Wolf Tales Interlude: The Gift (2 page)

Chapter Three

Alexandria awakened, sated, sleepy -- alone. The hotel room was dark, the bed beside her empty. She sensed movement, sat up and focused through the gloom with her enhanced
Chanku
sight.

A wolf prowled. Large, predatory, it paced back and forth beneath the covered window. Twelve floors up, there was no risk of it jumping, but still it paced.

Anton? What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep
?

No. I sense Keisha. She’s troubled. I feel her
.

She’s a thousand miles away. You can’t possibly
…

Yes. I can
.

She felt his very human sigh.
If you say so
.

He snorted, a very human sound from the large wolf now standing in the middle of their room.
I realize Stefan will tell me if she’s in trouble. I can’t ignore the fact I sense her. It’s frustrating, knowing there’s nothing I can do so far away
.

You can come back to bed. I’ll let you pretend I’m Keisha
. “C’mon.” She patted the sheets beside her.

He sighed again, took a single leap and landed on the bed. Still in his wolven form, Anton curled up beside Alexandria and draped his muzzle across her breasts.

His head was heavy, comforting. She drifted off to sleep, her fingers slowly rubbing the soft fur behind his ears.

* * *

Stefan carried two brandy snifters filled with Anton’s special stash of aged scotch whiskey. What he had to do with Keisha was going to take more than a couple of glasses of wine.

He’d been so close to linking with her at the moment she lost it, so close he’d actually picked up shadowy visions of her thoughts, terrifying images that left his heart pounding and his stomach in turmoil.

If what he’d seen had actually happened, it was no wonder Keisha hadn’t fully recovered.

He pushed the door to the bedroom open. She hadn’t moved. Still huddled in the corner of the bed, her back pressed against the headboard, the crocheted blanket wrapped tightly around her body, she looked like a little girl awaiting punishment.

He sat down next to her, reached inside the twisted blanket and grabbed her hand. Carefully unfolding her clenched fingers, he placed the glass in her hand.

“Drink this. It’s just to calm you down. We may have a long night ahead of us.”

“I don’t want to…”

“Drink.”

He watched while she took a deep swallow, gasped and coughed, stared at him with hurting eyes, then sipped again, slower.

He took a chance. Crossed his fingers and hoped Anton wouldn’t kill him for what he intended to do. He glared at Keisha. “Okay. You can put the glass down now. I don’t give a shit what you don’t want to talk about. Keisha, I love you. Anton and Xandi love you. We are damned tired of seeing you hurting, knowing you have so much bottled up inside that it’s keeping you from being the woman you’re meant to be. Let me help you. I’m not totally without skills.”

“No… no, I don’t want…”

“Keisha!” He grabbed her shoulders, stared into her tear-filled eyes. “Look at me. You remembered something tonight, something that’s scared the shit out of you. Don’t say it, don’t even go there, but please, let me into your mind. Drop the barriers, let me see what’s got you so freaked out.”

She dipped her chin so that it almost rested against her chest. Her voice was nothing more than a broken whisper and it ripped his heart out.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I knew I did something awful, but tonight I remembered. It was worse than I thought. I’m afraid of what I’ll do…”

“Show me.” He felt like a liar, using his mind like this, the skills to mesmerize that Anton had been teaching him, but he used them anyway, nudging Keisha gently in the direction he wanted her to take.

Exhausted, frightened, already feeling the scotch in her system, she was an easier subject than he’d expected. She raised her head and stared blankly at him, totally under the spell of his suggestion. At his subtle command, she dropped her barriers, removed all the blocks she’d so carefully maintained, and let him in.

It was all he could do not to vomit. She shared her rape and its bloody aftermath, linking completely with Stefan. He was Keisha, straddling one man, her insides raw and bleeding from repeated penetrations as her attacker brutally shoved into her from below. Another man held her head while he drove his cock down her throat. The pain was excruciating, the gag reflex overwhelming but there was nothing she could do. No way to fight back, not with her hands tied behind her with wide strips of tape, her hips roughly held by the man beneath her.

Fear, blinding, overwhelming fear and pain, so much pain her body began to shut down, to find another state, another existence. Then the sensation of someone else, the third man, behind her. Groping her, grabbing her hips, spreading her buttocks, then agony -- blinding, unavoidable agony as he forced entrance, shoving himself deep inside, tearing, ripping her flesh.

She wanted to scream but the cock in her mouth kept her mute. She wanted to die, but her life force was too strong.

She wanted to kill. Wanted the taste of their blood, the sounds of their death screams, wanted to live. Stefan felt it then, the shift that had saved her, the crackling of bones and straining of sinews unprepared for such an act, the shift that happened so quickly her attackers were suddenly screwing a full-sized she-wolf, a wolf that did exactly what any wild animal will do when it’s frightened or in pain.

She attacked. The cock in her mouth was simple. She simply snapped her jaws and jerked her head, tearing the man’s genitals from his body. Turning with lightning speed, she ripped out the throat of the man who sodomized her, at the same time disemboweling the one beneath her with her hind feet. The claws tore into his gut, shredding skin and tendon as if it were paper.

Her attack was fast and efficient, though only the man who’d had his throat torn died instantly. The others screamed for what seemed a long, long time. Exhausted, still in wolf form, Keisha stood alone in the middle of the blood-soaked room, her head hanging almost to the floor. Blood poured from her body but she finally staggered to the door, only to discover paws were not made for dead bolts and doorknobs.

Finally, exhausted, weak from loss of blood, she collapsed against a wall as far from the three men as she could get. Her mind shut down completely, blotting out the moans and screams. She laid her bloodied muzzle against her crossed paws and slept.

Her mind was completely blank during the shift back to human form, but Stefan became aware of a loud pounding on the door, of the smell of blood and death in the room, of the death rattle of the last of the attackers as he finally died from loss of blood. Then all was confusion and disorientation as the police broke through the door and reality once more intruded.

Stefan realized he had somehow reached for Keisha, held her in his arms as both of them cried. He’d never imagined the horror she’d lived through, knew Anton had no idea how brave and strong his mate actually was. He tried to tell her those things, tried to impress upon her the power of the wolf, the strength and bravery it had taken for her to fight back when fighting was all but futile.

He released the link and held her close. She shuddered and tried to pull away, but he rubbed her back and whispered silly phrases in her ear until she finally calmed down. Her heart rate slowed, her tears ended. Finally, exhausted, both of them slept.

* * *

Keisha awoke, blinking against the bright morning sun. She’d slept all night! The horrible nightmares that had troubled her sleep since her assault hadn’t appeared. She’d slept soundly, her mind free of fear. The terror was gone.

She’d dreamed of Anton.

She blinked, focused on Stefan sitting beside her on the bed, a steaming cup of coffee held in his hands. He smiled and held the cup out for her to take a sip. It was wonderful, hot and strong, with enough caffeine to wake the dead. She smiled and handed the cup back to Stefan. “Thank you.”

“You are an amazing woman, Keisha Rialto. Absolutely amazing.”

She shook her head. “How can you say that? I killed three men. I lost control. They didn’t die cleanly, Stefan.”

He took a swallow of the coffee and grinned at her. “You were true to your nature. You were brave and fearless and I’m so proud of you I can hardly stand it.”

“What?” Startled, she stared at him. “What do you mean? I’m a murderer.”

“Beats being a victim. You were being systematically, brutally tortured by three vicious thugs. They let you see them, so we know they intended to kill you. You were able to save yourself because you had the courage to take action. You did what comes naturally to the wolf. You had something shoved down your throat, you bit it off. You had two other men restraining you, you retaliated in the only way a wolf has, with your teeth and your claws. You’re amazing.” He kissed her.

She didn’t kiss him back. She felt too stunned to react. “All this time, I’ve known I did something awful, but I had no idea what. Last night, when you tried to…” She sighed. “Well, it all came back to me. Everything, all at once.” She took another sip of his coffee. “Dr. Aragat’s magic potion?”

“Hey, if it works…” He brushed her hair back from her eyes. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him, sighed deeply and smiled. “Yeah. Actually, I feel really good. It’s either the coffee or your therapy session.”

“The true test will be whether or not you can take a man from behind without freaking out. I hope you realize you scared the crap out of me.”

“I scared Anton too. But when it happened, I had no idea why I lost it. I knew it had something to do with the assault, but not exactly what.”

“Now that you know, how do you feel about it? What if I were to take you like that? Would you be able to handle it?”

“Probably, but you’re not going to find out. At least not yet.” She grinned at him, fully awake now.

“Why not?”

“I’m saving myself for Anton. We may have a very open relationship, but I know it hurt him that I couldn’t enjoy everything with him, that I still had this huge block in my mind. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.” He leaned over and kissed her nose, then moved lower to feast on her full lips. Finally he came up for air. “It’s okay. I’ll get it out of your hide in a lot of other ways.”

She lay back and spread her legs, then crooked her finger, inviting him in.

Never one to turn down an invitation, Stefan accepted.

* * *

“They’re late.”

“I know.” Stefan turned away from the window. Snow fell steadily, glistening multi-colored in the glow from the twinkling Christmas lights. Anton had called hours ago. They should have been here by now.

The meal was cold and forgotten. Oliver had long ago returned to his cottage. The main highway was closed from the storm, but Anton and Xandi should have been on the private road hours ago.

“Do you sense them?” Keisha wrapped her arms around her middle and looked close to tears.

Stefan stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “No. I’ve tried but they’re still too far away.”

“Or dead.” Her voice shook.

“No. They’re okay.” They had to be okay. He tried to imagine life without Xandi, without Anton, and knew he never wanted to be so alone again. Knew Keisha felt the same way. Together, they were family. Together, they could conquer anything.

Just look at what Keisha had conquered this week. They’d talked again, later, about the details of her attack. She’d screamed, she’d cried, she’d even struck out, angry at Stefan for making her face things she’d rather keep hidden in the back of her heart.

He’d finally convinced her those memories merely festered, stored away as they’d been. Made her see the good that had come from her horrible attack, the fact it had forced her to find the wolf inside herself, something she might never have discovered.

It had not been an easy week. They’d spoken to Anton and Xandi nightly by phone, but neither Keisha nor Stefan had mentioned the impromptu therapy sessions.

Now, they worried.

The blizzard worsened. Snow blew sideways, obscuring even the railing around the deck. Keisha stared at the phone. Stefan paced. Finally he headed for the door.

“Wait here. I’m going down the road, see if I can pick up anything. My
Chanku
senses are stronger.”

Keisha reached for her top buttons, as if preparing to shift.

“No. Stay by the phone in case they call. I won’t go farther than I can link. If I find anything, I’ll let you know. Keep in touch with me. Shift if you think it will increase your senses, but don’t leave the house.”

She nodded, accepting his decision, though he knew she hated the thought of being here alone.

Before she could change her mind, Stefan undressed, opened the door and shifted.

Be careful
.

He felt the biting cold even through the thick winter coat of the wolf. His broad paws sank into the drifted snow and it was almost impossible to find the road, much less make any headway, but he forced his way forward, eventually taking to the trees beside the road where the snow wasn’t as thick.

Something was wrong, horribly wrong. He’d sensed it the moment he shifted, the fear, the pain. He tried to judge time and distance, but it was impossible. Drawing him on was the sense of Anton and Xandi. He shared his feelings with Keisha, drew on her for strength as he covered the long miles leading to the highway. Temperatures continued to fall as he raced forward, as the sense of wrongness grew stronger.

He might have missed the truck altogether, so deeply buried in the drifts, but the motor still ran and the thick cloud coming from the exhaust caught his attention.

They’d gone off the road. How long ago he could only guess. He shifted, naked in the biting cold but the only way he could wrench open the door on the passenger side of the truck.

The fumes from the exhaust were overpowering, seeping into the cab, poisoning the unconscious figures within.
Keisha! I need you. Bring the four-wheeler with blankets. Lots of blankets
.

He dragged Xandi out onto the snow, then grabbed Anton. Both were unconscious, barely breathing. Fighting panic, Stefan checked Xandi’s pulse, then blew air into her lungs. She coughed, gasped, struggled against him. He moved quickly to Anton, giving him the breath of life, begging him to awaken.