Lycan Vengeance

Chapter Four

Rose’s head pounded as she stood under the hot spray of the shower. Since that horrible night Tammy was killed, her life had never been so out of control. How had she allowed herself to be caught by him? Knox

Slade. A monster. A lycan. The thing she hated most. And why in the blazes did he have to be so damned good-looking? She shook her head and instantly regretted the action when pain sliced through her temple.

Jumping out of a moving truck, no matter how slow it had been rolling, hadn’t been the wisest, best thought-out thing she’d ever done. Her head, shoulder, and knee ached like hell, but thankfully, the aspirin

Knox had given her after he’d brought her some clean towels and one of his T-shirts to wear took the edge off.

She had spare clothes in the truck, but she didn’t want to let him in on that because along with the clothes was a survival pack that she’d be able to use when she made her escape. So for now, she’d play the meek guest until an opportunity to run presented itself.

She rolled her shoulders under the warm jets of water pelting her and rubbed the shampoo out of her thick hair. She wanted to condition it, knew she should since it would be next to impossible to get a comb through the thick mass if she didn’t, but she couldn’t muster up enough energy to do it.

She turned the water off and stepped from the shower. While she toweled off, she looked around. She hadn’t really noticed much about the house when they’d come in because her head had been pounding so hard.

The bathroom wasn’t anything special, but it was clean, comfortable, and she liked it. With a few feminine touches, it would be quite cozy. She rolled her eyes. Why would she care about adding any touches to it at all?

She wouldn’t be here long. She slipped the T-shirt over her head, and it hung loosely, hitting just above the knees. She wrapped the towel around her head and looked for her clothes. She’d left them on the floor, but now they were nowhere to be found.

She would have probably thrown out the horrible-smelling outfit, but it kind of irked her that Knox had taken them, especially while she’d been showering, no less. He had some nerve, and yet through the indignation she felt from his actions, a small shiver of heat slithered through her at the thought of him being in the same room while she stood naked in the shower. She rolled her eyes again. This was so not the time to find out her hormones were still intact. She’d never willingly let a lycan touch her, but why did the thought of Knox’s hands on her not disgust her quite as much as she thought it should?

When she exited the bathroom, she found the bag that contained her clothes and survival kit lying on the big bed in the corner of the room. So much for keeping that a secret. She should have known that Knox would invade every aspect of her privacy. After all, he had come into the bathroom while she showered. She spun around at a noise behind her and tripped on her own tangled feet, but when she braced herself for the fall, big hands swept her upright before she made contact with the floor.

“Damn, you move fast.” She glared up at Knox. And damn, he was big. Thank God he’d changed his blood-soaked shirt. While she didn’t feel too guilty about shooting him, she didn’t like seeing all the blood.

“You already know I can move fast,” he mumbled. “Are you okay?” His brows drew down in obvious concern.

“Yes.” His hands were warm and eased over her skin. She caught herself before she did something stupid, like whimper, at how good his touch felt. “How dare you come into the bathroom while I was showering?”

“I didn’t peek.” He flashed a grin of straight white teeth. “Even though I wanted to.” His eyes slid down her body slowly, then back up until he was looking into her eyes. “I brought your bag in from the truck.

Figured you’d want it, although I think I like my shirt on you quite a bit—kind of reminds me of a song I once heard. Besides, I couldn’t wait one more minute to get rid of your reeking clothes. They were stinking up the whole place.”

She pulled away from him and looked around the bedroom. The bed, the dresser, the end tables were all masculine, but comfortable. She saw a couple of car magazines lying on the table beside the bed.

“Is this your room?”

“Yes, but it’s yours now. Unless you want to share?”

“Um, nooooo.”

“Your mouth says no, but why don’t I quite believe you?”

Anger shot through her, and when she realized he was playing around with her, she got even angrier.

“Don’t joke about things like that. I don’t find them funny. And, I would never, ever share a bed with you!”

His smiling lips suddenly clamped together into a thin line, and he took two long steps toward her, pushing her back until the backs of her thighs bumped the bed. He stood so close, towered over her, and in that second she realized how dangerous this man really was. He was a predator, a dominant animal, and she had insulted him in the worst way. The heat from his body rolled off him and hit her in waves.

“There’s no need for such insults, Rose.” He raised a hand toward her, and she flinched. His hand stopped inches from her cheek, and he sighed. “I told you I will never hurt you.” He rubbed his knuckles slowly down the side of her face, up to lightly skim the knot high on her forehead, and back down again.

She fought the urge to lean into his caress. The light dusting of hair on the back of his fingers tickled her skin, and she barely caught a moan from escaping. It had been a long time since anyone had touched her in kindness. She didn’t like to be touched. It was too personal, made her feel things she didn’t want to feel.

“So you’ve told me, but I still don’t understand why you think I’d believe you.”

“I could have easily hurt you, or worse, many times over by now. As you can see, we are alone here, and I don’t have any buddies here to pass you around among, as you so bluntly put it earlier. I won’t let any harm come to you.”

“It’s not in my nature to believe anything a lycan says. I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you.” She was sorry too.

Something inside her wished that he was just a normal man because even against her own nature, her own better judgment, she was drawn to him. She wanted to feel his caress, his lips on hers. She’d never been with a man. She’d dated a couple of boys before the incident with Russell, but after that, there hadn’t been time for a personal relationship. Up to this point, she hadn’t really thought much about it, or figured she’d missed out on anything, for that matter. Knox was making her feel differently, and while her mind screamed at her that it was wrong on so many levels, her body begged otherwise.

If she gave in to him, she’d never forgive herself. She’d betray her best friend’s memory and everything she’d fought for. She couldn’t welcome the enemy into her bed, yet her breath hitched in her lungs when his midnight blue eyes glowed down at her. Her heart stuttered, and all the reasons why she shouldn’t be doing this evaporated into thin air when his lips brushed hers. Fire shot straight between her legs, and a dull ache built low in her belly.

His lips caressed her gently, barely touching her, as if coaxing her to accept him. He pushed the towel off her head and tangled his fingers in the hair at her nape, tugging her closer. “I have to taste you.”

Before she could respond, he kissed her. His lips were firm but soft, and she moaned when his tongue danced along the seam of her mouth. He ignited an instant flame in her, and she strained toward him. When his tongue dipped inside and tangled with hers, fireworks shot off behind her eyelids, and she opened to his possession like a flower opening to the first rays of sun.

He tasted wild, erotic, dangerous . . . safe? He confused her. He excited her. He inflamed her, but when his other hand trailed along her bare thigh, she froze. Her eyes widened, and she pushed at his chest. Her breaths came in ragged gulps, and she pressed her hand to her wet, kiss-swollen lips when he didn’t budge against her insistent shoving.

“Stop thinking just for one minute, Rose, and feel. You responded to me. I felt it.” He wrapped his fingers around the hand she had pressed against her lips and brought it slowly to his mouth, where he licked and nipped gently at her palm.

Heat infused her once again, and she leaned toward him, mesmerized by how soft his lips felt. How could he make her feel this way? Had she deprived herself of sexual experiences to the point that her body was no longer willing to play by her brain’s rules? There was surely no other explanation for letting a lycan touch her.

He nipped her again, and when she gasped, his mouth shifted from her hand and fastened on her lips.

The floor dropped out from under her, and she began floating in a swirling fantasy of heat and desire only

Knox could show her. His tongue probed at her and slid deep before retreating and returning again. He expertly coaxed feelings from her she hadn’t known existed, a tempestuous yearning that had lain dormant within her, waiting for the right man to awaken it.

She now clutched the front of his shirt with no further thoughts of pushing him away, and the hand he didn’t have tangled in her hair slid down her back and cupped her rear. He dragged her against him as he insinuated his thigh between her legs. She cried out when a delicious pressure built against her core and a rush of desire drenched her sheath, instinctively readying itself for his possession. She tilted her hips toward him, and he kissed his way to her ear.

“That’s it. Take pleasure from me, sweetheart.”

Her head fell back, and she peered up into his face from under half-closed lids. His eyes glowed so bright she was mesmerized by their beauty for an instant before her mind jerked her back into reality. Her body screamed for her to let him continue touching, but her brain wouldn’t allow her to take pleasure from someone who was supposed to be her enemy.

She stiffened and could see by the look in his eyes that he was aware she was no longer welcoming his caresses. Her lip curled, and she practically snarled at him.

“Don’t ever touch me again, Knox, or I swear I will kill you.”

“You can’t deny the chemistry between us. It’s too strong.”

“There is nothing, nor will there ever be anything, between us. Please get out.”

She barely suppressed the urge to squirm under his hot gaze while he watched her for several minutes before he finally left the room and shut the door behind him. She plopped onto the bed and willed her racing heart to calm down. What had she been thinking letting him kiss her and touch her like that? Horny. That’s what you were thinking. She had to find a way to get away from him and fast.

She couldn’t risk getting entangled with the enemy. If she could find some way to escape him, she’d run without a backward glance. He would be one lycan who would get away, because she would never get near him again.

Knox leaned his head against the door of the bedroom he’d just vacated, or more appropriately, had just been kicked out of. God, Rose was the sweetest thing he’d ever put his mouth on. He could still taste her on his lips. The subtle, yet unmistakable, muskiness of excitement his kiss had elicited from her had told him that she hadn’t been as unaffected by him she’d like him to believe. But how would he ever convince her that he wasn’t the bad guy? He let out a frustrated breath and started down the hall to the living room.

Telling her everything was the only way he could think to earn her trust. If he could show her that not all lycans were monsters, maybe she’d begin to understand and see things in a new light. Maybe she’d be able to trust him. Besides, if he didn’t trust her, how was he supposed to expect her to confide in him? Whatever had happened in her past to make her hate his kind so vehemently had been monumental.

He’d have to earn her trust somehow, and telling her about his kind was the first step. Without trust there would be no hope for any kind of relationship with her. Even he knew trust was the most important part of the foundation between a man and a woman, and he would do whatever he had to do to show her he deserved her loyalty.

It was going to be a mighty bumpy road. The lady was bitter. Rogues had to be responsible for her deep-

seated hatred of his kind. What had happened to her? He couldn’t think about it too much because the possibilities sent blinding rage boiling through his blood. In fact, at this moment he wanted to beat the shit out of something. No, not something—a bloody rogue.

He waited until he could hear the soft, even breathing of Rose sleeping in the other room before he pulled the clean T-shirt he’d changed into earlier while she was showering over his head and shoved his jeans down his legs. The bandage he’d slapped over his wounds haphazardly to keep them from bleeding through his shirt stuck a little too well, and he winced when several of the hairs on his chest came off with it when he removed it. The wounds were already mending well, but he’d been looking forward to shifting to heal them the rest of the way.

He stepped out into the cold night air and inhaled deeply, welcoming the familiar and soothing scent of evergreen trees, snow, and the coming storm. The wolf in him crouched, ready to spring free, to run wild. He welcomed the wolf. It was part of him, had been for his entire life, and they worked well as a team. He snorted.

It wasn’t as if the wolf was a separate entity living inside him, always ready to get out. It was more like he had a split personality.

Yet, that wasn’t exactly the right terminology either. While a man, he used the wolf’s instincts, power, cunning, but as a lycan, his human side withdrew more and let the predator have the reins.

He would never hurt anyone in wolf form—he’d never hurt anyone period unless absolutely necessary—

but he was wilder, freer, all dominant animal when shifted.

He closed his eyes and let his lycan blood start the change. His fingernails elongated and twisted into claws that could rip the underbelly of a deer open in one smooth swipe. Since he was an ancient and capable of partial change, he could change as slowly or quickly as he liked. Rogues were not capable of partial change. An ancient in partial change was, at times, more lethal than one who’d shifted completely. Half lycan, half man was not an easy target to take down.

He breathed in deep, welcoming the tingling of his skin as fur popped through every pore, as incisors elongated into fangs, as his muscles, bones, and tendons rearranged themselves to take wolf form. It didn’t hurt to change—only the first time hurt—but every change was an intense emotional ride. It was as if part of him was being stolen—an integral part of him, like his very essence—but just as the overwhelming urge to cry out from the loss took root, the essence was slammed back into him. It was as if each time he changed, the two parts that made him who he was tore apart and then knitted back together, the wolf part dominant while in lycan form.

It wasn’t something he could easily explain. It was just one of those things you had to experience to understand the full meaning, like death.

He stood for another moment before shifting completely, and jumped off the porch into the snow as the last golden hairs sprang through his skin. He howled as he ran over the snow-covered ground into the thick-

treed forest, the wolf excited to be free. The wounds on his chest were already healing, and within seconds the last pricks of pain were gone.

He stopped by a huge oak tree that was a marker for the property lines and rubbed against it before putting fresh claw marks down the trunk, next to several others he’d put there on previous occasions. The wolf insisted on marking its territory, and Knox had no problem allowing the behavior. It was a natural and effective warning to other lycans who might happen into the area. He yipped and turned to run some more, but had only gone a few miles when he picked up the hint of a strange scent. He stopped and turned in circles, his nose pointing in the air. He sniffed a few times before a low growl of warning sprang from his muzzle.

It was the scent of a rogue, and the male was close, too close, to his female. He took off in the direction of the house, where Rose was sleeping, and prayed he made it there before the rogue.