Lycan Christmas

 Lycan -6

S. K. Yule

Chapter One

Lorent had just lugged what seemed like the fiftieth box of lights from Rindy and Brent’s basement halfway down the main path that wound through the cabins situated throughout Sanctuary. He set it down next to the other boxes, which were now almost all empty, and watched the others hanging the strings of lights on the evergreen trees that ran along the edge of the dirt trail.

His second Christmas at Sanctuary was quickly approaching, but holidays had never held any special interest to him. In fact, until he’d come here, he’d not been around people who celebrated holidays, nor had he celebrated them. There hadn’t been a reason to observe them, really wasn’t now.

That wasn’t entirely true. He shook his head and silently berated himself for being such a cynical ass. He had his life, a much better one, and friends, thanks to Sanctuary. That was enough in itself to be celebratory, yet he had trouble finding that joyous, lighthearted vibe that everyone else seemed to radiate. “Christmas spirit,” as it was referred to. He didn’t dislike Christmas.

Christmas in itself was okay. It was the gatherings of people it brought that were hard on him, especially following so closely on the heels of Thanksgiving. He wasn’t good with people. Never had been, probably never would be.

He squeezed his eyes shut and stifled a groan. Thanksgiving. It was only a week away. His lungs nearly constricted in the familiar suffocating manner at the thought of a pending get-together. He couldn’t deny he liked the food, and in truth liked his new family as well, but he needed to take them in small doses. Unfortunately, nothing was in small doses where the holidays were concerned at Sanctuary. He took a deep breath wondering if this Thanksgiving might be a bit less smothering and overwhelming. He hoped like hell it would be, but doubted it.

He hated the unease he felt around people, and hated even more the wariness that had embedded itself deep into his subconscious, although that same wariness was what had kept him alive when he’d been a rogue and running with one dangerous crowd after another.

Over a year ago, Knox Slade had given him a choice between reforming and dying. He’d nearly chosen death. Death was peaceful, and he never understood why people were so afraid of it. Hell, living with the constant shit life threw at you was much harder than the ultimate, eternal calm and quiet death offered. Knox would have given him a swift, somewhat painless death had he chosen that particular path. But while his life had been a complete and utter crapfest, it was his, nonetheless, and the survival instinct in him was strong, always had been, which made sense out of how he’d managed to continue breathing as long as he had.

He thought back on the night that had brought him to Sanctuary, the night he’d gotten the idiotic idea embedded into his thick skull that he needed a mate. He’d never given much thought to taking a mate before then, but for some reason, the loneliness that had eaten away at him for what seemed like eternity had finally gnawed deep enough to get the best of him.

When he’d come across Rose Canton’s scent, he hadn’t been able to help himself.

He’d never intended to hurt her, but he couldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams the fight she’d put up. He grunted, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, remembering exactly how it had felt when Rose had broken it. But those things had turned out to be the least of his worries, for he hadn’t counted on Knox Slade, Rose’s real mate, making an appearance.

When the ancient had gotten his hands on him, he’d been prepared to die. The rage he’d witnessed on the lycan’s face had been a humbling experience. He’d been scared shitless, not so much because he was staring death in the face, but because, in all honesty, even after the countless horrifying things he’d observed through the years, he had never seen a more terrifying sight than the partially changed dominant male protecting his mate.

That night had brought an avalanche of changes crashing down on him, and in whole, he was satisfied with them—for the most part.

He’d been homeless since he was ten years old—not that the outcasts he’d been raised with would be considered family material by any sane person—and had fallen into random rogue packs off and on over the years.

The memories of the things he’d witnessed still haunted him, but when he’d scented Rose that night, despair had finally gotten the best of him. Every pack he’d belonged to, every adult role model he’d had up to that point had taught him that he should take what he wanted whenever he wanted it. While he’d fought the things he’d been told, felt deep down that hurting others was wrong, loneliness had a way of inspiring irrationality.

He’d dreamed of having a woman he could call his own, one who would hold him and love him, not one he had to kidnap and threaten and rape, although rape was something he was not capable of. He wanted a woman who would be kind to him, someone he could share his life with, and when he’d come across Rose—and God help him but she was beautiful—he’d let the misguided lessons he’d been taught from birth convince him she could be his. He hadn’t known until he’d come to Sanctuary that those marked with the main scent had a second scent, a mated scent that only a destined mate could smell.

He’d been taught that those with the scent were marked for lycan pleasure, and once he’d learned of the mated scent, the guilt had been near crippling. Over the years, he’d witnessed the abuse of many women, and even though the urge to aid them had surged in him, he’d been helpless.

Scavenging for food and blending with shadows for safety honed skills of evasion not fighting technique, yet he wasn’t so sure that excuse made him feel any better. What kind of man did that make him? A coward?

The knowledge that he’d witnessed countless marked women robbed of the chance to meet their intended mate gave him nightmares and a forever-burdened heart. And the thought that the same fate might have befallen the one woman in the world who could possibly love him, accept him for whom and what he was, made him wish at times that Knox Slade hadn’t given him a choice about dying.

Bubbly laughter jerked him from his dismal thoughts, and his attention was drawn to Rindy, Brent’s mate. She was a tiny thing, barely five foot tall, with blonde hair nearly the color of wheat, and clear gray eyes. The ancient was nearly twice the size of Rindy, but he handled her as if she were fragile glass. Lorent smiled when Brent picked her up by the waist and held her up to a fir tree so she could string some lights on the branches toward the top.

Rindy and Brent’s property butted up against Anthony’s and Karen’s—

another ancient and his mate—property. Those two properties combined made up the hundreds of acres called Sanctuary.

“Hey, Lorent. You decorating your place this year?”

Lorent, lost in his memories, wallowing in his guilt, sucked in a startled gasp. He should have noticed Shannon’s approach much sooner. Great.

Haven’t you learned by now that distraction is the number one thing that can get you killed? Not that he feared for his life—only his sanity—from Shannon, but another situation and a wandering mind could cost him dearly.

Shannon Levy was the only unmated girl who lived at Sanctuary. He had participated in her rescue from rogues five months earlier. Fortunately, they’d gotten to her before any real harm had been done, and he considered her rescue the first real step in making up some ground for past sins.

Shannon was twenty, five years younger than him, and was pretty enough with her slim, tall frame, dark skin, pert mouth, turned-up nose, blue eyes, and long brown hair. While he found her to be nice, she made him a bit uncomfortable at times with her overly friendly behavior.

She wasn’t his mate, but he sympathized with her, as he figured she was grappling with trying to deal with how she’d come to be at Sanctuary and being a marked mate for a lycan. He understood the struggles of trying to figure out who you were and what was expected of you, especially after living a life with a completely different outlook of what was and was not reality.

“Um, no.” He took a step back when she crowded his personal space, which she did quite often.

“I could come over and help you, you know?” She batted her long lashes at him and slowly ran her tongue over her lips.

The urge to run away was strong, but he’d look like a fool if he hightailed it into the woods because a girl made him nervous. He took another step back and almost threw caution to the wind when she walked two fingers up his chest.

“It would be fun, hon. We could hang out and get to know each other better.” She leaned closer. Her breasts brushed against him as she stood on her toes to slip her mouth up by his ear. “You know I’d like to get to know you better, right, Lorent?”

He felt the hot rush of blood to his cheeks. She had to know that if he got to know her in the way he thought she was insinuating, it would be his balls, because once Anthony found out, he’d rip them off if Brent didn’t get to him first. Anthony and Karen played integral parts at Sanctuary. Anthony kept the reformants in line, which sometimes required a good ass-kicking, and Karen helped the newly reforming rogues with the mental side of things.

While Karen had worked in an office before meeting Anthony, it hadn’t taken her long to find a new interest in psychology. She’d taken several online courses in the subject and was currently looking into becoming a full-fledged psychiatrist.

There were rules about touching the mate of another. Hell, there were rules about everything, but this was the only real home Lorent had ever known, the only home where he felt people actually gave a shit about him—

even if just a little—and he wasn’t going to screw it up by letting his hormones get the best of him.

“I’m sorry, Shannon, but you know I don’t get into the Christmas spirit.

It’s not my thing.”

She shoved her bottom lip out into an exaggerated pout, but before she could say another word, he hurried off with a quick “I’ll see you later” over his shoulder.

He’d gone twenty-five years without sleeping with a woman. He’d kissed and made out a bit, but circumstances had never permitted him to go further than that. He wouldn’t deny he’d wanted to have sex, still wanted to have sex. What red-blooded male didn’t? But he didn’t want to jump into bed with the first willing woman just for the fact that she’d made herself available. As old-fashioned as it might be, he at least wanted to have some feelings—

besides tingly-in-the-pants feelings—for the woman he slept with.

He would never have sex with a woman unless he was one hundred percent sure that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He’d seen too many women used by rogues to want anything other than that. The ideal situation, of course, would be to find his mate, but he held next to no hope that that would happen. If she existed, he’d probably never lay eyes upon her before a rogue got her, and really, what did he have to offer a mate anyway?

He had the option of dating a human woman without the scent, but he wasn’t sure it would be worth the effort. Many lycans did it, but since it was forbidden to tell any human—other than those with the scent—of their existence, if something became serious with an unmarked woman, he would be required to leave Sanctuary. Since living alone for hundreds of years tended to get lonely, some lycans chose this path. And with hope of finding one’s mate dwindling every day with the increasing number of rogues, he could understand the need to have something permanent, or at least semipermanent.

Unfortunately, lycans aged much slower than humans, and a relationship with one could only last a few years. Within ten years or so, it became obvious that something was different when no new wrinkles or evident signs of aging were present. Not to mention no children would come of a union with one not marked. While he understood the need to fill the empty void inside him created by loneliness, he didn’t think a temporary relationship would be worth the pain it would ultimately cause. The hurt suffered in the end when he’d be required to walk away wasn’t something he wished to inflict upon himself, or someone else, for some short-term comfort.

He tried hard not to let his imagination delve into all the ways his mate might have already suffered at the hands of the things he used to hang out with—the thing he used to be. He knew he should cut himself some slack—

the others had told him as much. But he had trouble doing it when inflicted by constant swirling memories of all of the horrible acts he’d seen rogues perform, and of all the times he’d turned a blind eye or never said a word to try to help the victims.

He clenched his fists. When one started sounding like a damned broken record to oneself, it was time to focus on something new. Unfortunately, the self-inflicted torture over his past had become as habitual as weed to a pothead. He’d been a misguided kid, simply a product of society, born into less than savory circumstances, but even under those circumstances, he felt weak blaming others for his actions. He wasn’t a child any longer, and he preferred to take responsibility for the things he’d done.

He made his way to the small cabin he called home and opened the front door. It wasn’t much, but it was clean, and as long as he lived at Sanctuary, it would always be his.

A knock at the door came only moments after he closed it and startled him. He hesitated to answer it, wondering if Shannon had followed him home, and sighed in relief when he heard the familiar voice on the other side.

“Lorent?”

He opened the door. “Hi, Karen.”

She was average height and build, but the black hair that framed her pixie face provided a perfect setting for her ocean blue eyes. She had always been nice to him, and although she wasn’t all that much older than he was, he thought of her as a mother figure. She had no qualms about pointing out his shortcomings and wrongdoings, yet she’d not do it in a degrading manner.

No, she’d do it in a way that told him she cared, that she only wanted to help him become a better man. He appreciated that trait in her, most of the time.

Until he’d come to Sanctuary, no one had cared for him. No one had been kind to him or considered his feelings. Both he and his feelings had been no more than dispensable objects that could be thrown away at a whim.

He’d gotten good at telling when that whim was coming, too, and would cut his losses and move on to the next temporary craphole he’d live in until he’d worn out his welcome and had to move on again. There had been long stretches of time when he’d stayed on his own, but when push came to shove, he’d favor dealing with the rogues. Being around anyone had been better than being alone—which was strange considering his aversion to crowds.

“We’re having a campfire tonight at about eight. You’ll be there, right?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

His own emotions were conflicted; while he felt uncomfortable around others—although he had worked on getting better about that—he still yearned to be a part of a family, a real family who cared about him, whom he cared about, who was normal. And even though it had taken him a while to admit it to himself, he’d come to care about the people at Sanctuary.

So yes, technically Sanctuary had been forced upon him, but he chose to remain because he was finally somewhere he was accepted, a place with others of his kind, others of his kind who treated him with respect, dignity, and love. He never thought to be in such a place, and he had no plans of leaving anytime soon. He’d gone through the reformation program, and was now duly reformed and able to leave if he wanted. But he chose the second option he’d been given: a home, security, and love for as long as he desired.

“Good. If you don’t mind, come a bit early and help set up the chairs?”

“Sure. I’ll be there.” What else did he have to do?

Karen smiled and gave him a sisterly pat on the shoulder before leaving.

Yeah, now that he thought about it, she was more like a big sister than a mother. He’d give his life for her, for all of his family here at Sanctuary, without a thought. They’d given him a second chance, and he would never make them regret it. He’d try his damndest to be the man they all expected him to be, the man he strived to be one day. He just hoped when he screwed up, he didn’t do it in epic proportions, and he would screw up here and there as he’d done on other occasions.

Those screwups had been valuable lessons. No matter how much he’d messed up, like the time he nearly burned down the learning center when attempting to do some minor electrical work, the others had been there to guide him. Those at Sanctuary never condemned him, but instead helped him understand what he’d done wrong. Hell, he hadn’t even minded the times Brent or Anthony or Knox or one of the others had razzed him over his missteps. He’d been told time and again that everyone makes mistakes, but in the past, mistakes had been costly. In the past, mistakes had gotten him beaten or in some instances nearly killed.

He shuddered. He’d taken his lessons seriously, and the ancients had taught him to fight well. The next time someone decided he’d be an easy target, they’d get a surprise, possibly a deadly surprise. For once in his life, he could proudly say that he was on the good side, the right side, the side with a cause, and if a pompous-assed rogue attempted to lay a finger on him again, the fucker would be pulling back a nub.

He walked to the bathroom, stripped off his clothes, and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. If muscles could sigh, his would do so now as the warmth soothed the knots from his earlier workout. After he’d dried and dressed, he stepped outside of the cabin, into the unseasonably warm afternoon.

He made his way down the main path in the opposite direction of where the others were probably still hanging lights, and hadn’t gone far when he saw a familiar SUV heading down the lane. Knox and Rose.

He’d grown to like and respect Knox, and although it had taken time, he and Rose had developed a friendship as well. He still felt guilty about what he’d done to her, even though she’d assured him on more than one occasion that it was in the past and to let bygones be bygones. But that’s where the problem lay, the past, the one thing that proved elusive time and again where his own forgiveness was concerned.

He’d not met one of the lycans’ mates who wasn’t beautiful in her own unique way. Rindy was gorgeous, petite, and fiercely protective of Brent. The two could practically start a fire with the intensity with which they looked at one another. Karen was earthy, intelligent, compassionate, and when she touched Anthony, it was with a gentle kindness that could make any man jealous.

Janine was curvy, funny, and baked like an angel. Raze was one lucky son of a bitch because she could cook as well. Sherry, Janine’s sister, was cute, spunky, and loved Piers with an enviable passion. And Rose was simply gorgeous in every elegant way one could be beautiful, although the woman had a mean streak. He’d learned that firsthand, hadn’t he? He rubbed at the bridge of his nose again, remembering the crunch of cartilage as it had broken under her fist of fury, and smiled at the memory.

While he could appreciate all of the women, none of them sparked any sexual desire in him, only love that one would feel for family. He considered all of the men his brothers and was confident they all had each other’s backs.

As he walked toward the approaching SUV, it came to a halt on the hard, dirt-packed road. He was only a few feet from the vehicle when Knox stepped out of the driver’s side. Shortly after, the passenger door opened, and Rose got out. She smiled and waved at him.

He started over to them to see if they needed help with anything, but froze in his tracks when the back door opened and a tiny girl with spiky pink hair hopped out. Her scent washed over him, but it didn’t elicit the same friendly feelings from him that the others’ did. Her scent enveloped him in warm honey, his body grew tingly, and his cock jumped in interest.

A sudden and overwhelming urge to scoop her up and take her back to his cabin nearly drove all hint of common sense from his brain. He’d even taken a few steps toward her to do just that before he realized what he’d been doing and abruptly halted. Confusion washed through him a split second before full realization and understanding stabbed him as sharply as a double-edged sword. She had the main scent, but she had another scent as well. She was his mate.

He turned and practically ran back into the woods, fully realizing that Knox and Rose would view his actions suspiciously. After all, what normal person would do a one-eighty and flee from friends with no obvious provocation?

Chapter Two

Melony gingerly slipped her numbed rear out of the backseat of the SUV and rolled her shoulders, trying to persuade the cramped-up muscles to relax.

The journey from Knox and Rose’s place to Sanctuary hadn’t been all that bad, was actually scenic, but the overall trip from Maine to here had been excruciatingly long and tedious.

She cringed inwardly. The last six months of her life had been challenging, to put it mildly—very mildly. She was sure that the things she’d seen and learned since meeting Knox and Rose had most likely turned her hair gray under all the pink color.

At twenty-two years old, she was just starting the prime of her young life, when she’d been yanked into a cacophony of events that had led her to this place and these people. She’d grown up in a small but friendly town, and the thought that the reality she knew could easily be shattered within a few short years had never once crossed her mind.

Rose’s existence had been unknown to Melony until six months ago, when Rose and Knox had shown up at her apartment door. Once she’d learned Rose’s relation came from her father’s side—a second cousin to her father—it had explained why her existence had been alien.

Melony’s father had left when she was two years old. She barely remembered him and, quite frankly, had no desire to find him once she’d learned of the abuse he’d inflicted upon her mother. Melony never asked about him, knowing it would only dredge up painful memories for her mom.

It had taken Rose two months to convince her that lycans were real. She had honestly believed the woman to be a complete nutcase, had insisted, on several occasions, that Rose and Knox leave, but they’d refused—even upon threat of notifying the police. She didn’t want to think about the night that they’d finally pulled out all the stops and convinced her they were telling the truth.

That night had consisted of a remote location and Knox going through a partial change in front of her. It had scared the shit out of her, and she’d just recently gotten over the nightmares, but Knox’s transformation had sealed the deal, put the final nail in the coffin, as she couldn’t argue that something didn’t exist when she’d witnessed it with her own eyes.

When she’d learned about the rogues of their kind and how she’d be hunted, fear had instantly embedded itself deep in her bones even though she sensed Knox and Rose had tried to sugarcoat things as much as possible—

which by the way, was fine with her, thank you very much. She had no desire to hear the uncut version of lycans, rogues, and what would happen to her if she were ever apprehended by one, at least not at this point in time. She had been sufficiently convinced that she needed the protection they offered, and after some soul searching, had agreed to go with them to Sanctuary.

Rose and Knox had warned her that they’d only given her the bare-bones basics about the lycan race, and had promised that she would learn the details once they reached Sanctuary. She hadn’t pushed the subject any further since she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear everything just yet. Finding out lycans existed both frightened and fascinated her, but oddest of all, even through the terrifying moments of grappling with the astonishing information she was receiving, a calm acceptance had blossomed deep inside her.

She contributed that acceptance to instinct, figuring because fate had marked her, something inside her must have recognized that she was different, that she was meant to fulfill a certain destiny.

Stranger yet, she didn’t feel like she had been shackled by fate, but actually found herself embracing what she might become in the future if she found her mate. She supposed the thought appealed to her because she’d never really come across a man who wasn’t a jerk or didn’t disregard her feelings in certain circumstances as mere female outbursts spurred by hormones.

The chance of finding a man whose universe revolved around her, whose love would be true, who wouldn’t be a jealous jerk, who would care about her feelings, and who would protect and cherish her was a fantasy most women only dreamed about. Of course, the possibility of finding her mate was slim, and if she never met him, she’d survive. She only hoped if she did find him, he was a little less in-your-face dominant than Knox. Knox was a good man, and she liked him, but his intensity was overwhelming at times.

After a while, Rose and Knox had grown on her. They’d been kind to her and hadn’t given up when she’d stubbornly refused to believe them. They could have simply given her the knowledge of lycans and left her to fend for herself, left her to believe it or not, but they’d refused to abandon her, had insisted they wanted to become her family, to protect her. And who was she to turn down an offer like that? For one, a family sounded like heaven. She missed her mother, and felt alone on her own.

Secondly, what kind of life would she have always looking over her shoulder wondering when or if she might be discovered by a rogue?

She caught a glimpse of a tall man with black hair only a few feet from them, but when she peered around Knox’s broad back to get a better look, he was heading into the woods. She shrugged, deciding he probably had something better to do than meet the new girl.

Knox turned to look at her, his brow raised in question as his eyes went from her to the backseat. She barely noticed the four scars that ran across his face now that she was used to them, the scars Rose told her he’d gotten from a fight a long time ago. While the puckered white edges were hard to miss, they didn’t detract from his looks. In fact, they gave an inside peek to the predator that lay beneath.

He glanced at the backseat again, and she finally caught on to the silent message he was trying to convey. She’d almost forgotten about Puss in the carrier. She’d refused to leave her beloved cat behind. The long-haired flame point Persian had been the last thing her mother had given to her before she’d died. Knox and Rose had made it clear that a cat would probably not be a welcome thing at Sanctuary, but nothing could deter her from bringing her pet.

She’d been assured that no one would harm Puss, but that it would be a good idea to keep her out of sight and out of mind. She’d probably get the snub from Puss for the next few days, since she did not like to be locked up, but it had been for her own safety.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Knox, I’ll keep a close eye on her. Besides, she’s an inside cat. She hates going outside.” She grinned when he smirked at the

“Uncle” part. She’d only just started calling Knox and Rose “Uncle” and “Aunt.” Even though Rose was a distant cousin, calling them “Aunt” and

“Uncle” made her feel closer to them. They hadn’t had any objections with the titles when she’d asked.

“See that you do. There are many things that could harm her out in the woods. And I don’t mean us.” He winked at her.

“We’ll get your bags and show you to your cabin. It’s close to the one we stay in when we visit.” Rose started for the back of the SUV, and Knox stopped her.

“I’ll get the bags, and Melony can handle Puss.” Knox swooped down and kissed Rose on the mouth, halting the obvious protest she was about to launch.

Melony blushed and looked away. The way they looked at each other could make anyone hot under the collar. The two were scorching together, and she wondered if she’d find a man who loved her that much one day. She hoped so, but even if she didn’t, well, that would be okay too. She might be young, but she knew a woman didn’t need a man to define her life.

“Grr. You are such a man,” Rose said to Knox when he opened the back hatch of the SUV.

“Yep. That’s me. A man.” He tugged the suitcases out, put two under each arm, and started off on a path that led into the woods. “Come on,” he said to Melony over his shoulder.

He carried her luggage with enviable ease. She would have struggled with two of them, and wouldn’t have managed all four at the same time on her best day. On top of that, she almost had to jog to keep up with him, and Puss growled in displeasure at being jostled around.

“Uncle Knox, slow down a bit,” she said breathlessly.

“Sorry, I forgot how small you are.” He immediately slowed his pace.

“No problem.” She grinned.

Once they made it to her cabin, she was pleasantly surprised. Rose caught up with them and gave her a quick tour. It wasn’t big, but it was sufficient, efficient, clean, and cozy. She’d always liked the countryside—although this was more like the jungle than countryside—and she felt a resolved happiness settling inside her. This was going to be her home. She had a family, and she would be safe.

“Tonight we are all gathering at the campfire. I’ll introduce you to the others, and Lorent.” Rose smiled at Melony.

“Who’s Lorent?”

“He’s someone I had a little run-in with in the past. He used to be a rogue, but he’s been reformed, and we figured it would be good for him to teach a newcomer about us in detail. He’s a tad bit shy, and we’ve been trying to get him to open up more. He was here when we got out of the SUV, but must have gotten a bit skittish when he saw you.”

So that’s who the man had been, but wait—“A rogue?” Melony worried her lip with her teeth.

Knox walked to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Was a rogue. He’s reformed. He’s one of us now. He is trustworthy. Neither one of us would allow you to be put in a situation that could cause you harm.”

Melony nodded. She believed him. After all, why would they have spent so much time and energy hunting her down to protect her only to be careless with her safety later? Didn’t seem logical to her.

“I trust you.” She’d always been chided by others in her life for being too trusting but damn it, she liked to believe the best of people.

“The fire will be around eight. I’ll be back here a little before to take you there. In the meantime, relax a bit, unpack, and settle in.” Rose hugged her and followed Knox to the door.

“Sounds great. I’ll see you later then.” She waved and headed down the hall to the bedroom with Puss. It was a nice-sized room with a big bed that was made up in crisp white sheets and a thick comforter.

“I’m so glad I potty-trained you to use the toilet,” she mumbled to Puss.

The potty training had been a two-month-long process, but Puss no longer required a litter box. It had been well worth the time and effort she’d put into it since she no longer had to scoop poop or change kitty litter.

“Now if I could only teach you to flush afterward,” she sighed, knowing that was a pipe dream that would never happen.

After closing the door and setting Puss on the floor by the bed, she sat in front of the carrier cross-legged and opened the locked gate. It took several minutes of coaxing, but Puss finally stuck her pink nose out. After a few more minutes, she dashed out and onto Melony’s lap. She held the cat to her and stroked her lightly in a soothing manner while humming.

Her kitty would be happier, less overwhelmed by the new surroundings if she let her get used to one small space at a time.

“It’ll be okay, Puss. This is a good change for us. We have people that care about us here.” Well, she did anyways. She wasn’t sure about Puss. After all, weren’t lycans of the canine family?

Hmmm. Are they of the canine family? If they were, it would only be logical that they wouldn’t think much of cats. Was that the reason Knox had warned her to keep kitty out of sight? He promised her the cat would not be harmed, but also said there was no sense in pushing her luck. Puss was the first cat to come to Sanctuary, and she was worried that the feline wouldn’t be a welcome surprise.

“Too bad. You are a beautiful girl, and they will grow to love you just as I have.”

She waited until a light purr vibrated from Puss before she kissed her on the head and set her on the floor to allow her to get acquainted with her new home. The cat gave her a haughty look that said she didn’t believe a word Melony said.

Melony laughed. “You have to give it a chance. We have an opportunity to have a family here. Wait and see. It will all work out.”

She prayed that was so. All through school, her friends had claimed that she was entirely too bubbly and looked on the bright side of things even when a bright side didn’t exist. She didn’t agree. There was something good in everyone, in every situation. Besides, who wanted to go through life a pessimistic crab? Not her. She preferred to believe the best of whatever situation she was in, although she had to admit it was hard to be completely optimistic when she was probably the only human in the midst of a bunch of shape-shifters.

She shrugged before standing and began to unpack the suitcases Knox had set by the bed on the dark hardwood floor. When she’d asked him where she would be able to get groceries and other necessities, he’d instructed her to make a list of anything she needed. Apparently, routine trips were made to town to pick up supplies. She’d also asked him how she’d be able to make money to pay for the things she needed while she lived here. She had some savings, but those wouldn’t last forever.

He’d informed her that Sanctuary would pay for whatever she needed, that all potential mates were taken care of. When she protested, he’d assured her that after she’d settled in and started helping out with newcomers and tasks that needed taken care of, she’d earn wages. She supposed that would be okay. As long as she was contributing to the encampment, she didn’t mind, but until that time came, she’d insist on paying for her own things whether Knox liked it or not.

After all of her clothes were put away, she took her toiletries to the bathroom. The counter space was good sized, and she placed her hair gel, mousse, and hair spray beside her hairdryer. She’d brought several boxes of her favorite pink hair color as well—anticipating that she might have a difficult time finding it out in the sticks of Michigan. She wondered if they had landlines or Internet out here. She could order it online, but it wasn’t anything urgent, as she was sure she had enough to last her a year or more.

“That’s an understatement,” she snorted, trying to get the vanity drawer to close after stuffing the boxes inside.

She was good at cutting hair as well, and wouldn’t have to worry about how she would keep her hair styled in the short, spiky do she preferred.

While some of her fashion choices resembled goth, her pink hair slid her firmly to the punk side. She liked to stand out. Blending in, doing the norm was not her sort of thing.

She didn’t do it to get attention. She simply liked being different, making a statement. And she wasn’t one to fall into what everyone else was doing just because she caused a raised brow here and there. She didn’t go overboard with her style. After all, she had forgone the nose stud she’d wanted, compromised and gotten the belly button piercing instead.

She stretched her arms above her head and stood on tiptoes, then looked at her watch. It was nearing six thirty, which left her plenty of time for a shower before Rose came and got her for the campfire. She looked longingly at the big shower stall that was tiled in what looked to be river rock. God, please let the water be hot. She turned on the tap, happy beyond belief when the water started to steam, and quickly discarded her clothes.

She washed her hair with her favorite jasmine-scented shampoo, and after scrubbing her entire body with a loofah, she stood under the hot water until her skin began to prune. After drying off, she put on pink-and-black checkered leggings, a black skirt that flared at her knees, a black tank top, pink jacket, and black boots with pink laces. Just as she was putting the finishing touches on her hair, she heard a knock at the door.

“You be a good kitty, Puss.” As she walked through the bedroom, she patted the cat that was sprawled on the end of the bed, looking right at home. “I’ll see you later.”

“Are you ready to go?” Rose stood on the other side of the door Melony had just opened. “I’m a little early, so if you need more time—”

“No. I’m ready if you are.” Melony stepped outside and closed the door firmly behind her.

Chapter Three

Lorent had just finished helping Anthony, Brent, Knox, and Raze position the last of the chairs around the blazing fire when her scent hit him.

His gut clenched, and he had to smother a groan. His cock did a happy twitchity-twitch dance in his jeans, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“You okay, man?” When Raze patted him on the shoulder, he jumped.

“Sorry, um, yeah, I’m all right.” All right? No. Ecstatic, bewildered, confused? Yes.

Her tinkly laughter slid along his spine as she came into view walking beside Rose. Rose was beautiful, but the girl with the pink hair was breathtaking. Every instinct he possessed screamed at him to touch her, kiss her, swoop down and take her away so he could get her alone and claim her.

He’d run away from those urges earlier, but now had no choice but to face them head-on. He struggled to fight them back with an imaginary club.

He watched her, hoping that the hunger that burned inside him for her didn’t show on his face. She was perfect, too perfect for him. Suddenly, it felt as if he’d eaten a brick, and it now lay heavily in his stomach.

Although he’d longed for this woman, this one being who would belong only to him, love only him, he realized that he didn’t deserve her. He wasn’t good enough for her. The things he’d witnessed, the things he’d done when he was a rogue, the things he’d allowed to happen all around him made him unworthy of such a pure, rare gift.

Besides, he had no idea how to treat a woman. Of course, he knew the basic niceties and manners, but he’d never had a girlfriend. The women who had come on to him in the past were no sweet, innocent pink-haired girls.

They’d been prostitutes or girlfriends of other rogues, girlfriends who had about as many morals as the rogues had. Ultimately, not one of the women had sparked a true interest in him. Not one of them had appealed to him strong enough to make him want to fuck her.

And now he understood why. He didn’t want to fuck the pink-haired girl in the enticing black-and-pink getup either. He wanted to make love to her, possess her, keep her safe and by his side forever, cherish her. He started to back away slowly, wanting to flee as he’d done earlier, needing to put some distance between her and him, but Knox called out to him, and he stilled.

“Lorent?” Knox chuckled. “Can you hear me?”

“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” he muttered under his breath, and his whole body tensed as Rose drew nearer, the girl following, until they stopped only a couple of feet in front of him.

“This is Melony.” Rose pointed to the girl he’d been admiring, been lusting after.

“Melony” was a pretty name. A pretty name for a young, innocent girl you have no business tarnishing. He wasn’t good enough to touch the likes of her. But, oh man, did he want to. Her spiky pink hair framed a delicate, angelic face, and thick lashes accentuated the deep chocolate brown of her wide, intelligent eyes. Her nose was small, and tipped up just a little at the end, and her mouth, good God, her mouth was set with some of the lushest pink lips he’d ever seen.

“Melony, this is Lorent.” Rose continued as if the world wasn’t tilting and sliding off its axis.

“Hi, Lorent.” Melony’s voice was like warm silk, with just a hint of huskiness.

“Hi.” He barely got the word around his thick tongue.

He was going to have to make sure to keep lots of distance between them because he was seriously starting to doubt his ability to keep his hands, and other body parts, off her.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She smiled, and his heart skipped a beat.

“I suppose it would be a good time to tell you that you both will be spending some time together,” Knox said as if he didn’t notice Lorent nearly choke. “Melony, Lorent is fairly new around here. He’s completed his official training, but we feel it would be good for him to take on a new charge.”

“Charge? What exactly does that mean?”

Lorent slid a quick glance to Melony. She looked nervous, and Lorent couldn’t blame her. He couldn’t stop staring at her, and she was probably regretting the fact that she was going to have to spend time with him.

Rose squeezed Melony’s shoulders. “We’ve only told you the basics about lycans. Lorent will have the task of giving you the details.”

“Oh. Yes, I’m anxious to learn more,” Melony said before biting down gently on her bottom lip.

She was tiny, petite, nothing but a slip of a thing, but damn, she had some serious curves. Lorent was nearly a foot taller than her, and another fear slithered through him. He could hurt her with ease, without even trying, yet another reason he needed to keep his hands off her. If he let his hormones get out of control, he could harm her. She needed a gentle lover, one who would caress her, hold her, and he doubted he was that man.

Nothing in him wanted to be gentle at the moment.

He wanted to pin her to the ground and take her, claim her until she cried out his name, until she accepted that she belonged to him.

Unfortunately, while he might believe she needed a gentle lover, now that he’d met her, there would be dire circumstances for any other man who dared touch her.

Protective instinct surged in him hard, and in that moment of time, Lorent understood what Knox had been feeling the night he’d tried to take Rose. The clarity was nearly knee buckling, because he didn’t have a clue as to how Knox had kept from killing him.

Lorent would never allow harm to come to Melony. He’d kill anyone who hurt her in any way, and that’s where the true problem lay. He wasn’t supposed to kill unless necessary. He was trained to have restraint, compassion, but he doubted that restraint when it came to Melony and other men.

Reformants were not allowed to be near the women until they’d been trained and proved to be trustworthy. Melony would be his final test. If he screwed this up, if he touched her, it may be the death of him, literally. He eyed Knox and Rose. They were protective of Melony. If he hurt her, they’d have no qualms about ripping shreds from his ass.

Hell, if he hurt her, he’d deserve it. How had this happened? He couldn’t refuse to do as they’d requested. He had to find some way to dig deep into his control and get through this. How long could it take to teach someone about lycans anyway? A couple of days? He might be able to get through that.

“We would also like for you to teach Melony basic self-defense, Lorent.”

Rose smiled.

Shit. So much for keeping his hands off her. He wouldn’t be able to teach her self-defense without touching her at least a little.

“Now that you two have been introduced, you can both meet at the Learning Center tomorrow. We trust that you can talk with Melony and figure out how to proceed with her training in a way suitable for her specific needs. We don’t want her overwhelmed or frightened in any way,” Knox continued on. “Over the next few weeks, she’ll count on you to enlighten her of our ways, to answer any questions she may have, and to show her how to protect herself. You’ll need to have the lessons in the afternoons, as you’ll have your normal duties to carry out in the morning, Lorent.”

Lorent barely heard another word. A few weeks? He’d have to spend every afternoon with her for a few weeks? How would he get through this without claiming her? Should he come clean and tell Knox that she was his?

Rogues were not allowed mates until they’d finished their training, and apparently, he wasn’t done as he’d thought—not until after tutoring Melony.

If he told Knox, Knox would undoubtedly tell Rose, perhaps Anthony, Brent, Raze, and Piers. He didn’t know what would happen after that. At the very least, he’d be watched so closely he’d never have a private moment again. At the most, he might be asked to leave, because if anyone was asked to go, it would be him, not Melony. He didn’t want to leave. Sanctuary was the only true home he’d had. It was the only place he felt safe, had friends.

He had no choice. He had to do this. He’d play Melony’s teacher for the next few weeks, keep his hands to himself, and when it was all over, when he’d finally finished his training . . . well, he didn’t know exactly what would happen after that.

He either had to control his urges with her or leave Sanctuary. He didn’t want to do either, didn’t want to lose either. He took a long, deep breath.

The next few weeks were going to be pure hell.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we’ll introduce you to the rest of the couples and let you enjoy the fire.” Knox smiled at Melony and motioned her to follow him and Rose.

* * *

“Do you think it’s a good idea pairing Melony with Lorent?” Rose whispered to Knox as they discreetly watched Melony, who, after being introduced to the others, had made her way over to the fire and now sat next to Lorent.

“We don’t have a choice. The only place he didn’t excel in his training was communication. It’s okay to be laid-back, quiet, keep to oneself, but it’s more than that with him. He won’t hurt her. I wouldn’t put her in danger.”

Knox hugged Rose to him.

“I know,” she sighed. “He just acted strange when we introduced them.”

“Strange how?”

“I don’t know.” Rose shrugged before wrapping her arms around Knox.

“Something I can’t quite pinpoint. I mean, I didn’t get any vibes that I thought he would hurt her. It’s just . . .”

“We’ll keep an eye on them, baby.”

He ran his knuckles over her cheek, and she closed her eyes, letting his caress soak into her skin. She still couldn’t believe she’d fallen in love with a lycan. She’d hunted them, had hated them for over ten years, but Knox had changed all of that. He bent and captured her lips, and she sighed, opening her mouth, allowing his tongue to sweep in.

When he deepened the kiss, she melted against him. They’d been together for over a year now, and she had a big surprise for him. She wanted it to be his Christmas present, but she wasn’t sure she could wait a whole month. His hands cupped her ass, and all thoughts fled her mind, replaced by the heat of his touch.

* * *

Whew wee, the man was some serious eye candy. Melony sat next to Lorent—well, kind of next to. Every time she’d lean a bit closer to try to start conversation, he’d widen the distance between them. Did she make him uneasy somehow? Maybe he didn’t like pink hair. He hadn’t been rude in any way, but he seemed cagey, withdrawn. Maybe he was just shy, like Knox had said. Shy she could deal with.

She looked around at each of the couples she’d been introduced to: Anthony and Karen, Rindy and Brent, Raze and Janine, and Sherry and Piers—who had arrived only a few moments ago. When her gaze rested on Knox and Rose, she blushed when she saw their heated embrace. Lorent followed her gaze, and his eyes widened, an eerie glow flashing in their depths for a split second before disappearing. She assumed it had been the firelight reflected at an odd angle.

“How long have you lived here, Lorent?”

“This will be my second Christmas.”

She looked around at the trees outlining the path she and Rose had taken to the campfire, the one that continued on from where they had stopped and curved around out of sight. There were already a fair amount of lights twinkling in the trees on the path, and she smiled. She loved Christmas.

Everyone was kinder around Christmas, more giving, more . . . not nasty.

She’d met a lot of nice people, but she’d met a lot of not-so-nice people too.

The magic of Christmas tended to create an air of amicability.

“The lights are pretty. Did you help put them up?”

Lorent nodded.

Okay, so he wasn’t going to be a forthcoming font of information, but she didn’t mind. She’d never been one to back down from a challenge. She’d just have to work on him, and hope that he would eventually open up to her.

She’d always had a way with people, and she wanted him to be comfortable around her.

“I’d love to put a tree up in my cabin. Maybe you could help me pick one out and decorate it.”

“Lorent doesn’t do decorations, do you, hon?”

Melony turned to find a girl standing behind them, a gorgeous girl who could grace the cover of any magazine. Wavy brown hair framed an elegant face, and blue eyes and dark skin were evident even by firelight. Her tall, fine-boned figure didn’t sport an ounce of extra fat on a lithe frame. Melony’s stomach curled with a tinge of jealousy that suddenly turned to guilt. Melony considered herself pretty in her own way, just not . . . beautiful. She smiled.

She wasn’t an envious person by nature, and looks weren’t everything in life.

“I’m Melony.”

“Shannon.” She sat on the other side of Lorent.

Melony didn’t miss the way Lorent stiffened when Shannon scooted close until their thighs almost touched. Hmm. Were they an item? The girl eyed her up and down as if she were competition, but seemed to quickly dismiss the notion. That kind of irked Melony, but it wasn’t the first time she’d been shot down as competition by tall, gorgeous girls. She supposed most didn’t take her as a serious threat simply for her fashion choices and pink hair.

Her pink hair and fashion weren’t bad, just different. However, she wasn’t so naive as to not know that her trend appealed to a certain kind of man. Was Lorent that kind of man? She eyed him. He was, no doubt, a beefcake. His ruffled black hair had that sleep-tousled look, and his eyes were a clear, alluring hazel framed by dark lashes. She wished she had lashes that thick. His nose was straight and just the right size for his face. His jaw was squared out, but held a hint of youthfulness that belied the recentness of his transition from boy to man.

He was tall, much taller than she was—most people were—and the slight cleft in his chin gave her a strange urge to run her tongue over it. His stubble lent an edge of sexiness to his rugged looks, and the dark T-shirt he wore perfectly sculpted his broad chest and wide shoulders. She didn’t even want to think about how delectable his backside had looked in his snug jeans. She frowned. What was wrong with her? She had no qualms about appreciating a fine-looking man, but she’d appreciated him with more tenacity than just a passing admiration of a fine male specimen.

She felt like telling Shannon that there was no competition with Lorent anyway, that he’d looked as if he were pained when Knox had informed him he’d be acting as her teacher. He’d barely spoken to her at all, and it was obvious he had no interest in her. When Shannon scooted even closer to Lorent, brushing her leg against his, he tensed and shifted until there was some space separating them once again. Hmm. Maybe he wasn’t interested in Shannon either, but Shannon didn’t take the hint as she breached the distance between them again.

“I already asked Lorent to help me decorate earlier, so if he helps anyone, it will be me. Besides, I’m sure you’ll be busy for the next couple weeks settling in.” Shannon put a fat marshmallow on the end of a stick and held it over the fire.

“Actually, Lorent is going to be my teacher for the next several weeks.

We start our lessons tomorrow.” Damn. Why was she goading this girl?

Shannon froze for a moment and treated Melony with a scalding glare that sent chills down her spine. But when Lorent turned to look at Shannon, her face instantly transformed into a bright smile.

“Well. Won’t that be nice?” Shannon stood and let the stick with the speared marshmallow drop to the ground. The marshmallow plopping into the dirt made a gooey, sticky mess. “Lorent, will you walk me home, please?”

Sherry strolled up behind the girl right before she’d asked Lorent for the escort. “Shannon, I can see your cabin from here. If you want to go home, we’ll watch you until you get inside. I’m sure no big bad wolves will get you.”

Shannon turned as if she’d give Sherry a good tongue-lashing, but then seemed to think better of it. She huffed, “Good night, all.”

“Sheesh. When will she get the hint that you aren’t interested in her, Lorent? You aren’t, are you?” Sherry teased Lorent with a mischievous smile.

Lorent’s cheeks flamed redder than the hot bits of wood on the bottom of the fire, and he shook his head.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. Shannon is a good person underneath all of her puffed-out exterior. She just has some ideas that she should forget.”

Sherry didn’t sugarcoat her words, and Melony found that refreshing.

Sherry sat down in the seat Shannon had vacated only moments before, and Melony couldn’t help but admire her gorgeous red hair and deep-set green eyes. She thought she looked to be close to her and Lorent’s age, and she was very pregnant.

“She hasn’t really done anything to me, Sherry.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t think we all haven’t seen the way she rubs all over you like a cat in heat, not to mention that you look as if you’ve been sucking on a lemon every time she does it.”

Melony snorted before she could stop herself, and Lorent shot her a look that said in no uncertain terms he didn’t appreciate being the center of entertainment. She cleared her throat and tried to hide the smile that tugged at her lips. Oh, Lorent, you need to loosen up, babe, and I’m just the one to show you how.

“How are you liking it here, Melony?” Sherry brushed off Lorent’s agitation with casual nonchalance.

“It’s a beautiful place, what I’ve seen of it so far anyway. Everyone has been nice to me.”

“Everyone?” Sherry shot a glare in the direction Shannon had disappeared.

Melony just smiled at Sherry’s upturned brow, deciding it would be better to leave this conversation alone for now.

“There you are.” Piers came up behind Sherry and pulled her up gently.

The man was huge, and dwarfed the redhead by at least a foot, but Sherry didn’t appear intimidated in the least. She turned and hugged Piers before standing on tiptoe and kissing his chin. He smiled and rested a hand on her swollen belly. The intimacy made Melony blush just as Rose and Knox’s embrace had earlier. Good God, the heat the couples gave off around here was near sinful.

Fighting the urge to fan her hot cheeks, Melony yawned, and stretched her back instead. The last few days—the last few months—had been stressful, and exhaustion crept into her muscles and bones. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand to stifle another yawn.

“Sorry. I think I’m going to turn in now.” Melony stood.

Sherry turned back and tapped Lorent on the shoulder. “Lorent will see you home safely. Won’t you?”

He nodded and stood. Melony thought he looked as if he’d probably rather chew his own arm off than walk her home at the moment.

“I can make it back on my own.” Melony tried to move away, but Sherry interrupted her progress.

“It’s your first night here, and it’s really dark. Let him walk with you.”

Sherry smiled. “It was nice to talk with you, Melony.”

“You too, Sherry.” Melony told Sherry and Piers good night before stopping to tell Knox and Rose good night as well. She waved at the other couples before starting home with Lorent by her side.

Chapter Four

Melony glanced surreptitiously at Lorent as they walked along the darkened path to her cabin. She wasn’t normally a person who was bashful, usually dove right into conversation, but for some reason, with him she lacked her normal confidence. It wasn’t that he frightened or intimidated her, but he had an unapproachable, hands-off air about him that made her nervous.

She felt as if she were walking on the proverbial eggshells around him. As ridiculous as it may be to think that about a man who stood well over six feet and could turn into a predatory animal at any moment, her instincts told her that he was one who could be hurt easily. And for some unexplainable reason, she wanted him to trust her.

“Do you like Sanctuary?” She figured that was an unobtrusive, innocent enough question.

“Yes.” Lorent’s voice was quiet, hesitant, as if he didn’t want to answer even that simple inquiry.

She sighed and wondered how long it would take until he’d loosen up around her. Then another thought occurred to her. Knox and Rose knew her fairly well at this point, knew she was an outgoing, talkative, initiative person.

Maybe they’d paired her up with Lorent, made him her instructor not just for her benefit, but for his as well. Yes, he could teach her everything she needed to know, but maybe she had something to teach him too.

A smile tugged at her lips. If that were the case, she’d do her job well. “I bet the gathering for Thanksgiving here is phenomenal.”

“In what way?” He glanced at her and kept walking.

“I meant, I assume that it is a fairly big gathering. My family has always been on the small side, and for the last few years before my mom died, it was just her and me at Thanksgiving dinner. It will be nice to be around so many people this year for the holidays. They tend to get a bit lonely, seem somewhat pointless when you have to spend them alone.”

She didn’t miss the way his dark brows drew down as he mulled over what she’d said. He wasn’t forthcoming with words, but his expression gave away his deep thoughts. She wondered what it would be like to kiss away his frown lines, to replace them with happiness.

Whoa! Slow down there. A little quick to be thinking of things like that, don’t ya think, Melony?

“It’s got to be magical to share it with so many people who care about you, who you care about.” Melony prodded just a little, as she was pretty sure if she pushed too hard, he’d shut down completely.

“Yes, I suppose so.” His quiet response hinted at regret.

She worried her bottom lip, a habit she’d tried many times to quell, but had finally given up after several attempts to do so had ended in failure. She imagined that his life as a rogue hadn’t been easy, and wondered at the things he may have witnessed, the things he might have done. That last thought gave her pause. She looked at his hands, barely visible from the moonlight shining through the thick treetops. Was he capable of harming others for the sheer pleasure of it? Had he hurt others for amusement? A shiver slid down her spine, but a nagging voice in the back of her mind was adamant that he wouldn’t do such a thing.

Then again, she did like to believe only good things about others. She barely kept a snort from escaping. Maybe she was being a naive fool, but the one thing she could count on was Knox and Rose. They’d never let her near, much less be alone with, Lorent if he was a danger to her. No. He was a man who’d been led down the wrong road in life, probably born into unfortunate circumstances. He had proven by coming to Sanctuary that he wanted to change, that he knew what he’d represented as a rogue had been wrong. He’d made bad choices, and he deserved a second chance.

As her cabin came into view, she turned to him. “Thank you for walking me home.”

He shook his head. “I will see you all the way to your door.”

“Okay.” Well, he had the honorable thing going for him.

A couple dozen more steps and they were at her front door. She turned to him again, and he’d already started away from her.

“Lorent?” She waited for him to turn back to her before continuing.

“Would you mind stopping by here tomorrow afternoon so I can walk with you to the Learning Center? I don’t know where it is.”

He nodded. “I’ll be here at one.”

“Thank you.” She watched until he disappeared into the darkened tree line, then peered up at the sky.

The moon hung low and peeked through the thick boughs of the evergreens. Its glimmering, silvery light danced between the branches as they blew in the soft breeze. She shivered. Skirts were not going to be an option for much longer, and she was surprised she’d been able to get away with it tonight after hearing the stories Knox and Rose weaved about the dreadful winters in Michigan.

The breeze picked up, and she wondered if Mother Nature had gotten sidetracked, forgotten it was winter, and was now preparing to remedy the situation with a vengeance. She really didn’t mind the snow—when she was sitting inside a cozy, warm room, sipping hot chocolate, and admiring it from a well-insulated window. However, she would make an effort to embrace it, give it a chance since this would be her life from now until the foreseeable future.

She made her way inside, closed the door, and went to let Puss out of the bedroom. She reached down and picked up the fluffy ball of fur. Puss cuddled close to her chest and started purring.

“Aw, you missed me, huh?”

She stroked the cat on the head and carried her to the kitchen before setting her down. She got a bowl from the cabinet, filled it with water, and put it on the floor for Puss. After rummaging in the fridge—which was stocked surprisingly well—she got out the fixings for a ham sandwich. She found plates in the cabinet and slathered mustard on some wheat bread before piling on the ham, cheese, and lettuce. Once she put everything up and poured a glass of milk, she sat at the small pecan-colored table and began to eat.

Puss sat and watched her, licking her lips every time Melony took a bite.

“Have patience. Yours is coming in just a minute.”

She finished eating, positioned some of the ham she’d placed on the side of the plate when she’d made her sandwich in the middle, and set it on the floor, where Puss began to eat with gusto.

“Hungry, huh? I guess you’re going to get fat here, since you’re probably going to be eating people food mostly.”

She vowed to make sure Puss got a variety of things that were good for her. The ham would suffice until tomorrow. She smiled when Puss finished her meal and sat down to clean her paws. Her pink tongue darted out and in, not missing one tiny spot on or between her toes. Cats were persnickety about certain things, cleanliness being one of them.

She picked up the empty plate, put it in the sink, and started off down the hall, Puss close on her heels. “Let’s go to bed.”

As she lay in the dark room a while later, Puss curled up at her side, she tried to imagine what her life would be like at Sanctuary, but even her imagination wasn’t that big. She drifted off to sleep thinking about how nice it was going to be to have family and friends around.

* * *

Lorent stood in the deep shadows of the forest watching Melony’s cabin.

The lights had gone out a few moments ago, and he wondered if she was in bed, wondered if she was thinking of him. Why the hell would she be thinking of you? He’d barely spoken a word to her, not because he hadn’t wanted to, but because he was afraid of what would happen if he allowed himself to get too comfortable with her.

When she’d gazed up at the trees earlier before going into her cabin, she’d seemed as mesmerized by their beauty as he was by hers. How could he be destined to spend his life with someone as sweet as Melony? She didn’t deserve the likes of him.

When he’d walked her home, he’d tried hard not to let her scent—the scent that called only to him—tantalize, entice, and fool him into believing he was worthy of her. But his heart, his soul, his wolf refused to listen. They wanted her with a fierceness that bordered on the line of insanity, but his brain—always in the background chattering—had argued that he wasn’t right for her. He was petrified that giving in to his emotions and pursuing her would ultimately lead to hurting her. Deep down he was certain the hellish things he’d survived thus far in life would fail to rival seeing any pain in her eyes—especially pain he’d caused.

He closed his eyes and groaned. He longed to touch her creamy skin, wanted to see if it was as soft as it looked, yearned to bury his nose in her jasmine-scented hair. And he’d give up everything just to gaze into her wide brown eyes while he claimed her. His body hardened and throbbed as he thought about how she’d cry out his name as he slid into her over and over, how her thighs would tighten around his hips, securing him to her, how her inner muscles would squeeze around him and pull him deeper until they both came.

True, he’d never slept with a woman, but he’d witnessed the act, heard enough stories to know everything that happened in vivid detail. He groaned again, wishing he didn’t have such an understanding about sex, because picturing it with her, along with all those vivid details, was torturous.

His heart raced, and he gritted his teeth as he ran his palm over the uncomfortable bulge that strained behind the zipper of his jeans. His eyes shot open, and he punched the tree next to him hard enough to rattle a few pieces of bark off. Stop it. She is not for you, no matter what fate says. Besides, who said fate couldn’t get one wrong once in a while, because the old bitch had definitely gotten this one wrong. Maybe this was punishment for his past deeds. Maybe fate wanted to show him what he could never have, rub his nose in it like a naughty puppy that piddled on the floor.

He grunted in frustration, backed deeper into the woods, and started for his own cabin. If someone caught him leering at her like some perverted stalker, he’d never hear the end of it. If Knox or Rose caught him, he might lose his pecker. Knox and Rose. Yeah. And he’d actually entertained the idea of touching Melony? If Knox didn’t kill him, Rose would. He’d already crossed the line once with them, and doubted they would be as willing to forgive and forget a second time. She’s yours. It doesn’t matter what they think. It’s your job to protect her, not theirs.

He shook his head as he stepped up on the cedar porch of his cabin, opened the door, and slammed it hard enough to rattle the hinges. How was he going to keep his hands off her when he was supposed to spend hours each day with her? He’d barely been able to control himself the first time he saw her.

He undressed and showered, hoping the hot water would ease his turbulent thoughts, but ten minutes later, as he lay in bed, all he could think about was pink spiky hair, sparkly brown eyes, a tinkly laugh, and luscious curves. She was intuitive, too, and he hadn’t missed the way she’d tried to coax info out of him without being pushy. He’d practically been able to hear the wheels turning in her brain when she’d talked to him as he’d walked her home.

But why? Did she honestly want to know about him, or was figuring him out some kind of game to her? He didn’t think it was the latter because although he’d only just met her, he was a good judge of character. That trait had saved him numerous times when he lived amongst the rogues, and it was rarely wrong. That left the first choice: she was genuinely interested. The thought sent a quiver of joy through him, an emotion he hadn’t felt often in his lifetime.

Or maybe she was simply being a normal human trying to communicate?

He stretched his legs on the cool, crisp sheets and willed his raging hard-on to behave. Unsurprisingly, it refused. Deciding he’d get more sleep if he put himself out of misery—no matter how temporary the fix may be—he reached down and encircled his erection with his hand. He squeezed firmly, pushed down to the base, and pulled back up slowly. The slide of his palm against his stiff flesh became smoother with his precome, and he increased the rhythm until he was gritting his teeth and arching off the bed.

Within seconds he came, his breathing ragged, his body satiated, yet still unfulfilled. He cringed as he reached for the towel he’d tossed onto the floor beside the bed from his shower and cleaned up. He closed his eyes and let sleep creep in, knowing he would never have a satisfying release again until he had Melony.

Chapter Five

An insistent banging on Melony’s door awoke her the next morning around nine. She was normally up before now, but she had apparently needed the rest. She stumbled down the hall, still half asleep, and made her way toward the knocking only to find none other than Shannon standing outside, holding a laundry basket.

“Hi, hon.” Shannon pushed past her and set the basket of clothes on the floor just inside the door.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Melony mumbled before a blast of cool air hit her sleep-warmed backside, sending a shiver down her spine, spurring her to hurriedly close the door. Wow, what a difference in the weather from last night. And what had Shannon called her? Hon? Hon? She was definitely not “hon” to Shannon.

Shannon’s hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and she wore dark jeans that looked as if they’d been painted on—probably skinny jeans—knee-high black boots, and a furry white coat with a thick hood that hung behind her head.

“I was just wondering if your washer and dryer are working?”

“I have a washer and dryer?”

“Yes, you silly goose. Almost all of the cabins have them. Well, not a washer and dryer in the ordinary sense, but a washer/dryer combo. It’s in the hall closet.”

So that’s what that door hid. She’d only taken a quick tour of the place with Rose and hadn’t bothered investigating any further last night, figuring she’d explore all the nooks and crannies today before she was supposed to meet with Lorent.

“Oh. I hadn’t found the laundry room yet.”

“Would you be a doll for me and do this load? My washer is broken, and I’m late for my meeting with Rindy to discuss the Thanksgiving menu.”

Shannon started for the door.

“But—”

Shannon waved a hand at her as she started out the door she’d just opened. “Thanks so much, hon. I’ll swing by later and pick them up. Oh, and please be very careful with my unmentionables. They can only be washed on delicate. Ta-ta.”

And just like that, Shannon was gone as quickly as she’d blown in.

Melony stared at the offensive basket of laundry. Puss wandered out of the bedroom, down the hall, walked up to the basket, sniffed it, turned her back, and walked away.

I feel the same way.

What had made Shannon think that Melony should, would, or wanted to do her laundry? The girl was probably still irritated at Sherry’s dismissal from last night, but she’d bet her favorite pink sweater that Shannon wouldn’t ask Sherry to do her laundry. Anyone with eyes could tell Shannon had it bad for Lorent, but what did that matter? And why was she getting punished for it?

Because she’d sat by him last night?

Wow. If that’s the case, I’m in big trouble if she finds out he walked me home. She shrugged it off, glared at the laundry basket, and started for her bedroom to shower and get dressed. But before she’d made it too far down the hall, another knock sounded on her door. She sighed and shuffled back to it while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. This time Rose stood outside.

“Hi, Aunt Rose. Come in?”

“If you don’t mind. Just for a minute.”

Melony stood aside and let Rose come in before closing the door. “It’s gotten so cold overnight.”

“I think the unusually balmy day we had yesterday was a fluke. It likely won’t be that warm again until March or April.”

“Lovely.”

Rose laughed. “You’ll get used to it. I stopped by to see if you would help us prepare the food for the Thanksgiving feast. It’s less than a week away, and it would be nice to have an extra pair of hands. We prepare anything in advance that will keep or that can be easily frozen. It makes it much easier on Thanksgiving to just heat everything up.”

“Sure. I’m not much of a cook, but as long as I have a recipe to follow, I should be okay.” Maybe. She hoped.

“Good. I’ll let the others know. Why don’t you have Lorent walk you to Brent and Rindy’s cabin after your lesson? We usually gather there for the holidays because it’s big enough to accommodate everyone.”

Melony started to tell Rose about the laundry situation with Shannon when Puss gave out a loud bellow then butted her head against her legs.

“Okay, okay,” Melony muttered to Puss. “She’s gets a bit testy when she feels I’ve ignored her for too long.”

Rose laughed then gave Melony a quick hug before she turned to leave.

“See you later.”

“Bye.” Melony started for the shower again, determined to ignore any further knocks on her door that may come until she was dressed and feeling human.

No one else stopped by, and after she’d showered, dressed, and done her hair, she made breakfast for her and Puss. Once she’d cleaned up the dishes, she glanced at the clock, which told her she had a couple hours to kill before Lorent was due. She supposed now would be a good time for a more thorough investigation of her new home.

Two hours later, she felt she knew her place from top to bottom. It was stocked with all the basics, even cleaning supplies. The dark hardwood floors were beautiful and were throughout the house with the exception of the tan slate-tiled bathroom. All in all, she’d been pleasantly surprised by the overall modern amenities and rustic decor. It was something she could see picking for herself had she been house hunting.

The furniture was a subtle sage color, and the coffee and end tables were the same pecan color as the dining table. A few small personal touches and the place would feel just like home. She decided to make a list to give to Knox of things she’d need, but she’d only jotted a couple things down when someone knocked at the door for the third time that day.

This time it was Lorent.

“Hi.” Melony stepped to the side of the open door, but he made no move to come in. “Don’t just stand there. Come in.” She smiled and motioned for him to enter. “You’re a tad early, and I have a list I’d like to finish up before we leave if you don’t mind.”

He hesitated, and she laughed.

“I won’t bite. Come on.”

After a few moments, he sighed—probably in resignation—and stepped inside. Damn, he looked good. She licked her lips as she eyed the way his snug jeans hugged his delectable backside. But when he turned around and caught her ogling him, her cheeks flushed hot. She caught a brief flicker of light in his eyes, and what gorgeous eyes they were. While she’d been able to see that his eyes were hazel by the firelight last night, the daylight enhanced the beautiful color.

The pure hazel color had just the right amount of gray and blue to make it impossible to call them one color or another. “Hazel” was the only way to describe that perfect blend. She’d seen people with hazel eyes, and the first thing that had always come to mind was gray. His? Not so simple. His were mesmerizing, unique, beautiful. Whew wee. There isn’t one thing about this one that isn’t perfect. On a scale from one to ten, he’d be a twenty.

He cleared his throat, and she jumped.

“I’m sorry. I was admiring your eyes. They are quite striking.”

He opened his mouth several times as if to speak, but never actually said anything. She wondered if he’d ever had a compliment because right at this particular moment, he looked as if he wished the floor would open up and swallow him. She smiled, and he just kept right on staring back at her, not moving, not saying a word. After a few seconds, she began to think that she’d done something horribly wrong.

“Did I offend you in some way?” She’d never gotten a reaction like this from someone for a simple compliment.

“Um. No. It’s just. Well—” He rubbed the back of his neck as if he could coax the right words out with his fingers.

Finally, as if to let him off the hook, she said, “Some men aren’t good with compliments.” She went back to the kitchen to finish her list. “Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you.”

“If you change your mind, let me know. I should only be a couple of minutes. Make yourself at home.” She sat back down, picked up the pen, and started jotting down the rest of the things she needed on the list.

In between writing down items on her list, she glanced at him—from under her lashes this time so he didn’t catch her ogling him. He wandered around the living room for a few seconds before sitting on the couch. His movements were graceful, and it was a little unsettling how he made no noise as he moved about the cabin. Was stealth a lycan trait, or was it just natural to him? She had tons of questions she was dying to have answered about lycans, but had decided to let him teach her how he saw fit. At least that way he’d be doing most of the talking.

She’d save the questions for those times when he was lagging with the conversation. Quit staring at the gorgeous man, and get the list done so you can put him out of his misery. But a small part of her thought it was good for him to wait.

She focused back on her list, and just as she’d written down the last item, a commotion from the living room caught her eye.

“What the hell is that?” Lorent stood staring down at Puss, who had obviously decided to get acquainted with him.

“It’s called a cat. Her name is Puss.” She watched them as they stared each other down, trying hard not to laugh at the scene. Finally, Puss sauntered away with a flip of her tail.

“I know what it is, but what’s it doing here?”

“She’s my pet. You know, pet? People do have them from time to time?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck again.

“You got a problem with my cat, Lorent?” She put her hands on her hips and fixed a stare on him that would rival any mother about to scold a disobedient child.

Melony stood across the room glaring at him, daring him to touch one hair on Puss. A smile tugged at his lips, but quickly vanished. The fact that he was entertained by her protective nature of her beloved pet irked her.

“I said, you got a problem with my cat? Because if you have a problem with my cat, you have a problem with me.” Her hands balled into fists.

“No. I don’t exactly have anything against cats. I just wasn’t expecting to see one. I mean, I scented it when I came in, but I assumed the scent was on something you’d brought from your previous home. I was startled when it jumped in my lap.”

“Puss is not an it. She’s a she.”

“Honestly, I didn’t mean any harm. I simply wasn’t expecting a cat to jump on my lap.”

After a couple minutes, she smiled. “Okay then. We’re good. Let me get my coat, and I’m ready to go.”

“I’ll make sure to remember that if you fuck with Melony’s cat, she’ll turn into a hellion and rip a few strips from your hide,” he mumbled under his breath.

She raised a brow. “I didn’t quite catch that. What did you say?” She’d caught every word of it.

“Nothing.”

She started down the hallway, but stopped as she reached the basketful of clothes she’d moved earlier. She stared down at the thing, wishing it was human so she could do it bodily harm, before picking it up, sliding the door open to the laundry area, and dumping the contents into the washer. She set the empty basket on top of the washer, added soap, and started the cycle. If Shannon wants her unmentionables washed on delicate, she can do it herself. She went down to the bedroom to get her coat, one of her favorites—black wool with tiny pink dots. The dots were barely noticeable unless one looked hard, but the shade of pink matched her hair perfectly.

She was extremely irritated about doing Shannon’s laundry. However, she’d be irritated more if she didn’t do it, Shannon showed up later, and decided to stick around to do it herself. After all, Melony couldn’t refuse to let Shannon use her washer. What would be the excuse? Sorry, Shannon. I don’t like you, so you can’t wash your clothes here. No matter her feelings toward Shannon, she wouldn’t act like a spoiled brat.

She walked by Lorent to the front door. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Six

Lorent walked just behind Melony, mesmerized by the sway of her hips.

She was a tiny slip of a thing, but she packed some serious curves. If the dictionary had the cliché “dynamite comes in small packages,” he was sure a picture of Melony would be the only definition required. She amused and intrigued him. When she’d lit into him about her cat earlier, he’d found her protective nature endearing. He’d almost let his lips slip into a smile, until she’d glared at him. While she didn’t frighten him, he thought it best not to provoke her further.

And what had been the deal with the laundry? He could have sworn he’d smelled Shannon’s scent coming from the clothes, but why were they at Melony’s, and why would she be doing Shannon’s laundry? He figured the incident with the cat had sparked but a momentary lapse into anger born of her love for Puss. Her current mood, he was sure, was due to whatever Shannon was up to.

He found he wanted to ask her what had happened, wanted to comfort her, listen to her and assure her, but he didn’t quite know how to do so. As they walked on a path through the trees toward the Learning Center, she remained silent. Strangely enough, he found he wanted to hear her voice, even knowing that once she started talking, she’d probably ask him questions he didn’t want to answer. But most of all, he wanted to brighten her mood and make her smile.

He did the only thing he could think of to distract her from whatever was bothering her and started telling her about the trees and plants in the area.

“White spruce.”

Melony stopped when Lorent spoke and turned toward him. “Excuse me?”

“This is a white spruce. It’s an evergreen and can grow up to sixty feet tall.” Lorent laid his hand on the wide trunk of the huge tree he stood next to.

“Oh.” She blinked as if clearing her head. She gazed up to where the top of the tree stretched toward the sky. “It is beautiful. I was admiring one last night while the moonlight glimmered through its branches.”

Yeah, he remembered and wondered what she’d think if he told her he’d been admiring her while she’d been admiring that tree. Would she think him a perv? Probably. Women didn’t tend to like men who stalked them, although had he found her sneaking a look at him, well, that wouldn’t feel creepy at all. It would turn him on to know that she’d been covertly ogling him. Hell, it would turn him on if she openly ogled him.

“If you liked that, wait until you see the moonlight on a quaking aspen.

The underside of its leaves shimmer silver in the wind. When there’s a light breeze and a full moon, it’s an amazing sight. Of course, you’ll have to wait until spring to see its leaves again.”

Melony pursed her lips and nibbled the bottom one with her teeth, watching him in silent contemplation. “What are some of the other trees here?”

Now that was a question he didn’t mind answering. “I won’t name them all, but some of the more abundant ones are red maple, tamarack, bur oak, and arborvitae. The arborvitae attract deer.” She continued to watch him as they slowly walked along the path. “If you had gotten here in September, I could have shown you the yellow flowers of the witch hazel and white flowers of the edible elderberry. The cranberry bush also has white flowers, and bears bright red fruit that the birds love to feed on. Those three are shrubs, though, not trees.”

She followed him as he searched through the plants. When he found what he was looking for, he turned around and motioned for her to come closer. He pointed to a wilted-looking bush. “This is wolfberry. They flower white in the summer, but in September and November, ripened seeds fall from it and attract wildlife. There isn’t much left of it because it’s late in the year.”

Melony looked around cautiously. “What kind of wildlife?”

Lorent shrugged. “Just the norm—deer, fox, raccoon, opossum, rabbits, and the occasional black bear, elk, coyotes, and my favorite, wolves, to name a few.”

She swallowed hard. “W-Wolves?”

“No need to be afraid. They won’t bother us.” Good thing he hadn’t told her about the bobcats, mountain lions, and snakes. When he looked at her concerned face, he decided he wouldn’t tell her either, at least not for a while.

“You are extremely knowledgeable of the environment, Lorent. I haven’t met many men that have bothered taking the time to learn about trees and plants. It’s refreshing.” Her eyes twinkled.

“When I first came to Sanctuary, learning about the local fauna and flora proved a welcome distraction from, um, things, and it quickly turned into a hobby that I enjoy.”

What he didn’t tell her was that learning about the trees and plants had been a way for him to escape when things started closing in on him. Once he was deep in the woods, the beauty of nature calmed him. It had been the next logical and natural step for him to delve deeper into the thing that gave him comfort. He was no expert by any means, but knew the basics about most of the indigenous species in the area.

She took a step closer to him, and the urge to reach out to her proved too much. He ran one finger down her cheek and nearly groaned. She did feel as soft as she looked, and her chocolate eyes sparkled at him.

“I hope to learn more from you. The forest is quite fascinating.” Her lids drooped, and she leaned into his touch.

Startled by her positive reaction, common sense finally bit him in the ass.

He jerked his hand away and continued up the path.

“Sorry.”

“Wait.” She hurried after him.

He kept walking until her small hand closed over his forearm, and he halted.

“What are you sorry for?”

“I had no right to touch you, Melony. I was out of line.” He stared at the ground, not wanting to meet her eyes, not wanting to see agreement in them.

“Lorent?” When he still didn’t look at her, she gave his arm a gentle shake. “Lorent?”

Finally, he gave in and caught her gaze, amazed at what he saw in the liquid brown depths. No scorn, no agreement, only kindness glimmered in them.

“It’s okay. Friends do occasionally touch one another, right?” She raised one perfectly sculpted brow.

“Friends?” He’d never had a friend. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Knox, Rose, and the others at Sanctuary were his friends, but he saw them more as mentors or big brothers and sisters rather than friends. She was offering something he’d never had, something he never realized he wanted until now.

“Yeah, friends.” She gave him a warm smile and giggled.

Her laughter was magical, full of life and soothing, but it also enticed him, an emotion effortlessly provoked from the grasp of his ironclad control.

He doubted she was aware of the ease with which she tempted him. The wolf inside him begged and pleaded to claim her, but he couldn’t give in.

Because if he did, he could be thrown out of Sanctuary. If that happened, he might as well be dead because he was certain he’d never be able to walk away and forget about Melony.

While he’d only met her a few short hours ago, she was part of him now, ingrained in his soul forever. He’d rather stay and suffer never being able to touch her, possess her because at least then he’d be able to see her, hear her laughter, talk to her. If he were kicked out of Sanctuary? He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment while anger and fear blended together into a perfect concoction of anxiety, anxiety triggered by the mere thought of never being near her again. That only strengthened his resolve and control.

Until he was finished with his training—which would most likely end after he played teacher with Melony—he had to keep his hands off her. That includes your lips, tongue, and cock too. Maybe if he could prove he was fully reformed and would abide by ancient laws, do whatever it took to protect his kind, he’d be allowed to claim Melony. And he was reformed. He’d never allow harm to come to any potential mate again. He was a man now, not a boy, and he would no longer be intimidated by rogues.

What if she doesn’t want a loser like you? Why did he keep torturing himself over his past? Was he really reformed if he couldn’t forgive himself? He didn’t want to contemplate the answer to that one because he wasn’t sure there would come a time that he would be capable of forgiving himself.

What was in the past was in the past, but in his case, what was in the past bit him in the ass every time he thought he was getting over it.

He needed to get over it, but he didn’t know how, and he couldn’t bring himself to talk to anyone about it, not even Karen. He was too ashamed, too angry, and too disgusted with himself to expose another to the unforgivable things he’d allowed to happen in his presence. Besides, if he couldn’t forgive himself, how could he expect anyone else to?

“Come on. Let’s get to the Learning Center. I have lots of questions, and we only have today and tomorrow to meet this week since Thanksgiving is on Thursday.”

“Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that.” How had he forgotten about that?

Melony. That was how. She seemed able to make him forget lots of things.

Stranger yet, the thought of the gathering didn’t seem as daunting as it usually did. Maybe that had something to do with Melony as well.

“I’m going to help out with the food. I’m not a very good cook, so I hope I don’t mess anything up. It’ll be fun, though. I’ve always wanted to learn to bake and all. Mom didn’t really show me much in the kitchen because she wasn’t a great cook either. Maybe I’ll pick up some pointers.”

He didn’t miss the flicker of pain in her eyes, and the need to comfort her pounded through him again.

“What happened to your mother?”

“She died in an accident.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and she looked away from him.

The way she broke eye contact and the way her words trailed off told him her mother’s accident was still a fresh wound and hard for her to talk about. What kind of accident had her mother been in? He didn’t want to push the subject at the moment because Melony looked as if she might burst into tears, and crying he couldn’t handle.

“I’m sorry.” He hoped she didn’t think him insensitive for changing the subject, but he didn’t want her to be upset. “I could show you how to cook if you’d like.”

She stopped, and he wondered if he’d said something wrong when she turned and stared at him. He held his breath, and finally let it out when her lips slowly tilted upward in a smile.

“My, my. You are full of surprises, aren’t you? You can cook?”

He nodded. It was one of those things he hadn’t learned to do until he came to Sanctuary. Hell, until then, he’d scrounged for most of what he ate.

He’d never had a real home or place he could cook. Learning how to take care of himself had been something he’d enjoyed, right along with discovering the names of the trees and plants. Both gave him a sense of pride and comfort.

“That would be nice. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I can do most of the basics. You know, mac and cheese, spaghetti—sauce from a jar, of course—

easy things like that.”

“I can show you how to make sauce from scratch.” Damn it. He’d just scolded himself about keeping away from her as much as he could, and now he’d possibly committed himself to spending even more time with her.

She’d voiced something she wanted, and he immediately tried to give it to her, no questions asked. It was instinct for him to want to make her happy.

No, not only instinct. He needed to make her happy.

As the Learning Center came into view, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least here, others might be around off and on. It was difficult to be alone with her—walking through the woods, even sitting in her cabin watching her scribble a list—without touching her.

He opened the door for her, and after she entered, she spun in a slow circle while whistling long and low.

“This place is amazing.” She tilted her head up and studied the fifteen-foot beamed ceilings.

“All the buildings and cabins here are built by hand from the trees on the land. I helped with this building. Not much, because it was nearly done by the time I arrived, but I got to help with some finish work.”

He agreed with her. It was amazing. It had no grand facade, but the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and rustic lights and decor gave it an air of elegance and functionality—two things he’d never imagined would coexist with such ease.

She ran her fingers along a row of books—a row amongst many that lined the whole south wall—and smiled. “I love to read.”

“I love to read as well.” Another thing he hadn’t learned until he’d come to Sanctuary. It hadn’t been a necessity for his lifestyle before then, but it had been part of the reformation program.

At first, he’d scoffed at learning to read, but once he’d put his nose to the grindstone, he’d picked it up fast. He loved spending late nights lost in a story, imagining he was in the world created by the author right along with the main character. Sometimes he was the hero, and sometimes he was the villain. Reading had proven to be another welcome way to escape when things closed in on him.

“What will you teach me first, Lorent?” Melony wandered around for a few more moments before taking a seat at a long desk with a laptop at one end. “Wow. Can you actually get the Internet way out here?”

“Sometimes. The service isn’t exactly reliable, but we make do.” It took him a few seconds to remember that she was waiting for him to fill her in on the agenda, so lost was he in the simple act of looking at her. He cleared his throat. “I thought maybe we could just talk about some general things the first day. I could answer a few questions. We could do that tomorrow, too, and when Monday comes we can start with the self-defense since there won’t be another break until Christmas.”

“Sounds good. One thing that has been niggling at the back of my brain for a while . . .”

He nodded, and she continued on.

“It seems that all the potential mates I’ve heard about so far have been women. And all the rogues have been men. Don’t you ever find male potential mates or female rogues?”

“No. All male lycan are born lycan, and all potential mates are female. It’s not something we can explain, but it’s the way it’s been since anyone can remember. We’ve never heard of a female turning rogue once her mate changes her. In fact, we don’t think it’s possible. On the other hand, it’s not known if a rogue has ever found his intended mate either. If that were to happen, we haven’t a clue if the rogue would get more aggressive or if the natural instinct to protect and love his mate would aid in reformation.”

“Oh my. I never thought of that. That would truly be a sticky situation to be in.”

“Yes. It would be.”

What would he have done had he come across Melony before he’d come to Sanctuary? He wasn’t sure, but he did know one thing. He would have never hurt her, not physically. He may have taken her, believing it his right to do so, but might have never come to fully understand why the need had been so much stronger with her, would have never known it was because she carried the mated scent that only he could detect. Now that he was reformed, he understood that had he found her before Sanctuary and forced her to stay with him, she would have probably never forgiven him, probably grown to hate him.

Not to mention the fact that at that time he could not have protected her. How would he have kept her from the other rogues? He would have most likely unintentionally and naively led her right into harm’s way. The others would have taken her from him, abused her, and he would have had no way to stop them. In fact, the instinctive need to protect her would have probably ended up getting him and her both killed. His stomach curled at the thought, and he silently thanked fate for not bringing her to him when he was still a stupid child unable to take care of himself, much less a mate.

She frowned, and he wanted to smooth the lines from her face with his finger and then his mouth.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to find the man I was destined to be with, only for him to subject me to violence. It would be heartbreaking.

What if a woman meets her mate and they don’t get along?” Her eyes glistened. “My God. You don’t force women to be with their mate if they don’t want to, do you?”

She stood. Her skin paled, and she began to visibly tremble. He went to her and laid his hands on top of her shoulders.

“Melony?” He waited until she looked up at him. The bewilderment in her eyes nearly brought him to his knees. “No woman will ever be forced to do anything against her will while under the care of Sanctuary. We’ve never had an instance where potential mates rejected one another. Well, let me rephrase that. We’ve never had an instance where potential mates rejected one another, but didn’t work things out willingly in the end, without force.

“I won’t lie. It is difficult at best for a male to control his need to claim his mate once he encounters her.” Didn’t he know it. “I’m not sure what would happen if a female flat-out rejected her mate. It’s never happened here, and if it did, the woman’s rights would be respected. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome would be for the male, because while the man may understand that his mate has rejected him, the wolf will insist upon taking what belongs to it.”

“Oh. I hope that never happens. That would be sad.”

He nearly groaned, and barely resisted the urge to crush her to his chest and assure her that he would never let any harm come to her. He wanted to hold her and promise to take care of her always, but he couldn’t. And now he’d just opened a whole new can of worms for himself.

What would happen if he forced his wolf, himself, to stay away from Melony? Would his wolf win out in the end?

Chapter Seven

Melony gnawed at her bottom lip for a few seconds before realizing she was doing so yet again and stopped. Lorent was a beautiful man, and she wondered if he was aware of the effect he had on her when he looked at her with those gorgeous hazel eyes. She stared up at him, and even though she barely knew him, she was absolutely certain he had told her the truth. As long as she was at Sanctuary, she’d be safe. But another thought occurred to her.

“I won’t ever be able to leave here again, will I? Not if I truly want to be safe. Don’t get me wrong. I have no plans to leave anytime soon. I want the people at Sanctuary to be my family, need a place to belong, but what if one day I decided I’d like to go to Ireland or see the Pyramids or Stonehenge or go to Easter Island? Would I be allowed to do so?”

“Melony, I don’t think that’s something you need to be concerned about at this moment. We’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes. I can assure that you are not a prisoner here, but you do need to realize that this is the safest place for you. Sanctuary is still new as well, working out all the kinks, but no one is kept here against their will. I’m sure if you decided to trek around the world, you would be allowed to do so. I’m certain I can say that you would have a guide, though.”

She sat back down feeling a bit better about not being a prisoner. She hadn’t really given much consideration to such a thing to begin with, but she hadn’t thought things through thoroughly up to this point either. If she wanted to belong here, fit in, she had to trust that her safety was and likely would always be an issue.

“If rogues are so bent on creating such chaos, why don’t they just turn a bunch of people and create their own army to fight you?”

“Only potential mates can be changed, which is an exceptionally fortunate thing considering the concern you just raised.”

“Yeah, I guess it is, indeed.” She’d wanted to know these things, but it was all intimidating and frightening to her. “So you are telling me that if a rogue gets to me, he can bite me and change me against my will?” She gulped and swallowed hard.

Lorent sat next to her. “I can’t imagine what it is like for you to be learning all of this, as I’ve lived with it my entire life, but you are safe here. I promise I will never let anything happen to you.”

She forced a smile to her lips. She believed he meant everything he said, but he could never be certain he’d be there to protect her in every situation that might arise. Life was too unpredictable, and she knew that as well as anyone. She turned to him.

“Lorent, I believe, if possible, you would protect me in any harmful situation I might find myself in, but I don’t expect you to be able to protect me from everything. No one can promise a thing like that.”

“I can.”

She reached out to him and took his hand in hers, not missing the way he stiffened under her touch. Did he not like it when she touched him? She watched him for signs that might indicate he didn’t enjoy her touch, but she didn’t detect any. In fact, she got the impression he liked her to touch him, but maybe wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to her. He’d made such a big deal about not touching her on their walk to the Learning Center, maybe he wasn’t supposed to touch her. Maybe it was one of the rules here at Sanctuary.

“Lorent? Do you not like it when I touch you? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable in any way.” She kept his hand enclosed in hers, waiting for him to respond, refusing to let go unless he told her he didn’t want to touch her, not that he wasn’t supposed to touch her. If he didn’t want her touch, so be it, but she’d be damned if she followed some rule that said he couldn’t touch her because she was a potential mate.

Friends casually touched one another all the time. Yet she couldn’t deny that his touch evoked a bit more than friendly feelings in her. He was gentle, and he turned her on with his intensely quiet nature. But she wasn’t fooled by that calmness either, as she didn’t miss the way the predator lurked in him, or the way he kept control over it when it got too close to the surface. She’d seen the way he’d watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking, and if she wasn’t mistaken, friendship had been the furthest thing from his mind as well. Yet at every turn, he closed down around her, refused to let her get too close.

But all that could be between them was friendship. While she was fairly certain she was capable of feeling more for him, she wasn’t for him. Someday he would find his mate, and where would that leave her? Or, someday she might find her mate, and where would that leave him? She imagined the hurt she might feel from his rejection, and she never wanted to inflict such hurt on him either.

She couldn’t fathom falling in love with someone only to have them walk away at some point for someone else. While she understood that a force of nature like fate might not give him or her a choice in the matter if one or the other’s soul mate were to happen along, she couldn’t come to terms with giving someone her heart only for them to reject it, no matter the reason.

Lorent was a man any woman would be lucky to have, and if she allowed herself to do so, she’d fall hard for him, but did she want to risk subjecting her heart to the pain of him possibly leaving her?

She’d only known him for a short time, but she could see beneath his shy exterior enough to know he was a kind man by nature. She could see him capable of that fierce, but tender love most women only dreamed about. If Lorent ever gave his heart to someone, it would be a forever thing, and she didn’t wish to put him in a situation where he might have to choose between loyalty and his soul mate.

Yet, she’d feel the same way. If she gave her heart to Lorent, she couldn’t imagine ever walking away from him for any reason, even her soul mate.

Could she hurt him like that? And if she chose to turn her back on her soul mate, the decision would forever remain a lurking shadow of doubt between them. No. It was best if she didn’t let her feelings go beyond friendship. She had to be careful, but she did want to be there for him.

He was a walking contradiction. On one hand, he was open with her about basic things like nature, reading, and cooking, and displayed genuine concern for her feelings, yet he didn’t seem to know how to open up or share anything personal about himself. He wanted her to do those things, but closed down in return.

“I, um . . .” He cleared his throat and tugged gently at his hand, then frowned when she refused to relinquish her hold on him.

“If you honestly don’t want me to touch you, tell me. I’ll understand.”

“It’s not that. I just, well, it’s—” He blew out an agitated puff of air that bounced his bangs off his forehead before they settled back into a tousled fringe.

She’d never seen someone look as torn over a simple question. Just because it seems simple to you, doesn’t mean it’s simple to him. True. She tried to live her life without casting judgment on others from her own personal experiences.

Everyone was different, and reacted to things in different ways.

“Never mind.” She released her grip on him, and started to pull her hands back when he stopped her. She jumped, startled at the sudden change in him.

His fingers loosely circled her wrist, and his skin was at least three shades darker than her own. The contrast made her appear even paler. Dark hair sprinkled lightly along the back of his hand and fingers, and she wondered how it would feel if he were to brush them against her. She imagined the hairs would feel soft but springy, and maybe even tickle her a bit.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to touch me.” His words were quiet, almost a gravelly whisper, and she had to lean closer to hear him. “I’m not supposed to get too close to you. I’m required to protect you, but there are certain rules, and—”

“Lorent, I would never intentionally do anything that might get you in trouble, but surely those rules can’t say that you are never allowed to touch anyone.”

“No. They don’t say that, but you are a”—he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them once again—“destined mate.”

The conflict that burned in his hazel eyes made her chest squeeze around her heart. Did he yearn for his mate? Did it bother him to be around her knowing she was meant for someone else? She leaned even closer, mesmerized, drawn in by those hazel pools. “A destined mate can still be a friend to one who is not her mate, can she not?”

Was that her voice? It was husky, almost sexy. She had to lick her suddenly dry lips, and when his eyes dropped to her mouth, she caught a brief glow of light in them. He leaned closer, and now they were only a couple inches apart.

“Yes, but—”

“Why do your eyes do that?”

“Do what?”

They were so close she could feel his hot breath on her face as he spoke, smell him—a blend of wild and woodsy she found quite appealing. “Glow.”

“It’s a reaction to any heightened emotion.”

His thumb was now moving slowly back and forth over the back of her hand. She doubted he realized what he was doing, and she wasn’t going to tell him because she liked his touch. It would be easy to kiss him. His lips were so close. All she’d have to do was lean in that last inch.

“Does that mean you like me, Lorent?”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. His eyes glowed brighter in response to her question, and that was all the answer she required.

He came closer, closer, his lips nearly brushing hers, a look so intense on his face she got the feeling he wanted to eat her up. She felt like Little Red Riding Hood, but she doubted Little Red craved being eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. Heat flushed through her body, and she could no longer resist the urge to taste him.

She breached the gap between them and brushed her lips against his.

How could a kiss, one that could barely be considered a kiss, but more a feathery light caress, be so intoxicating? A deep growl vibrated in his throat, and just when she thought he’d kiss her properly, his eyes cleared, and he sat back abruptly. She nearly cried out at the sudden withdrawal. She’d wanted him to kiss her even though she knew she shouldn’t. Her body didn’t seem to care one bit about any reasons as to why she shouldn’t. Her body simply wanted, and there was no logic to hormones.

“I’m sorry, Melony.” He stood and scrubbed his fingers through his dark, tousled hair.

She followed him and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m not.”

“You should be. Damn it. We can’t do this again.”

“But—”

“Hey. How is the lesson going?” Rose stood in the doorway.

Melony hadn’t heard Rose’s approach and whipped around at the sound of her voice. “Hi, Aunt Rose.”

Rose looked from Melony to Lorent, then back, and raised one brow.“I thought I’d check in, maybe see if I could go ahead and steal you away to come and help with the details for Thanksgiving, but if you two are busy . .

.?” A sly smile played at Rose’s lips.

“We’re done,” Lorent said quietly before making his way to the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon,” Melony called out to his retreating back.

“He’s a bit shy, Melony. I think maybe you will be good for him.” Rose put her arm around Melony’s shoulders and guided her toward the door.

“I don’t know, maybe.” She was getting the idea that he wasn’t all that shy, merely had some issues that he didn’t quite know how to deal with, issues he kept bottled up inside.

“He’s a good man. I’m glad Knox gave him a second chance. I wouldn’t have.”

“What do you mean?” Melony glanced in the direction Lorent had gone, but there was no trace of him.

“I mean, when he attacked me, if I had had the means, I would have gutted him.”

Melony stopped. “He attacked you? Uncle Knox told me he was a reformed rogue, but he never said he’d attacked you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I promise it wasn’t anything major. It mostly just pissed me off. I got my revenge when I broke his nose. I’m good with him now.”

“You broke his nose?” Melony cringed.

“Yep.”

Good God. What else was she going to find out about Lorent? He was a complete mystery, and he wasn’t going to let anyone unravel him easily, but she was going to try. She smiled as she walked with Rose. She was sure he’d been about to kiss her back earlier. That meant he was attracted to her, at least a little. Still, it was somewhere she wasn’t sure they should go because of the possible ramifications to both of them.

She sighed. She liked Lorent, and decided she wouldn’t stress over her feelings for him. She, for one, did believe in fate—at least somewhat—and figured she’d let nature take its course. She wouldn’t encourage it down one path or another, but simply follow wherever it might lead. Maybe there was a reason for their attraction to one another. Maybe she had been sent here to help him heal from whatever had caused him to be so withdrawn.

Whatever the reasons, I’m here, Lorent is here, and I’ll help him any way I can.

Chapter Eight

Lorent charged through the woods like a bull charging a matador’s bright red cape. Melony had kissed him, a brushing of the lips, really, but a kiss nonetheless. He could have never imagined the fire that simple touch would light in him. He burned. Every cell inside his body flamed in bright inferno, and he was positive that if he touched any of the trees, they would ignite, and the whole forest would go up like tinder to a match.

How would he stand to be around her now? He’d no longer be able to look at her longingly and wonder how she’d taste. He knew firsthand, and from this day on, every time they were near one another, he’d remember her sweetness, yearn to taste her again and again. Hell, he’d yearn for that while he was alone, but wondering how her lips would feel against his own and knowing were two entirely different things.

Now that he’d had her mouth against his, the wolf in him paced and howled for its mate, while the man fought to control the urges that had been imprinted on him since birth. The need to claim her, to make her his was like a cancer that would grow and eat away at him until he gave in. She was the one thing that could cure him. Without her, he’d slowly die. Maybe not in the physical sense, but his heart, his soul would shrivel into a black void of turmoil, anger, and pain if he refused the one thing it craved, the one thing that would sustain them . . . Melony.

If he’d never met her, never known his mate, he could have gone on intact. He would have always felt as if something was missing, but he’d have coped. Now that he knew her, that kind of blind luxury was no longer an option.

Maybe he should just throw caution to the wind and approach Knox, let him know Melony was his, but fear of his claim for her being rejected stayed him from doing so. Knox was a fair man, all of the members of Sanctuary were, but the fact remained that he’d not completed his training. Rules of Sanctuary were clear. No rogue was allowed to claim his mate until he’d gone through the complete reformation program.

He thought he’d been finished, but obviously, he’d bitten himself in his own ass on this one. His incapability, rather his unwillingness, to be more open with the others gave them reservations about him. He was certain they trusted him, knew he’d never go rogue again, but he was no fool. To truly be part of a pack was not just a physical commitment. It was an emotional commitment as well. No, they didn’t expect him to pour his heart out to everyone, but he understood that he should be comfortable with communication. He was also aware that it was a bit peculiar for a lycan to shy away from group get-togethers.

Lycans naturally thrived in packs, and for one to be a loner was not the norm. It happened. It didn’t make him a freak of nature—although sometimes he felt that way—but he got that he at least needed to be able to view group gatherings such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and meetings without feeling as if he were going to be sick. He liked everyone just fine, but his past had taught him to keep a distance from people, especially groups. He either had to find a way to get over his insecurities or forget about a life with Melony.

Forgetting about Melony wasn’t going to happen, but how was he going to figure out how to get over his aversion to groups? He growled and punched the next tree he passed hard enough to shake it and send pain up his arm.

“Hey, Lorent?”

Lorent spun around to find Reid and Reilly Shelton smiling at him. The two were twins and nearly impossible to tell apart by looks. Fortunately, even though identical on the outside, each carried his own unique scent. Also, Reilly was a bit thinner built than Reid’s bodybuilder physique, not that Reilly was lacking any in the muscle area. Both had short dark auburn hair and green eyes that always held a spark of mischief as if they were up to something, and they usually were.

“Hi.” Lorent frowned. “What are you two doing on this side of Sanctuary?”

“Whoa. We’re legit.” Reid held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Yeah, Brent asked us to bring some of the Christmas decorations over that were stored in one of the sheds by our cabins.” Reilly glared at Lorent as if challenging him to question their explanation.

Reid and Reilly were only a couple years younger than him, but those couple of years said a lot for maturity. Lorent liked Reid and Reilly just fine, felt them to be genuine in their wishes to reform, but both were troublemakers. Not so much in an unkind, dangerous way, but in a punk-ass-need-a-kick-in-the-shorts sort of way. They were what he thought having two younger siblings might be like. Overall good kids, but obnoxious pains—

always showing up at the wrong time and wrong place. Kind of like right now.

“I wasn’t questioning your legitimacy, only wondering what you were up to.” Lorent had no reason to doubt them.

“But since we ran into you, maybe you’d like to help us with a project.”

Reid’s lips turned up in a devilish grin.

Lorent was sure he wasn’t going to like what they had planned, much less want be a part of it. He sighed, thankful that at least their appearance had taken his mind off of his turmoil over Melony, even if only for a few moments.

“What project might that be?”

Reid glanced at Reilly and nodded before they both stepped closer. Both leaned in before Reilly started talking in a low voice.

“You see, we thought that it might be funny to pull a prank on Brent,

’cause, you know, he’s always on our ass and all. I mean, don’t get us wrong, we like the guy. We just wanted to put one over on him.”

“What is it that you two are planning?” Lorent frowned.

Reid filled Lorent in on their plan, and while Lorent found it childish, doubted it would work, it was completely harmless. He also didn’t want to be any part of it. He wouldn’t do anything that might jeopardize him finishing his training. He wished the two luck—they’d need lots of it—and they disappeared into the woods.

He grinned while thinking about how funny it would be if they actually managed to pull it off, and nearly chuckled when he thought about how entertaining it would be to watch Brent kick their asses if they got one over on him. Brent was a great guy. Lorent trusted him to be fair, as he did Anthony, Knox, Raze, and Piers. No major repercussions would befall Reid or Reilly, and he was certain Brent would be a good sport—after he knocked their two skulls together.

Lorent went deeper into the forest and made his way toward his secret place. At least it was secret so far, as he’d never smelled another lycan’s presence in it. Of course, that could change at any time.

The forest was for anyone’s use at Sanctuary, but for now, it was his. The darkening sky cast deep shadows over the ground as he picked his way through the brush, thick even though nearly stripped clean of its leaves by fall. Finally, he stepped through to a clearing with a small pool that was fed from the stream that ran through most of the grounds.

The rising moon reflected off the pool’s surface, and he breathed deep.

He’d found this place a few months after he’d arrived at Sanctuary and came here often to read, be alone, or just think.

Sometimes he bathed in the small pool and let its coolness soothe his muscles. He wouldn’t do so tonight, but not because it was too cold. With his lycan temperature, he could go into the water as long as it wasn’t iced over and not freeze to death, but he didn’t want to be gone too long with the holiday quickly approaching. He might be needed to do some last-minute tasks, and he didn’t want to be questioned if he was missed.

A smile tugged at his lips as the sound of the gently moving water eased his inner turmoil. But that comfort disappeared just as quickly when a pair of plump pink lips and chocolate brown eyes came to mind. As he sat on a fallen tree, he touched his lips with his fingers, recalling the brush of her mouth against his. He scoffed, picked up a small pebble, and flicked it across the pool, where it skipped across the still surface several times before sinking.

He thought back on the years he’d spent with rogues, of all the potential mates he’d witnessed being abused or worse. The naïveté, stupidity, and sheer refusal to learn about lycan laws were killing his race, and he would have never known had fate not led him here. How had he come to find his mate when he’d done nothing to save the mates of countless others? He didn’t deserve her, but she was his nonetheless. Then another problem occurred to him.

Problem? He snorted. More like a maelstrom of disaster. How could he ever expect to claim Melony when he had no idea how to love her? No one had ever loved him, and he’d never been close with anyone. He cared about the people at Sanctuary, knew they cared about him, but was that love? He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he’d recognize such an emotion . He picked up another rock and threw it across the pool with more force. This time it skipped the width of the water, smacked into a tree on the other side, and bounced into the forest.

He stood and paced back and forth. Good God. He’d never be able to give her what she needed. At the very least, she deserved a man who could love her, and he couldn’t guarantee he’d be able to do that. He’d cherish her, protect her, try his best to make her happy, but would that be enough? The selfish side of him swelled with pride at the thought that she might grow to love him. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she loved him, only him, above all others, but it wouldn’t be fair of him to expect that from her when he might not be able to reciprocate.

It wasn’t honorable of him to claim her, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep from doing so in the end. She was made for him, and he was made for her. But why would fate give such a bum deal to Melony? She was beautiful, feminine, caring, sexy, and should be with a man who could love her with a fiery passion that he was sure she was capable of giving in return.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, thinking about having all of that fiery passion burning under him as he took her.

A small voice in the back of his brain asked when he’d ever considered himself honorable. True, he hadn’t been in the past, but since he’d dedicated himself to reformation, he liked to believe he’d become honorable. An honorable man would love his mate, give her his heart and soul. He had no problem doing the second two. It was the love thing again. Hell, if he were honest, she already held his heart and soul in her tiny palm. She had the power to crush him if she so chose, but he didn’t believe she’d ever hurt him intentionally. He’d never hurt her intentionally. It was the unintentional part that had him worried.

He stood and smoothed his jeans down his legs. He had to do the decent thing, the right thing, and keep his hands off her. He started back to his cabin. Tonight he would shift and run until exhaustion wrung every last thought of claiming Melony from his brain, although at this point, he wasn’t sure even death could do that.

This time fate had made a mistake. He couldn’t allow anyone to know she was his, or he’d be expected to claim her. He had a duty to his race to make her his, have sons with her, raise their young to respect lycan rules, and help them become good men, men who would be part of the next generation who would fight for the survival of their species.

But none of it mattered. Whatever obligations may be expected of him, he could not subject Melony to a loveless union. He knew firsthand what it was like to always feel disposable, to never be loved, and she deserved better.

The wolf in him howled in pain, and he hung his head in sadness, regret, and frustration. After he got home, he stripped off his clothes in the bathroom, turned on the shower, and stepped under the hot water.

He propped his hands against the shower wall and leaned under the spray, letting it plaster his hair to his head as it ran in rivulets over his body.

He’d been through a bunch of shit in his short life—a short life that seemed to stretch forever under the circumstances he’d existed in—and knew without a doubt, the war he was about to wage against himself where Melony was concerned was going to be the biggest battle of his life, one he’d probably lose.

The memory of her kiss assailed him once again. Son of a bitch. He reached up and flipped off the hot tap and hoped like hell the cold water would curtail his sudden hard-on.

Chapter Nine

“How was your afternoon with Lorent?” Shannon asked while mixing stuffing in a huge glass bowl.

Melony looked around the amazing kitchen. It was modern and the stuff a chef’s dreams were made of. Granite countertops, hand-carved wooden cabinets, and stainless steel appliances were complemented beautifully by the dark hardwood floors and soft lighting.

Everyone was here. Karen, Rindy, Janine, Sherry, Rose, and Shannon were busy preparing food, while the men were outside trying to figure out where to set up the extra tables that would hold the monstrous portions of food being prepared for Thanksgiving. She liked being with the women. It felt homey.

She’d learned Janine owned a cupcake shop that she ran out of her house in the city, and that Sherry had lived with her and helped her out until she’d met Piers. Now Piers and Sherry lived a short distance from Sanctuary, but had chosen to stay at the encampment once Sherry got close to her due date—which was sometime in January—until after she had the baby. Melony looked at the girl who stood in the corner mixing some frosting and smiled when she placed a protective hand over the bump on her belly.

She didn’t miss the way Karen would gaze at Sherry longingly when she thought no one was watching. It made her wonder if Karen and Anthony were trying to have a baby, and might be having problems doing so. Melony hoped if that were the case it would happen soon because she thought Karen would be a great mother. Anthony would be a good dad too if he didn’t scare the crap out of the kid.

A giggle nearly escaped her. She was being unfair. Anthony was imposing, true, but all of the men were in some way or other. It was just that Anthony seemed a bit less approachable than the others, not unlike Lorent.

Anthony, on the other hand, didn’t seem shy. He simply seemed distant, unreachable. Still, all that gruff exterior couldn’t mask the way she’d seen his eyes light up when he looked at Karen.

“Well?” Shannon continued mixing the stuffing while tapping her foot in what could only be construed as an impatient manner.

“It was fine.” Melony didn’t want to talk to Shannon about Lorent. It didn’t feel right, and she had the urge to tell the girl to mind her own business, but bit her tongue before doing so.

“Did you learn anything from him today?” Rose asked as she dipped her finger in the frosting on the beaters Sherry had just removed from the bowl.

She put it to her mouth and groaned. “That is soooo good.”

“It’s a secret recipe of Janine’s.” Sherry smiled at her big sister.

“Yes. He taught me a bit,” Melony said before Rindy slid her a bowl of freshly peeled potatoes to wash and cut up.

“I’d like him to teach me a bit,” Shannon said under her breath.

“Hmmm, what was that?” Rindy looked at the girl with a raised brow.

“Oh. Nothing,” Shannon said.

“Shannon, you know he isn’t for you.” Rose gave Shannon a sardonic smile.

“How do you know? I could be. Maybe he just hasn’t said anything because he’s shy.” Shannon’s cheeks turned pink.

“Believe me. You’d know if you were his.” Janine laughed. “It’s not like the males aren’t obvious about it or anything when they find their mates.”

All the ladies giggled. Melony’s stomach churned at the prospect of Shannon being Lorent’s mate.

But why? Yeah, that’s the million-dollar question now, isn’t it? It shouldn’t bother her if Lorent liked Shannon, but it did. In fact, it bothered her to think of him being interested in any other girl, even though she really had no business feeling such things. She liked Lorent. Yes, he was shy, but who cared? She was willing to bet that once he came out of his shell, he’d be one hot, dominant man—one she’d like to be the center of attention to.

Well, he was already hot, probably dominant too, as she figured it was in a male lycan’s nature to be. He just didn’t seem to portray it as the other men around here did. Did she really want him to come out of his shell, though?

He was already sexy as hell. She might pass out if he decided to exude his dominancy. Damn, but fainting would be a small price to pay to witness that.

“Your laundry is done, by the way, Shannon,” Melony said as she sliced the potatoes in chunks and put them in the boiling water on the stove.

Shannon’s cheeks turned pink again.

“Why is Melony doing your laundry?” Rindy asked Shannon.

“My washer isn’t working right,” Shannon mumbled while she furiously stirred the bowl’s contents.

Rindy rolled her eyes and looked at Karen. “Next time that happens, bring your laundry here and do it, and let one of the guys know so it can get fixed. Melony is not here to do your laundry.”

“Okay.” Shannon glared at Melony from under her lashes, and Melony found it hard to keep from smirking.

She hadn’t realized saying something about the laundry would get Shannon in trouble, but on the bright side, maybe it would keep her from trying to saddle her with future chores. Not that she would have let her get away with it again anytime soon, but it had probably saved her from many headaches that she had no doubt would be coming her way. Although now that Shannon probably felt as if she had ratted her out, Melony was sure those headaches would still be coming, just not in the form of chores.

“I was thinking about what Knox said to me the other day about being able to earn my keep around here. I’m really good at cutting hair, and I was wondering if I might be able to help with that around Sanctuary.”

She hadn’t been sure if the idea would be welcomed, but she needed something to do. The thought of twiddling her thumbs all winter was not appealing. She liked to relax and enjoy downtime just as anyone else did, but she wasn’t one who could spend days on end idling her time away doing nothing. She preferred to keep busy.

“Hmm.” Rindy’s forehead wrinkled in thought, and Melony held her breath waiting for a reply. A big smile broke on her lips. “Are you kidding me? That is an excellent idea. We have to travel over two hours to get our hair done now. What do you think about it, Karen?”

“Oh! That is an excellent idea. Do you do coloring and perms too?”

“I do. I’m not a professional, but I’ve always loved doing hair. I’ve done lots of friends’ hair, my own, my mother’s, and some of her friends as well.”

“That would be heaven, Melony.” Rindy tapped her foot in what Melony took as excitement. “In fact, I think we could all use some hair attention.

We’ll talk about setting something up after Thanksgiving.”

Rose stepped closer to Melony. “You can trim all the men too. They get scruffy quick.”

“Agreed.” Rindy, Sherry, Janine, and Karen answered at the same time.

“Well, it’s set then,” Rindy said.

“Thank you.” Melony excitedly beamed.

Melony glanced up at Shannon, who had said absolutely nothing during the whole conversation. She wondered if Shannon wanted her to do her hair, but was unsure about asking after the laundry escapade. She didn’t have a problem with Shannon as long as she didn’t try to push her dirty underwear off on her again, but she decided it would be best if she waited for Shannon to approach her on the matter.

Rose patted Melony on the back. “Looks like you officially have a job.

Make a list of anything you might need, and I’ll have whoever makes the next run to town pick it up.”

“Awesome! Can’t wait!” The list was going to be quite long, as she’d need everything to start with.

“You’ll each have to tell me what exactly you’d like done so I will know what I need besides the basics. I’ll even make it easier on whoever makes the run to town and put an order in on the Internet at the Learning Center if someone can tell me where to have it sent.”

“There is a pickup for packages in town. I’ll get you the address later.

You might have to try a couple times to get your order in, though. I’m sure Lorent told you the Internet service is pretty sketchy out here.” Rindy popped a carrot into her mouth.

“Yes, he did tell me that.”

For the next two hours, she and the women chitchatted over this and that while preparing the food. Melony enjoyed talking with the women, but most of the time her thoughts kept returning to the kiss she’d shared with Lorent, and how she wanted to kiss him again—how she wanted him to kiss her.

Later that night, back at her cabin, she fed Puss and took a hot shower before falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

“What are you doing, Lorent?”

He was sitting on a fallen tree by the clear pool at his secret place in the woods, when Melony came up behind him. He turned, and his breath whooshed from his lungs. The sun shined behind her through the thick trees and shimmered off her smooth skin. Her pink hair was done in its normal spiky do, and she wore black jeans with a pink sweater.

The sweater looked almost as soft as she did, and he ached to run his fingers over her, ached to learn every part of her body, every erogenous zone that would elicit a breathy sigh of delight from her lush mouth. He wanted to make her as crazy for him as he was for her.

He wanted to hear his name on her lips as he made her come, wanted to hold her against him afterward and caress her until she fell asleep cuddled intimately in his embrace.

“Hi, Melony.” He patted the empty spot next to him on the log. “Come sit beside me.”

He had to keep a tight leash on his control in reality, but here in the dream, he could do as he pleased. Here in the dream, he didn’t have to be as careful, as reserved with his feelings. Only that made him feel a bit guilty because Melony had no idea how real a dream shared between mates was. He’d not told her about dreams between mates, and though it probably made him an ass, he didn’t plan to anytime soon. Here in his dreams he could be selfish and spend all the time he wanted with her without worry of repercussions.

If the dream world was all he had, the only place he could show Melony his true self, he’d have to deal with it. At least here he didn’t have to pretend he wasn’t affected by her.

Here he could spend time with her, touch her, talk to her without worrying about his control or getting his ass kicked for showing interest in her. Here his training didn’t matter.

Here only he and Melony existed.

She sat beside him, and her scent drifted to him on the gentle breeze. He breathed her deep into his lungs, and his fingers itched to touch her, but he didn’t want to rush anything.

He doubted Melony was the kind of girl who had casual sex, and he wanted to take things slow with her. Truth be told, he didn’t want casual sex either. Not with her. When he took her, it would be fierce and beautiful and forever.

“This is a lovely place, Lorent.”

“It’s my secret place. As far as I know, no one else comes here. I’ve kind of claimed it as my own.”

“Oh. I wouldn’t want to impose then.”

He caught her hand when she started to get up. “No. Don’t go. I don’t mind sharing with you.”

She smiled and sat back down, but refused to let go of his hand when he tried to pull it back. That small gesture pleased him more than he thought possible. He stroked his thumb over her palm, and she glanced at him from under her thick lashes.

“I come here when I want to think or need some space.”

She looked around carefully. “It’s certainly a perfect place for that.” She cleared her throat and stared at him.

“What?”

“I was just wondering why you are willing to share this with me when you’ve been guarded with everything else.”

He frowned. He guessed she was right. He was guarded with things, but he had a good reason to be. “I don’t have much to talk about. I came here, went through the reformation program, and that was that. As far as my past, I don’t have anything good to say about it, so why say anything at all?”

“I see. I wouldn’t mind listening if you ever wanted to talk about it.” She gave his hand another squeeze.

Then the strangest thing happened. He found he actually wanted to tell her about his past, about all the horrifying things he’d been through, witnessed, not because he wanted to lay that kind of shit on her, but because he suddenly needed to tell someone for some reason.

If she knew, would she think of him differently? Would she look upon on him as if he were an uncaring monster? He didn’t want to risk it, yet deep in his heart, he was aware that if there was ever to be a future for him and Melony, at some point he’d have to tell her everything. But that was the point. There wouldn’t be a future for them, not in the real world, not if she found out about his past.

“Believe me when I say that you definitely don’t want to hear about it.”

She reached up and tenderly stroked her fingers down his cheek. “If it has to do with you, I want to hear about it, but only when you are ready, Lorent. I don’t want to push you into anything. I never want you to feel uncomfortable with me.”

“Why do you care?” He sighed and leaned into her touch before he could stop himself from doing so.

He looked into her eyes, waiting for her answer, as she pursed her lips as if perplexed by his question. If she had any idea how that one endearing action made him crave to crush his lips against hers, she’d probably slap him. Or maybe not. After all, she had been the one to kiss him at the Learning Center.

“Why do I care? For one, you are a fellow human, er, well, you know what I mean, and secondly, I kind of like you. I will admit that you are a walking contradiction. At one turn you are telling me all about the trees and how you can cook, and the next thing I know, you’re shutting down over the simplest question.”

“You like me?” His heart thundered in his chest.

“Of course. I mean, I know we haven’t known one another for long, but I think you are a nice man. Everyone else thinks so as well, but I get the distinct impression that they are worried about you because you are so shy.”

“I’m not shy. Not really. I just like to keep to myself. I’d consider myself reserved, maybe, but not shy.”

“Okaaay. Well, that’s not a bad thing as long as it doesn’t keep you from interacting with others altogether.” She frowned for a moment. “Let me put it this way, and I have no proof of what I’m about to say. It’s pure speculation on my part. No one has told me anything about you other than you are shy and a good man. I’m going to make an assumption here, though, that maybe the others are worried because you haven’t talked to anyone about your past?”

He nodded.

“People who refuse to talk about their past obviously have things in it that they wish to forget, painful things that they’d like to keep buried. The problem with that is that sometimes the things you try so hard to push away are the things that tend to push hardest back, the things that end up eating away at you.”

She was right, and he figured he understood why she knew that. “Like how you won’t talk about your mother’s accident?”

Her eyes darkened, and he wanted to kick himself for bringing it up. “Son of a bitch.

I’m sorry, Melony.”

“No. No. You are right. I’ll tell you sometime about my mother’s accident and why I don’t like to talk about it. I’m just not ready yet. But her death was fairly recent. Are the things you refuse to talk about as recent?”

“Touché.” She had a point.

There was a difference in needing time to heal from things that happened before talking about them and running from them for years. It was time that he opened up about his past, but he was too damned scared he’d frighten her off if she found out about it. How could she still care for him, view him as a good man once she knew about the things he’d allowed to happen right in front of him?

“How about, for now, we enjoy this gorgeous night?” She leaned back and stared up at the clear, dark sky.

“Agreed.” He looked up to see millions of stars twinkling down at them.

“It’s beautiful.” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

He stared at her, aching to kiss her, aching to hold her. “It sure is,” he whispered.

She turned her head to him and sucked in a breath when she realized he’d been talking about her. “You are such a flatterer. Cute? Maybe, but I’ve never been in the beautiful category.”

“Why would you think that?” Did she really believe she wasn’t beautiful? She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Look at me.” She fluttered her hands around her face and down her body.

He was looking, all right. When she sucked in another sharp breath, he knew his eyes were glowing.

“I’m short, and my fashion sense is a little out there. I mean, I don’t think beautiful women have pink, spiky hair or navel piercings.”

Holy shit! She had a navel piercing? All of the blood rushed to his cock, and he growled at the thought of laving her belly button and the piercing with his tongue. He took a deep breath and held it before letting it out slowly.

She raised her brows at him and giggled. “That was a new sound.”

He ignored that statement, as he didn’t want to explain that new sound had been a growl because she was turning him on like he’d never been turned on before.

“Beautiful comes in all different sizes, shapes, and colors. And you, Melony, are beautiful.” He reached out and traced the outer ridge of her tiny ear with his finger.

“Oh yeah, my ears are deformed too.”

He leaned closer, but couldn’t see one problem with her perfect ears. “Deformed how?”

She reached up and ran her finger over the top. “See? There is supposed to be a space between my ear and the outer line that defines it. But there’s not. The skin just kind of lies against my ear instead.”

He laughed. “Your ears are perfect.”

“They aren’t like everyone else’s”

“Everyone else’s are deformed then.” He reached out and gently pulled the lobe between his thumb and index finger.

“Huh.”

He leaned close, his lips a scant inch from her ear. “I think they are perfect. I think you are perfect.”

Chapter Ten

Melony caught her breath when Lorent whispered against her ear. His scent tickled her nose, and butterflies flittered in her tummy. She wanted him to kiss her, had wanted him to do so in the Learning Center, but now no one would interrupt them. That thought was a bit daunting because she didn’t know how well she trusted herself to stop at just a kiss.

While she was attracted to him, liked him, wished to explore her growing feelings for him, she was a virgin. Jumping into bed with him, no matter how much he turned her on, was not something she wished to rush. But when she turned her face to him, and his lips brushed against hers, her restraint flew out the window—actually it broke through and trampled over the glass in a frantic stampede for freedom.

His mouth was firm but soft on hers at first, a mere coaxing, but when she relaxed against him and sighed in response, all gentleness was forgotten as he angled his head and deepened the kiss. She gasped, and he took advantage of the moment by sliding his tongue inside and tangling it with her own. She’d been kissed before, but this was no ordinary kiss. It was as if he was searing himself on her for all time, making sure she’d never forget the wild, wicked, dominant taste and feel of his mouth on hers.

She groaned, and reached to drag him closer, but the groan quickly turned into a squeak when he flipped over, taking them both to the ground, where she softly landed on top of him. God, the man was all muscle. She swore she could feel every ridge, every defining cord wherever their bodies pressed together. They stared at one another, both breathing hard, until finally, he reached up, cupped her nape in one hand, and urged her mouth back to his.

His tongue delved into her mouth over and over, and his teeth nipped gently at her bottom lip, igniting a towering inferno to rage inside her. Her hands rested on his shoulders, while his other arm slowly encircled her waist and pulled her tighter against him. Her breasts pressed into his chest, and her nipples beaded in excited peaks. The friction as they rubbed against him was nearly unbearable.

The need to get rid of their clothes and lay against him skin to skin rode her hard. She gasped when his hands found the hem of her shirt and yanked it over her head, then brought his mouth back to hers. Her breasts spilled out into his hands, and he kneaded each one gently before he sat up and pulled her thighs apart over his lap until she straddled him. He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing coming in strangled gasps as he caressed her breasts. When he ran his thumbs over her nipples, she shivered in response.

He sucked in a sharp breath, and his hips tilted up. The evidence of his arousal pressed hard against her, and she gasped again. He felt . . . big, so big. She started to protest, scared that this would never work between them because he’d never fit inside her, but froze when he bent his head and curled his tongue over one nipple. Heat flooded her and pooled low between her thighs, where her body more than willingly readied itself for his possession.

As his mouth, teeth, and tongue ravished one nipple, then the other, every reason why she shouldn’t make love to him now disappeared into the passion-induced fog in her brain.

His big hands roamed her back and drew her against him as he stoked her so high she thought she’d spontaneously combust. She cried out and rubbed against him. A growl was her only warning before being flipped to her back, where she now cradled Lorent, this huge, dominant male, between her thighs as his face remained buried in her breasts. The pleasure he was giving her robbed her of the ability to speak, and tears burned her eyes.

She curled her fingers in his thick hair and held him to her as he continued ravishing her breasts and nipples. The intense heat coming from his body bled through her skin, and she strained against him, reveling in the comfort his closeness gave her. He didn’t crush her, was careful to keep his weight off her, but he was still heavy enough that she felt deliciously entrapped by his bigger frame.

“Lorent.” She tugged at his hair, but his only response was a groan. “Lorent.” She tugged a bit harder, and when he looked up at her, her heart flip-flopped at the sight of him.

She didn’t think it possible, but he was even sexier with his hair tousled from her fingers and his eyes glowing. The desire that burned in the hazel depths—purely dominant, hot, predatory—alarmed and excited her. The feral way he gazed at her made her feel hunted, stalked, caught, and soon to be conquered. Surprisingly, she wasn’t afraid. The fact that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him only thrilled her.

“What, Melony?” His words were quiet, low, breathless.

“Kiss me again.”

His mouth slammed down on hers, and he stole the breath from her lungs, which she readily gave to him as she hungrily devoured his lips. No man had ever kissed her like this.

His kiss was the epitome of possession, and she never thought she’d enjoy being possessed quite this much. She would, without a shadow of a doubt, submit to this man, give him anything he asked for. But how could she feel this strongly for him already? And that simple question spurred her logical mind to steal the magic from the moment.

She stiffened, and Lorent immediately broke the kiss as if detecting the change in her.

He sat up and pulled her onto his lap once again before framing her face with his hands.

“What’s wrong?” He lightly rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

“Nothing.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “It’s just that . . .”

“Shit.” He stood, helped her up, bent to retrieve her shirt, and handed it to her. “I’m sorry. I crossed the line. I should have never touched you like that.” He stepped away from her and leaned against a tall tree, the bark crunching under his weight.

She hurriedly tugged her shirt over her head before going to him and laying a hand on his arm. “You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to. I just got caught up in the moment and forgot myself. Things were progressing a bit fast for me is all.”

“I’m such an ass,” he muttered.

“Look at me, Lorent.” She waited until he finally did so. “You did nothing wrong. I never meant to do any more than kiss you, but when you touched me . . .” Her voice trailed off while images of his mouth on her rushed her brain. “I lost my head. You seem to have that effect on me.”

“You seem to have that effect on me as well,” he said through tight lips. “I shouldn’t have taken things that far. I’m sorry.”

“Please stop apologizing. We were both out of control. It’s understandable. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before. It doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. It doesn’t mean I didn’t like it, because I did. I don’t regret what we just did. I just want to take things a bit slower, and where we were heading was not slow.”

“No. I guess it wasn’t.” He grimaced.

She wrapped her arms around him, not expecting a response, but pleasantly surprised when he hugged her to him.

“You’re so warm,” she mumbled.

“It’s a lycan thing.”

“I like it.”

“I’m glad because I don’t think I can change it.”

“This is one of the best dreams I’ve ever had,” she said against his chest. “I wish I could dream about you every night. I like spending time with you. I’m not sorry about anything.”

“I like spending time with you as well.” He pulled back and pushed some of the stray hairs off her forehead. “I think I might have messed up your hair.”

“It was worth it,” she giggled.

“I have to go now, Melony. I’ll see you again soon. Sleep well.” He kissed her on the forehead and turned away.

She watched as he disappeared into the trees, wanting to call him back, knowing she couldn’t because she would not have the willpower to stop herself a second time from letting him make love to her.

* * *

Melony groaned and lifted her heavy lids with much effort. Her bedroom was dark, which told her it was still several hours before morning came. A fine sheen of sweat covered her body, and her breasts were full and heavy.

She ran her hand over them only to find her nipples stiffened in peaks.

Damn. That was one hell of a dream. She’d never had such a vivid one before this night.

Her logical brain knew it had been a dream, but part of her felt it had been more . It was so real. She sighed.

“It couldn’t be real, you twit. Dreams aren’t real.”

Unless you were Freddy Krueger or something, and she’d never have a dream about Freddy like the one she’d just had about Lorent.

How was she going to face him tomorrow with the memories of his mouth and hands on her so fresh in her mind? She rolled over and punched the pillow, only to incite an irritated cry from Puss, which she ignored.

“It’s not a memory. It’s a dream,” she muttered to herself.

She wished it hadn’t been a dream. Lorent had actually opened up a little with her, hadn’t been as guarded as he usually was. And the way he’d kissed her, touched her? Holy hell. If he ever did touch her like that and she got even half as hot as she had in her dream, she’d explode. And now the urge to find out how his hands would feel on her for real was nearly painful. She ached for his caresses, his mouth, and wanted to make love with him. She snorted. If they were ever together for real, she doubted “making love”

would accurately describe their coming together.

Lorent would love her, but he wouldn’t be a tender, shy lover. He’d possess her, claim her, and she’d welcome his possession with open arms, with relish, with complete abandonment. Though she’d only known him a short time, her body had already decided that it wanted him. To be completely honest, her heart and mind wanted him as well, but she’d never been with a man, and she didn’t want to rush this.

How could she be so certain that Lorent was the man she wanted to make love with for the first time? She had no answer for that other than it was something she just knew. She couldn’t explain how she did. It was just one of those things that you were sure of without explanation. The question was, did Lorent want her? Even if he did, would they be allowed to explore their feelings for one another as they wished? And if they did so, where would that leave them?

It all came full circle back to the problem that she was not his mate.

Could she willingly give her heart and body to a man who may have no choice but to walk away from her for another? What if she fell in love with him? Maybe you’re already halfway there.

She punched her pillow again and decided to try to put it all from her mind for now. Whatever will be, will be, she thought to herself as she drifted back to sleep.

* * *

Lorent propped his head on his arm as he lay looking at the log beams of his bedroom ceiling. Guilt and pleasure warred inside him. He’d enjoyed the time with Melony in the dream, but how would she react when she found out that dreams between mates were almost as real as reality? Hell, how would she react when she learned she was his mate?

His cock stood painfully aroused by the dream, the urge to get out of bed and go to her nearly impossible to resist. He wanted to touch her exquisite breasts, kiss her for real. He’d feasted on the creamy mounds as if they were nectar from the gods, and they were to him. He groaned and sat up.

He needed to run, needed to drive the thought of her from his mind before he did something stupid.

He went to the front door, stepped outside, and let his wolf come to the surface, gave it reign over his body. Within seconds, he stood on four paws and darted into the woods. He’d only been running for about twenty minutes when he scented another lycan. A few seconds later, he came through a clearing in the thick trees that allowed a brilliant view of the moon and stars.

When he scanned the area, he saw a black wolf in the tree line staring out with its golden brown eyes. Piers Kavanaugh.

He trotted toward the wolf, but right before he got to him, he turned and went deeper into the woods. Lorent followed him to the cabin he and Sherry stayed in while visiting Sanctuary. Piers shifted back to human and pulled on a pair of jeans that were lying on the porch. When Lorent shifted, Piers tossed him a towel, which he promptly knotted around his waist.

They both sat on the top step of the wood porch, oblivious of the cold night on their near-naked bodies.

“How’s Sherry?”

“She’s okay. She’s resting.”

The way Piers shifted uneasily alerted Lorent that the ancient was worried about something. Lorent didn’t usually pry, but he needed a distraction from Melony, and he also liked Piers and wanted to help if he was able.

“She’s getting close to her due date, isn’t she?”

Piers grunted. “I feel like there’s something she’s not telling me. I don’t know. I mean, Sherry would never lie to me about anything, but something seems off.”

“With the baby?”

“I don’t know.” Piers glanced back at the door and cocked his head for a moment as if he’d heard something inside. After listening for a few moments, he turned back to Lorent.

“It’s probably just nerves. You are having your first baby. While it’s a joyous time, it’s stressful as well.”

“Where did you get all that knowledge from, pup?” Piers smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Yeah, Piers was definitely uneasy about something, but Lorent would be willing to bet it was simply jitters at becoming a father for the first time.

“Watching and learning. When’s the midwife coming in?”

“After Christmas. Sherry’s not due until the end of January, and she refuses to let anyone miss Christmas with their family. She insisted the midwife wait until after the New Year. I’d feel better if she came sooner, but damned if you can talk any sense into a hardheaded woman.”

Lorent had learned that Sanctuary had two midwives lined up to assist with any upcoming births. Both lived within a few hours, and were trustworthy, although still not entrusted with the knowledge of the lycan race. The midwives were told Sanctuary was a religious encampment where members valued their privacy above all else.

While there had been no babies born to Sanctuary as of yet—Sherry and Piers’s son would be the first—once the encampment had been established, the women had demanded that at least one midwife be found immediately. It was something that would make things go smoother now that everything had been done in advance, something the men probably would not have put much thought into until one of their mates had become pregnant.

“So what do you think about Melony, Lorent?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “She’s, um, she’s all right.”

“Just all right, huh? I haven’t had the pleasure to spend much time in her company, but from what I’ve heard and seen, she’s a very lovely young lady.”

“She is.”

Just as Lorent thought he’d have to come up with a fast, probably lame excuse to get away from Piers and his questions about Melony, the door to the cabin cracked open.

“Piers?” Sherry’s voice was laced with the groggy remnants of sleep.

“Yeah, baby. I was just talking to Lorent for a minute, but I’m coming in now. Go get back to bed and keep it warm for me.” Piers smiled at Sherry, and she smiled back.

“Hi, Lorent.”

“Hi, Sherry.”

“Bye, Lorent.”

“See ya.”

Sherry disappeared behind the door. At that moment, Lorent wondered what it would be like to have Melony waiting at home for him, carrying his baby, keeping his bed warm. The stirring of his wolf and cock alerted him that it was way past time to go home.

“I’ll see ya later, Piers.”

“Take care, pup. I’m here if you ever need to talk about anything.”

“Thanks.”

He’d never given much thought to it, but maybe Piers would be sympathetic to his plight. After all, Piers had originally kidnapped Sherry.

While things hadn’t started out great in that relationship, it ended up turning out okay, better than okay. He’d have to mull it around for a while before deciding anything. After dropping the towel from around his waist, he changed before running into the woods and back to his cabin.

Chapter Eleven

Lorent didn’t stop by the next afternoon to take Melony to their lesson.

She hadn’t really expected him to, although she couldn’t deny the disappointment. She walked along the path toward the Learning Center admiring the trees and trying to remember the names of the plants Lorent had told her about the day before. But she wasn’t all that good at remembering names, never had been, and by the time she made it to her destination, frustration burned through her.

That frustration was quickly overshadowed by happiness as she walked through the door and saw Lorent waiting for her. He had his back to her, and she admired the width of his shoulders. He was big, and she wanted to reach out to him and run her fingers down that wonderful play of back muscle. When he stiffened, she knew he was aware of her presence. Damn.

Why did he have to do that? Every time she got near him, it was as if he became wary.

“Hi, Lorent.”

“Hey.”

“And what are you going to teach me today?”

He turned around slowly, and her breath hitched in her lungs. His dark hair was tousled as if he’d been standing outside in a breeze, and his features were etched with something . . . feral? She fought hard not to go closer to him even though everything inside her screamed to do just that. She couldn’t explain his allure, but the way he was staring at her, as if his eyes were searing through her physical being and seeing directly into her soul, made her want to leap on him.

She ached to feel his lips against hers, and the dream she’d had of him had only amplified her need for him. She couldn’t help but war with the confusion that still churned in her, the confusion that begged to understand why she should feel so strongly about a man she barely knew. It was scary, it was exhilarating, it was exciting, but it also had the potential to be dangerous for both of them—dangerous to his well-being at Sanctuary and dangerous to her heart.

God, she had so many things she wanted him to teach her, and not one of them had anything to do whatsoever with learning about the lycan race.

Well, maybe that wasn’t true, because she had a feeling what he was played a big part in how he’d make love.

Lorent sniffed the air, clenched his fists, and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Melony took a couple steps closer to him, and he backed away from her until the back of his knees hit the table behind him. Her eyes widened. Oh my God. Can he read my thoughts? Heat flooded her cheeks, and she knew she was blushing like a schoolgirl who’d just gotten caught smoking in the bathroom.

Part of her wanted to turn and run away in embarrassment, but the bold part of her, the most dominant part, wanted to see just how much he was sensing about her. She smiled at him before nonchalantly plopping into a chair right in front of him.

“Something wrong?” She cocked one brow up in question and watched him intently. If he could somehow read her thoughts, why should she be embarrassed? He shouldn’t be traipsing around in her thoughts anyway.

“Um, no.” Lorent’s words were quiet.

All or nothing. “Can you tell what I’m thinking?” She widened her smile.

“Wh-What do you mean?” He sank down on the tabletop.

“Hmm. I don’t know. Just seems from the expression on your face that you were somehow privy to my thoughts. Did you know what I was thinking just now?” She stood and stepped closer to him.

His breathing grew faster, similar to panting, and she was sure beyond a reasonable doubt that at that very moment, he was as drawn to her as she’d ever been to him. The knowledge excited her, made her want to push him further, even though a part of her chastised herself for teasing the both of them, for possibly leading them to something that might cause them pain.

But oh, wouldn’t the pleasure they could give one another be worth a bit of pain?

She danced her fingers up his chest, and his eyes glowed. “I guess you’re feeling some strong emotions, huh?”

“What?”

“Your eyes are glowing.”

When he went to stand up, she placed her palm flat against his chest and gently shoved him back down on the table. He gasped in surprise, and his eyes glowed brighter. It was a breathtaking view, one that would probably scare the bejesus out of most people. Her? It only made her burn hotter for his mouth, for the predator that looked ready to pounce on her.

“Melony.” He groaned when she leaned closer to him.

“You can tell how I’m feeling, can’t you? Tell me. I need to know.” Her breathing was nearly as erratic as his now.

“Yes! Yes, I can tell you are, um, excited.”

“How?”

“I can smell you.”

Then it hit her in one huge, embarrassing wave. Holy hell. He could smell her excitement? She thought maybe he was picking up on her thoughts somehow, but smelling her was a whole other ball game. She tried to pull away from him, but his hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, effectively tumbling her against his chest and holding her prisoner at the same time. He was scorching hot. The heat of his skin burned through their clothes and soaked into her. It was a similar feeling to lying out in the hot sun, but not uncomfortable, not a hotness that demanded a spray bottle of water for intermittent cooldowns.

No. His hotness bled out of him and surrounded her, comforted her, made her feel safe, made her body achy and needy for more of his touch.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Melony. I didn’t mean to make you

uncomfortable, but you did ask.” His breath danced across her cheek with each word.

“I just didn’t realize that, that . . .” She chewed her bottom lip and looked down at the floor.

He lifted his other hand, slid two fingers under her chin, and gave a gentle nudge until she looked back up at him.

“Don’t ever be embarrassed with me. Your feelings are honest. They never lie, and there is no need to be ashamed of them.”

“But it is embarrassing when you know how I’m feeling, but I have no idea how you are feeling.”

“You really can’t tell how I’m feeling?” He smiled and leaned a bit closer.

She glimpsed down and realized he had an erection. Yep. I guess that explains a bit about how he’s feeling.

“Um, well, I don’t—”

Before she could finish the sentence, his lips brushed against hers. She closed her eyes and prayed he’d kiss her properly, craved a taste of him, and he didn’t disappoint her. A low growl rumbled from his chest before his mouth slanted over hers and his tongue slid out to dance along her bottom lip.

She looped her arms around his neck and pressed against him, opening her mouth to him and groaning when he slipped his tongue inside. He tasted just as he smelled—wild, woodsy, tempting—and she knew she’d never taste anything as good as him as long as she lived. She blossomed under him as if he was the very essence she needed to live. Nothing she’d ever done had felt as right as this moment, here with this man.

She sank against him, her fingers tangling in the thick hair at his nape, and the whole world and everything in it disappeared but her and Lorent.

They were the only things that existed at that moment, and time stood still while they explored one another, breathed one another, tasted and caressed one another thoroughly as if careful to commit every second forever to memory.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but what Melony was logically aware was more like a couple minutes, Lorent slowly sat back. She felt the loss of his mouth all the way to her toes, and fought the urge to cry out in denial of the sudden absence of his lips.

She stared into beautiful, glowing pools of hazel. He sighed, and she yearned to lean her cheek against his chest so she could listen to the comforting beat of his heart, but remained where she was.

“I shouldn’t have done that, but I couldn’t resist. I can’t seem to help myself around you.” He scrubbed one of his hands over his face and stood.

Before he could walk away, she placed her hand on his forearm, stilling him. “I wanted you to kiss me, Lorent. I’ve wanted you to ever since the other day when I kissed you. And I’m not apologizing for kissing you.” She nibbled her bottom lip again. “Unless you want me to?”

He lifted his hand and gently ran his fingers down her cheek. “No, I don’t want you to apologize.”

“And I don’t want you to.”

“We shouldn’t be kissing, Melony.”

“Why?” Maybe they shouldn’t, but at this point, she wanted to do way more than kiss him. Slow down, Melony. Slow down.

“It’s difficult for me to do the right thing when I start touching you.” He turned away and went to the window, where he stared outside.

She followed and noticed the sky had darkened and it was spitting rain.

“What is the right thing?”

“Stopping.” He sucked in a breath and turned to face her again. “Because I don’t want to stop once I start touching you.”

“Oh.” Her body ignited, and she understood exactly what he was saying because she felt the same way. “I don’t want you to stop either.” Her cheeks heated, but she refused to take her eyes from his.

She needed to see his face while they had this discussion, needed to witness for herself that he was feeling as reckless as she was, needed to know that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

“We can’t.” He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. “God, we can’t.”

“I think we can, but I’ll be honest. I’ve never been with a man, Lorent, and while I would be honored to be with you, I need to take things slow.

When you touch me, all logic flees my mind, and I want nothing to do with slow, but I don’t want my first time to be rushed. Don’t misunderstand me, because I don’t feel that you would pressure me into anything, but I lose my head with you, and I’m a bit nervous about my first time.”

His eyes glowed brightly then dimmed. “Being a virgin in such a modern world says a lot about your character, Melony. You obviously consider intimacy to be more than a mere slaking of needs. I would never intentionally do anything that caused you any discomfort.”

“Yes, I truly believe that. You’ve been kind with me, and I like you, but I don’t feel like I know you. You’re very guarded. Do you think you could ever trust me enough to open up to me? Even a little?”

He turned back to the window. “I don’t know. I’ve not talked to anyone about me, really. I’m not sure I know how to. I’ve never had a friend, no one to trust. No one has cared to get to know me before.”

“Things are different now. I care, and I know the others here care, or they wouldn’t worry about you. While I won’t pretend to understand why you feel the way you do because I don’t know what has caused your mistrust of others, I realize that you must have experienced things in your past to make you have such misgivings. I can promise you that no matter what you tell me, no matter what you’ve done in your past, I won’t judge you. I will be your friend, and you can trust me. I’m here any time you want to talk.

Whatever you tell me stays with me. Okay?”

He’d never had a friend? She wanted to cry for him, for what he’d missed out on in life. How could anyone he’d been around not want to be friends with him? But his world hadn’t been the same as hers, and she couldn’t pretend to understand it when she didn’t know anything about it.

* * *

Lorent wanted to tell Melony everything about his past, wanted to believe that she truly meant it when she said she wouldn’t judge him, but how could she not? Yet he knew the fact remained that he and Melony would never have a future together unless he told her everything, unless she could forgive him for his past. He could never expect her to love him, trust him, when he refused to trust her. How could they have a relationship if she didn’t know who he really was, accept him for who he was?

“Thank you. I hope one day I can take you up on that offer.”

“Me, too. And, Lorent?”

He turned to her once again.

“I know we haven’t known one another for long, but I’ve never wanted to be with a man like I want to be with you. I hope with all my heart you are my first.”

He sucked in a breath as flames shot through his body, straight to his groin, and he swept down to give her a slow kiss before hesitantly pulling back. He framed her face with his hands. God, she was beautiful on any given day, but the desire that burned in her chocolate eyes and the way her lips were slightly swollen from his kisses was enough to make any man weak in the knees.

“Melony?”

“Yeah?” she whispered.

“Just so you know, if I end up being your first”—and he would if he had anything to say about it—“I’ll also be your last. Do you understand?”

Her full lips formed a cute o, and he barely stopped himself from kissing her again. He didn’t because he doubted his ability to stop again. He wanted her more than he’d wanted anything his entire life, and there were limits to his control.

“Yes. I understand as long as you understand the same goes for you.”

She smiled, covered one of his hands with hers, and gave him a gentle squeeze before turning and making her way back to the table and chairs.

“If you don’t mind, I think we can call it a day. I know we didn’t have a lesson, but since this is our last meeting before Thanksgiving—”

“It’s okay. I’ll think of some questions for you over the holiday, and we can get started on the self-defense on Monday. I’m looking forward to that.

It will be fun.” She smiled.

“Can I walk you home?”

“Yes, but if you don’t mind, I need to see if the Internet will let me on for a few minutes to place an order. I forgot to tell you, but it looks like I’m going to be cutting hair here at Sanctuary.”

He scrubbed his fingers through his hair, and she eyed him as she fiddled with the computer.

Thankfully, it seemed to be in a cooperating mood today, and she was done with her order ten minutes later.

“You know, I could cut your hair if you’d like.”

“I’ll think about it. Thanks.” The thought of her running her fingers through his hair was appealing.

A little too appealing.

She stood, and he followed her to the door and outside.

He walked her home thinking about their conversation at the Learning Center. He was amazed that she wanted him, Lorent the reformed rogue, to be her first. He wanted to tell her she’d be his first, and last, as well. The thought of another man touching her made him angry, made him want to throttle something or someone. If he and Melony ever made love—no, when he and Melony made love—there would never be another for him.

He’d never want another woman. Melony was the only one for him, and he prayed that one day he could redeem himself for his past and be good enough for her.

Chapter Twelve

Thanksgiving came with the first snowstorm of the season, and it was a doozy. Melony sat at the table at Brent and Rindy’s place with her plate and watched as some of the others filled their plates with food and went back for seconds. She’d never seen such a feast. A massive turkey that resembled a pterodactyl, along with a glazed ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows, huge biscuits, and various bowls of veggies and fruit, amongst several other dishes, were lined along the island in the kitchen. On a long table sitting next to the island were cupcakes, pies, cookies, and a variety of other sinfully sweet things she couldn’t wait to taste.

Everyone was laughing and chatting. Even Lorent seemed to be making more of an effort than usual to converse with the others. She hadn’t seen him since he’d walked her home from their last lesson—or last non-lesson was more appropriate—but she hadn’t stopped thinking about him once.

Every second that went by, she grew more convinced that Lorent was the man for her, that he was the one she could love for the rest of her life.

That same night, after she’d seen Lorent, Knox had brought her all of the things on her list, and she’d kept herself busy by sorting out the hair supplies from her personal items and setting up her cabin. She’d let him know about the order she’d placed on the Internet, and he assured her that someone would pick it up as soon as it came in. Karen, Rose, Rindy, Janine, and Sherry were all excited about having someone at Sanctuary who could do their hair, and promised that they’d all get their men in for cuts as well, even if they had to threaten bodily harm. She was happy to know she’d have something to do over the winter and beyond, felt better knowing that she would be able to contribute something useful to the encampment.

She smiled as Rose sat next to her with a huge plate of food. Melony didn’t know how she stayed slim and trim, as she’d never seen such a fit woman eat as much as Rose did. Rose hadn’t let Knox change her yet, so it wasn’t due to her lycan metabolism. That was one thing mates could definitely look forward to: never having to watch what one ate again, because of an ultraspeedy metabolism.

She couldn’t imagine being able to eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and not have to worry about gaining a pound.

“It must be a bit overwhelming for you to have so many changes in your life in such a short time, and now Thanksgiving with all of us. Are you doing okay?” Rose forked some turkey into her mouth and chewed while she waited for Melony to answer.

“Yes. It has been a little daunting at times, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I tend to look on the bright side of things and focus on the pros rather than the cons. Yes, my life has been uprooted, and I’ve learned about things I never thought could exist, but on the other hand, I have a family now and love my new home. How can I be unhappy with that?”

Rose smiled. “I’m glad you are happy. It takes most people more time to adjust. I’m relieved to know you are adapting so well.”

Melony felt like wiggling as Rose continued to watch her. She had a feeling Rose was contemplating asking her something, probably something that would make her uncomfortable. She tried to act as if she didn’t notice her aunt’s indecision, and continued to eat.

“I was curious about something.” Rose set her fork down on the plate and leaned closer.

Oh boy. Here it comes. Melony tried to figure out what Rose could possibly wonder about that seemed to make her hesitant to ask, but the only thing that came to mind was her mother’s accident. If that was it, she certainly didn’t want to think about it on Thanksgiving.

“What is it, Aunt Rose?” Better to get it over with.

“I could be wrong, and please forgive me if I am, but I get the feeling that there is some tension between you and Lorent.”

Melony glanced over at Lorent where he stood by some of the other men, startled to find him watching her. She smiled, and he gave her a slight nod before turning his attention back to the group. She looked down at her plate when she remembered Rose was watching her. What was it she’d asked? Oh yeah, tension between her and Lorent. How was she supposed to answer that? “Tension” wasn’t exactly the word she’d use. “Smoldering,”

“achy need to touch,” “hellfire hormones urging to slake every fantasy” were better descriptions of what she felt was between her and Lorent, but she wasn’t going to tell Rose that.

“Um, I’m not really sure what you mean. We get along fine.”

“Oh, yes. I didn’t mean that I thought you didn’t, but when I walked in on you two at the Learning Center, it seemed that maybe there was some, well, to be blunt, sexual tension between the two of you.”

“Would that be a problem if there was?”

Rose shook her head slowly. “Well, there are some potential problems that could arise, but not necessarily.”

“You mean because I’m a destined mate?”

“Something like that, although I have to say that I’ve never seen Lorent take interest in anyone like he has in you. I mean, good grief, have you seen the way Shannon comes on to him constantly? Her advances only seem to elicit discomfort from him, but you’re here one day, and he’s different with you. It’s just surprising.”

“That he’d be interested in me?”

“Oh, no, no. I didn’t mean that at all.” Rose reached out and squeezed one of Melony’s hands. “You are a beautiful young woman. Any single man who wasn’t interested in you would need his head checked. I simply meant that Lorent is different, and you seem to have a way with him.”

“I’ll be honest. I am attracted to him, but I have reservations as well.”

“Such as?” Rose asked before popping another bite of bread into her mouth.

“What if I fall in love with him and his mate shows up? How am I supposed to let the man I love just walk away?”

“Yes.” Rose chewed thoughtfully after taking another bite. “I can understand that,” she sighed.

“Look, I think I’m the only one who has noticed that there is something between the two of you, and I understand your concerns, but I’m not sure you have anything to worry about where Lorent’s mate is concerned.”

“What do you mean?” Melony frowned.

Rose shrugged and smiled. “I don’t know. Woman’s intuition. I mean, if you two are into one another, I’m not sure it would do any harm to do some innocent exploration of those feelings. I’m not suggesting you two jump into anything like sex, but I think it might be good for both of you to at least become friends.”

Before Melony could ask Rose to explain further what she was getting at, she patted her on the back and stood.

“I need to go visit with my man for a while.” She bent and whispered in Melony’s ear, “I wouldn’t let any of the men know about your feelings for Lorent, not just yet anyway. In case you haven’t noticed, they tend to be a bit overprotective.”

She watched Rose walk away in search of Knox and wondered exactly what she’d meant by the whole exploration thing, and why she didn’t seem concerned in the least about her and Lorent’s developing feelings for one another. She didn’t have time to consider it further because Shannon plopped down in the empty space beside her.

“Hi, Melony. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving.” Melony eyed Shannon, wondering why she was talking to her when she’d been avoiding her like the plague since the laundry ordeal. Maybe the holidays really were magical.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Bingo!

“What’s that?” Melony really didn’t want to ask, but was a firm believer in facing things head-on, especially potentially unpleasant things.

“Well, I don’t know if you are aware, but I’m kind of into Lorent.”

Melony barely stopped a snort from escaping, and bit her tongue to keep from telling Shannon that everyone at Sanctuary was aware. She was sure that Shannon didn’t want to talk about her feelings for Lorent, though. This wasn’t simply about a favor. This was an ambush of trying to find out information without looking snoopy, which might work on someone a bit less quick on the draw.

“And?”

“It’s just that you are taking lessons from him, and I was wondering if you could find out if he likes me or not?”

Melony suddenly wanted to rip Shannon’s shiny hair out, which was just the reaction she thought Shannon was probably trying to goad from her.

Instead she smiled, and took a calming breath, then frowned. Why the hell was she so defensive, even jealous, about Lorent? It wasn’t as if she owned him or had some kind of claim on him. Yet, the thought of him with Shannon made her want to do the girl serious bodily harm.

“If you want to know if Lorent likes you or not, I think it would be best for you to ask him.” Melony took a bite of her turkey, but found she was quickly losing her appetite.

“I don’t know. That seems a bit pushy.”

“No. I think it seems grown-up. Having me ask him for you seems a bit pushy and high-schoolish, to be honest.”

Shannon stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. Melony wanted to laugh.

Did she not realize the pout had no effect on her? It might have worked in the past, maybe on men, probably on men, but she wasn’t moved by it in the least.

Shannon raised her hands and huffed out an agitated breath. “Okay, okay. I’ll cut to the chase.”

Melony almost choked on her food. “Oh. Please do, by all means.”

“I want Lorent for myself, and I don’t like you hanging with him.”

Was she serious? Was she ten? Melony put down her fork and turned to Shannon. “Look, Shannon. I’d really like it if we could become friends at some point in the future, but I’m going to be blunt because that’s just how I am. I really do not care if you like me hanging with Lorent or not. And I’m not hanging with him anyway. He’s teaching me self-defense and about the lycan race. Also, I have to tell you that if Lorent is as into you as you are him, not I, nor anyone else, could change his feelings for you.”

“Don’t mess with me, Melony. I always get what I want.”

Melony had had enough. She stood. “Good for you, but it’s time to play grown-up now. We aren’t children any longer. If you wish to have something with a man, it’s pretty essential that he feels something for you, and if he does, I can’t see that there would be anything that could stand between you two. Games and manipulation are not the way to get a man—maybe a way to entrap one. A relationship gained from deceit and lies will never last.”

“Stay away from him.” Shannon smiled, and kept her voice calm and low.

Melony wondered if Shannon would have remained so collected had they been alone. She figured her composure had more to do with not wanting to draw attention than from actual manners.

“If Lorent wishes me to, I will. But until I hear it from him?” She shrugged. “Sorry. I really hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, Shannon.

And I really hope that we can put all of this behind us one day and become friends.”

Melony left before she said something she’d regret. She scraped her plate, set it in the sink, and vowed to go back for dessert after she cooled off.

While she couldn’t pretend to like Shannon all that much, she did truly wish they could become friends. They were closest in age at Sanctuary, and Melony had always wanted a sister. She guessed if she viewed it from another perspective, she could understand how Shannon might see her as a threat. If Shannon had liked Lorent before Melony had come to Sanctuary, she could understand how the girl might be a bit jealous.

Yet, if Shannon and Lorent had something serious, she didn’t understand why Shannon would feel jealous or threatened. If Melony ever fell in love, it would be with a man she trusted, and if she couldn’t trust her man to be around another attractive female, then he wasn’t the man for her.

Adultery was not acceptable to her. She would never cheat on someone she’d pledged her heart to, and she expected no less in return.

Still, how could Shannon be even a bit jealous of her? The girl had legs up to her neck, and was built like a supermodel. She shrugged as she walked over to the glass doors to look out the back. She couldn’t resist a peek outside and slipped through the door and out onto the deck, where the cold air instantly made her shiver. The storm was still in full swing, although at the moment the snow was falling slower. She wished she’d gotten her coat, but the beauty of the view was enough to make her brave the cold for a while longer. She could very easily envision living the rest of her life in this area.

Lost in thought, she didn’t hear the door open behind her, and jumped when a warm throw dropped around her shoulders. She gasped and spun to find Lorent standing behind her.

“Oh! You startled me.” She smiled, happy that her dark mood lightened considerably at the mere sight of him.

“I’m sorry.” He looked out over the deck at the thickly treed land as she had been doing moments before.

“It’s beautiful here.”

“Yes, it is.” His low voice warmed her nearly as much as the throw he’d brought her.

“Are you having a good time?” She watched him, not missing the way he flinched ever so slightly at the question.

But just as quickly, his discomfort disappeared, and he grinned. Holy heck, the man was sinfully gorgeous. His white, even teeth stood out in the soft glow of the lights strung along the railing, and his black hair was tousled to perfection as usual. He was seriously a breathtaking man, and she longed for him to kiss her again.

“I am. Are you?”

“Yes. Well, I am now.”

“Now?”

“I mean, I was before, but then not so much, but I am again.” She nibbled her lip as usual in awkward moments and then giggled. “I guess that didn’t make much sense.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. Not really. I don’t want to think about it anymore actually.”

“If you want to talk about it, I’m here.” He shrugged.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll pass for now. I might take you up later on the offer, though.”

“Anytime.”

“I wanted to ask you something, actually two somethings.” She pulled the throw tighter around her.

“Okay.” He frowned, probably thinking she was going to ask him something personal.

“I was wondering if you had decided to let me cut your hair? I could even come to your place if you prefer.”

He stood still for several moments as if he was waging a silent war with himself before finally answering. “I could stand a trimming once a month.”

He pushed his fingers through his hair.

“I wasn’t implying that you needed a haircut. I like the tousled do you have, but everyone needs a trim here and there.”

“I usually trim my own, but as you can see, I’m not very good at it.

Fortunately, the bedhead look doesn’t require a straight cut anywhere.”

“It looks fine, Lorent. You do a good job, but I’d be happy to do it for you so you didn’t have to mess with it yourself.” Not to mention the thought of getting her fingers on and in his hair was extremely appealing.

He nodded. “You said you had somethings to ask me?”

“Oh yeah. I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer to show me how to cook a few dishes? Maybe I could even trade my hair services for cooking lessons?”

Chapter Thirteen

What the hell had he gotten himself into? He had been dying to talk to Melony all night, but had kept his distance, worried about his ability to keep his hands off her. He’d followed her to the deck after he’d seen the exchange between her and Shannon. Shannon was starting to get on his nerves. He thought he’d made it plain that he wasn’t interested in anything other than friendship with her, but he guessed he’d have to start being a bit more assertive where she was concerned. He didn’t doubt for a moment that Shannon had said something snarky to Melony, and probably about him no less.

Now he’d gone from keeping his distance and hands off her to agreeing to let her cut his hair and help her cook in two seconds flat. The thought of her running her fingers through his hair, over his scalp was enticing, to say the least. He could already imagine what it would be like when she washed his hair. Her hands would be like magic on him, would soothe him and make him burn at the same time.

He’d go to her place for the cuts and cooking because he wasn’t sure he could handle the scent of her in his cabin. The smell of her in his home would more than likely drive him crazy. He couldn’t deny the thought of her at his place thrilled him to no end. He wanted her there, wanted her to feel comfortable there, wanted her to feel comfortable with him, but he doubted the depth of his control to keep his hands off her if she was in his cabin.

Most of all he wanted her to want to be with him there, and he craved to have her in his bed. He couldn’t imagine what joy he’d feel waking up with her in his arms every morning, kissing her awake, making love to her slow and long or hard and fast, then showering and eating breakfast together at the start of each day. He’d even let that damn cat move in if it meant he could have Melony. Hell, he’d let her bring ten cats. In fact, he didn’t think there was much he wouldn’t let her do if she’d agree to be his, if she’d only love him.

It still didn’t change that he was selfish for wanting such things from her when he wasn’t sure he’d be able to love her in return. But damned if he could quit yearning for her, the one thing he should leave alone, the one person he should never risk hurting. She was beautiful inside and out, and he didn’t want to disappoint her.

And even knowing all of that, right at this very moment, all he wanted to do was hold her, kiss her again. What he wouldn’t give to see her eyes shining with love only for him. His skin tingled, and his wolf clawed at the surface, howled to be freed to take its mate, but he couldn’t allow that. She wasn’t for him. Hell, she’d probably be appalled if she knew all the things he wanted from her already. She said she wanted to take things slow, and what he had in mind was not slow.

“Lorent?”

“Yes. I’ll show you some dishes if you’d like, but you don’t have to do anything in return.”

He couldn’t refuse after offering to help her, now could he? What would he say? Sorry, I can’t help you now because I don’t know if I can keep from throwing you to the floor, taking you from behind, and claiming you as my mate. Yeah, that’d go over well. Not.

He was digging this hole deeper and deeper. The problem? He wasn’t for sure he wanted a way out any longer. He was losing the battle between the right thing, the thing he should do, and what he wanted to do. Wrong was quickly defeating him in the battle with right. Suddenly he had flashbacks from his days as a rogue. He’d chosen what was wrong every time whether by action or inaction. He’d been a failure. He was a grown man now, and he was going to do the decent thing, even if it killed him.

“Where’d you go, Lorent?”

Her soft voice brought him out of his thoughts and crashing back to reality. “Sorry. I guess I was daydreaming.”

“I do it all the time.” She scooted closer to him. He took a step back, and she frowned.

“I have to go.”

“Wait! Did I do something?”

He shook his head. “No. I just have to go.”

“O-Okay. Happy Thanksgiving, Lorent. I’ll see you Monday for our lesson?”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before nodding, then made his way back inside and to the kitchen. Melony looked so damned gorgeous tonight. He wondered if she had any clue how she affected him. He loved everything about her: her pink hair, creamy skin, chocolate eyes, and love for funky clothes. And how often had he fantasized about that damned navel piercing since she’d told him about it? About every two seconds or so that he was conscious.

He had done well tonight. He’d hung out longer with everyone than he usually did at these get-togethers, and honestly? He’d kind of enjoyed it, but now he was about to undo all the progress he’d made with his hasty departure. At this point, he wasn’t sure he cared. He had to put some distance between him and Melony before he did something stupid like kiss her in front of everyone. He didn’t think an ass-kicking on Thanksgiving would bode well for the holiday, and he didn’t want to ruin all of the hard work everyone had gone to for the dinner.

He was almost to the front door when a huge commotion broke out in the back of the house. He froze and turned to see what was going on. Holy shit. Had Reid and Reilly actually pulled their prank on Brent? On Thanksgiving? The two had been allowed to attend the dinner since they were well along in their training. Besides, even those two wouldn’t be naive enough to try something with all of the ancients in attendance—at least he thought so until now.

Two seconds later, Brent stormed down the hallway with a scowl on his face and scanned the crowd, immediately honing in on the twins.

“You two! Over here. Now!” He pointed at Reid and Reilly and then to the floor in front of him.

At this point it was becoming obvious to everyone what had happened.

Reid and Reilly’s practical joke had worked, although by the looks of it, Brent wasn’t happy that the snap ball firecrackers under the toilet seat had met with his ass.

Reid and Reilly shuffled over to Brent, heads down like two adolescents about to be scolded by their father, which wasn’t all that far from the truth.

Lorent had to admit, the joke was funny, and the chuckles, giggles, and smiles were good indications that everyone else was getting a kick out of it as well.

Once the twins were standing in front of Brent, he folded his arms across his broad chest.

“It was his idea!” Reid and Reilly pointed at one another and spoke at the exact same time.

“Was not!” Again said in perfect unison, followed by glares at one another.

“Enough!” Brent said loudly, and the two quieted instantly.

“I know the both of you well enough to be certain that you each had an equal part in it. Tomorrow, you’ll both clean this place up, and then you will both do night patrol for the next two weeks.”

“C’mon!” Reid and Reilly said together.

“Don’t argue with me.”

The twins looked at the floor before mumbling, “Yes, sir.”

“You can go back to the party now, but any more shenanigans, and you’re out of here.”

They mumbled, “Yes, sir,” again.

“By the way,” Brent said, “great joke.”

Reid and Reilly turned and smiled wide grins at him.

“You better watch your asses, though, because paybacks are a bitch.”

Brent whistled as he walked toward the others.

“Aw man!” Reilly smacked Reid on the shoulder. “Told ya.”

“Yeah, whatever. It was still funny.”

They both grinned again and made their way toward the food.

Lorent grinned too. Things were going to start getting interesting around here, that was for sure. He shook his head as he closed the door behind him, suddenly feeling the cold more than usual. He was perplexed when he realized he was actually regretting the fact that he was leaving. That had never happened to him before. Usually, he couldn’t get away from a group of people fast enough, but he didn’t feel like that tonight. He wanted to be a part of the group. What had brought that about?

He shook his head in bewilderment and started toward his cabin. The night was dark, and the snow was getting deeper. The thick feel of the air told him that the storm was not likely to let up anytime soon. He didn’t mind. The snow brought an air of calm, an air of purity to the land. It covered the earth in a temporary blanket of innocence.

“Lorent?”

He was tempted to ignore her and keep walking, but Shannon was persistent if nothing else. He turned and watched as she hurried toward him.

Her white coat nearly swallowed her whole.

“Yes?”

She was breathing a bit hard by the time she got to him. “I wanted to tell you Happy Thanksgiving.”

“You shouldn’t have come after me for that. It’s cold out here. Go back to Brent and Rindy’s.”

She gave her trademark pout, and he wanted nothing more than to get as far away from her as fast as he could.

“I wanted to give you something as well.”

“Why would you give me anything?” He raised a brow in question.

She smiled, and before he realized what she’d meant, she stood on tiptoe and placed her mouth against his. He immediately pulled away from her, and she scowled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He sighed. This was not going to go well, but it was time for him to set her straight about his feelings for her. “Shannon, I like you, but only as a friend.”

“I knew it!” She balled her hands into angry fists.

“Knew what?” What the hell was she talking about?

“It’s because of her, isn’t it?”

“Who? What’s because of who?”

“Melony. Until she came along, we were fine, and now she’s sashayed in here like a princess and come between you and me.”

He held his hands up. “Whoa. Wait a minute. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’ve never felt anything more for you than friendship, and I never will. That is, and will remain, the truth whether Melony was here or not. I’m sorry. I’ve tried to make it clear that I wasn’t interested in you that way.”

“But I thought I was your mate and you were just too shy to admit it.”

Her bottom lip quivered.

He shook his head. Good God, had she really thought that? He tried hard to recall any time that he may have given her any indication that she was his mate, and was certain he never had.

“No. You are not my mate.”

“But I was so sure.” Fat tears slid down her cheeks.

Son of a bitch. He felt more uncomfortable now than he had at any gathering. She threw her arms around his waist and sobbed against his chest.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and patted her on the back, not sure exactly what to do with her. Before he could figure it out, a sound behind Shannon caught his attention, and he found Melony standing behind her, watching them, her mouth set in what he could only describe as an angry line. Shit.

He gently removed himself from Shannon’s embrace and started for Melony, but she took two steps away from him, and he stopped.

“Melony,” he whispered.

“I-I’m sorry for interrupting.” She turned away, but he caught her by the arm.

“It isn’t what you think,” he whispered close to her ear, and even in the middle of this uncomfortable misunderstanding couldn’t help but breathe in her scent and savor it.

“It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.” She tried to break away from him, but he refused to relinquish his hold. “Let go of me, please.”

“Shannon was upset. That’s all. I was—”

“I don’t want to hear it. I’ll see you Monday.” She looked down at his fingers gripping her arm. “Let me go.”

Maybe this was best. Maybe this was the only way he could keep from hurting her since he’d been failing miserably at controlling himself around her. If she thought the worst of him, she would no longer trust him. She’d no longer welcome his advances. The problem with that scenario was the hurt that now shined in her eyes was like a dagger to his heart. He wanted to make her listen, explain what had happened, make her understand, but this could be his only chance to make sure he didn’t hurt her even worse down the line.

He nodded and let her go. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and slowly started back toward the cabin with her head down and shoulders slumped. A few steps later, her back straightened and her head was held high.

The newly found determination in her steps made him smile at her retreating back even though his chest ached at the loss. She was strong, and she had refused to let him see how much he’d upset her. That was his woman. No.

She isn’t for you.

Shannon sniffed behind him, and he turned back to face her. “Go back to the cabin, where it’s warm.”

He was surprised when she nodded and started off in the same direction as Melony without argument. He doubted he’d understand women even if he lived a thousand years, but again, there was only one woman he’d met that he wanted to understand, and he’d just ruined his chances with her.

* * *

Melony was miserable. She couldn’t believe she’d gone after Lorent only to find Shannon in his arms. How had she been so wrong, so blind about something, about someone? Had he been playing with her the whole time?

Had he thought her attraction to him amusing? No. She refused to believe that. No one could fake the kind of chemistry they had between them, or had it all been one-sided?

When she had gotten back to Brent and Rindy’s cabin, she’d put on a good show of being happy for the rest of the dinner and then excused herself to go home. Rose had insisted Knox walk her home, and now she was glad to be curled up in her own warm bed with Puss, wallowing in her self-pity party while the snowstorm blew furiously outside. She was thankful she’d thought to put an electric blanket on her list since she’d always been cold natured, and reached up to turn the controller up another notch.

Tomorrow she’d see if the Internet was working at the Learning Center—she wasn’t counting on it, especially if the storm continued throughout the night—to check the status of the order she’d placed for the hair supplies. She doubted the items had been shipped with the holiday and all, but it would give her something to do to whittle away some of her time.

She was determined to keep her head up and not let Lorent know how much he’d hurt her. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She’d continue her lessons with him on Monday, get through them as quickly as possible, and that would be that.

She huffed out, “Men,” to the empty room before petting Puss’s head.

Too bad her heart didn’t agree with her on that theory. She wasn’t sure she’d ever completely get over Lorent, but she’d have to. If Shannon wanted him, she could have him. But as she drifted to sleep, her brain argued with her once again traitorous heart over that point.

Chapter Fourteen

She looked down and was surprised to find she was walking through the snow in nothing but a pink nightgown, yet she wasn’t cold. She must be dreaming again. It was the only explanation why she wasn’t freezing her ass off and frostbite wasn’t setting in on her bare feet. She’d never had such vivid, strange dreams before she’d come to Sanctuary.

She shrugged and kept walking, not sure where her subconscious was leading her, but too intrigued to care. She was in the forest again, and the ground was covered with fluffy white snow. She smiled as she looked up through the trees, the bright moon casting a soft glow upon her face. It was a beautiful sight, and it was eerily quiet.

“Melony?”

She spun around, right into Lorent’s broad chest, and gasped when his arms came around her to steady her. Why was she dreaming about him again? Wasn’t she mad at him? Yes, but “the heart wants what it wants” wasn’t just a saying. It was the truth.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as if she had a reason to be angry at the image her own brain had fabricated for this dream. After all, could she blame him when she’d been the one who’d conjured him? He wasn’t real, after all.

The answer to that was yes. She could still be angry at him even if he was only a figment of her subconscious, and she was too stubborn to admit that only meant she was mad at herself.

“I needed to see you.”

“Why don’t you go see Shannon?” She raised a brow, hoping the expression on her face adequately supported the sarcasm of her question.

“I don’t want to see Shannon. I only want to see you.”

“Didn’t seem that way to me.”

“It wasn’t what you think.”

She sighed and pulled away from him. “It doesn’t really matter anyway, does it? It’s not like we’re married or anything. You can do what you want.”

She started to walk away, but he gently pulled her back to him, nuzzled his nose against her hair, and took a deep breath while she fought the urge to lean against him.

“It does matter, and I’m not into Shannon. I never have been. She was upset, and she was crying. I was trying to comfort her. That’s all there was to it. I swear.”

“I get all confused around you, Lorent. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before.”

“It’s the same for me,” he whispered.

“It’s a little scary how much I’ve grown to care for you in such a short amount of time.

It doesn’t seem possible, and I don’t quite know how to handle the emotions.”

He chuckled before kissing the top of her head. “Believe me when I say I understand completely.”

She looked up at him. “But that’s just it. It’s hard enough trying to understand my feelings, but trying to figure yours out as well is impossible.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not good at this communication thing. Can’t you be patient with me?”

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “You need to talk to me. It’s time. It’s past time.”

When he didn’t respond, she sighed. “Look, I’ll make this easy for you. Your choice. I won’t hold it against you whatever you decide. If you care for me like I care for you, you’re going to have to trust me at least a little. I’ll admit I’m scared for the future, because honestly? If I fall in love with you, and I’m halfway there already, I don’t know what I’ll do if your mate or mine shows up one day.

“But I can’t deny what I feel for you any longer. There has to be a reason we were brought together, even if I’m not your mate. Please, Lorent, can’t you open up to me about your past?”

“I’ll think about it. There is so much I want to tell you, so much I need to tell you, but I’m not proud of a lot of it, and it won’t be easy for me. In fact, I should probably just tell you all of it, because once you hear, you won’t want to have anything to do with me anymore anyway.”

“Lorent! Whatever you did and whatever happened in your past is just that. In your past. I promise I will not judge you for the things you’ve done. We’ve all made mistakes.

We all deserve to be forgiven, and we all deserve a second chance. I don’t know how to show you I mean that unless you trust me enough to share with me.”

He shook his head. “It’s not that simple. It’s not like I was the school bully and was mean to some kids and then grew up. The things in my past are horrible.”

She reached up and framed his face with her hands. “We all have things we are ashamed of. You’re no different than anyone else. The only thing that makes you different is your obvious refusal to forgive yourself for your past. If you can’t forgive yourself, you couldn’t possibly think anyone else could, right?”

He nodded in agreement.

“Oh, baby.”

Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. He had so much pain, so much guilt, so much regret locked up inside him, eating away at him. She wanted to help him, to comfort him, to take some of the pain away from him if he’d just let her. She placed her hand over his heart. “You’re a good man, Lorent. Trust me. Let me help you heal.”

And just like that, he was gone.

* * *

She opened her eyes, surprised to find her cheeks wet with tears. Most of her anger had drained away, and her heart ached for Lorent, and flip-flopped when she realized that she’d already fallen in love with him. There was no going back now. Not for her. She’d love him forever, even if he chose not to love her back, even if they ended up going down different paths in life.

“Great.” She cuddled against Puss. “How am I going to get him to open up to me, Puss?” The cat started purring against her, and she smiled.

Suddenly, she knew she had to get him to trust her, because the dream had not just been a dream. It had been a message. She had to help Lorent.

The only way they could possibly have a future together was if she could find a way to make him understand it was okay to forgive himself.

“How in the heck am I supposed to get him to do that?”

* * *

The next few days flew by. The snow continued to fall, although it had slowed in pace and mostly fell lazily. Melony had never seen such huge snowflakes, and the longer she was at Sanctuary, the more she liked it. She’d lucked out in getting a connection on the Internet to check her order status, and was pleased to see that her supplies would be delivered in town later in the week.

She sat at her table sipping a hot cup of coffee while Puss ate breakfast at her feet. It was Monday, and she hadn’t seen Lorent since Thanksgiving.

Their lessons were to continue this afternoon, and while she was looking forward to seeing him, a part of her was hesitant about their meeting. Would she be able to convince him to talk to her? She had a plan, but there was no guarantee it would work.

She sighed and got up to pour the remaining coffee in her cup down the sink, washed it and set it in the strainer on the counter to dry.

“Well, Puss, you have a good day, and be a good kitty.” She bent and gave the cat a gentle rub before gathering up her things and heading for the door. After pulling on her coat, she buttoned up before stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

She took a deep breath of the cold air and tilted her face up toward the sky. She barely felt the soft white flakes when they landed on her cheeks, but the light caresses of each brought a smile to her face. She sighed again. No time to dawdle. She had several errands to run before she was due to meet Lorent.

Fifteen minutes later, she was fortunate enough to find all of the women, with the exception of Sherry and Shannon, gathered at Rindy and Brent’s cabin. After exchanging hellos, she was seated at the wooden table in the kitchen and was now drinking another cup of coffee with the girls.

“Is Sherry doing okay?” Melony asked.

“Yes. She’s been a bit tired and trying to take it easy since she’s getting closer to her due date,” Janine answered and then frowned.

Melony thought it seemed Janine was worried about her sister, but she didn’t want to pry. She hoped nothing serious was going on, as Sherry’s son would be the first baby born at Sanctuary. She understood what he would mean to Sherry and Piers, but also he’d mark a new beginning for the encampment. He represented what everyone had worked so hard for: a new family, a new bloodline that would uphold and protect the laws of the lycans and play an integral part in assuring their future survival.

She supposed that more than likely created extra strain on an already anxious first-time expectant mother.

“Do you think it would be all right if I stopped by for a quick visit after I’m done here?” Melony sipped at her coffee, making a mental note to ask Rindy what kind it was. It was some of the best she’d ever drunk.

“I think she would like that very much. Your visit might take a bit of pressure off Piers as well, let him get out of the cabin for a while. She’s been making him dust and vacuum since he’s forbade her to do any cleaning until after she has the baby.” Janine laughed. “Can you imagine Piers with a vacuum?”

Everyone chuckled, and Melony found the image quite amusing. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe men should take their turn cleaning—after all, it wasn’t a woman’s job just because she was a woman—but the thought of Piers with a vacuum was just funny. Melony started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Karen asked before taking a bite of thick toast slathered in what appeared to be peach preserves.

“I was just imagining Piers in an apron, holding a duster in one hand and trying to vacuum with the other.” Melony gave a sly smile. “A pink apron.”

“Oh my! That is an amusing picture for the brain,” Rindy snorted.

“Although I will tell you, while I do most of the cleaning most of the time, Brent has scrubbed a toilet or two.”

“Wow. How did you get him to do that?” Karen stopped midbite to ask.

“I threatened bodily harm first. When that didn’t work, I threatened no sex.” Rindy raised a brow and looked around before saying, “After two days of marathon sex, and Brent’s quite convincing speech on how no sex is not, and never will be, a possibility, he kissed me, got up, and went and scrubbed the toilet.”

“Oh my goodness! I wonder if that would work on Anthony?” Karen whispered before a sly grin crossed her lips. “And really, does it matter if it works or not if I end up getting two days of marathon sex?”

“I just threaten to kick Knox’s ass when he doesn’t help.” Rose stared off into space for a moment before a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Then he gets turned on by my threats, we have marathon sex, and I forget what we were discussing and end up doing it myself anyway.”

Melony laughed until tears streamed down her face. After sharing a few more stories and drinking another cup of coffee—she was going to be wired for her first self-defense lesson—she set up some times to do some haircuts.

She stood and walked to the sink to place her empty cup in the bottom.

“I have to get going if I’m going to have time to stop by Sherry’s before meeting Lorent for our lesson.”

“I’ll walk with you part of the way. I’m heading back to my cabin, and it’s on the way.” Rose got up and placed her empty cup in the sink as well.

“See you all!” Melony called after she took her coat from the hook by the front door and buttoned it up.

Janine, Rindy, and Karen all said good-bye to Rose and Melony before the two headed outside.

“What do you think Brent will end up doing to Reid and Reilly for that practical joke they played on him on Thanksgiving?”

“Oh, nothing too horrible, but I have no doubt he’ll make them suffer.”

Rose smiled at Melony after giving her a wink.

“I really like it here, Aunt Rose.”

“I’m glad. So how are things going with Lorent?”

Melony contemplated telling Rose what had happened with Lorent and Shannon. “About the same. I haven’t seen him since Thanksgiving.”

“Really?” Rose frowned.

“We had a bit of a disagreement.”

“So what you’re really saying is he did something that pissed you off?”

“I guess, but it’s no big deal. I really had no reason to be upset in the first place.”

“Melony, let me give you some advice. Since I don’t get the impression that you are someone who normally gets jealous or easily upset with others—

especially after the way you’ve handled Shannon’s snarkiness—I have to assume that whatever Lorent did to irritate you was more than just a little disagreement. But I have to say that Lorent doesn’t strike me as the type to do anything intentional to upset you.”

“No, I don’t believe it was intentional.” She was beginning to think she’d overreacted to the whole Lorent-Shannon thing anyway, especially after the dream.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is when you’ve only had yourself to rely on, suddenly find your life turned upside down, and smack dab in the middle is a guy that you find yourself attracted to in a way you’ve never been interested in a man before, it’s confusing and frightening. But it’s also exciting and tempting as hell.”

“Is that what happened with you and Uncle Knox?”

Rose nodded. “I hated him when I first met him. I hated lycans period,”

she laughed. “But even through the hatred, my heart knew better.”

“Thank you,” Melony murmured as Rose and Knox’s cabin came into view.

Rose made her way to the front door, but turned back to Melony before she went inside. “Follow your heart, and you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll try.” Melony shuffled on toward Sherry’s cabin mulling over what Rose had told her.

She didn’t get the impression Rose was encouraging her feelings for Lorent, but instead supporting her in whatever she decided to do. It was nice to have someone who she could talk to and trust, someone who she felt would be there for her through thick and thin.

* * *

Rose watched Melony from the window for a moment as she walked away. She was certain she understood why Melony and Lorent had such a sudden chemistry, when Lorent had showed no interest in any other woman before—not even the gorgeous Shannon, who threw herself at him on a near-daily basis. Melony was Lorent’s mate. She scowled. Of course, she couldn’t be certain, but her woman’s intuition told her it was the truth, and her instincts were rarely wrong.

She hadn’t told Knox her suspicions yet, not because she was worried that he’d go ballistic on Lorent, but until Lorent admitted Melony was his mate, she was worried about outside interference screwing up the progress Melony seemed to be making with him. Lorent seemed content since Melony’s arrival. There was a lighter air around him now—kind of like the weight of the world he usually carried on his shoulders had been lessened.

And he’d been a completely different person at Thanksgiving. He’d still been laid-back and quieter than everyone else—he probably always would be—but he’d interacted, had even laughed, and genuinely seemed to have enjoyed himself.

She sighed. Yes, she’d kept her suspicions from Knox, but maybe it was time to tell him. Melony and Lorent would need all of the support they could get once the truth came out, and Knox needed prior knowledge so he had time to get used to the idea. He’d keep the information between the two of them—she’d kick his ass if he didn’t—but he was her mate, and she was having enough trouble keeping her other secret from him.

She smiled. That secret she’d keep a tiny while longer. It wouldn’t harm anyone, and she wanted to tell him at just the right time.

Chapter Fifteen

Sherry sipped on a cup of tea as she sat in a chair across from Melony.

“It will be heaven to have my hair done, Melony. Do you think you could do it soon?”

“Yes. My supplies are supposed to be in by the end of the week.

Whenever they get picked up, I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you.” Sherry smiled and rubbed her belly. “He’s quite the kicker today.”

“Do you know what you are going to name him yet?” Melony smiled as Sherry’s face lit up at her question.

“I have a few ideas, but Piers and I can’t seem to agree on anything yet. I think we will both be happy just as long as he’s healthy.”

Melony could have sworn a fleeting moment of worry crossed Sherry’s features before she set her cup down and straightened in her chair. She figured it was a mere case of nerves. After all, she was getting close to her due date, and it was her first baby. She had to assume that, although a joyful situation, having a baby had to be a trying time for a new mother. Pregnancy messed with hormones, emotions, and the body to the point where she couldn’t imagine it not being stressful at times.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” Sherry watched Melony expectantly.

Maybe there was another reason for the fleeting moment of worry. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what Sherry was about to ask of her. “What is it?”

“Piers refuses to take me to town. Says the roads are too rough right now and I’m too far along in my pregnancy to be jostled around so much. But I want to get him something special for Christmas, and if I send anyone else, I know he’ll end up finding out. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Oh! I can pick something up for you. I’m sure Knox or Rose would take me into town.” That wasn’t such a bad favor, although the relief she felt was short-lived with Sherry’s next words.

“No. I want to go myself, and I was hoping you could take me.” Sherry gave her an innocent, pleading smile, one that could rival an angel’s.

“Ohhhh. Well, I’m not sure that would be a good idea.” Holy hell. She’d be skinned alive if she took Sherry to town. By Knox, Rose, but mostly Piers, and she liked her skin.

“Please, Melony. You’re the only one I can ask that I know I can count on to keep it secret. If I tell Janine, she’ll tell Raze, and he’ll tell Piers. If I tell Rose, she’ll tell Knox, and he’ll tell Piers, and—well, do you get what I’m saying? If I ask any of the other girls to take me, it will get back to Piers.”

“I really want to help, but Sherry, I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I mean, if we got caught . . .” Melony’s nerves got the better of her, and she chewed on her lower lip.

Sherry frowned, and tears glistened in her eyes. She sat back with a big sigh, and her shoulders slumped. “I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.

I mean, I’m not sick. I’m pregnant. I simply wanted to get Piers something special, something that showed him how much I love him and how happy I am that we are having a baby together.” She sniffed. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked you to help me.”

Melony scowled at the floor. Damn. She hated when people cried. And seriously, what was the big deal about letting Sherry ride into town? Sherry was right. She wasn’t sick. She was pregnant. Lots of pregnant women did more than ride around on a bumpy road. And getting Piers a gift seemed to be extremely important to her. If she drove real slow and planned it carefully, they might be able to pull off the trip to town without anyone finding out.

“Listen. If I do this—”

Sherry sprang forward and grasped Melony’s hands between her fingers.

“You’ll take me? You really will?” She hugged Melony tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Now wait. If we do this, we have to plan it out carefully, and make it fast.”

“The best time to go is a week from this coming Sunday. There is a meeting planned for that day, and everyone will be attending. There are normally two meetings a month to discuss security, new reformants, and maintenance on the property, but there is only one this month because of Christmas. Everyone will be tied up for several hours that day. We can slip away and be back before anyone misses us.”

“Isn’t the closest town a couple hours away?”

“Less than that. I know a shortcut. We can be there and back within three or four hours, probably less because I already know what I want to get Piers. All I have to do is run in and right back out.”

“I doubt you will be running anywhere.” Melony raised a brow and looked at Sherry’s protruding belly.

Sherry giggled. “True, but I’ll hurry. Thank you so much, Melony.”

Melony stood. “Thank me once we are back and no one is the wiser about our trip, because if you get me in trouble, I’m not going to be happy.”

“I won’t. We’ll be fine.”

Melony wasn’t as confident as Sherry, but she couldn’t really turn back at this point. Sherry seemed so much happier now. She couldn’t agree to take her and then take it back.

“I have to go. I’m going to be late for my meeting with Lorent if I don’t get going. I enjoyed visiting with you.”

Sherry walked, or rather waddled, her to the door, where she gave her a quick hug before Melony continued on to the Learning Center.

Ten minutes and a thousand worries later, the Learning Center was in sight. Why had she agreed to take Sherry to town? What the hell was wrong with her? It had been Sherry’s tears. Those had been the death of her logic.

She’d just wanted to make her friend feel better. She sighed, and decided it would be better to accept it for what it was. It was a simple trip to town, and she was blowing it out of proportion, worrying over nothing. They’d get there, get back, and that was that. At least she hoped.

* * *

When Melony arrived for their lesson, Lorent was surprised that she no longer seemed angry with him. She hadn’t brought up what happened Thanksgiving night. Maybe she’d thought about it and finally realized that there had been nothing going on between him and Shannon. Hell, how could anything go on between him and anyone other than Melony? He didn’t want anyone but her. Yeah, but she doesn’t know that, you idiot.

He looked at her closer and noticed she seemed a bit preoccupied. Maybe she was still angry at him, but he didn’t get that feeling. Something was distracting her, because he was now preparing, for the fourth time, to show her how to break a front choke hold.

“When I grab your throat, tuck your chin under my hold, if possible, to force some space between my hands and your neck.” He placed his fingers around her delicate throat, she tucked her chin, and he was pleased at the way she worked her chin under his fingers. “Good. Now bend your legs just a little, and turn to the side.” She did that part perfectly as well, and he smiled in encouragement.

“Bring your arm up, over, and down on my forearms as hard as you can, then swing up at my temple with your elbow.” This was the part where it fell apart each time.

She followed his instructions to a tee, but seemed to lose heart at breaking the hold and hitting him.

“I can’t hit you.”

Did she not understand that if she didn’t get these moves down, it could possibly mean her life down the road?

“Yes, you can.”

She tried to back away, but this time he refused to release his hold on her throat as he had each time before. He didn’t hurt her, but he had to make her understand why she needed to learn self-defense properly.

Her chocolate eyes sparked at him when he didn’t release her. “Let me go,” she said through tight lips.

“Make me.”

“Stop it, Lorent.” Her teeth were clenched now.

“No.”

“I’m getting angry. Let me go.”

She tried to twist away from him, but he kept his grip firm enough to keep her imprisoned, yet gentle enough that he wouldn’t leave marks on her skin.

“Good. I want you to get angry. Now slam your arm down across my forearms and crack me a good one in the temple.”

“Seriously, I don’t want to hit you. Why can’t we just go through the motion without me actually hitting you?”

“Because you need to feel the move, not just imagine it. I want you to know exactly what you need to do to break the hold. I want you to be able to save yourself if you’re ever in a situation like this.”

She tried to break the hold again, but he held her easily. Her eyes sparked again, and he smiled.

“That’s it. I want you to get good and pissed.”

She tried to back up out of his grip, but he followed her without letting go of her throat. “You can’t get away from me, Melony. Not unless I let you.” When she grunted in frustration, he laughed at her in an attempt to piss her off even more in hopes that she would finally do what he asked of her.

“Stop it!”

“Make me,” he taunted.

Suddenly, she tucked her chin, turned, brought her arm down across his forearms as he’d instructed, then up, and knocked the holy hell out of his temple with such grace and fluidity it would have taken his breath away if he wasn’t trying to stop his brains from jiggling in his skull.

Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth hung open as she stared at him. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”

He grinned and hugged her to him when she tried to examine his temple, then picked her up and spun her around until she giggled. When he let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor, the rub of her against him set his blood on fire.

“That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to get you to do. Don’t be sorry.”

“But I hurt you,” she whispered.

“No. You didn’t,” he whispered back next to her ear.

He’d never get used to the effect her scent had on him. Every time he breathed her in, his knees weakened, his heart thudded, and his body ached to possess her. He nuzzled his nose against her hair—the hint of jasmine clinging to the silky strands only enhanced her natural scent—and she sighed.

The sound was like an invitation, a temptation he couldn’t resist, and it had been entirely too long since he’d last kissed her. Denying himself the pleasure of taking her mouth was no longer an option as his wolf pushed to the surface, and he bent to taste her.

* * *

Lorent’s mouth came down on hers, possessively, urgently, and stoked a fire inside her in two seconds flat. She’d missed his touch, his kiss. She’d missed him. When his tongue slipped inside to taste her, every cell, every part of her honed in on Lorent, lost to the passion sparked by his mouth devouring her, and the rest of the world was forgotten.

She linked her arms around his neck and pressed against his hard, hot body. When he growled, she took the sound as encouragement and rubbed against him shamelessly, needing to be close to him, craving to be skin to skin with him. As his kiss became even more urgent and possessive, need built deep in her belly and an insistent ache throbbed between her thighs.

When he touched her, it was as if her very essence melded with his until they became two parts of a whole.

She wanted him, and if the bulge pressed against her thigh was anything to go by, he wanted her. A moan escaped her throat when he ran one hand along her hip and around to cup her ass. She’d always thought she had a generous butt, but his big hand made her feel small and feminine. His other hand skimmed down her side and stopped just over her tummy, fingers splayed in a protective gesture as if in anticipation. Could he possibly be thinking about her carrying his child?

While the thought of having his baby was appealing to her, it brought things back into perspective, and just before his fingers made their way to her breast, she broke the kiss with a gasp. Her needy body cried out in denial of the sudden absence of his touch, but the passion-induced fog was clearing from her brain now.

He watched her from under thick lashes as she took a step back from him. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I just can’t think clearly when you touch me.”

“I have the same problem.”

It was time to lay it all on the line, her heart, her soul, herself. She had to find a way to crack the wall—more like the fortress—he had erected around himself. She sat down, patted the seat next to her, and waited for him to sit down before taking his hands into her own.

“I want to tell you about my mother’s accident.” She swallowed hard around the lump forming in her throat. “And why I no longer believe it was an accident.”

The desire that had burned in his eyes only moments ago died, and the serious, more reserved Lorent returned.

“You don’t have to talk about it, Melony. Not if it hurts you to.”

“But don’t you get it? That’s why I do need to talk about it. I need to share it with someone else. I need to share it with you.”

“If you really need to, you know I’m here for you.”

She nodded. She did know that, but somehow she needed to make him understand that she wanted to be there for him as well.

She took a deep breath before continuing. “It started out as a day like any other. Mom had gotten up, and we both ate breakfast together—cereal, because as I told you, she wasn’t the best cook in the world.” She laughed halfheartedly. “She made up for it in so many other ways, though. She was an awesome mother.”

He squeezed her hand in encouragement, and she continued on. “I had planned to go job hunting because the diner I waited at part-time closed down. Mom wished me luck and headed out to work at the local vet’s office.

She’d never gone to college, since she got pregnant with me at a young age.

After Dad ran off when I was two, she had to work to support us. She’d always loved animals—must be where I got my love for them. Anyway, she’d recently decided to go back to college to become a vet technician.

“When she’d first brought the idea up to me, she’d been hesitant, thought she was too old to be chasing after dreams. But I encouraged her to do it if it was what she truly wanted, and she finally did. She’d been so happy when she’d first started her classes. She’d come home, and I’d help her with her homework. It was nice to be able to repay her for all the years she’d helped me.

“But within a few months, things started changing. She became less enthusiastic about the classes, withdrawn, and talked about quitting. She tried to play it off as a simple case of changing her mind, but something hadn’t seemed right. She started getting calls late at night, and would leave home at all kinds of late hours. When I questioned her, she’d just laugh and tell me Dr. Carson—the DVM she worked for—had given her more responsibilities and she was helping with emergency calls.”

“And you didn’t believe her?” Lorent asked.

Melony shook her head. “My mother never lied to me. I had no reason to doubt her, but for some reason I did.”

He leaned toward her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “That’s called instincts, honey. You should always listen to them.”

She nodded in agreement. “I know that now. The night of her accident, she got a call and told me she had an emergency at work. She kissed me good-bye, and that was the last time I saw her alive.”

She could feel the tears gathering behind her lids and knew it wouldn’t be long before they slipped down her cheeks. She leaned against his chest and sighed in the safety and comfort of his arms when he wrapped them around her. He gave her the courage to continue, to say out loud what she’d never told anyone before.

“I got a call from Dr. Carson the next morning. He told me he was sorry, but there had been an accident, and Mom was dead.”

The tears fell freely now, and her body shook with the effort to remain calm so she could tell him the rest. Fighting back the sobs, she took a couple calming breaths before continuing.

“Later, I found out she’d been attacked by one of the feral dogs they’d been keeping at the office. Apparently, it had been brought in the day before by a stranger and was supposed to have been put down that evening, but hadn’t been for some reason or other. No one could explain to me how it had gotten out of its cage or how it had disappeared from the office after killing my mother.”

She leaned back and looked up into Lorent’s hazel eyes. “Knowing what I do now, you can understand why I question what happened to her.”

He nodded and wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs. “Yes. I understand, and I think you are probably right to doubt that it was an accident.”

“Is it my fault? Did my mother even have the scent, or was she killed because I had the scent? Now I think it was a rogue that killed her and could smell me on her.”

“If your mother was as wonderful as you say, she would not want you to blame yourself for any of what happened to her.”

“Yes, I know, but it’s hard to forgive myself for possibly being the cause of my own mother’s death.”

“Melony. You cannot blame yourself for something that you had no control over. What’s in the past is in the past. You must focus on the future.”

“Logically, I know this, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty or from wondering that if I am right, where is the bastard that killed my mother? If a rogue killed Mom, I want him punished.”

Lorent’s eyes suddenly looked haunted, and she squeezed his hands gently. “You are no longer a rogue. You are a good man.”

He stared at her with such sorrow in his eyes, her heart ached.

“Tell me,” she whispered. “Tell me what haunts you so.”

“I can’t.”

She stood. “I’ve opened my heart to you. Told you something that I’ve never told another, will probably never tell another. If you care for me, if you want us to have a future together like I do, you have to trust me. I cannot be with you if you cannot trust me.”

“I do trust you, Melony, but I can’t tell you. You’ll hate me, and I can’t bear that.”

She cupped his cheek. “I won’t hate you. I care for you, Lorent. I want to be with you. I want to see where the future leads us, but I won’t lie. I can’t be with a man who keeps himself from me. In fact, I’ll be wide open with you. I love you. But I can’t be with you if you don’t believe that I will love you no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you do.”

Chapter Sixteen

She loved him? Lorent wanted to jump up and shout in joy to the heavens, wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, wanted to make love to Melony right then and there, but hadn’t she just said she couldn’t be with him if he didn’t tell her about his past? How could he do that? If he did, she’d hate him. And did he love her? He wasn’t sure because he didn’t know what love felt like. He cared about her, didn’t want to lose her, would protect her with his own life, but was that love?

“Melony, please don’t ask this of me.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to. I’m doing it for both of us.

He stood, tugged her to him, framed her face with his hands, and brought her lips to his. She tasted sweet, but the sweetness was tinged with sorrow—sorrow caused by him. Just tell her. He couldn’t.

He deepened the kiss, and she whimpered, but willingly opened her mouth to him when he ran his tongue along her bottom lip.

Suddenly, white-hot need and fear shot through him in equal measures.

Claim her. Claim her now before it’s too late. The wolf cried out in his head, and the instinct and urgency was too hard to deny this time as it overwhelmed his sensible brain. Everything she’d just said to him rushed from him, replaced by the need to touch her, take her, make her his in every way. He skimmed his hand under her shirt and cupped her breast over her bra. When her nipple pebbled instantaneously under his fingers, he sank to the floor, dragging her with him, and pinned her under his bigger body without breaking the kiss.

She felt good under him, as if she belonged there, and he wished time would stop at this very moment so he could stay like this with her forever.

How could one tiny woman make his guilty soul soar free in hope that it had been washed clean of past sins and was worthy of the love she offered him?

He drank from her mouth, breathed her scent into his lungs, absorbed each cry he tore from her with every caress.

Her hands came up between them, and just when he thought she might push him away, she stroked her fingers over his biceps and linked them around his neck, drawing him closer, welcoming his touch, silently asking for what he craved. He slid her shirt up far enough to expose her breasts, and when he trailed kisses from her mouth, along her jaw, then nibbled his way down her neck, his breath hitched in his lungs when he saw the lacy scrap of pink that barely hid the treasure he sought.

He flicked the front clasp open and groaned when her breasts popped free. She gasped, and he looked up at her, knowing his eyes were glowing brightly, reflecting the same passion-glazed fire that burned in hers. He’d never wanted anything more in his life than he wanted her right now. Before he let reason invade the moment, he bent and sucked her nipple into his mouth, curling his tongue around the tight little peak. She cried out, he growled low in approval, and when she scraped her nails against his scalp, he insinuated one of his thighs between her legs.

She arched up against him, and his cock throbbed and pulsed in need.

He’d never been this out of control, never felt such urgency about anything in his entire existence. He had to have her, had to claim her, had to love her.

* * *

Melony felt as if she was flying, soaring in a sky of ecstasy. Every time Lorent sucked her nipple into his mouth, her legs clamped around his thigh, and she throbbed low in her abdomen with each pull of his lips. He pinned her to the floor with his bigger frame, but she didn’t feel trapped. His weight on her was a delicious aphrodisiac, a perfect blend of his dominance and her willing submission.

He laved one nipple and then the other, over and over, until she was sobbing in pleasure, digging her nails into his scalp, encouraging him to continue with the sweet torture he was inflicting upon her with his tongue, lips, and teeth. Suddenly he reared up and took her mouth again in a hot, demanding kiss as he ran his palm down her belly and stopped when he came to her navel piercing.

He ran one finger around the tiny pink butterfly and growled in her mouth. His touch seared her, and she barely noticed when his palm continued lower or when he undid her jeans and slipped his hand inside, under her panties. But when his finger slid over her slick folds and rested on her clit, her eyes flew wide.

He broke the kiss, but stared at her with glowing eyes, his face so close to her own she could feel his hot breath fan over her cheek with each ragged exhale. They stared at one another, frozen in time for several moments, and then he moved his finger again. She moaned—a long keening sound, a strange sound to her own ears, a sound she instinctively knew only Lorent could drag from her—and clutched at his shoulders.He dipped his finger, the tip entering her then sliding up and over her clit once again, and growled low and long.

“You are so hot and wet, just for me,” he whispered. He dipped his finger again, then trailed it back up over her clit, where he danced it around the tiny bundle of nerves in a slow, lazy circle.

She panted hard. “Lorent! I feel like I’m going to explode into a million pieces.”

He kissed her gently, swirling his tongue around hers, mimicking the movement of his finger on her core. She bucked against him in wild abandon, forgetting about why they shouldn’t be doing this, yearning for what he offered.

He kissed her ear. “Then shatter for me, sweet Melony. Let me give you pleasure.”

His finger dipped and stroked and dipped and stroked until she thought she might pass out from an overload of pleasure surging through every nerve in her body. The delicious ache in her lower abdomen built, and when he bent his head and took her nipple in his mouth, she flew apart into a million pieces. She clung to him as he wrung every last cry from her lips, and lay quivering under him in numb bliss. Yet while her climax had been mind-blowing, she felt empty, as if something were missing. And it was. Lorent hadn’t been inside her, where she’d wanted him, where she’d craved him most.

He stared down at her, his body taut and ready to take her. His erection pressed boldly against her as if demanding what it wanted, and she wanted to give him what he wanted so badly it hurt. But suddenly, good old kick-you-in-the-ass logic stormed through the passion-glazed wall in her brain like an army laying siege to a castle. She tried to sit up, but he refused to move.

“Let me up, Lorent.”

“That’s not what you were saying a minute ago,” he said through gritted teeth as if he was in pain.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let this go so far. I meant what I said earlier.”

She gently shoved at his chest.

“Don’t shut me out.” He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, and when he opened them, the glow was barely discernible.

“I’m not shutting you out.” She reached up and cupped his jaw. “I would never shut you out. That’s the whole point.”

When she shoved at his chest again, he rolled off her and was instantly on his feet in a smooth, fluid moment she envied. He held his hand out to her, and she hesitantly took it and let him pull her up.

She turned away from him to fasten her bra and right the rest of her clothing with shaky hands.

“I don’t know if I can ever give you what you want.”

She faced him, tears burning her eyes. “I’m not trying to be unfair by asking this of you, but I’m begging you to make an effort to understand my point of view. If I make a commitment to you, if we are to be together, I need to know you, Lorent. The real you. I need to know that you can trust me. I need to know that you can come to me and tell me anything. I expect nothing of you I’m not willing to give myself. I told you about my mother.

I’ve never told another soul. No one knows my true feelings or the guilt I feel over her death.”

She stepped back when Lorent came toward her.

“I love you, Lorent. I’ll always love you no matter what you do, no matter what you’ve done. I have to know that you will never doubt that.”

He held his hands up and shook his head. The sorrow in his eyes, the defeat that burned in them nearly made her cry out. She wanted to go to him, hold him, pound some sense into his thick skull.

But if he couldn’t trust her, she couldn’t commit her life to him. If he couldn’t believe that she would still love him after hearing about his past, she didn’t see how they could have a healthy relationship. She would never be able to prove to him that she’d love him, all of him, mistakes and all.

“I understand. I’ll think about it, but I can’t promise anything.”

Tears fell down her cheeks. What if he refused to tell her? Would he really throw away what they could have just to keep his secrets? Maybe he didn’t love her. After all, he’d never said it back.

“I can’t continue these lessons, Lorent. I’ll talk to Rose and tell her . . .”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll tell her something. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I’ll make sure she knows that. Thank you for what you’ve taught me.”

She turned to go, but when she reached for the door, a warm hand came down on her shoulder.

Lorent nuzzled her hair and took a deep breath as if trying to get her scent deep into his lungs. She almost turned around, flung her arms around him, and begged him to forget everything she’d said, that nothing mattered as long as he never stopped touching her again, but she couldn’t. She had to stand firm for her own good, for the good of their future . . . for Lorent.

“Please don’t go,” he pleaded.

She choked out an “I’m sorry” before hurrying out the door and away from the man she’d fallen in love with.

She stopped by Rose’s on her way home in hopes to talk to her about what had happened, but didn’t get to discuss anything in detail since Knox had shown up halfway through their conversation. After a halfhearted attempt at eating a spaghetti dinner they’d invited her to stay and share with them, Knox walked her back to her cabin as the sun sank from the sky.

Puss greeted her when she got home, and she scooped the cat up, hugged her, and nuzzled her nose against the soft fur of her neck.

“I don’t know if I’m going to get through to him, Puss.” Melony felt the tears building again and choked back a sob.

She let Puss down after deciding to do a load of laundry and to give her place a good scrubbing. The place wasn’t all that dirty, but she needed something to occupy her mind. She scrubbed every nook and cranny, found every tiny cobweb, and several hours and a sparkling home later, she stepped under the hot spray of the shower. She was exhausted both mentally and physically. While she still felt she’d made the right decision about Lorent, her heart argued the point.

After the shower, she sank into bed and burrowed under the covers, where she fell asleep almost instantly with Puss curled up next to her, purring contentedly.

* * *

She stared at Lorent, torn between the urge to run away and the need to fling herself into his arms. She hadn’t been all that surprised when he’d shown up in her dreams yet again since it had become a normal, nearly nightly occurrence.

“Melony.” His voice was low, gravelly, etched with longing and a hint of . . . pain?

“Go away, Lorent. I can’t bear being with you in my dreams when I can’t be with you in real life.” If she wasn’t so sad, she’d find it amusing that she was once again arguing with her own subconscious.

When hurt flashed in his eyes, she nearly caved and apologized. She couldn’t stand the thought of him hurting, especially when she’d caused it.

He sat on a boulder and patted the space next to him. “Come. Sit by me. Give me a few moments of your time. After that, if you still want me to leave, I will, and I will never bother you again.”

She looked around, just now noticing that they were once again in Lorent’s secret place in the forest. There was no snow on the ground this time, but the trees were leafless, and the shrubs were bare. Undecided on what she should do, she sighed and went to him. When she sat down beside him, he reached for her and took her hand. His fingers more than spanned the width of her small palm, and she fought hard not to moan at how good his touch felt.

“What do you want?” She watched him expectantly as his apparent inner struggle played over his features. She wanted to smooth the frown lines from his face, but forced herself to remain still as she waited for his response.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I did horrible things while I was a rogue, Melony. I witnessed so many terrible things, and never did anything to stop any of it. I was never aware until I came to Sanctuary that intended mates had two scents, hadn’t understood that all the women marked with the main scent were destined specifically for one of our males. I was brought up to believe that any woman with the main scent was fair game for any of us.”

She nodded silently, encouraging him to continue.

“It never felt right to me, and I swear to you that I never hurt a destined mate, or anyone else, for that matter. I learned to keep to myself, had to, or risk being abused or killed. The one time I tried to help a woman being tormented by some of the rogues I was running with at the time, I was beaten so badly I nearly died. Beating a lycan to death is no easy chore, and I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut after that.”

“Oh, Lorent.” She tried to reach for him, but he stopped her.

“No. Let me finish,” he pleaded, and she nodded. “I saw so many women hurt in so many ways. It makes me sick to think of all of our males who will never know their mate, disgusts me to know that I might have been able to save even one of them if I had tried harder. After a few years, I became a master at blocking everything out around me, shutting down and pretending I didn’t see what was going on.

“I became lonely. I tried to ignore it at first, block it out like I did everything else, but the need to feel loved, to have someone who cared about me even a tiny bit became overwhelming. That’s when I tried to take Rose. She had the main scent, and I thought I had a right to her. I was wrong, and that’s when my life changed. Knox gave me two choices: Sanctuary or death.”

Melony squeezed his hand and fought the urge to cry. She wanted to be strong for him, but the horrors he’d told her of his life made her heart hurt for him. He hadn’t known any better. He’d been a kid led astray by all the wrong people, but when worse came to worst, he’d made the right decision. He’d come to Sanctuary, realized, and had learned from his past mistakes and become an honorable, trustworthy man.

“I’ve never told anyone about my past, and I don’t know if I can ever give you any specific details about it because I don’t want to remember it that well. I hope what I’ve told you is good enough because I really can’t imagine losing you. Remember when I said I’d always keep you safe? Protect you with my life?”

“Yes.”

“I meant it, every word of it. I will never let anything happen to you as long as I have a single breath left in my body. I’m not good with expressing emotions, not sure I even understand some of the ones I have when I’m near you, but you mean everything to me. If I have to spend the rest of my life without you, it will be a dark, gloomy existence for my soul because you are like the sun to me. I’m drawn to your warmth, the awing beauty of your glow, and ability to encourage growth and understanding.”

“Oh, Lorent!”

“I can’t tell you I love you, Melony. I don’t know what love feels like, and that’s one thing I want to be sure of before I say it. I can only promise to try to make you happy and spend the rest of my life cherishing you. I won’t lie, though. The intense need I feel to make love to you, claim you is overwhelming for me at times. I will always try to be gentle with you, but the predator in me craves dominance.”

Her body heated, and she leaned toward him and kissed the shallow cleft in his chin.

He shook his head when she tried to move to his lips next. “I want you to think about what I’ve told you, understand exactly what I’ve done in my past. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, to accept me and what I am offering, I would be the happiest man on Earth. But, Melony?”

“Yes?”

“Be sure. Because if you tell me you want to be with me, there will be no going back.

Do not doubt for a second that if you accept me, I will never let you go again. You will be mine forever.”

His forever. At the moment that sounded like heaven. He’d confided in her, finally trusted her to tell her about his past. He’d done something just for her that he’d never done for anyone else. And as far as him loving her was concerned? She wasn’t worried about that. She believed that he already loved her, or he never would have laid his soul bare to her. She just needed to figure out a way to make him see, and if she couldn’t? He’d figure it out for himself in time.

She started to tell him she wanted to be with him, but he stood and backed away from her, into the woods, where he disappeared.

* * *

Lorent sat on his porch and watched the moon disappear then reappear through the passing clouds. He’d told her. Yes, he’d confided to her in a dream, but that dream would be as close as he could come to telling her about his past. Maybe that wasn’t good enough.

Yet he couldn’t help but feel hope when he remembered the serene acceptance on her face. She’d not been appalled at any time, nor had he gotten the feeling that she blamed him for the things he’d witnessed or allowed to happen. Maybe he’d been harder on himself, more unforgiving than others might have been. He’d always heard that the worst critic of oneself was oneself. But that still didn’t fix the other problem.

She loved him, but he didn’t know if he reciprocated. What was love?

What did it feel like? He wanted to give her his love, but what if he had none to give? What if that part of him had died long ago? But to be completely honest, if she accepted him, past and all, he’d claim her as his mate. He was too selfish to walk away again. He needed her, wanted her, longed for her.

When she wasn’t with him, he felt the emptiness inside eating away at him.

When she was nearby, when her scent enveloped him, when her tiny hands touched him, he felt whole, healed, and happy.

He stood and sucked in a lungful of the cool night air. If you say yes, Melony, you will be mine forever.

Chapter Seventeen

The next two weeks flew by. Although Melony had wanted to go see Lorent the day after she’d had the dream where he’d told her all about his past, she’d refrained from doing so—barely. It had only been a dream, after all. She now sat behind the wheel of a giant SUV waiting for Sherry to make an appearance.

She hadn’t given much thought about agreeing to take her to town since the day she’d promised to.

She’d been preoccupied with fretting over what to do about Lorent, and busy with giving haircuts. Every woman and man at Sanctuary had been groomed to perfection. She’d also helped with Christmas decorations. The place looked like a winter wonderland, and she was proud to have been a part of it. She never had gotten around to getting a tree for her cabin, but she didn’t really miss it with all the decorations that were all around her.

Sherry came out of the clearing beside the SUV, and Melony sighed in resignation. A part of her had hoped that Sherry had forgotten. She’d be one happy camper when this trip was over and Sherry was back home safe and sound. She had a bad feeling about this little foray into town, but chalked it up to nerves from doing something she shouldn’t be doing.

Sherry struggled into the passenger side, stretched the seat belt across her swollen belly, and clicked it into place. “Hey!”

Melony smiled. “Hi.”

“Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s get this over with,” Melony murmured.

Sherry laughed. “It’s not like I’m dragging you to town to be tortured.

This will be fun. Just us girls. Besides, if something goes wrong—and it won’t—we have the long-range walkie in the glove compartment, and there are phones in town. There will only be a short time there and back that we are out of range. We’ll just call back to Sanctuary if need be, and someone will be with us in a jiff.”

“Yeah, and that’s when I get my ass tanned for helping you with this little stunt.”

“I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one, not the Negative Nelly.” Sherry sighed. “Look. We’ll drive there. I’ll get Piers’s present, and we’ll come right back. Okay?”

Really, what could happen? It wasn’t as if people didn’t drive to town every day. “Okay.” She put the SUV into gear and started slowly down the bumpy road.

* * *

Two and a half hours later

Melony breathed a sigh of relief. So far, so good. Sherry’s shortcut—

although bumpy as hell—had taken the drive to town down to well under two hours. She’d kept true to her word, had gotten Piers’s present in no time, and now they were well into the trip back to Sanctuary. If they could get back without getting caught, Melony would be ecstatic.

“Thank you so much for doing this for me, Mel. Can I call you Mel? It’s fitting. I don’t know why I haven’t called you it before now.”

“Sure, and you’re welcome . . . again.” Melony giggled when Sherry laughed.

“I know. I know.” Sherry put her hands up in surrender. “I’ve said thank you a million times, and I hate it myself when people do that, but you have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I think I do.” Melony grinned.

She looked over at Sherry, loving the way the happiness radiated from her and knowing she had a part in it. Maybe this trip wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you hang around with Lorent any longer?”

Melony shrugged. “It’s kind of a long, complicated story.”

“All the lycan men are complicated, Mel.”

“Yeah, I guess they are, but Lorent is just so . . . so intense.”

“Again, they all are, sweetie.” Sherry chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess they are, but he mixes me all up when I’m around him.

And the dreams. Ugh.”

“The dreams?” Sherry sat up straighter and stared at her.

“Yeah. Since I met Lorent, I’ve had some really strange dreams. They seem so real. I’ve never had ones like that before.”

“Oh hell. No one’s told you about the dreams,” Sherry muttered.

“Told me what about what dreams?”

“Mates can communicate with one another in dreams. They are as close as you can get to reality in dream world.”

“Wait. What?” Holy crap. If what Sherry was saying was true—and she had no reason to believe Sherry would lie to her—that meant . . . “I’m Lorent’s mate?”

Now that she thought back on the last dream, the one where he’d finally told her about his past, he’d said something about claiming her. Wasn’t that a mate thing? Or maybe it was just a lycan thing, although she’d never associated making love to someone with claiming them.

“Sounds like.”

“But why didn’t he tell me?” Melony was happy and pissed all at the same time.

“As I said, the lycan men are complicated.”

“Obviously.” Melony was going give Lorent a serious ass-kicking when they got back for not telling her she was his mate—if she was in fact. Maybe he didn’t tell her because he didn’t want her? But if the dreams were real, he’d come to her and confided in her about his past as she’d asked him to.

He did care for her. Damn it. Why couldn’t he have told her?

Then it dawned on her. The dreams were Lorent’s way of being himself with her without the guilt of reality weighing him down. There were no rules he had to follow, no one he had to answer to in the dreams, but himself and .

. . her? He’d opened up to her the only way he knew how. She wanted to cry in relief. He did love her, and she had to figure out a way to make him realize it.

Shortly after that thought, things went to hell in a handbasket. Sherry screamed at the same time Melony spotted a figure standing in front of them on the road. She braked hard, and the SUV skidded sideways, down an embankment, and slammed into a tree that was now wedged against and blocking the driver’s side door.

“Oh my God! Are you all right, Sherry?” Melony fumbled with her seat belt to scoot closer to Sherry.

“Yes, yes. I’m okay, but we need to get out of here.”

“I think we are stuck.” The way Sherry’s eyes darted from window to window was starting to scare Melony. “What’s wrong?”

“I think that was a rogue. If I’m right, we may be in big trouble.”

“A-A rogue? We need to use the walkie. Now!” Melony reached for the glove compartment and noticed it had been jarred open from the crash. The walkie was no longer inside, and she started searching for it frantically, figuring the impact must have thrown it under the seat or in the back.

“Um, we have another problem.”

Melony turned to Sherry. “What?”

“My water just broke.”

“Oh, Sherry. Please tell me you are joking.”

“No.” Sherry’s tearful whisper gave all the proof Melony needed that it was, indeed, not a joke.

“I’ve been having dreams about him coming early, but Piers and I talked about it and decided it was just nerves. Janine told me the same when I confided in her.”

So the unease she’d picked up on with Janine and Sherry had had some merit to it. Freaking great! This is just what she needed.

“I’ll find the walkie, and everything will be fine. Just stay calm.” Staying calm was easier said than done, but she had no choice in the matter. If she got all worked up, Sherry would as well, and that wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“I’ll try.”

Melony climbed into the backseat and searched for the walkie.

“I’m starting to have contractions, Mel!”

Great! Just what I need. Can anything else go wrong? Ask and ye shall receive.

She cried out in relief as she found the walkie, but just as she picked it up, something slammed into the side of the SUV.

“What was that?”

“Mel! It’s the rogue. Hurry, call for help.”

She pushed the button on the side of the walkie. “Can someone hear me?

Please. It’s Melony.” No answer. “Please. Can someone hear me?”

* * *

Lorent had been deep in the forest all morning while the others were in a meeting. It was his turn to patrol the property, and Brent was supposed to meet with him later to give him the details of everything discussed. He was about to head back when the walkie he had clipped to his belt hissed and a familiar voice came over it. He froze for a moment. What the hell was Melony doing on the walkie?

He slipped the walkie from his belt and pressed the button. “What are you doing on the walkie, Melony?” They usually only used the long-range walkies for emergencies.

“We’ve wrecked, and there is something—a rogue—trying to get into the vehicle with us.”

His blood ran cold. “Where are you? Who’s ‘we’?”

“Sherry is with me. We went to town, and on our way back, we wrecked.

Please, Lorent. We need help. Sherry’s water broke. I’m scared.”

“Tell me where you are.”

“Sherry says to tell you we are on the Nine Road cutoff.”

He closed his eyes. By his calculations, he was about twenty minutes from their location. Had he stayed back at Sanctuary, it would have taken him over forty minutes to reach them. “I’m on my way.”

He hit the call button on the walkie to set the ringer off, knowing someone in the meeting would hear it. Within seconds, Piers’s voice came across the line.

“Piers.”

“This is Lorent. Get Knox and anyone else available to the Nine Road cutoff. Melony is there, and a rogue is after her.”

“What the hell is she doing there?”

“I don’t know. Don’t have to time explain, but there’s more, and you aren’t going to like it. Sherry is with her, and she’s in labor.”

“I’m on my way.”

Lorent heard the deadly calm in the other man’s voice, and knew the rogue messing with Melony and Sherry would die either by his hands or Piers’s. One way or the other, it was a done deal. There would be no reformation offer in this matter.

He shed his clothes, let his wolf come to the surface, picked up the walkie in his teeth after shifting, and ran flat-out toward Melony and Sherry’s location. What if he didn’t make it in time? No! Do not think that. He’d promised Melony he’d always protect her, always keep her safe, and he would do so, no matter what it took.

* * *

“The contractions are getting closer.” Sherry cried out in pain.

Slam! The rogue hit the side of the SUV again, rocking it.

“All of the vehicles at Sanctuary have extra security. The windows are security glass and bulletproof. He’ll be able to get through it eventually, but hopefully it will hold him off until help gets here.”

Melony was happy to hear that, but by the way the rogue was repeatedly slamming into the side of the vehicle, she wasn’t sure it would last that long.

She scrambled to the back of the vehicle and found some blankets, then instructed Sherry to lie down in the front seat. She put one blanket under her head and the other over her to keep her warm.

“I can feel the baby coming, Mel. You have to help me.”

“No, no, no, no, no. You have to wait, Sherry. You can’t have your baby now. I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t think he cares, Mel. I’m sorry. Please, he’s coming.”

Slam!

She folded the blanket back, pushed Sherry’s long skirt up her legs, and pulled her underwear off.

“Oh. My. God!”

“What?” Sherry cried out.

“I can see his head!” Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Slam!

“Hold on. Do not push yet.”

She scrambled into the back of the SUV again, grabbed the other two blankets, and hurried back up to the front seat.

“Okay. When I tell you, I want you to push.”

Slam!

“Push!”

Sherry bore down, and Melony could see more of the baby’s head appear.

“Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Okay. Take a break.”

Sherry panted, and didn’t say a word.

“You ready to push again?”

Sherry nodded.

“Push! Come on. Keep pushing. He’s coming, Sherry. Your son is almost here.”

“No. I can’t push anymore.”

“Yes, you can. You can do it for him, Sherry. Now push.”

Less than a minute later, Melony held a tiny baby boy in her arms, wrapped in one of the blankets. She’d cut the umbilical cord with some scissors from the first aid kit under the seat, and had tied the end off with a piece of string holding some gauze together after soaking it in alcohol. She didn’t know if she’d done anything right, but prayed the baby was okay. If he wasn’t, no one would ever forgive her.

“Why isn’t he crying?” Sherry asked frantically.

Slam!

“I don’t know!” He had a blue tinge to him, and Melony was worried, but she didn’t want to alarm Sherry.

The baby was breathing, but the breaths were shallow. Then she remembered something she’d seen on a television show about babies. She turned him to the side and patted his back, then rubbed it in circles before patting it again.

“Come on, baby,” she whispered. “Your mommy is waiting to see you.”

She continued rubbing his back and patting it. Just when she thought all hope was lost, fluid dribbled out of his mouth, and he coughed before letting out a loud wail. Within moments, his color went from grayish blue to a healthy pink. Relief washed through Melony as she rubbed him down, wrapped him back in the blanket, and handed him to Sherry.

“He’s beautiful.” Tears streamed down Sherry’s face.

“He is beautiful. Just like his mother.”

“Mel?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Thank me when we make it back to Sanctuary.” Then it dawned on her that there hadn’t been a slam to the side of the SUV for several minutes.

Had the rogue realized he couldn’t get in and given up? She hoped so because she had to figure out a way to get them out of here. She didn’t know how far away Lorent was, and Sherry and the baby both needed medical attention.

Chapter Eighteen

Melony crawled into the back of the SUV again and looked out the windows. She didn’t see any sign of the rogue.

“What are you doing, Mel?”

“I’m going to go get help.”

“No! You have to stay in the car.”

“I have to get some help for you and your son. He needs to be looked at by the midwife to make sure he’s okay.”

Melony knew Sherry couldn’t argue with that logic no matter how much she wanted to. Her baby was the most important thing right now.

“I’ll be all right.”

“Be careful, Mel.”

Melony reached for the handle on the back passenger side. “As soon as I’m out, you engage the locks again.”

“Okay.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, took in a deep breath, and said a silent prayer. Please let the rogue be gone. Please let me be able to get help for Sherry and the baby.

She slipped out the door, and the eerie quietness of the woods chilled her, immediately making her wish she’d stayed inside the SUV. Her instincts warned her danger was lurking, but she couldn’t turn back now. She closed the door as quietly as possible, but the soft click and locks engaging shortly after sounded like a cannon in the silence. She put her back against the side of the vehicle and worked her way around to the front. The baby started to cry inside, and she froze and waited. If the rogue was still around, the noise would surely draw him out.

She cocked her head to the side. Silence. She took in several deep breaths, gathered every ounce of courage she possessed, and sprinted up the embankment and down the road. You had to wear the damn boots with the heels, didn’t you? She had run several feet, just starting to gain confidence that the rogue had fled, when she heard a sound behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder, and choked back a scream when she saw a large wolf chasing after her. She ran until her lungs felt as if they’d burst, but her attempt was futile. She was hit from behind and sprawled headfirst onto the road. She flung her hands out just in time to keep her face from hitting the ground, and turned over on her back to find a naked man with a scraggly beard and stringy brown hair standing over her.

He was huge, and her heart stuttered. Is this how she was going to die?

Or would he kidnap her and do much worse than kill her? She swallowed hard.

“Get away from me. The others are on their way, and they will kill you if you touch me.”

He smiled. “You have the scent. You are mine.”

“No. I’m not.” She wasn’t his. She was Lorent’s. And that’s when it dawned on her. If she got out of this alive, she’d tell Lorent she wanted to be with him. She’d lost so much time with him already, and now she may never get the chance to be happy with the man she loved.

He sniffed at her again, and the wicked smile that curved his lips made her skin crawl.

“I thought I recognized that scent. I think I met your mother.”

Melony’s heart thundered and anger hit her hard when she realized she was looking into the blank stare of her mother’s murderer. She wanted to claw out those black, empty eyes right before she ripped his cold heart from his chest.

“You killed my mother,” she whispered.

“I believe I did, but it was only because she refused to tell me where you were. Mommy was very protective of her little girl, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convince her that you were mine.”

“Again, not yours. I belong to another.”

The rage that contorted his face made her think that it may not have been a wise thing to taunt him with that bit of info.

“I met your mother quite by accident. I’d been passing through the area when I caught your scent on her. The lovely blue scarf she was wearing smelled strongly of you.”

It had been her fault. She’d forgotten about the scarf she’d given her mother as a Mother’s Day gift. It had been in her room for months, as she’d found it on sale right after Christmas at one of her favorite shops.

“You’re an animal,” she sneered at him, uncaring if she pissed him off more at this point.

He laughed at her, which only spiked her anger further.

“Thanks for the compliment, babe.” He sniffed the air again. “I wonder if you knew Mommy Dear was fucking the good doc.”

“Dr. Carson? He was married.” What the hell?

The rogue shrugged. “Your point?” He laughed again. “Although I have to say Mommy and Doc got into a pretty heated argument while I was hiding out in the cage, waiting for my opportunity to talk with her. Seems Mommy wanted to end things since the doc refused to split from the old lady like he’d been promising. Human men are so predictable—weak. He should have simply taken what he wanted and made her deal with it.”

So that’s what had been wrong with her mother. She’d been having an affair with a married man. That explained the late-night calls, the sudden disinterest in her studies, and the stress that had started marring her mother’s features. The anger was now boiling inside her, making it hard to breathe.

How could Dr. Carson have used her mother like that, and how had her mother allowed it? Her mom might still be alive if he hadn’t been stringing her along, but even that didn’t change the fact that Melony’s scent had been the ultimate cause of her mother’s demise. Guilt washed through her, and she wanted to scream and cry in frustration.

When the rogue bent toward her, the movement immediately snapped her from her thoughts. She brought her foot up and kicked him in the nose with her heel as hard as she could manage. Now she was happy she’d worn the heels. She scrambled to her feet, but just as she made it fully upright, his hands wrapped around her throat. His eyes were wild, and she knew without a doubt he was going to kill her.

“Bitch!” Blood trickled out of his nose and ran in a small stream down the side of his face.

Suddenly, she remembered what Lorent had taught her, and instinct took over. She tucked her chin between his hands and her throat, bent her knees, twisted to the side, brought her arm up and down over his forearms and then up in an arc until her fist connected with his temple.

He let out a roar that sent fear slithering down her spine, but let her go.

* * *

Lorent crashed through the trees in time to see Melony execute a perfect punch to the rogue’s temple. Pride swelled in him, but was quickly replaced by anger and fear when she fell backward on her rump and the rogue leapt after her.

Lorent dropped the walkie and charged after him, fury turning his vision red. He leaped through the air and knocked the rogue to the ground before he could grab Melony. Lorent quickly shifted and stood over him, arms held out from his sides, ready for the impending fight.

“Lorent, is that you?” The rogue laughed out loud. “Better get off me, boy, before I give you another ass-whooping. You do remember those, right?”

Recognition hit him hard. Rufus. Lorent had witnessed this scum perform countless brutal acts, and had been on the wrong end of his fists on more than one occasion. Payback was going to be sweet because he had news for old Rufus. Times had changed, and he was the one about to get his ass whooped.

“I’m not like you. I don’t think I’m a badass because I can hurt those that are weaker. In fact, that only makes you a sniveling coward. You, on the other hand, are big enough to pick a fair fight with. Now get up. When I kill you, at least no one can say I didn’t give you a chance.” He shook in rage.

“You? You think you are going to kill me?” Rufus laughed as he got up.

“Oh yeah.” Lorent punched Rufus, and the rogue flew backward with the force of the blow and crashed into a tree. “Get back to the SUV, Melony.”

He growled as he started for Rufus again.

“Lorent! No! Please come with me!” Melony cried out.

“Go! Now!”

She sobbed, but ran toward the vehicle as he’d instructed.

Lorent turned back to Rufus just as the rogue charged him. He grunted when Rufus’s head drilled into his gut, and his arms came around his middle, driving him to his back, where they both skidded along the rough road from the momentum of the impact. Lorent plowed his elbow down into Rufus’s cheek and leapt to his feet. Rufus screamed out in fury and grabbed for Lorent’s feet, trying to bring him back down, but Lorent skillfully evaded him.

Rufus gained his feet, and this time when he charged, Lorent was ready.

* * *

Melony cried as she watched the fight through the windshield of the SUV. Lorent and the rogue—Rufus, Lorent had called him—threw punch after punch at one another. Every punch Rufus landed, Lorent landed one harder in return. She was surprised that the fact both men were nude didn’t distract her in the least. Her worry burned away any other thoughts but for Lorent’s safety.

“They are going to kill one another.”

Sherry’s eyes were wide as she cradled her son to her chest and watched the fight with Melony. “I don’t think they are going to kill each other. I think Lorent is going to rip Rufus a new one.”

A loud bang came from Sherry’s window, and they both jumped and shrieked.

“It’s me, Sherry. Open the door.”

“Thank God!” Melony unlocked the door, and Piers practically ripped Sherry’s door off the hinges.

“Baby, are you okay?” He asked before hugging her to him, careful not to smash the small bundle she held against her.

Sherry started sobbing against Piers’s chest. “Yes. I’m okay, and the baby is okay too, thanks to Mel. He’s so tiny, though. He’s too early.”

He pulled the blanket down so he could see his son for the first time, and the look on his face made Melony sorry for anyone who might try to harm Piers’s family. Her stomach churned when she considered that he might view her as such a person.

“Piers?”

He looked at her.

“Please don’t let Lorent get hurt,” Melony pleaded.

He turned toward Lorent and Rufus, who were still pummeling the hell out of one another. “I don’t think he’s the one that’s going to get hurt.” He looked over his shoulder. “Rose is here with the Jeep. You two get back to Sanctuary with her. The midwife should be there waiting by the time you get back or shortly thereafter.”

He kissed Sherry on the forehead. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you too. I’m sorry for going into town. I just wanted to get you something special for Christmas,” Sherry sobbed.

“We’ll talk about it later. I’m just relieved and beyond happy that you are both all right.” He looked over at Melony. “We’ll talk later too. Pop the back open. Spare clothes are kept in all Sanctuary vehicles, and I need to get some for Lorent.”

Melony fumbled around looking for a button to release the latch and finally found it tucked under the dash next to the headlight switch. The back popped open, and she heard rustling for a few seconds before the door was clicked shut.

Piers appeared at Sherry’s window again holding what appeared to be shoes, jeans, and a T-shirt under his arm. He gave Sherry a tight smile before focusing on Melony. “Help Rose get Sherry and my son out of here.” He turned away, but stopped and looked back. “I’ll make sure Lorent is safe,” he said over his shoulder.

Within a couple minutes, Rose, Sherry, and Melony were on their way back to Sanctuary. They’d picked up Knox about a half mile down the road, where Rose had let him out to scout the area for more rogues—which he found no trace of. Melony had been torn about leaving Lorent behind, but Rose assured her Lorent and Piers could handle the situation with no problem.

The ride back to Sanctuary seemed to take forever, but they finally made it. The midwife had been waiting at Sherry’s place. After spending an hour in the bedroom with Sherry and her son, the gray-haired woman had declared them both healthy. Melony went to say good-bye to Sherry. She looked exhausted—rightfully so after giving birth and being attacked—but healthy.

When Melony returned to the living room, Knox and Rose were waiting for her. By the look on his face, things were about to get nasty.

“What the hell were you thinking, Melony?” His voice thundered.

“Quiet. Don’t you dare disturb Sherry and that baby,” Rose chastised him.

Melony sighed. “I’m sorry. I made a bad decision. It won’t happen again.”

“No. It won’t,” Knox said sternly.

“Look.” Rose glanced at Knox. “You made a mistake today, but you are not a child. We can’t punish you or ground you. But I’m disappointed that you didn’t stop to think about the danger you were potentially placing you and Sherry in.”

“I did think about it. But when Sherry asked me to take her two weeks ago, it had seemed so important to her. I felt uneasy about it, but I couldn’t refuse. I’m sorry. It was extremely bad judgment on my part. Believe me when I say that no one can feel worse than I do. If anything had happened to Sherry or the baby . . .” She wrapped her arms around her middle and fought back a sob that suddenly threatened.

“And what about you? Don’t you think we would be devastated if something happened to you?” Rose said.

“I didn’t think about myself,” Melony whispered.

“We love you, Melony. You must know that by now. But I do believe you just made a stupid mistake. We all do at times.”

Knox groaned and pushed his fingers through his hair. Rose gave her a hug, and when she scowled at Knox, he did the same.

“You scared us,” Knox said.

“I really am sorry. I swear I will never do anything that stupid again.

Please forgive me.” Melony hugged them back and felt relief intermingle with a sense of belonging.

“We do forgive you.” Rose pulled back and laughed. “But don’t cut yourself short, girl. You’re still young. You’ll make many more stupid mistakes. Let’s just make sure they aren’t life-threatening ones, okay?”

Melony nodded. “Um, I have something else to tell you both.”

“Now what?” Knox said. “Oomph. Hey!” He rubbed his ribs where Rose had just poked him. “What was that for?”

“Take it easy, and have an open mind. Remember everything we went through when we met.”

He scowled and shrugged, clearly not understanding quite yet what their relationship had to do with the situation.

“I’m Lorent’s mate, and I’d like your blessing on our relationship.”

Knox’s hands clenched into fists. “What?”

“Settle down, babe.” Rose patted Knox on the chest. “I’ve had a hunch about that for a while now. Besides, what’s the harm? You can’t change the fact if it’s so.”

“Why hasn’t he claimed her?” He turned to Rose. “And why the hell didn’t you tell me about this hunch of yours?”

“Good grief, Knox. Cut the kids some slack. You know Lorent is shy.

He’s had a tough past. He’s trying to fit in here, meet with everyone’s approval, and then his mate shows up. It’s a lot on his plate.”

“You sure are the generous one.” Knox raised a brow at her.

“And as for the me-not-telling-you part, I was going to a while back, figured you needed some time to get used to the idea, but after thinking about it, I decided not to. What if I had been wrong? I would have gotten you all worked up over nothing.”

Knox yanked her to him. “I like when you get me all worked up.”

“Ew.” Melony rolled her eyes, and Rose smiled.

“Melony, do you love Lorent?” Rose asked.

“Yes.”

“Then that’s that. If you want him, go after him.” Rose unwrapped herself from Knox’s embrace and hugged her. “Now, let Knox walk you home.”

Knox looked from Rose to Melony then back at Rose with his mouth open. Finally, he shrugged and muttered, “Women. Okay. Let’s go. But if he hurts her, I’m kicking his ass.”

“If he hurts her, I’ll kick his ass,” Rose said with a fierce scowl marring her pretty features.

“Let’s compromise.” Melony held her hands up. “If he hurts me, I’ll kick his ass.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lorent finished putting the clothes on Piers had brought him, and stared down at the mangled body of Rufus. He cast a surreptitious glance at Piers when he sighed.

“It was necessary, but I still hate it every time we lose one of our own.

It’s a damn shame.” Piers squatted and hauled Rufus over his shoulder. “You all right, kid?”

Lorent cringed at the “kid” label, even though he knew Piers didn’t mean it as an insult. He was, after all, an ancient, which definitely made Lorent a kid in his eyes.

“Yeah.” Lorent nodded.

Lorent had nearly killed Rufus by the time Piers had intervened and swiftly broken the rogue’s neck. While he had felt a shudder of disappointment at the time that he had not been the one to end the life of the bastard who’d tried to harm his mate and who he’d personally witnessed perform countless acts of cruelty and brutality on others—himself included—he wasn’t sure how he’d feel about taking the life of another.

He accepted that there would come a time when he had no choice but to kill a rogue, and he would do what had to be done when it came to it. Had Piers not stepped in, he would have, without hesitation, put Rufus out of his sorry-ass misery. But he couldn’t deny that a part of him felt relief that that time was not today. Death might be easy, but it wasn’t pretty.

He followed Piers deep into the woods and helped him build a fire so they could dispose of Rufus’s body. After the flames had done their job, they dug a hole and buried the bones. When they were on their way back to Sanctuary, Lorent knew the time had come to claim Melony as his mate.

“Melony is mine,” Lorent said to Piers, holding his breath as he waited for the ancient’s response.

“I kind of got that feeling when I saw how you ripped into Rufus. It appeared personal.”

“It was. He was going to kill her. I knew him from my past. He was brutal, did horrible things to so many people, and there was no way in hell I was going to allow him to take Melony from me.”

“Do you love her?”

“I don’t know. I want to, but I’m not sure I know what love feels like,”

Lorent admitted.

Piers blew out a long breath. “Can you picture yourself without her?”

“No.”

“When you found out she was in danger, did a perfect maelstrom of anger and fear like you’ve never felt in your entire life swirl inside you? Did the thought of her possible death spark an urgency to get to her so strong it felt as if your skin could not contain it?”

Lorent thought for a moment. “Yes. That was exactly how I felt.”

“How do you feel when she is near you?”

“As if everything is right in the world. She can touch me, and all of my past sins seem to melt away. She makes me want to be a better man so I can be good enough for her.”

“That’s love, my boy. That’s love.” Piers grinned. “It’ll twist you up so bad inside that no matter how far or hard you run, there is no getting away from it. It makes you think you will never be good enough for her, and while you are arguing with your own bloody self that she can do so much better, you will never let someone else try to be better than you. Because the mere thought of someone else touching her will drive you insane.”

“Holy hell. I do love her.”

Piers chuckled. “What are you going to do about it?”

Lorent smiled. “I’m going to go get my woman.”

* * *

It had been several hours since they’d made it back to Sanctuary, and Melony paced in her living room. She hadn’t heard from Lorent, and she was worried. She’d already taken a shower and fed Puss, and was about to rip her hair out in frustration, when her front door flew open.

She spun around and gasped. Lorent stood in the opening watching her, his hazel eyes glowing brightly. His hair was damp and tousled, and he looked sexy and . . . wild. He took her breath away and made her heart flip-flop. He had changed his clothes, and his T-shirt hugged his broad chest but wasn’t neatly tucked in under his waistband as normal. His dark jeans hugged his hips and muscular thighs, and a sudden urge to see him naked made a dull ache throb between her legs.

She cried out and flung herself into his arms. “I was worried about you,”

she said against his chest.

She pressed her nose to him and took a deep breath. He smelled good, and he was warm. But when he remained still, she looked up at him and realized he didn’t look happy. She frowned, then worried her bottom lip with her teeth as anxiety settled in her chest.

“You were worried about me?” One of his dark brows slowly rose.

If she had any sense, the warning in his voice would have put her on guard, but apparently, where he was concerned, she’d lost all common sense.

“Of course. It’s been hours. I was scared you got hurt.” She stepped back and started running her hands over him, inspecting him for injury.

He grunted and stilled her hands with his fingers. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She tried to back away from him, but he encircled her wrists and held her to him. She huffed in indignation. “I already got the second degree from Knox and Rose. I don’t need it from you.”

“I disagree. Actually, I think you need a good spanking.”

Now it was her turn to raise a brow at him. He’d never talked to her that way. Then it dawned on her. He was angry. Well, too bad. She wasn’t a child, and he wasn’t her keeper.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t you ever do something like that again. Putting yourself in danger is reckless enough, but putting others in danger along with you is irresponsible. Do you have any idea what it did to me when I got your call on the walkie?”

“Don’t tell me what to do. You have as much to answer for—more—

than I do. You didn’t tell me about dreams between mates, and you didn’t tell me I was your mate.”

“What I did didn’t endanger me, you, or anyone else.”

“How was I supposed to know that a simple trip to town would endanger anyone? I would never put anyone—myself included—in harm’s way on purpose. Do you know what it would have done to me if something had happened to Sherry or the baby? It was a bad decision. Nothing more.”

“I stopped by Sherry and Piers’s. Sherry told me what you did for her and the baby. Piers said he’d made it clear that he was not happy with you, but after he heard how you risked your life for Sherry, he asked me to let you know all is forgiven.” He squeezed her wrists gently. “You’re amazing.”

God, the man was perplexing. One minute he was scolding her, the next he was praising her.

“The rogue killed my mother.”

Lorent nodded. “I know. Rufus was always a braggart, and today was no different, but believe me when I tell you he’s paid for what he did.”

She knew what that meant and couldn’t seem to bring herself to feel one ounce of sorrow for Rufus, maybe a general sadness for a loss of a life that could have made a difference, but she wasn’t upset that her mother’s killer was dead. In fact, Rufus’s death gave her some closure.

“It was my fault. My scent is what got my mother killed.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was one of those things that just happened. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was not your fault, and you know she wouldn’t want you to feel that way.”

“No. It was the scarf I gave her for Mother’s Day. Rufus told me it had my scent on it. It’s what led him to her. He killed her because she wouldn’t tell him where to find me.”

He tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes with those unwavering hazel pools. “Listen to me. It was not your fault. If your mother was as wonderful as you say, I believe it would make her sad to know that you are blaming yourself for her death.”

He was right, and in her mind, she knew that, but her heart refused to completely let go of the guilt she felt. It would take her time to fully accept the fact that she had played a part in her mother’s death. For now, she pushed it to the back of her mind.

“Lorent, why didn’t you tell me I was your mate?” She could see some of the tension drain from him as his shoulders relaxed.

“I’m not good enough for you. You deserve better.”

She cupped his jaw, and the dark stubble scraped against her skin. “You are good enough for me. You came to me and told me about your past.”

“But I couldn’t do it in person. I did it through a dream.”

“Doesn’t matter. You still trusted me enough to tell me. And you know what else?”

“What?”

“You love me.”

“I know.”

“You know?” She swallowed hard.

“When I saw you lying on that dirt road with Rufus standing over you, I thought I’d go crazy. The thought of losing you put a kind of bone-deep fear in me I’d never felt before. I don’t want to live without you, Melony. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.”

“That’s definitely love.” She choked back a sob. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” He hugged her to him and nuzzled her hair. “Melony,”

he whispered by her ear.

“Yes?”

“I need you.”

“I need you too.”

Someone started knocking rather insistently on her front door. She wanted to ignore it, but when the sound continued, she figured that whoever it was wouldn’t go away until she answered the door.

She gave Lorent an apologetic shrug. “Talk about bad timing.”

He nodded, and she went to the door only to find Shannon standing behind it. “Shannon, what—”

Before she could get the question out, Shannon ran past her and wrapped her arms around Lorent.

“I heard what happened. Are you okay?” Shannon looked up into Lorent’s face and remained plastered against him.

He set her away from him as gently as possible. “I’m fine, Shannon. I’m sure the others already told you that.”

“Yes, but I had to see for myself.”

Enough was enough. Melony shut the door and went to Lorent, reached for his hand, and was happy when he pulled her close and put his arm around her shoulders. This was her man, and it was time for Shannon to get the message loud and clear.

“Shannon, I need to tell you something.” She smiled up at Lorent, and he nodded. “I am Lorent’s mate, and I’m not comfortable with your interest in him.”

“She’s your mate?” Shannon’s mouth hung open in a very unappealing way.

“Yes. I love her, and she’s the only woman for me.”

Shannon frowned. “I thought for so long that maybe I was your mate and you were just too shy to admit it. I love you, Lorent.”

“I’m sorry. I tried to make it clear that there was nothing more than friendship between us. I never wanted to hurt you, but please understand once and for all that I don’t return your feelings.” Lorent’s voice was strained.

Melony knew Lorent hated hurting Shannon, but it was way past time for this conversation to happen. Even if she’d never come to Sanctuary, Lorent needed to tell Shannon that he didn’t love her, make her understand.

Melony felt a little sorry for Shannon when tears started falling down her cheeks and she looked as if someone had just run over her dog.

“Shannon, I know we’ve had our differences, but I would really like it if we could be friends.”

Melony wasn’t sure if they could ever be friends, but she was willing to try.

“You still want to be friends with me?” Shannon sniffled.

“Yes, but I don’t think it will work out if you continue to flirt with Lorent. I love him, and he’s mine.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been so horrible to you, Melony, but I really care for Lorent. I understand that he will never return my feelings now that he’s found his mate. I need some time to get over this, but I would like very much if we could be friends.”

Was this the same Shannon? Melony was surprised at the ease of her acceptance. She’d expected more drama, maybe a tantrum, but not grown-up cooperation. Maybe they really could become friends. Shannon headed for the door.

“Wait,” Melony said before Shannon left. “Let Lorent walk you home. It would make me feel better to know you got back safely after everything that’s happened today.”

“Oh. Thank you, Melony. Um, I know it’s not a good time, but when I got my laundry back, my favorite red panties were missing. Have you seen them?”

“Yeaahh.” Melony cast a mischievous glance at Lorent. “You know that huge tree about midway down the path to Rindy and Brent’s?”

“Yes.”

“They are about halfway up it. Sorry. I was little irked about the laundry thing.” Melony tried hard not to laugh at Shannon’s surprised expression.

“Well, I guess that solves that mystery.” Shannon gave a halfhearted lopsided grin. “I suppose I deserved that one.” She turned and walked out the door without a further word.

Lorent bent and placed a quick kiss on Melony’s lips before following Shannon out the door. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’m counting on it,” Melony answered.

She watched Lorent go and hoped when he got back there would be no further interruptions. An insistent bump at the back of her legs brought a smile to her face, and she leaned down to pick up Puss. She lightly scratched her behind the ears, her favorite spot to be petted, and Puss started to purr.

“You and Lorent are going to have to learn how to get along. I know it’s been you and me for a while now, but I love him. He will be good to you because he knows how much you mean to me.”

Lorent was back a few moments later. He went to her and gently took Puss from her arms. It usually took time for Puss to warm up to strangers, but she leaned against his chest and continued to purr when he rubbed her under the chin.

He smiled at Melony, and her heart did its usual Lorent-induced flip-flop dance. “She likes you.”

“Seems that way. She’s not so bad herself.” He set the cat down on the floor and stroked her one last time. “I need to talk to your mom right now, Puss.”

Puss rubbed against his legs once, then trotted down the hall as if she understood what he’d said.

His heated gaze sent shivers of anticipation down her spine. With one step, he was toe to toe with her, a scant inch barely separating them. She wanted to touch him, taste him, make love with him, and she had no doubt that tonight all of her wishes and more would come true.

Chapter Twenty

Melony stretched up on tiptoe and placed a kiss on his lips. When he groaned, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, but frowned when he didn’t return her kiss.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve never been with a woman.”

She’d never in a million years imagined those words to come out of his mouth. He was a virile man who any woman in her right mind would be attracted to. “I guess we’ll both be each other’s first.”

The fact that she would be his first, and he would be hers, only made her love him more, if that was even possible. Their relationship, their bond would grow that much stronger because they would always know that they’d only ever belonged to one another.

“I’m not sure how slow I can take it the first time. I’ve waited for you my entire life. My wolf is demanding to claim you, and he doesn’t want to be gentle. He wants to dominate, wants his mate to submit.”

“I don’t mind submitting to you, Lorent. I know you won’t hurt me. I trust you.” She fought the urge to chew on her bottom lip.

“Hey.” He tipped her chin up and waited until she looked him in the eye.

“I won’t turn you until you are ready. We’ll have time to talk about that later.

Right now I simply want to be with you.”

“Thank you,” she sighed in relief.

While she was certain that she wanted to be his mate in every way, she welcomed the opportunity to spend time with him, to get to know him, to build on their relationship before they took it to the next level. When she’d decided to come to Sanctuary, she’d already accepted the fact that she might find her mate one day. The thought of becoming a lycan—especially if it meant she could spend many more years with Lorent than if she remained human—was something she’d grown used to.

Lorent swooped down and took her mouth in a demanding kiss, stole her breath, heated her blood in two seconds flat. It seemed as if she’d waited for him her entire life as well. His hands slid down her back and over her ass, until he cupped her cheeks and pulled her up against him. There was no space between them now, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist to ensure they’d stay that way. The hard proof of his arousal nestled against her and pressed deliciously between her thighs.

He carried her down the hallway and to the bedroom, where he tumbled them both down onto the bed. His hard body covered her, and she moaned when his mouth claimed hers again. His tongue dipped and tasted her, and that delicious ache between her thighs built until she thought she might explode from the pressure. He sat up, yanked his T-shirt off, then reached for hers to pull it over her head, and sucked in a sharp breath when her bared breasts spilled out.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered.

She looked at his chest and licked her lips as she followed the contours of his biceps down to his rock-hard six-pack and back up. Dark hairs dusted his chest, and she reached up to run her fingers through them. He was gorgeous clothed, but nude? Good God, he was glorious. She couldn’t wait to see the rest of him, but before she could voice her wants, he dipped down and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth.

She cried out as white-hot lightning shot through her and centered in her core. His erection pressed against her thigh, and she rubbed against him, encouraging him, showing him that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. He groaned and flexed his hips, his hard cock digging deliciously into her leg, promising to give her everything, swearing to fulfill her every fantasy.

“Lorent!” she gasped out when he tugged at one nipple with his fingers and the other gently with his teeth.

Her head thrashed from side to side, and she threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him against her. He kissed his way down her stomach, the stubble shadowing his jaw scraping deliciously over her sensitive skin, and stopped when he found the pink butterfly ring in her belly button. He growled and ran his tongue around her navel, then flicked at the pink butterfly.

“Do you have any idea how much this butterfly turns me on?” He looked up at her. The bright glow shining in his hazel eyes gave proof of his desire and showed a glimpse of the predator that lurked inside.

She was barely able to groan in response since every coherent thought had been ripped from her mind, replaced by pleasure that Lorent created with his worship of her body, by pleasure that she now found herself immersed in. She quivered in anticipation of his next caress, his next kiss.

He ran his tongue around her navel and the butterfly a few more times before pushing her sweats off her hips. Next he hooked his fingers in her panties, and they swiftly followed her sweats to the floor. His lips trailed over her mound, and his finger slid effortlessly through her slickened folds.

When his tongue flicked over her clit, she moaned and arched up, begging for him to continue the sweet assault on her sensitive flesh.

“You taste like heaven,” he growled against her.

Before she had time to be embarrassed, before she had time to respond, his tongue replaced his fingers and dipped inside her. His mouth created havoc on her emotions and rapture on her senses. Havoc. Pure, blissful havoc. His fingers splayed across the expanse of her waist, while his palm rested low on her abdomen, holding her hostage as he ate at her, licking, nipping, dipping deep, and retreating, driving her to the edge time and again, then withdrawing just before she fell.

Her head spun, her heart thundered, and she yanked his hair, probably hard enough to cause pain, but he didn’t seem to notice. She sobbed as the storm built inside her, swirling harder and harder, centering low in her core until finally he slipped one long finger inside her and drove his tongue against her clit, causing her to explode into a million tiny shards. She cried out his name over and over while she arched off the bed, grinding against him as he continued to wring every gasp, every ounce of pleasure from her.

When he stood, she couldn’t move—her body boneless from the release he’d given her— and she watched him from under half-closed lids as he unbuckled his belt, then jeans. When the zipper came down, and the denim was pushed off his hips, her eyes widened.

“Oh my. I don’t know if that will fit.” She sat up on her elbows, apprehension rapidly shining like a beacon through the fog of ecstasy.

“I’ve never done this before, but I know how it works, and I can assure you that it will fit.” He gave her a feral smile that nearly curled her toes.

He lay down on the bed next to her, and she reached out to him. “Can I touch you?”

He leaned forward and kissed her. A hint of the taste of her passion on his lips ignited her need for him once again.

“Touch me anytime you’d like. I’m yours, Melony.”

She trailed her fingers along the top of his shoulder, then down over his bicep and around to his pec, where she circled his small brown nipple, intrigued when it pebbled in excitement. She bent and placed a quick kiss against it, eliciting a groan from him. She continued down and traced each indention of his six-pack before swirling her finger around his belly button.

She continued her exploration around to his hip, then back into the soft, springy hair that nestled the part of him she was most curious about at the moment.

She gently encircled him, stroked down then upward, but he placed his hand over hers, halting the movement.

“Did I do something wrong?” Had she hurt him?

“No. But if you continue touching me like that, I’ll never make it inside you. And I need to be inside you, more than I need my next breath.”

She smiled up at him. “I’m yours.”

His mouth crashed down on hers, and within moments, the kiss built in urgency. He ran his hands over her body, stroking her, kneading her, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. She opened her mouth to him and began to drown in the taste of him. His touch soon matched his kiss in urgency, and she squeaked when she was suddenly flipped facedown on the bed.

He reared up behind her and pulled her hips up and back until his heavy shaft rested between her cheeks. He slid back and forth through her wet folds, the end of his cock brushing over her clit each time. The apprehension of his size drained away completely as he stoked the fire and pushed her to the edge once again.

He arched over her and kissed her on the ear. “I’m sorry.”

Before she had time to wonder what he had to be sorry for, he bit down on her shoulder gently, without breaking the skin, and surged up into her.

Pain tore through her, and she cried out and tried to crawl away from the unfamiliar invasion of her body, but he held her firmly and growled against her. The pain was like nothing she’d ever felt, feral, final, possessive, and when it started to lessen, she focused on the feel of him filling her.

He held perfectly still, and when she stopped struggling, he pulled out of her until just the tip of him rested inside. The sudden loss of him was more painful than when he’d taken her virginity. She quivered, and sobbed, and tried to push back against him, needing, wanting him back inside her, but he held her firmly immobile.

“Please, Lorent,” she sobbed.

He finally released his bite and placed one hand on her back between her shoulders while the other remained holding her hip. He urged her down until her cheek was pressed againt the pillow, then slammed home. The pain but a distant memory, she cried out, relieved at the way he filled her, stretched her, once again. She tried to push against him, tried to get more of him, but he growled and held her more firmly in place, while thrusting into her, dominating her, claiming her. She was thoroughly possessed, and happy to be so by the man she loved.

He demanded her submission, but she knew with all of her heart that if she objected, he’d relent. He would never hurt her, or make her do anything she was uncomfortable with, and proved it when she struggled harder and he instantly released her. She flipped onto her back and opened her legs invitingly. When he frowned, she followed his gaze down and saw the blood staining the insides of her thighs.

“It’s okay. It only hurt for a moment. I need you, Lorent.”

He stroked one finger through the blood, as if in regret of hurting her, then nestled his hips between her thighs. He cupped her face in his hands and slid home once again. “I love you, Melony.”

“I love you too,” she sighed.

He kissed her, and thrust into her again and again, until they were both panting, until they were both crying out in anticipation of release. She held him tightly while he pumped into her, the heat swirling hotter with each slide of his cock in her wet sheath. Her muscles clenched harder and harder around him until she fell over the edge once again. This time, he followed her, throbbing deep inside her with each spurt of his seed.

He brushed the hair from her forehead and gently kissed her. “That was incredible. I wasn’t too rough, was I?”

“You were perfect. And Lorent?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have to think about anything any longer. I want to be yours in every way.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“You can only shift the first time during a full moon. After that, you can shift anytime you want. The next full moon comes at the beginning of the new year.”

“Sounds like the perfect late Christmas present to me.”

“I don’t deserve you, you know?” He traced his finger down her cheek.

“Yes. You do. You are a good man.”

“Melony?”

“Yeah?”

“If you ever scare me again like you did tonight, I’ll spank your delectable ass.”

“I’ll look forward to it.” She smiled.

Epilogue

January 9, 2012

Melony sat beside Lorent under the trees and stared up at the full moon.

He was a beautiful wolf, which was to be expected since he was a beautiful man. Over the last few weeks, he’d opened up to her more and more. He trusted her, and she trusted him.

The change hadn’t been an easy one, even painful at times, but she’d been prepared since he’d explained to her that the first time was the worst.

He’d been with her every step of the way. She’d been afraid, but had confidence Lorent would never let any harm come to her. When every muscle in her body had contracted, when her skin had tingled and hair popped through every pore in her skin, when her canines had elongated into fangs, he’d been there to soothe her. Yes, it had been quite a painful and frightening ordeal, but she wasn’t sorry she’d let him change her. She loved him and wanted to spend every second that she could with him.

She was a little disappointed that her fur was her natural hair color—

brown—in wolf form, but Lorent had already warned her that the pink coloring wouldn’t stay when she shifted. In the grand scheme of things, she supposed it was an unimportant, minor detail. Besides, she’d look kind of silly as a big pink wolf.

She’d never in her life felt as free as she did while running in the woods with Lorent. They’d yipped, playfully nipped one another, and wallowed in the snow, and she’d felt all the restraints, all the rules of society float away while she was in wolf form—not that she would ever do anything horrible or anything against her nature. Lorent told her it was the predator in her wolf that made her feel like that, and she figured that was probably the truth, for she had no other way to explain it.

“It’s gorgeous out here.”

“You’re gorgeous.”

She’d been surprised to find out that they could talk telepathically with one another in wolf form. It had been a pleasant surprise, though, for she’d wondered how they’d communicate while shifted. The last few weeks with Lorent had been the happiest of her life.

Sherry was healthy, and her baby, whom she’d named Michael, was healthy. Lorent had been right when he told her Piers had called it even with her since she’d saved their son, although she hadn’t gotten the feeling he’d been all that mad at her in the first place, but more worried, and upset that his wife had been able to talk her into the trip.

Whatever the case, past mistakes were just that—past mistakes—and she’d promised herself to think things through very carefully in the future if she felt even a tinge of unease about something. Lorent had finally accepted his past as well, and had worked hard on putting it behind him for good. At the moment, everything at Sanctuary was calm, peaceful, and right.

She gazed back at the two wolves a few yards behind them. Rose had finally decided it was time to let Knox change her, to become a true mate to him in every way. She’d told him on Christmas, as it had been the most meaningful, special present she could think to give him. Melony had a feeling it was a present for Rose as well.

Rose had told her that it had taken her a long time to get over past fears and to embrace the lycan race fully. Knox had insisted that if she chose to never be changed, he’d love her just as much, but when she died, he’d follow her into death. Melony figured that reason helped with Rose’s decision since her short human life could possibly rob Knox of hundreds of years.

Another Christmas surprise for Sanctuary was finding out that Karen and Anthony were expecting. Another baby would soon be born, another generation to fight for the survival of the lycan race.

She couldn’t imagine being any happier.

“Are you ready to go back?” Lorent asked her.

“I guess.”

“I need you.”

“In that case, let’s run, because I need you too.”

They both turned and ran past Knox and Rose, hurrying to get back to Melony’s cabin—which Lorent had moved into since it was bigger than his.

When they made it back, they both shifted, and Lorent picked her up and carried her inside while she giggled. She figured it would be times like this that she wouldn’t mind so much being naked when she changed back to human form.

She pulled his head to her and kissed him, and he growled and slipped his tongue inside to taste her, but ended the kiss way too soon for her liking.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nope.” He sat her on the couch, disappeared down the hallway, and returned a few minutes later holding one hand behind his back.

She drank in the sight of his nude body. The man was big, ripped, gorgeous, hers, and she’d never get tired of looking at him. When he stopped in front of her and got down on his knees, she frowned, wondering what he was doing.

“I love you with all my heart.” He took her hand in his. “You are my mate, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He brought his other hand out from behind his back and opened it to reveal a diamond solitaire.

“A-Are you asking me to marry you?” she gasped.

He nodded.

“But, I didn’t think lycans normally got married.”

“True, it is a human tradition, but since you were once a human, I assumed you’d like to get married.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want?” He frowned.

“Of course I want to. I’m just touched that you would do this for me. It means a lot to me, Lorent.”

She didn’t have to think twice about marrying him. He was her love, her mate, her protector, the man she’d have babies with, laugh and cry with, share every aspect of her life with. Not only that, but the one definitive thing that told her he was the one for her? What other man but her true soul mate would let Puss sleep curled up to his back every night while he spooned tightly against Melony with his arms wrapped around her?

“I would do anything for you.” He smiled and slid the huge diamond on her finger.

“I would do anything for you as well.”

He scooped her up, and she chuckled, but when he placed his lips by her ear and whispered, “Prove it,” all laughter died and was replaced by the desire that only he could make her burn with. He could stoke her body into a frenzy of heated passion with a mere glance, a simple caress, a whispered word.

She pushed at him until he sat her down, and led him to the bedroom, where she guided him to sit on the edge of the mattress. As she sank to her knees between his thighs, she smiled up at him and circled his thick cock with her fingers.

“I plan to prove it. All night.”

And all rational thought was lost, replaced by hunger only for this man, when she bent her head and took him in her mouth.

The End