Lycan Christmas

so if you need more time—”
“No. I’m ready if you are.” Melony stepped outside and closed the door firmly behind her.
20
Lycan Christmas
S. K. Yule

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 21
Lycan Christmas
S. K. Yule
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.
22
Lycan Christmas
S. K. Yule
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