wouldn't support her and she sank back into the chair. Abigail had turned away so Kelly tried one more time, breathing in deeply before launching herself up. She stood still for a few seconds as a wave of dizziness spilled over her, the walls spinning and mixing with the sunlight from the windows. She took two steps towards the door before her left knee decided to stop supporting her and she stumbled, leaning quickly against the wall.

"Here, sit back down," Abigail said, guiding her to the chair. Kelly slumped down, unable to say anything. Even mostly supported by the other woman, the few steps back to the chair were difficult. "I think you need to see a doctor."

For that Kelly was able to gain the energy to shake her head. "Just need some painkillers, and water. No hospital." Abigail clearly didn't agree. But she reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a pill bottle. Kelly took it gladly and swallowed two white tablets and another bottle of water.

"How about a cool towel?" She walked out of the room before Kelly could say anything else. Kelly tried to control her breathing, hoping the room would stop spinning and that by some miracle she would stop sweating and cool down. This was so embarrassing for a first day of work. She hoped they wouldn't think poorly of her. She slumped further in the chair, her eyes drifting closed.

She saw the forest and hills, in the distance a wolf howled. Kelly padded forward, hands reaching out to pluck a leaf from one of the trees.

"Kelly!" Her eyes shot open to see Abigial crouched in front of her. "I've got one of the interns here, Alysa, she's going to take you home." Kelly wanted to argue, but she could barely keep her eyes opened now. Instead she just nodded.

"Good, can you walk?"

By god, she would, even if it killed her. Something told her that Abigail would force her to go to the hospital if she couldn't make it out of the building under her own power. But somehow she did, concentrating on the redheaded intern's back as she put one foot in front of the other until they made it to the parking garage and one of the facility's vehicles.