Lycan Heat

Chapter Five

Sherry’s eyes flew open, and a gasp escaped as she shot upright from her bed. Her breathing came in ragged gasps. The man she’d just dreamed about…Piers had seemed so real. She put her fingers to her lips. She swore she could feel them tingle from his kiss, and her body was hot, achy. She’d never felt such intenseness with a man. He’d practically oozed sex, and had made her melt. Her hesitation of him proved no match after he’d plastered her hand against his chest.

It was just a dream. Hell, if dreams were always like that, no one would ever get out of bed. She shifted, suddenly uncomfortably hot, and realized that dampness coated the insides of her thighs. A dream man had done this to her, made her a writhing mess of hormones, and not even a real live man had managed to do that up to this point in her life.

She’d had a few fumbled, awkward attempts at sex, but a few years ago after too many uncomfortable situations, she’d decided that she’d wait to have sex until she met the man of her dreams. She snorted. Man of my dreams.

Ha! She was young when the accident that had killed her parents occurred, and she knew that had a lot to do with her failed relationships. She was scared to get close to anyone. Scared because she knew they could be taken from her with such ease. A slip on the stairs, a wrong step into traffic, a drunk driver, and they’d be gone.

She stumbled to the kitchen, opened the fridge door, pulled out a bottle of cold water, and drank down half of it. Her heart raced, and she was so aroused she ached for him.

She laughed. How could she ache for a man she’d conjured up in her imagination? He wasn’t real. It must be all the stress from learning about all this werewolf crap. Maybe it was her mind’s way of trying to cope with it.

Simply replace it with a man who intimidated her, but turned her on at the same time.

He’d been so big, too big for her. She’d always been intimidated by men of his size, as far as dating material, and he’d been the biggest man she’d ever met. Her cheeks heated when she remembered the bulge in his jeans—

biggest in more ways than one. She went to her bag, quickly dug out the bottle of pills, broke one in half, and swallowed it before she could talk herself out of it. She was going to go back to sleep, and in the morning, she’d figure everything out.

She snuggled back under the covers on the sofa bed, which had proved surprisingly comfortable, and closed her eyes, waiting for the pill to work.

She already hated herself for taking it. It made her feel weak even though she knew better. Everyone needed help at some point in their lives, and she was no different. Finally, she started drifting into sleep. Glorious, dreamless sleep.

“Sherry. Sherry. Wake up.” Janine shook her harder.

“Geez, Janine. Why are you waking me up so early?” Sherry groaned and tried to burrow back under the blankets her sister was jerking off her.

“It’s not early. It’s almost one o’clock in the afternoon,” Janine growled.

“Come on. We are getting everything set up for the cook out. Everyone is already here—except you.”

She groaned. “Okay. Okay. You go ahead and I’ll be there in a bit.” She cracked her lids open and saw her sister standing there with her arms crossed over her middle as she so often did when she was agitated.

“You’re little bit will result in all afternoon.”

“I promise. I’ll be there in an hour or less.” She would, too, even if it killed her, which it might.

“Swear to me.”

“I swear. Now go.”

“Okay, but if you aren’t out there in an hour, I’m coming to get you.

And, I’ll bring Raze and have him carry you out there if necessary.”

“I’ll be there.”

“All right. When you’re ready, we are set up not far past and to the right of the cabin. Raze, Anthony, and Brent are already putting the meat on the grill, and Karen and Rindy are anxious to meet you.”

“I’m getting up right now. Now get out there, and let them know I’ll be along in a bit.”

“Seriously, one hour.”

“Go!” Sherry laughed as Janine giggled and then dodged the pillow she tossed at her.

Before heading out the door, Janine paused. “Um, are you okay? I mean, after our talk last night?”

“I’m okay, but I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“All right.” She gave Sherry one last long stare before going outside.

She was proud of herself. She’d taken another quick shower, had put on her makeup, pulled her hair into a cute top-knot, and was dressed with ten minutes to spare. She’d dressed warmer than yesterday in a white cotton hoodie that zipped up the front over the pink T-shirt with “chic” written in silver rhinestones across it. A matching pair of cotton pants that hugged her hips and white tennies with pink glitter on the toes completed the ensemble.

It wasn’t anything extremely fashionable, but it was cute and comfortable.

She went to find Janine and the others. Following the voices in the distance, she walked slowly along the tree line. If she was honest with herself, it was quite beautiful out here. A Monarch butterfly flitted by her and lit on the bark of a tree. She stepped closer and gasped when it flew off the tree and landed on her nose. She laughed at the way its legs tickled her before the butterfly took flight once again. She watched it, mesmerized, until it disappeared into the woods.

Maybe she’d been a bit judgmental about nature. She would try to enjoy herself the rest of the time she was here. Just up ahead, two big tables were set up, one laden with food, the other surrounded by several chairs and draped in a checkered tablecloth. A grill sat to the side of the empty table and three men, one Raze, stood around it drinking beer and poking at the meat searing on the grates. Raze was not small by any means, but the other two men were huge.

Another cabin was set back in the trees, but looked more like a mini mansion than a vacation getaway. It was a stunning sight with its wraparound deck and rustic charm.

Sherry spotted Janine, who was talking to a blonde and a black-haired woman. When she saw her approach, she waved for her to come over and join them. Sherry hurried over to where the women were standing.

“Sherry, this is Karen.” She motioned to the black-haired woman. “And this is Rindy.” She motioned to the blonde.

Karen was tall, curvy, and had beautiful blue eyes, while Rindy was closer to her petite size and had gray eyes. Both the women were pretty in their own ways, but Karen seemed a bit more laid back than Rindy, who continuously scanned the area as if expecting something to happen.

“Nice to meet you.” Sherry shook Karen’s and then Rindy’s hand.

“Anthony? Come meet Janine’s sister, Sherry,” Karen called out.

“You too, Brent,” Rindy followed up.

Anthony was quiet and intense. He was also huge and had gorgeous green eyes accented by inky black hair. He smiled and nodded. “Nice to meet you.” His voice was low and quiet.

Brent was big, as well, but not quite as hulking as Anthony. He had chocolate brown eyes, brown hair, and an easy smile she was sure any woman would find attractive. “Glad to finally meet you. Janine talks about you all the time.” Brent put his arm around Rindy’s shoulders.

“She does?” She quirked a brow in her sister’s direction. “I had no idea my sister was so fond of me.” She chuckled and gently elbowed Janine in the ribs.

“Is the meat about done?” Karen asked.

“Yep. Everyone grab a plate.” Brent followed Anthony back to the grill.

“Would you like something to drink, Sherry?” Raze asked her.

“I’d love some water if you have it.”

“Coming up.” He turned to Janine. “You need anything else?”

“Yeah, but it’ll have to wait until later.” Janine leaned in and whispered to Raze, but Sherry still heard her.

She covered her ears. “La la la la. Don’t want to hear this.”

Raze dropped a quick kiss on Janine’s mouth and started for the cooler by the grill. After Raze handed Sherry a cold bottle of water, some movement from the woods startled her. Seconds later, a blond boy stepped out. He stood watching them.

“Come on over, Collin. Grab a plate and join us,” Brent called out to the kid.

When he hesitantly made his way toward them, Sherry noticed he was older than she’d originally thought, probably in his early twenties. His eyes were haunted, and hinted that he’d witnessed much violence for his young years. He got a plate and sat down. After she got her food, she made her way to the end of the table where he sat all alone.

“May I sit by you?” She smiled, but his mouth remained in a grim line.

“Sure.” His voice was surprisingly deep, but quiet.

“Do you live here, Collin?” He was attractive in a boyish sort of way, but he wasn’t her type.

He nodded his head yes.

Okay, so he wasn’t a talker either. She ate her food and tried several more attempts at starting a conversation with him, but he didn’t take the bait.

When he was finished eating, he took his plate to the trash can and walked back toward the woods where he disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

“He’s only been here a week. He’s had some bad luck,” Janine told Sherry.

“That’s sad. I hope he gets better.” She hated to see others suffer. She figured it was due to the tragedy she’d lived through, and could understand, at least on some level, their pain.

“He will. That’s what Sanctuary is for.” Janine smiled.

She finished eating, took her plate to throw it away, then walked back over to where Janine was sitting with the others. “I’m going to run back to the cabin real quick and use the bathroom.” Sherry said to Janine.

“Feel free to use the bathroom in our cabin.” Rindy pointed over her shoulder to the log cabin she’d seen when she’d first walked to the gathering.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” Rindy took a bite of a burger that looked almost as big as she was.

“Thanks. Be right back.”

Piers made his way through the woods toward his target. He was delayed when he spied the young, blond lycan. The boy hadn’t stayed with the group for long before making his exit. Now that he was gone, Piers started to move in again. When he stood at the edge of the clearing, his gaze went straight to the lycan who had to be Anthony Wolfson.

He was big, bigger than the other lycans had described, but Piers wasn’t deterred. He was sure he could take him. He found it hard to drag his eyes from the man who’d killed his brother, but he had to assess the battle ground. Besides Anthony, there were two other men and three women. He knew the women’s presence was to his advantage since at least one of the males would protect them by keeping them away from Piers.

They all appeared to have just finished eating and were setting up a game of horseshoes. They were going to be playing close to the edge of the woods, and his opportunity to avenge his brother was close at hand. The deer scent he’d sprayed on himself would wear off soon and give away his true identity, but for now, they’d think nothing of his presence, thinking it was a doe or buck that had wandered close.

He tensed when Anthony moved closer to his position. Within moments, the ancient’s nostrils flared. He’d been made. His plan of a surprise attack was compromised and he put plan B into action. He ran toward the log cabin, hoping that only Anthony would follow before the others caught on to what was happening. There was a small chance his backup plan would work since the others were a bit farther away from where he’d been standing.

He was hoping the ancient would instruct both the other males to stay behind and protect the females.

He ran all out and knew Anthony was now on his tail. The first opportunity, he’d take him down quick. He didn’t want to risk a drawn out fight, which might allow enough time for the other males to get the females to safety and return to help out.