Kallen's Atonement Read Online Free PDF

He didn’t know how the two had gotten the nicknames. No doubt from Carson, the coalition’s resident smartass. But at that moment, Drake had never been so happy to see two felines in his entire life.
    “Can you walk?” Ash asked Drake.
    The wimpy side of Drake wanted to say hell no, but the proud side of himself nodded. “Yeah, but I’ll need some help.”
    Ash responded, “No problem. I’ll be there for you the entire way. I promise I’ll only let you go if you get too heavy.”
    When Drake shot him a dirty look, Ash said, “Kidding.”
    Ash helped Drake to his feet. Drake bit his bottom lip in an effort to hold back his cry of pain. He’d be damned if he gave the Ravens the satisfaction of knowing that they’d gotten to him.
    Finally, Drake was on his feet, although he was far from steady. He had to lean heavily on Ash for support.
    Ash threw an arm around Drake’s shoulders and said, “Okay, let’s make a run for it.”
    As soon as they darted out into the opening, the Ravens were on them. If it weren’t for Dumb and Ass laying down cover-fire, Drake and Ash wouldn’t have made it five feet. As it was, Ash was having to use his free hand to shoot at any Ravens who got too close.
    For a second, Drake didn’t think they were going to make it. Then out of nowhere, Logan appeared. He grabbed the other side of Drake and helped drag him toward the van.
    “Why is it always you who is getting hurt,” Logan said with a grin on his face.
    “Because unlike you, I don’t run screaming like a girl at the first sign of Ravens,” Drake teased, his words coming out in pants due to the pain.
    Logan raised his gun and shot a Raven in the face. “You know me. I always love to play the damsel in distress. That way, Jacyn can kiss my boo-boos better.”
    “I wonder if that would work with Kallen?” Drake mused.
    “I seriously doubt it,” Ash drawled.
    By the time they got to the van, they had so many Ravens on their asses that they opened the doors and all but threw Drake inside, then jumped in after him. Drake let out a moan as pain shot through his body.
    As soon as he recovered, Ash got on his knees and began to administer first aid.
    “Damn, this hurts like hell,” Drake complained again.
    Ash applied some strips to stop the bleeding. “Look at it this way. At least you will have an excuse to see Kallen again. From the looks of these wounds, you’ll be in the infirmary a minimum of a few days. That will give him all kinds of time to get Florence Nightingale on your ass.”
    Drake mulled that one over. Okay, so maybe getting injured wasn’t totally a bad thing. What did they say about every cloud having a silver lining?
    “Ha! Knowing him, he’ll probably put a dagger in the wounds and twist it around.”
    “I thought you said he was beginning to tolerate you,” Ash said, still working.
    “Yeah, but that’s still a long way from liking me.”
    The rest of the ride seemed to take forever, and Drake swore that the driver purposefully hit every bump and pothole in the road on the way there. By the time they arrived, he was in so much pain that even the drugs Ash had given him weren’t taking the edge off anymore.
    They put Drake on a gurney and rushed him into the infirmary. Drake soon found himself surrounded by hospital staff, one of which was Kallen.
    To Drake’s extreme surprise, Kallen looked genuinely concerned. His bottom lip even quivered a bit as he moved around, getting blood samples and starting an IV.
    “We need to get him into the OR, STAT,” Doc Featherstone barked.
    Drake wanted to say something to Kallen. To reassure him that everything would be okay. But somebody had put something in his IV and Drake felt himself falling asleep. He tried to fight it, but it was useless. His last sight was of Kallen, gazing down with a concerned look in his amber eyes.
    * * * *
    Kallen stared down at the blood on his hands. While the sight of it usually didn’t bother him, knowing that it was