by S. K. Yule
He watched her as she polished off her omelet and dug into her salad. He loved the way she didn’t pick at her food as if she were a rabbit. She was absolutely the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes upon. She was generous, feisty, stubborn as hel, and caring. Caring was the thing that intrigued him most.
The way she fussed over Lucy, the way she had been upset over Henry and Joey being worried about her, the way she thanked him for helping her, were al things that showed him her genuineness.
How he longed for someone to be warm, genuine, and caring with him. He hadn’t had a bad life. He’d never whine about it or ask for sympathy. What was, was. But he’d seen some pretty fucked-up things over that last few centuries. And now that the rogues were becoming more and more aggressive, the survival of his species was threatened.
There was a place caled Sanctuary located in Michigan, but he’d never been. He’d only heard of it a few months ago, but it was a relief that the lycans were starting to band together to do something about the rogues. Sanctuary was a place al the rogues could go to learn about the importance of destined mates. At the moment, most rogues felt that any woman with the main scent was theirs for the taking.
They either didn’t understand or care about the fact that those women were essential for the survival of their species.
Rogues that were found were given two choices— reform or die. Kish had just learned that other lycan packs were forming more sanctuaries in other states.
He wanted to be a part of saving his species, planned to be a part of it as soon as he’d gotten Connie out of his system. He grinned. Connie who? He was so over her.
“I’m glad you are enjoying your meal.”
“I’m serious when I say it was the best omelet I’ve eaten.”
Say thank you. Say thank you.
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks.” He finished his food, then colected the plates.
“At least let me help you clean up.”
“I can handle it. I clean as I cook anyway. I only need to put a few things in the dishwasher and wipe the counter down.”
“Do you come up here often, Kish?”
“You could say that. I live here.”
“I assumed that you vacationed here like most.”
“Nope. I’m a ful-timer.”
“Has the snow stopped yet?”
“Pretty much. I’m hoping to be able to pick your friends up tomorrow afternoon.”
“Actualy, you can take me with you if you’d like, and Henry, Joey, and I can head on home.”
His stomach dropped at the thought of her leaving.
“I’m not sure the road leading out wil be clear enough for you to drive out without four-wheel drive.
Probably take another couple days for them to be cleared.”
“Oh. I hate to be such a bother to you.”
“You aren’t a bother.”
When she stood, she bumped into him. “How do you do that?”
He chuckled. “I told you, I’m talented in sneakiness.”
She frowned, and he ached to run his finger over her lips and coax them into a smile. He loved it when she smiled.
“I’m not sure sneakiness is a talent, but I’l give it to you for now.”
He stared down at her, and time seemed to slow.
She reached for him, and he circled her right, delicate-boned wrist with his fingers. They touched on either side with room to spare. He knew she wanted to touch his face, but he didn’t want her to feel his scars. He didn’t want to disappoint this woman in any way. He wanted to be as perfect to her as she was to him, something that could never be.
He brought her fingers to the left side, the unscarred side of his face, and covered her hand with his, guiding it over his skin. She was silky soft, and his wolf howled. He wanted to rip her clothes off, expose her luscious curves to his begging eyes, take her to the floor, and cover her with his body. He’d make love to her slow and thorough like he longed to do, like she deserved. He’d worship every inch, find and pay homage to every sensitive spot that brought her pleasure.
Her fingers glided over his brow, the edge of his nose, over the stubble of his cheek and finaly, to his lips. He closed his eyes and let her caress wash through him like a soothing breeze on a balmy day.
Before he could stop himself, he sucked her index finger into his mouth. She gasped when he swirled his tongue around the tip, and his heartbeat sped up.
When he opened his eyes, he was pleased to see the flush in her cheeks, which told him that she was as affected by his touch as he was by hers.
She trailed her fingers around to his ear and traced the edge down to the lobe until she came to his hair.
He sighed when her short nails scraped gently against his scalp.
“Georgia.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“I want—” Kish suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.
“What is it?” Georgia asked.
An imposter. That’s what it was, but he wasn’t going to tel her that. He didn’t want to scare her.
“I thought I heard something.” He hadn’t, but he’d certainly smeled something and that something was someone who shouldn’t be on his property or this close to his woman.
“Take Lucy and go to your room.”
“But—”
“Please do this for me.”
She backed away from him slowly.
“Lock your door, and don’t open it until I come back.”
Her puzzlement quickly turned to fright. “What’s wrong, Kish?” Her bottom lip trembled.
“Everything wil be okay. I’l be back. Just go. I need to know you are safe.”
“Okay.”
He waited until he heard the click of the lock on the bedroom door before he headed outside. Once on the porch, he keyed in the code to lock the doors behind him. He took a deep breath then started for the tree line to the right of the house. The snow had stopped, but the moon was nowhere to be found, and it was dark as hel. He was thankful for his superior vision.
The closer he got to the tree line, the stronger the scent became. He scented other lycans, but the scent was so faint it was barely discernible. This was something he had never smeled before. Human, but something else as wel.
“I know you are there. You have ten seconds to show yourself before I come in after you, and you won’t like it if I do.” His nails elongated and curled against his palm.
If whatever was out there posed a threat in any way to Georgia, he’d kil it. He would do whatever needed to be done to protect her, even give his own life. He may not be wiling to give her his heart, but he’d never let anyone or anything hurt her.
“I’m wounded. I mean no harm to you.” A deep voice came from the dark woods.
“Come out now,” Kish instructed.
“I’m coming. Give me a minute. I’m moving a bit slow at the moment.”
Even Kish didn’t need Georgia’s talent of reading voice tones to hear the obvious pain laced through the man’s words.
A couple minutes later, a tal man, almost as tal as Kish, with black scraggily hair and thick beard stumbled into the clearing. He was wearing jeans, boots, sweatshirt, and was limping.
“What are you?”
The man didn’t blink at the question, knowing exactly what Kish meant. “Something like you, only not.”
“No shit? You think I can’t smel that you aren’t like me? I know you aren’t human either. So again, what the fuck are you?”
“I’m a shifter.”
Kish scowled. “What kind of shifter?”
“Lynx.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Probably because as far as I know, I’m the last one left of my kind. If I’m not, then I have no idea where to find more of my species because I haven’t seen one for over a hundred years.”
“What happened to your leg?”
“Trap.”
“I own several hundred acres here. There aren’t an
y traps on my land.”
“I was injured two days ago about seventy-five miles north of here.” He muttered, “Bitch.”
“What the fuck did you just cal me?”
“No! No. Sorry. I was referring to someone else.
Someone else who if she hadn’t decided to dump my ass, I wouldn’t have ended up in this mess.” He smiled at Kish. “Women. Can’t live with them.”
“I think there is more to that saying,” Kish mumbled with a frown.
“Nope. You can definitely live without them if you have amazing wilpower, which I don’t.” He scowled.
Kish pretty much agreed, but didn’t want to get into a discussion about who’d been screwed worse by the women in their lives or the fact that this guy had apparently just been treated to a typical Connie-style burn.
“How the hel did you end up here?”
“To put it bluntly, I was a bit pissed at being dumped. Decided to take a run and cool off the temper. Big mistake that was. Hadn’t even had a chance to shift yet before I nearly got my leg taken off by that fucking bear trap. Any other time, I would have sensed it, but I had other things on my mind at the time. I swear to God, pussy wil be the downfal of men.” The man shrugged when Kish didn’t respond and continued on. “Ran into some of your pals not long after I was injured. Guess the smel of blood attracted them. They chased my ass until late yesterday afternoon, probably about the time I made it to your property. You have it marked wel, I might add. I can see why the two chasing me were hesitant to trespass.”
That explained the hint of lycan he had detected.
“But you weren’t? Why didn’t you change and heal yourself?”
“Heal myself? Wel hel, wouldn’t that be a useful trick. You and I obviously have some differences. I heal quicker than humans, but if I shift when I’m injured, things can get mighty fucked up. And by fucked up, I mean when I change back, I might be crippled.”
“That sucks.” Kish didn’t detect anything that indicated the man was lying, but what was he going to do? He didn’t want him anywhere near Georgia.
“Name’s Brady. Can you help me out until I heal up a bit and can get around better? The thought of becoming a chew toy for your pals out there isn’t appealing.”
“They aren’t my pals. If they didn’t intend any harm, they would have introduced themselves when they hit my property instead of running. My best guess is that they are rogues.”
He didn’t feel right leaving Brady to Mother Nature’s mercy, but he couldn’t risk Georgia’s wel being.
“I know you have a woman in there. I swear I mean her no harm.”
Kish growled at Brady. “If you so much as look at her wrong, I’l rip your fucking throat out. We clear?”
Brady held his hands up. “I’ve never harmed a woman in my life nor do I plan to.”
“Come on.” Kish went to Brady and let him lean on him to help him to the house. “My name is Kish.
The woman’s name is Georgia. She doesn’t know about us.”
“So in other words, keep my mouth shut.” Brady winced as he struggled through the deep snow with Kish’s help.
“Yes. Later we’l talk further about the two who chased you. I don’t like the thought of other lycans near my property.”
“Not much to tel other than they were two big motherfuckers that were hel-bent on maiming and probably kiling me.”
“How the hel did you manage to get away from them in your injured state?”
“I’m not completely helpless. I’ve been around awhile. I’m sure you know that when your life is in danger, the animal and man can work miracles together to get you out of tight situations. Truth be told, I’m not sure how much longer I would have evaded them had they not backed off when I got close to your place.”
Kish understood the man and animal working together with perfect clarity. Working with his wolf had saved his ass more times than he could count. As he helped Brady to the house, he knew he’d have to find out more about the lycans that had chased him.
He didn’t want rogues near his property. The little fuckers better pray he didn’t find them near here, especialy with Georgia at his house because he wouldn’t tolerate any threat to her.
Brady stumbled, and Kish barely kept him from going down.
“Let’s get you inside.”
Chapter Nine
Georgia was sure she’d paced a trench into the floor by now. Even though Kish had only been gone a few minutes, it felt like hours. In the kitchen, he hadn’t said that anything was wrong, but she’d read his tone clearly enough. He was worried about something outside, something she hadn’t sensed. She’d never met anyone like him. No one had ever been able to sneak up on her. But how did he do it?
“Maybe it’s just a wild animal or something,” she mumbled.
Maybe it was a bear, or would al the bears be hibernating by now? And if so, maybe it was something worse like some type of wildcat. She enjoyed nature, but she was no expert when it came to what lurked in the woods of Wisconsin.
She was worried about Kish. She didn’t like being left here alone, but most of al, she didn’t want him to get hurt.
“Lucy, I can’t take any more. I have to find out what is going on.”
What she needed most was to know that he was okay. Butterflies danced in her bely as she recaled the way Kish had let her touch him in the kitchen. His skin had been smooth, and his jaw had been covered in stubble. She’d liked it, and now that she’d gotten a good look at him with her fingers, she had confirmed that he was every bit as handsome as she’d thought he would be.
She frowned as she let her hand slide down the wal in the halway leading to the living room. She’d wanted to take his face in both of her hands, but when he’d covered her fingers with his, he’d made it clear without speaking a word that he was in control of where she touched him. But why wouldn’t he let her touch the right side of his face? If he had a scar or some type of disfigurement, she couldn’t care less.
His insecurity about whatever he didn’t want her to find out seemed out of character for him.
True, she’d only known him for a short time, but she didn’t get the feeling that he was the insecure type. Unfortunately for him, or her, or maybe both, her curiosity about what he was hiding had only intensified. She didn’t care if he wasn’t perfect. Who the hel was? She certainly wasn’t, but for some reason, she had a deep-seated need for him to trust her.
Her tummy somersaulted when she remembered the way his breath felt against her lips. He’d only been a fraction of a second away from kissing her, and she’d ached for him to do so. When he’d been alerted by whatever it was that had distracted him, she’d almost cried out for him to return to her. She wanted to feel his mouth on her own, wanted to taste him, learn everything about what turned him on, wanted to please him. And oh how she’d wanted him to taste and learn her as wel for she was sure that Kish was a man that would know his way around a woman’s body.
Her instincts told her that he would bring her pleasure like she’d never experienced, pleasure like she’d never encounter again. She didn’t want to admit it, but the longer she was with him, the more sure she became that she’d found her soul mate.
She’d never thought it would happen to her, that she’d find the one man that would complete her, but with every passing moment, her heart knew she was meant to be with this man.
“I thought you didn’t believe in love at first sight, Georgia,” Georgia mumbled, and Lucy whined.
“Sorry, girl. I wasn’t talking to you.”
She nearly snorted. If he was, in fact, her soul mate, what made her think that he’d acknowledge it?
While she thought of herself as normal as the next person, didn’t give much thought to her blindness, she wasn’t under the ilusion that others didn’t view her as handicapped. She wondered if he thought she was less of a person because of her blindness, wondered if he looked at her with pity burning in his eyes. Eyes?
What color were his?
Green. They were green. How did she know that?
She had no answer, but she was positive it was the truth.
The main layout of Kish’s house was similar to the floor plan at Frank’s only on a much bigger scale.
She’d only just made it to the living room when the door opened, and the cold wind whipped inside around her legs and made her shiver.
“I thought I told you to stay in bedroom with the door locked,” Kish said.
“Sorry, but I’ve been this thing you might refer to as an adult for a while now, and I’m not good with people giving me orders,” she huffed with indignation.
“Feisty. I like that.”
She frowned. “Who’s that?”
“Name’s Brady. Had a nasty encounter with a trap in the woods. My leg is fu—um fudged up good.”
“Nice to meet you, Brady. I’m Georgia.”
“You didn’t tel me she was drop-dead gorgeous, Kish.”
“Probably because it’s not any of your damned business.”
“Okay. Okay. I get it. No worries here.”
Georgia listened to the exchange with amusement.
Why would Kish care if Brady found her attractive?
Was he jealous? She didn’t care for jealousy al that much, but for some reason, the thought of Kish being so over another man paying her a tiny bit of attention pleased her.
“Brady is going to be staying on the couch for a day or two until he’s healed enough to head home, or wherever it is he’s heading,” Kish said.
Georgia heard some scuffling then a loud thump folowed by a sigh. Most likely a sigh of relief from Brady after he plopped onto the couch.
“Do you have an open wound that needs attention, Brady?”
“You volunteering, little lady? Because I’d be more than happy to let you tend to my injuries any day.”
She started to smile, but it quickly died when she heard a low rumble that sounded like a growl. It definitely had not come from Lucy.