Tristan's Lyceum Wolves (8 page)

“Let’s see, so, soup is next on the agenda. I sent for some plain broth and crackers. It should be here about now. So is there anything else I can get you?”

“No, thanks for helping me,” Kalli managed, wringing her hands nervously.

“No worries. You just rest, and I’ll be right back.”

Kalli let her head fall on the pillow and stared up at the intricate light fixture, which was made out of tiny royal blue, glass butterflies. The pretty winged creatures exquisitely complemented the shades of brown and tan of her warm and inviting gilded cage. She breathed deeply and blew out a breath, relaxing into the bed. Unable to deny how serene amenities helped to calm her nerves, she curled into her comforter, willing herself to heal. Closing her eyes, her thoughts drifted to the Alpha who’d rescued her.

In her mind’s eye, she remembered how the handsome stranger had saved her from the vampire dressed in the ridiculous harlequin vest. A tall, muscular man with dark blonde hair, he looked like a sexy James Bond in the tuxedo. Struggling to picture his face, his piercing amber eyes came into focus. Like yellow-orange supernovas, they’d been striking and memorable. Did his eyes change when he went wolf? What color was his fur? His power rolled off him like a tidal wave in the car. Authoritative and deadly, an Alpha who took what he wanted.

Kalli thought back to her days in the pack she’d escaped; her stomach tightened. She’d been hybrid. Her mother, a human, had died when Kalli was only fourteen, leaving her to survive on her own within the brutal pack. Three years later, her father, a mean son-of-a-bitch, had fought to be Alpha and lost. The reigning Alpha had sent for her soon after, attacked her and explained how she’d be servicing his men for the rest of her life. Tired of the never ending violence, she’d made a decision to leave.

She knew that even though she was considered lower than omega because of her human genes, they’d never let her leave their ranks. They’d use her up and spit her out. Death was the only way out of the pack, an option she’d have willingly chosen, if necessary. So one late summer’s afternoon, she’d taken her father’s fishing boat out into the Atlantic off the coast of South Carolina, and jumped off into the cold dark water. Of course, her body was never found, but the small vessel was recovered two days later. The weather had forecast a small squall, so no one had questioned her disappearance; just another soul lost to the sea. With nothing but a backpack and some cash she’d saved over the years, she took off to New York City.

Upon arrival, she’d picked up a waitressing job and saved her money. It was easier than she’d thought it would be to find someone to change her name. With a few Benjamins, Kalli Anastas became Kalli Williams. Afterward, she’d continued working to put herself through college. By her sophomore year, however, she could no longer prevent the wolf from emerging. As a teen she’d starved herself, preventing the shift. But once on her own, she’d gained weight, and shifting into wolf became inevitable. For weeks she’d suffered nightmares, always with the animal scratching to come out and have its due. She’d remembered the tales the other pack girls had told, describing the symptoms of their first time. That was how she looked at it; an illness to be cured. Kalli knew it would come on the full moon, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Scared and alone, she’d managed to get out of the city and into the mountains in preparation. She’d rented an isolated cabin in the Catskills, and waited. The excruciating pain of the shift took her by surprise even though she’d known it was coming. After running and killing throughout the night, she’d woken up naked, curled into a hole of a rotted-out tree. Covered in blood and dirt, she’d cried hysterically, believing she was cursed for life. For years she’d repeated the ghastly process, month after month, until she became a doctor and discovered ‘the cure’.

After graduation, she’d earned an assistantship, which paid for her grad school. The residency opportunity in Philadelphia had led to a permanent position at UVH. She was able to practice, utilizing state of the art medicine, while continuing to blend into society. And it was there she’d found salvation from the beast.

In reality, her drug didn’t cure her of her wolf. But it kept her at bay, caged and unable to shift. Relentlessly, Kalli had worked; she’d rarely eaten or slept, determined to develop a drug to stop the transformation. On the twenty-second trial, it had worked; Canis Lupis Inhibitor (CLI) kept her from shifting, even on a full moon. Side effects, aside from preventing shifting, included chills and aches, but they only occurred if she missed a daily dose. Enhanced hearing and smell were slightly suppressed but not entirely gone. The discovery allowed Kalli to go months without shifting, and she reveled in finally being human. Best of all, no wolf or vampire could detect her wolf, as far as she could tell, anyway. Of course a simple blood test would reveal her true nature, but other than that, she appeared wholly human.

After she began taking CLI, she kept refining the drug, seeking other useful purposes for it. She experimented, theorizing the drug could help aggressive animals in the canis genus to reduce anxiety. Since they were not supernatural, she envisioned a one dose treatment that would positively affect their emotions. She hadn’t come too far with that side of her research, but initial projections looked promising. Still, she kept all of her work under lock and key in an effort to hide her identity.

Truth be told, Kalli avoided purposeful contact with supernaturals. She’d only done one full-fledged test of the formula to see if she could or could not be detected as wolf. By all accounts, the exercise had been a success, yet that one experiment had proved to be her most critical mistake. Last month, she and a co-worker had gone to Eden. Well aware that it was run by a wolf and frequented by vampires, her curiosity had got the better of her.

Kalli had danced all night, hoping her pheromones would attract a vampire or wolf. Yet every man who approached was human. She’d even approached female wolves and vampires, engaging them in casual conversation, and not one had identified her as wolf. Rather, she was called out as a human by more than one supernatural. She’d left the club in triumph, celebrating the success of her drug.

But in her efforts to do research, she’d also noticed the fifteen foot yellow boa slithering around behind the bar. A spectacular and healthy specimen; it was like having a private viewing at a reptile exhibit at the zoo. While she didn’t specialize in reptiles, she held an appreciation for a species that had survived through the ages.

The vivarium, extraordinarily large, with its heated rocks, trees and flowing water, was an excellent example of how a large snake could be kept safely in captivity. Personally, she did not advocate anyone owning or raising a wild animal, but boa constrictors were routinely sold these days in pet stores. It was refreshing to see how a pet owner would go to such great lengths to care for it, as opposed to what many careless owners did when the snake got too large; releasing it into the wild to fend for itself where it could procreate or die. Florida had a serious issue with the large serpents these days.

So that fateful day, she’d known that she had to save the snake. It had been her lunch break, and she’d been out taking a walk, clearing her head. As she rounded the corner, she smelled smoke and watched as two wolves ran out of the building. They were in human form, but she could tell that they’d been about to shift, noticing the claws extending on their hands. She’d ducked into an alley, waiting for them to pass. Wondering where the fire department was, she’d waited. But then when no one came, she ran into the club on instinct, to make sure everyone was out of the building. Noticing no one, she smashed the glass enclosure and pulled out the slithering animal. Unfortunately in the process, she’d cut her hand. But she’d still managed to carry the poor animal out of the building. As the fire engines raced toward the inferno, she’d made a rash decision to take the snake back to UVH to have it evaluated.

When she’d later pondered over the fact that the snake belonged to a supernatural, she’d decided to have a nurse call Eden and leave a message for the manager. But before she’d had a chance to issue the order, she’d been attacked in the parking lot. She wasn’t supposed to have been working that day; having been called in for an emergency consult, she’d rushed into the hospital with only her ID and keys, locking her purse in her car.

After she’d finished, she’d returned to her car. Instantly, her skin had pricked in awareness as she saw two strange men approach her. Trying to run had proved futile, as they’d snatched her up with preternatural speed. Vehemently protesting, she’d kneed the first of her attackers in the groin. And even though he’d released her, the other vamp had quickly grabbed her by the shoulders, slamming her head against the concrete. By the time she’d woken with a splitting headache, Alexandra was at her neck.

As the history of what had happened to her racked her brain, she felt sick. Opening her eyes, unable to rest, she wished she was like one of the butterflies so beautifully reproduced in the lamp above, able to fly away from her troubles. At least she was clean, in a warm bed and about to be fed, she reasoned. She’d been upgraded from the house of horrors and was no longer a blood bag.

Closing her eyes, she flipped onto her side, hoping this new position would help her find the rest she desperately needed. As her body started to drift toward dreams, she heard the rustling of fabric. Frightened, she sealed her eyelids tight, feigning sleep.

“Hello, Kalli,” a deep sexy voice said, startling her. Her heart began beating quickly. She didn’t want to answer him.
Please go away
, she silently prayed.

Tristan had talked to Julie in the kitchen as she was preparing soup. She’d sternly warned him not to upset Kalli, updating him on her condition. She was afraid the little bird would try to fly, and was confident that if she tried, Kalli would fall flat on her face.

But Tristan was anxious to see the intriguing woman who had found herself in Alexandra’s nest. He needed to see her face, smell her skin, touch her. Rolling his eyes, he cursed himself. His wolf had to be influencing his thinking. Struggling not to go to her, he took off his jacket, unbuttoned his sleeves and fell back into a large velvet lounge chair that sat diagonal to the bed. Her enticing hair sprawled over the white bed linens, begging to be touched. When he listened to her heartbeat, he knew she was awake.

“Kalli,” he repeated, louder this time. “I know you’re awake. Come on, now, ma chère. Let’s have a chat, shall we?” His voice had a barely detectible southern Cajun accent to it.

Kalli gritted her teeth. She hated that wolves had such good hearing. Her heartbeat gave her away. Running her hand through her untamed locks, she pushed the unruly hair aside and turned over in bed. She pushed up so that she was laying more at a forty-five degree angle, not quite sitting, but clearly aware of his command. Averting her gaze, she played with her hands, hoping they could do this quickly. Determined to get the upper hand of the situation, she struggled to raise her eyes and direct the conversation.

“Dr. Williams. My name is Dr. Williams,” she corrected, trying to separate herself from the wolf ranking that she knew all too well made her opinions less than important. She was human now, she reminded herself. She purposefully shielded herself in her title, embracing the professional decorum that always managed to seal off unwanted feelings.

“What?” Tristan asked, surprised at her pretentious tone.
Was she for real?

“I said my name is Dr. Williams.” She nervously forced herself to sit a little taller, but her breath caught as she made eye contact with the charismatic Alpha. He was ruggedly handsome, with those striking amber eyes she remembered. Except now, she felt as if he was seeing straight through to her soul. His slicked-back dark blonde hair framed his tanned face; a sexy five o’clock shadow broke the surface of his skin. A sensuous smile revealed perfectly white teeth. Why was he smiling?
Better to bite you with my dear.

Her stomach dropped in anticipation. What was happening to her? Involuntarily, her nipples strained against the fabric of the shirt as her body recognized the incredibly virile male addressing her. Her wolf howled, begging to run to and jump on him. She took a deep cleansing breath, trying to force her body to relax. This could not be happening.
I am human now.

Tristan laughed. So this was how she was going to play it. He could sense her arousal and damn if it didn’t make him want to actually enjoy this little interrogation. Her heart was beating like a hummingbird, yet she played it cool. He licked his lips, and raised an eyebrow, shooting her a wolfish grin.

“Okay, Doc. Personally I think we’d both be a little more comfortable if we’d go informal, but by all means, suit yourself. I’m Tristan Livingston, Alpha of Lyceum Wolves. Welcome to my home.”

Kalli immediately lowered her head, gazing downward. “Thank you, Alpha,” she said softly, taken aback by his commanding presence. Within seconds of doing so, she became conscious that she’d reverted to pack protocol. Confused by her own behavior, she quickly looked up, adjusting her posture. How could this have happened? She’d been away from wolves for nearly seven years, yet the man before her sent her reeling. His smooth voice registered deep within her as if she’d known him long ago. But he wasn’t the Alpha from her childhood.

His manner was cool and dignified with a hint of humor that could be seen in his smile that reached his eyes. Instead of physically attacking her, he’d sent a healer to her side. He’d rescued her from the vampire, and ensured she was clean, warm and fed. Yet she knew deep down not to be fooled by his kind exterior. A dominant wolf lurked inside him; remarkable good looks and a compelling personality were only one side of the man before her.

She glanced down, noticing the gooseflesh on her arms. What was he doing to her? Bunching the silky sheet, she pulled it up over her pebbled breasts and held it under her chin.