Tristan's Lyceum Wolves (15 page)

Mira shook the human’s hand, astonished that she was so bold. Any wolf would have recognized her as an Alpha female and lowered their eyes.
Humans.
They grated on her last nerve. “Charmed I’m sure,” she uttered briskly, darting her eyes to Tristan’s.

Kalli quickly removed her hand. She didn’t have time for pissing contests. And if there was going to be one, her opponent was going to drown trying.

“Yes. Okay, well, nice to meet you, Mira,” she replied, not knowing what else to say to her. She wasn’t sure what came over her but before she knew it she’d turned her back on Mira. Closing the distance, she pressed her body to Tristan, not quite touching, her breasts mere inches from him. Resting a hand possessively on his waist, the other touched a palm to his chest. The electrically charged tension hung in the air between them.

“I have to go freshen up. Then can we swing by the hospital? I’ve got to get in there before they fire me.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to review the sketches real quick with Logan to see if anything about them seems remotely familiar. We’ll get them out to the rest of the pack so they can be on the lookout, too. You go ahead. Take your time,” he suggested, not moving an inch.

“Thanks.” Kalli took a deep breath, removing her hands from him, but letting her breast brush him slightly as she turned.

Before Mira had a chance to say another word, Kalli spoke. “Nice to meet you.” With confidence, she flipped her hair aside and walked away to go get ready.

“Humans,” Mira sniffed. “God, Tristan, it’s probably a good thing she’s not wolf. I might have to take her down a peg or two.”

Logan came up from behind her, wrapping his hands around Mira’s waist, snuggling into her shoulder. “Mir, what’s wrong, baby? Didn’t we have fun last night? I’ve never seen you so prickly. Tris, our girl got up on the wrong side of the bed. You see what happens when you leave us in the middle of our play?”

Tristan tried to focus on Mira’s reaction to Kalli, but was having a hard time, given the ache he felt below. The mere touch of Kalli drove him mad. He needed to take her soon, get her out of his system so he could think straight.

“What?” he asked, not having listened to the question. Ignoring it, he looked back to Logan and Mira. “Listen, Mir, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but you need to be nice to Kalli. She’s already skittish around wolves.”

“I was perfectly nice,” she protested, gathering her up her things. “If you’d stop drooling for five seconds, you might notice that she was the one who was disrespectful.”

“Seriously? Because she didn’t avert her eyes? She’s human. You need to get used to it. And she also holds a position of authority. In case you didn’t hear it right the first time, she’s a doctor. I get the feeling that she doesn’t mince words. Despite what happened to her, she’s no shrinking violet. She’s tough. It’s in her nature,” he told her.

Humiliated, Mira rolled her eyes. “Human nature. Don’t forget that, Tris,” she countered, cupping his face briefly. She turned, giving Logan a brief kiss on the cheek, before entering the elevator.

Tristan considered what had just transpired. Consciously or not, Kalli had physically blocked Mira from touching him, possessively rubbing her hands all over his torso, thereby asserting her role in his life. And she happened to put on the display in front of his beta, who also took notice. Mira’s feathers had been justifiably ruffled. He understood why, but it didn’t change what had just happened. However vulnerable Kalli had appeared yesterday, there was no mistaking the lurking dominance within her.

Kalli sat across from Dr. Marcus Cramer, who wasn’t at all happy with her request for leave.

“Dr. Williams,” he began. “We really can’t have our doctors taking leave willy nilly. I understand you had an incident in the garage a few days ago, but you look fine to me.”

“Dr. Cramer,” she addressed him using his professional name, thinking that two could play that game. “You don’t seem to understand. I really don’t have a choice. I’m requesting a personal leave, effective immediately, which under my contract, I am entitled to do. And while I really do want your approval, I will escalate if necessary.”

She didn’t want to burn any bridges but she also wasn’t about to let the jerk push her around. She reasoned he was trying to strong-arm her, because he knew that it was just a matter of time before she was completely in charge of her own department. She supposed he felt she needed to pay her dues before moving upward within the administration. But then again, the man just seemed to be a generally disagreeable person, regardless of who he spoke to, staff and patients alike.

“I feel that as a courtesy you should tell me why you are taking the leave. Is it medical? Are you pregnant?” he challenged, raising his voice.

“What?” she nearly shouted back at him, incredulous that he’d even ask such a personal question. “That is none of your damn business. I need to take a personal leave. I am under no contractual obligation to explain the reasons.”

Tristan had heard quite enough. Kalli’s boss did not just ask her if she was pregnant.
What the hell? Was that even legal?
Even though he hadn’t wanted to leave her side, she’d insisted that he and Logan wait for her in the hallway while she explained the circumstances of her absence to her supervisor. Of course that didn’t stop him from listening to the entire conversation, given his enhanced senses.

Logan raised his eyebrows at his Alpha and took a deep breath, realizing that the shit was about to hit the fan. Truthfully, Kalli’s administrator seemed like a total dickhead and was about to get what was coming to him. He smiled, thinking to himself that this was going to be fun to watch.

Tristan launched out of his seat and stomped across the waiting room. To the dismay of a very concerned receptionist, Tristan opened the door to her boss’s office like a wild tornado. Dr. Cramer literally jumped in his seat at the sound of his door hitting the wall. As it bounced back, he looked up to see a large, very irritated male glaring down at him.

“What are you doing in here? Who are you? Get out of here right now, before I call security,” he demanded.

Tristan growled, hands fisted at his side. He restrained the beast within, which was ready to rip out the good doctor’s throat.

Kalli shot to her feet, ready to pull him away. “Tristan, it’s all right.”

He shot her a look, warning her. “Sit, Kalli.”

She found herself complying without argument. Nervously watching him, she tried to stifle the seed of excitement growing in her belly. His dominance called to her inner wolf.

“Dr. Cramer, allow me to introduce myself.” Tristan leaned forward, putting his palms onto the desk.

“I’m calling security right now,” the doctor tried interrupting.

Tristan grabbed the receiver from his hand and forcefully ripped the phone out of its outlet. Flecks of dry wall splattered all over the floor.

“So glad to have your attention. As I was saying, my name is Tristan Livingston.” He deliberately emphasized his last name.

“Livingston? As in the Livingston Equine Rehabilitation Center?” The doctor’s face paled. Mouth agape, he sat silently stunned.

“Yes, that Livingston. Now this is what’s about to happen. You’re going to apologize to Dr. Williams for your atrocious behavior. And if I ever hear you speak like that to her ever again, you’ll be looking for more than a new job. Are we clear?”

“Yes, yes sir. I’m terribly sorry, sir. Mr. Livingston, please know that we very much appreciate your donations and contribution to our fine institution. We wouldn’t be able to function without donors such as you.”

Tristan rounded the desk in two seconds, grabbing the man by the scruff of his collar, lifting him out of the chair. “Apology. Now.”

“Yes, yes, I’m so sorry Dr. Williams. Don’t worry about a thing. Dr. Kepler can take over your caseload, and everything will be in order when you return.” He actually looked like he was about to cry.

Kalli’s eyes widened at the display of her Alpha’s protection.
Her Alpha.
Her wolf wanted to roll over and bare her throat.

“Glad that’s settled. Thanks so much for your understanding, Dr. Cramer. We’ll be leaving now,” Tristan snapped at him, taking Kalli’s hand and gently helping her to her feet.

As they walked down the hallway, Kalli said nothing. She wasn’t so much upset about what Tristan had done as she was about her reaction to it. To say she was aroused was an understatement. She swore silently as she felt the dampness in her panties.

“Tristan, I have to grab a few things from my office. Right here.” She pointed to an open area, with several cubicles. “Um, I’m in here…over in the corner. Oh hi, Lindsey.” She waved to a young woman whose cube was directly across from her office door.

“Hi, Dr. Kalli. Where ya been?” Lindsay, a pretty young graduate student shuffled papers behind her desk. Her long blond hair, streaked with bright red highlights, fell into her face.

Kalli had befriended Lindsey when she’d started interning over a year ago. She taught her how to help with research projects, and also the basics of day to day animal care. Kalli admired Lindsey’s determination and strong work ethic. Her compassionate attitude toward the animals had her convinced Lindsey would make a fine veterinarian someday.

“Hey, just wanted you to know that I’m going to be on leave for a few weeks. If you need something, call my cell. Also, expect a call today or tomorrow for a pickup on the yellow boa. I signed the release.”

“Okay, Doc. Is there anything I can do while you’re gone? I can work on compiling the statistical data for you on MAO36, but I’d need access. Is your laptop here?” she asked cheerfully.

“No, all research will go on hold until I get back. I don’t want anyone messing with my data. You know how it is,” Kalli called through the opening of her door. She was shoving a few files into a bag, looking through her stuff to see if there was anything she really needed to take with her. She was hoping to be back in the office within a couple of weeks, but she wasn’t entirely sure when things would be back to normal. Looking over at Tristan and Logan who both seemed to be studying her overflowing bookshelf, she was pretty sure things would never be the same for her again.

“I scent wolves. Stay back,” Logan directed, as he pushed open the door to Kalli’s apartment. Kalli had insisted on getting a few things to wear, since she was going to stay at Tristan’s. But as soon as they entered the building, the smell was so strong that even Kalli had recognized its deathly scent: wolf.

“Hey Tris, maybe you ought to take Kalli back down to the car,” he suggested, eyeing the disheveled mess they’d made.

“No,” she cried, pushing past Tristan. “Goddamn fucking wolves.” She could not believe they’d torn her apartment apart.

“Don’t hold back, Kal,” Tristan joked, slightly amused at her temper. Good, she needed to get mad, pissed even. This fight wasn’t going to be easy.

“Why the hell did they have to do this? I mean, if they wanted me, they could have just opened the door, had a looksee and left. Why tear everything up?” she huffed.

The sofa was torn apart, knifed. Her bookshelf had been dumped. All the kitchen cabinets had been opened; the dishes and canned goods were strewn all over the counters and floors. She sighed, looking around at the mess. Sitting on a kitchen table chair, she put her head in her hands, while Tristan and Logan poked around in the bedroom and guest room.

She couldn’t believe her world was coming unhinged. Why had they made this mess? It was as if they’d been looking for something. Something important. In a split second, Kalli’s heart began to race in panic as the reason for the mess became altogether apparent.
No way. No one knew. They couldn’t know.
All her research had been secret. She’d told no one. No one even ever saw her take the pills. Sure, in the beginning stages of her research, she’d taken her laptop to work. She printed only a few things off, but always on her private printer and always making sure there were no copies, shredding any remaining trash.

Since the actual development of CLI, she’d stopped carrying her laptop completely. After memorizing the composition and deleting all the data off her computer, she’d stored all the information on a flash drive which she kept hidden. But if someone knew….if they knew of CLI’s existence or even suspected it was possible to devise a like drug, it’d be disastrous. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t gone through the scenarios during its creation: its possible use by the unscrupulous as a punishment by preventing a wolf from shifting, or worse, deriving the compound into a weapon. In the wrong hands, wolves everywhere would be vulnerable.

But she couldn’t be sure that’s what had happened. At this point, she had to assume that the wolves most definitely had seen her leaving the fire, and knew where she worked and lived. They could have just been on a power trip, trashing her apartment to scare her. There was only one way to find out if they knew. The only other supply of pills besides what she had left at Tristan’s was her emergency supply, which she also hid. And she had to look for it now without alerting Tristan and Logan.