Kane didn't notice her following him as he rushed to the two men in the foyer.
"What happened Max?" he barked.
The wet man took a deep breath to answer Kane so he must have been Max. Lina watched in shock, barely listening to the conversation as her mind focused on the oddest things.
"I think he overdosed. I stopped by to pick him up and found him like this! There was a packet that said Pipe Dream on his table."
Lina gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. Tears sprang to her eyes. Oh no, no, no.
Kane grabbed the unconscious man who was seizing and drooling vivid purple foam from his mouth.
"He's been like that for at least ten minutes," Max said. He stood in the entry way, rain dripping from his hair and clothes, his shirt stained in purple blotches.
His voice was anxious as he stared down at th e man helplessly, his voice broken. "I got here as fast as I could."
"Shit! He hasn't woken up at all?"
"No. He's so out of it I couldn't get him to shift either."
Lina started forward. She was on the verge of hyperventilating but she had to tell Kane what she knew about Pipe Dreams. That guy needed to be in the hospital if he was going to have any chance to survive as more than a vegetable. She couldn't believe his friend had brought him here instead of going to the emergency room right away.
If he died it would be all her fault. She had known better; even back then she'd worried someone might have found out. She should have stopped him.
Hands caught her around her shoulders and pulled her back. Lina fought but Teddy started talking urgently in her ear.
"Wait, please. You can't distract him right now. He's going to be livid and need all his control when Carson wakes up. Just please... don't forget everything you know about Kane, okay?"
What the hell did that mean? Lina tried to pull away but Teddy's hands tightened on her shoulders.
"Fine!" Lina said angrily. His hands relaxed and shrugged them off her shoulders but she stayed near the door, waiting as he asked. She'd give it five minutes...
She stopped breathing completely when Kane set the dangerously sick man down on the marble floor and his body began to twist and change. She watched in shock as the man she knew changed; his muscles thickened and he got even bigger, his clothes tearing with a loud ripping sound. His skin rippled and she watched in shock as a dark black fur flowed across his body. His face elongated into a short muzzle and within moments there was no trace of the man she knew. Standing in his place was a beast, a large, muscular, hairy... creature.
She let out a whimper, jerking away from Teddy who was reaching for her again and backed up fast, slamming against the door frame.
The creature's head swung toward her and she saw that his eyes were the same, the ice blue color as Kane's eyes that always intrigued her. Her hand came up to cover her mouth. There was something... wild swimming in his eyes as he looked at her. He looked away and she felt as if she had been released physically, so strong was the sensation of his eyes on her. She fell to her knees, huddling down and pressing into a tight ball.
In shock and more scared than she had ever been in her life, Lina still couldn't look away as one of his large clawed hands fell on to the center of the sick man's chest. When the creature spoke his voice was a low rumble, clear but much deeper than Kane's usual tone.
She could feel something as he spoke, like a tingle than surged through her as he spoke to the dying man still convulsing on the floor.
"Carson Everson Marks, shift now."
The depth of the voice had changed but it was still the same confident voice; the voice that said he had spoken and those who heard would obey. It had been tough to hide the effect it had always had on Lina.
Strangely, it reassured her now and her body reacted to the low order. Somehow, the creature was the man she knew as Kane. The man she had been dreaming about was not a man!
Lina made a sound in her throat and suddenly Teddy was by her side. "Shh, don't distract him. He has to focus on Carson and then he'll explain things to you. Don't be afraid, Kane would never hurt you."
Kane growled when the man didn't move. "Shift, Carson."
The man on the ground groaned and his eyelids fluttered. His back arched and a horrible moan was torn from his throat.
"Carson Everson Marks, you will obey your alpha. Shift now!" The power in the room shifted palpably. Somehow even Lina felt it as Kane shoved his will into the convulsing man.
All at once Carson's body began to shift. Instead of growing larger like Kane had done his body shrank. His arms and legs changed shape and gray fur covered his body. When he was done changing a larger than average size wolf lay on the floor. His convulsions stopped and his eyes blinked open. His tail tucked between his legs and he shrank away from Kane who stopped him from moving with a firm grip in the hair on the back of his neck.
The wolf went limp and he whimpered as their eyes locked.
"We will be having a talk after you have rested and can shift back into human form," Kane said in a voice deepened by the growl still rumbling in his chest. He glanced over at Lina who couldn't help but turn away; she couldn't stand the pain in those ice blue orbs.
"You have done more than disobey my orders with your reckless drug use."
Kane released him and the wolf tried pathetically to stand up but fell to the floor in exhaustion before he even made it to his feet.
Kane stood up."Take him down to the basement, Max, and let him sleep it off. He's not to leave the safe room."
Max nodded wordlessly and then picked up the wolf, moving to a door Lina hadn't noticed before. It looked like an ordinary door but there was a security pad next to it and when he opened the door she saw that it was several inches thick and the wood panel seemed to cover a steel core. As soon as it shut behind them Kane turned to her. His eyes flicked to the people still standing in the door to the foyer.
