by S. K. Yule
He closed his eyes and immediately started to doze.
* * * *
Raze followed Sherry as she tentatively walked around the darkening compound. Her flowery scent, while probably light to humans, was nearly shorting out his nose. At least the perfume was effective at masking her scent—to a point. A lycan wouldn’t pick up her scent as far away as normal, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
While she was marked with the main scent, which meant she was destined to be the mate of one of his kind, just as her sister had been, he was glad she wouldn’t be an easy target. Janine had been trying to get Sherry to agree to come with them to Sanctuary for a long time. Raze had only recently turned his mate, and she was insistent upon telling Sherry what they were. While he was proud of Janine for not wanting to keep it from her sister, he wasn’t sure he agreed completely with telling her.
He’d tried to make Janine see that it wasn’t necessary to tell Sherry, as her mate may never find her—may not be alive for that matter. His woman was stubborn, though, and didn’t want to lie to her baby sister any longer. He didn’t blame her and would probably want to do the same if the situation were reversed, but the overwhelming urge to protect Janine from being hurt extended to Sherry as well. Because if anything hurt Sherry, it hurt Janine, and Raze would do anything in his power to keep Janine from suffering any more in her life. She’d already been through enough.
He wasn’t for sure how Sherry would take the news, but he was sure that she was aware something wasn’t all together normal. For one, even though he was sure Sherry trusted him, she seemed uneasy around him at times. Most humans did tend to get a little wary around lycans if only because their instinct warned them something was different. He was also aware that Sherry had noticed Janine’s limp, or lack thereof. Once he’d changed her, the malady, which was a result of a shattered leg sustained in the wreck that had killed her parents, had healed.
“What in the heck do you guys do up here every weekend?” Sherry kicked a pebble into the woods. “It’s so quiet and boring.”
“We think of plenty to do,” Raze chuckled.
“Eww. I don’t want to know anything about you and my sister’s sex life.” Sherry made a gagging noise.
“I wasn’t talking about that,” he laughed.
Although he’d never deny that making love to Janine was one of his most favorite, time consuming things to do. When they weren’t making love, they were running in the forest, helping out at Sanctuary, or visiting with the other lycans.
“Really, because I swear to God you two are constantly groping or kissing.” She smirked.
“You really should try to get in touch with nature a bit. It’s quite beautiful.”
“Yeah? I don’t think so.” Sherry looked around and frowned.
“Come on. Let’s go back to the cabin. I bet Janine has something scrumptious cooking for dinner. He sniffed the air. In fact, he was sure of it. Another one of his favorite things—eating his mate’s wonderful cooking.
Sherry nodded and followed him back.
Chapter Three
“Tomorrow afternoon we’re having a cookout and you will get to meet Anthony, Karen, Brent and Rindy.” Janine smiled as she sipped some hot cocoa from her cup.
Dinner had been marvelous, as usual. Janine had cooked ham and beans and cornbread. Sherry loved her sister’s homestyle cooking. She wasn’t bad in the kitchen herself, but Janine was by far the better chef of the family. After dinner, Raze said he’d do clean up duty, but Sherry insisted on helping with the dishes. Once the dishes were done, they sat around the table with big mugs of steaming chocolate—hers topped with marshmallows.
“Sounds like a good time to me,” she agreed.
She watched as Janine chewed her bottom lip and seemed as if she were going to say something several times only to stop. Raze watched her with a scowl.
“Okay, you two. What is up?” Sherry finally asked.
After Janine stared at her for several minutes, she finally spoke. “I have something to tell you, but I’m not sure how you will take it.”
“You look as if you’re going to tell me someone died or something.” She frowned. “Nothing terrible happened, did it?” She inched forward on her seat and watched her sister intently from across the table.
“No. No one died or anything horrible like that. It’s just that, well…” Janine trailed off and stared at Sherry.
“You’re scaring me. What is wrong, hon?” The way she stared at her made her anxious. She reached across the table and laid her hand over one of Janine’s and squeezed gently.
“I’m just worried that you will feel differently about me after I tell you, and it’s going to be a bit of a shock, I’m afraid.” Janine tried to smile, but failed miserably.
“No matter what you tell me, you are, and will always be, my sister. Nothing will ever change that, or the fact that I love you. Now you are really worrying me. What is wrong?” Butterflies of alarm danced around her belly.
“Promise me that you will keep an open mind because what I’m about to tell you is going to be very hard to believe. Trust me, I know.”
“Okaaay. I promise.” What the heck could she possibly tell her that would cause her to be worried that Sherry’s feelings could actually change for her?
After several more minutes of silence, and Sherry looking back and forth from Raze to Janine, she’d had enough. But when she finally started to say something, she and Janine spoke at the same time.
“For crying out loud! Tell me what is going on—”
“I’m a lycan.”
“What?” She stood.
“We both are.” Janine nodded at the same time Raze did. “Well, actually, he always has been, and he recently turned me, with my permission.”
Sherry plopped back in her chair and stared at her sister with her mouth gaping wide open. Had she gone completely insane? Had they both? Wait, they must be playing a joke on her.
“Okay, okay. You got me. Ha ha.” She started laughing, and put her hands up in surrender.
It didn’t take her long to realize she was the only one laughing. She immediately stopped and sat in quiet contemplation for several minutes.
“Do you really expect me to believe this?” She raised a brow in question and looked at them both with what she hoped to be her best I-wasn’t-born-yesterday look.
“It’s the truth. Believe me, I can prove it, but it might be a bit much for you at the moment.” Janine reached for Raze and he wrapped his long fingers around her small hand.
“Seriously? I mean, you are seriously telling me that on the night of the full moon you two turn into big scary monsters and run around killing…” Her eyes snapped up to her sister’s. “Oh my God. Tell me you don’t kill people.”
“No! And we don’t turn into to monsters, and we don’t have to wait for the full moon. We can change at will, after the first time anyways, and we shift into wolves. We don’t kill people. We know exactly what we are doing at all times. We can control ourselves just like when we are in our human forms.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Sherry cried, her brain on overload.
“I have to. You are a destined mate, and you need to know what could happen. You may be in danger.” Janine watched her nervously.
“A destined mate? What the hell does that mean?” Her voice rose with each word.
“Take it easy, Sherry,” Raze said in a low, soothing tone.
“Take it easy? Are you serious? You are sitting here telling me that you are werewolves and that I’m what? Destined to be one?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I hate nature.”
“Just let me explain everything, and then you can sleep on it and we can talk about it more tomorrow.” Raze smiled.
“Fine. Tell me.” Sherry leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her middle.
What the hell was happening? Were they serious? If this didn’t turn out to be a big freaking joke, or she didn’t wake up from this dream
soon, she might seriously have a nervous breakdown. She leveled her gaze on Raze, tapped her foot, and waited.
Janine nodded at Raze when he raised a brow to her. He cleared his throat and began talking. “I’ll start at the beginning when I met your sister.”
“I’ve heard this story. You two met and fell madly in love when she went on vacation last year.” Sherry rolled her eyes in frustration.
“No. We left out some details.” Raze shook his head.
“Like?” She was going to have to have her sister and Raze both committed after this, maybe herself for sitting here and listening to this ridiculous story.
“Janine was kidnapped by the leader of a rogue pack I belonged to. Understand that I was a member of this pack long before it turned rogue. After that, I was stuck in it. Every time I tried to escape, I was captured and punished. I decided to try once again, and of course, was caught. It is very hard to get away from a pack of lycans. They are attuned to every sound and smell and they could make any expert tracker look like an inept fool.”
Raze lifted his hand when she started to ask a question, and she snapped her mouth shut and glared at him.
“My punishment for my latest failed attempt at escape was your sister. Damon, the leader I mentioned, kidnapped your sister from a rest stop, brought her to the den, and insisted that I was to…” Raze’s face turned red, and he took a deep breath.
Sherry was pretty certain the sudden ruddiness of his skin had nothing to do with embarrassment and everything to do with anger. In fact, it was almost as if it radiated off him. His muscles tensed, and he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Janine squeezed his hand before he finally continued.
“I was instructed to use her as punishment because Damon knew I was so vehemently against such depraved acts that he and the other pack members enjoyed practicing.”
“Oh my God!” She sucked in a startled gasp and looked at Janine.
“It’s okay, Sherry. Raze never hurt me or forced me to do anything I didn’t want to.” Janine’s face turned red, but the source of her mottled skin was obviously from embarrassment.
“I devised a plan to get us both out of there, and we made it here. A few days later, Damon and some of the pack came looking for us. He was determined to kill me even if it meant killing everyone else and using Janine to accomplish it. Things got a bit complicated for a short time, but Damon and the rest were dealt with. It’s not something that was easy, but they threatened your sister’s life, and I couldn’t allow anyone to hurt her, nor would anyone else allow that here at Sanctuary.
“Sanctuary is a place for rogues to come and learn that we must protect our destined mates, that preservation of the ancient laws is essential to our race’s survival. If our mates are killed, we will have no way to reproduce. I didn’t want to tell you all of this because I didn’t want to upset you, but Janine insisted. And now that we have told you, I believe she was right. You have to be aware of the kind of danger you are in and take precautions.”
She didn’t ask exactly what he meant by Damon and the others being dealt with, but she was no dummy. Anyway, if some scumbag threatened her sister, he’d deserved what he’d gotten. They all had. Fear knotted in her stomach. If all of this was true, her life had just been turned upside down.
“I don’t want to be a werewolf or have one as a mate.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I’m not a woodsy type of girl.” She fought back the tears threatening to spill. “Are you telling me that these things are going to be hunting me or something?”
“We aren’t things. We are just like you or anyone else,” Janine said softly.
“You are definitely not just like anyone else. Not if you turn into wolves. But I’m not judging. I need some time to think about all of this. I’m just a little bit freaked out right now.”
Sherry abruptly stood, knocking the chair over. Her brain was numb. She was glad her brain decided to take that route as a few seconds earlier, she’d been torn between shrieking or bursting into a hysterical fit of tears that would have lasted for a few hours or until someone had slapped some sense into her. Her hands shook as she went to retrieve her pajamas from her bag so she could take a long, hot shower before going to bed.
“You know that no one here will ever hurt you, Sherry. Right? Raze, myself, and everyone that you will meet tomorrow would die to keep you safe. I love you, and I’m sorry, but it’s not like either of us had a choice in this. It just is.”
“Yeah. Fate crap and all, right?” Fate must really hate her. She massaged her temples and could feel a wicked headache starting. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I want to take a shower and go to bed.”
She was almost too scared to go to bed because her mind would start playing with all the things Raze and Janine had told her, and she’d probably end up having a panic attack. Maybe tonight would be a good night to take one of those wonderful tiny yellow pills her doctor had prescribed to her for her anxiety. She only took them when she absolutely had to. She sighed. She wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all herself. She hated taking pills, and she was well aware that she had suffered much more than she would have had she not been so damn stubborn about taking them in the past.
After the wreck, she’d needed something to help her cope as she’d suddenly developed severe anxiety when she was away from Janine for too long. It was because she’d suffered a great loss, and she had convinced herself that if she could keep her sister close, nothing bad could happen to her. She’d gotten better over the years, but couldn’t quite shake the anxiety completely. When Janine had gone on her vacation, which now Sherry knew must have been a horrible experience, she’d been dating Mike. It had helped having him there when she’d gotten anxious over Janine’s absence. Unfortunately, she had more brotherly feelings toward him, and he hadn’t been extremely happy about that fact, but he was a good guy and graciously accepted it.
If she had known what had really happened to Janine when she’d been away, she would have probably had a nervous breakdown. She had a deep seated fear of losing anyone she loved, especially her sister. She didn’t blame her for not telling her the truth about what had happened on her vacation. She’d known that she wouldn’t take the news well about her being in danger. In fact, if she thought about it, all the werewolf stuff paled in comparison with the information that she could have lost her sister.
Werewolf stuff? She turned the tap on in the shower and was surprised at how fast the water turned steamy. For being out in the middle of nowhere, the accommodations were excellent—albeit a little too rustic for her taste. She stepped under the water and let the heat and gentle massage of water bumping against her shoulders relax her.
Janine was worried for her safety. Not only that, but now things had started to make sense. Like why for the past few months Raze had insisted on walking her to her car after dark, or the way he seemed to be on constant vigil over her and Janine. If she had simply listened to her instincts, she would have figured out something was going on. She had laughed and gone along with it, thinking that Raze had simply been trying to be the macho protective male of the family to further impress Janine.
Yet, now she had to admit, it had seemed more than that. It had been as if he’d been expecting something to happen. Remembering now the way he’d constantly scan their surroundings made her stomach lurch. Everything they had told her was starting to sink in a bit, even though her brain still refused to accept it all. She’d almost asked Raze to change in front of her so she could prove once and for all that it had been a big joke, but something had stopped her from doing so. While the voice of reason screamed that werewolves were a myth, a tiny flutter deep in her chest warned her that she shouldn’t be so quick to cast off things that seemed impossible because she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes.
After all, she had faith in a higher being, and she’d never witnessed said being in person either. She based much of her life on hope and faith, and those were two things that were not tangible. Too many pe
ople tended to base religion around a single entity, but what it boiled down to for her was believing that she wasn’t alone. Believing that someone watched over her. Believing that her mother and father would be there waiting for her—wherever they’d gone after they’d died—when she passed from this world.
She finished her shower, dried off, and dressed in sweats and a T-shirt. She normally liked a bit more girly stuff to sleep in, but didn’t think it would be appropriate to wear sexy lingerie around Raze. Although, it would probably be fun to see if she could make him blush. All in good fun, of course, because she knew he only had eyes for her sister, which made her respect him that much more.
Chapter Four
He was dreaming of her again, but this time, it was something was different. Her features were clear to him. His heart nearly ceased beating in his chest at her beauty. Her red hair was thick, and shined like a copper penny. Her nose was small, her mouth was adorned by kissable pink lips, and her petite frame supported surprisingly full breasts that led to a tiny waist and gently flared hips.
“Who are you?”
Her soft, angelic voice nearly brought him to his knees. Her green eyes were wide as if she was scared—of him. A fierce wave of protectiveness followed by anger that she would be afraid of him slammed through his chest. Didn’t she know he was the one person that would never hurt her? He’d give his life for her, and if anyone else dared to hurt her, he’d take theirs.
“I’m Piers.” He kept his voice even and calm while his heart beat fast and hard. “What is your name?”
“She-erry.”
The joy of hearing her name warmed him and made his cock twitch in anticipation of claiming her. A shudder of pure, unadulterated lust shot through him, but he had to go slow. She was tiny, and his size alone must be intimidating to her. God, she was beautiful. He ached to reach out and touch her, tangle his fingers in all that glorious hair and tug her to him. Instead, he held his arms rigid at his sides.