Lycan Christmas by S. Yule (best contemporary novels txt) 📗

would view his actions suspiciously. After all, what normal person would do a one-eighty and flee from friends with no obvious provocation?

12

Lycan Christmas

S. K. Yule

Chapter Two

Melony gingerly slipped her numbed rear out of the backseat of the SUV

and rolled her shoulders, trying to persuade the cramped-up muscles to relax.

The journey from Knox and Rose’s place to Sanctuary hadn’t been all that bad, was actually scenic, but the overall trip from Maine to here had been excruciatingly long and tedious.

She cringed inwardly. The last six months of her life had been challenging, to put it mildly—very mildly. She was sure that the things she’d seen and learned since meeting Knox and Rose had most likely turned her hair gray under all the pink color.

At twenty-two years old, she was just starting the prime of her young life, when she’d been yanked into a cacophony of events that had led her to this place and these people. She’d grown up in a small but friendly town, and the thought that the reality she knew could easily be shattered within a few short years had never once crossed her mind.

Rose’s existence had been unknown to Melony until six months ago, when Rose and Knox had shown up at her apartment door. Once she’d learned Rose’s relation came from her father’s side—a second cousin to her father—it had explained why her existence had been alien.

Melony’s father had left when she was two years old. She barely remembered him and, quite frankly, had no desire to find him once she’d learned of the abuse he’d inflicted upon her mother. Melony never asked about him, knowing it would only dredge up painful memories for her mom.

It had taken Rose two months to convince her that lycans were real. She had honestly believed the woman to be a complete nutcase, had insisted, on several occasions, that Rose and Knox leave, but they’d refused—even upon threat of notifying the police. She didn’t want to think about the night that they’d finally pulled out all the stops and convinced her they were telling the truth.

That night had consisted of a remote location and Knox going through a partial change in front of her. It had scared the shit out of her, and she’d just recently gotten over the nightmares, but Knox’s transformation had sealed 13

Lycan Christmas

S. K. Yule

the deal, put the final nail in the coffin, as she couldn’t argue that something didn’t exist when she’d witnessed it with her own eyes.

When she’d learned about the rogues of their kind and how she’d be hunted, fear had instantly embedded itself deep in her bones even though she sensed Knox and Rose had tried to sugarcoat things as much as possible—

which by the way, was fine with her, thank you very much. She had no desire to hear the uncut version of lycans, rogues, and what would happen to her if she were ever apprehended by one, at least not at this point in time. She had been sufficiently convinced that she needed the protection they offered, and after some soul searching, had agreed to go with them to Sanctuary.

Rose and Knox had warned her that they’d only given her the bare-bones basics about the lycan race, and had promised that she would learn the details once they reached Sanctuary. She hadn’t pushed the subject any further since she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear everything just yet. Finding out lycans existed both frightened and fascinated her, but oddest of all, even through the terrifying moments of grappling with the astonishing information she was receiving, a calm acceptance had blossomed deep inside her.

She contributed that acceptance to instinct, figuring because fate had marked her, something inside her must have recognized that she was different, that she was meant to fulfill a certain destiny.

Stranger yet, she didn’t feel like she had been shackled by fate, but actually found herself embracing what she might become in the future if she found her mate. She supposed the thought appealed to her because she’d never really come across a man who wasn’t a jerk or didn’t disregard her feelings in certain circumstances as mere female outbursts spurred by hormones.

The chance of finding a man whose universe revolved around her, whose love would be true, who wouldn’t be a jealous jerk, who would care about her feelings, and who would protect and cherish her was a fantasy most women only dreamed about. Of course, the possibility of finding her mate was slim, and if she never met him, she’d survive. She only hoped if she did find him, he was a little less in-your-face dominant than Knox. Knox was a good man, and she liked him, but his intensity was overwhelming at times.

14

Lycan Christmas

S. K. Yule

After a while, Rose and Knox had grown on her. They’d been kind to her and hadn’t given up when she’d stubbornly refused to believe them. They could have simply given her the knowledge of lycans and left her to fend for herself, left her to believe it or not, but they’d refused to abandon her, had insisted they wanted to become her family, to protect her. And who was she to turn down an offer like that? For one, a family sounded like heaven. She missed her mother, and felt alone on her own.

Secondly, what kind of life would she have always looking over her shoulder wondering when or if she might be discovered by a rogue?

She caught a glimpse of a tall man with black hair only a few feet from them, but when she peered around Knox’s broad back to get a better look, he was heading into the woods. She shrugged, deciding he probably had something better to do than meet the new girl.

Knox turned to look at her, his brow raised in question as his eyes went from her to the backseat. She barely noticed the four