Lycan Redemption

Chapter Six

“Galen? Is that you?”

Myka stood at the barn door in a sheer black nightie that highlighted the flawlessness of her golden skin and shiny hair. His body ached to possess hers. He ached to possess her. But it wouldn’t be fair. He was aware that this particular dream—one shared between fated mates—was more than just a dream. But she wasn’t. He couldn’t take advantage of her even if he wanted to. Badly.

“Yes.” He stepped from the shadows.

She frowned, which made the skin above her nose crinkle. He found it adorable and sexy.

“How did I get here?” She looked down at herself. “And what am I wearing?”

“It’s a dream.” He took two steps closer. “You’re projecting things from your subconscious. I guess that means you have a secret thing for black lingerie.” He smiled. “Which is good because you look beautiful.”

“This is a dream? But it seems so real.”

He stepped closer and held his hand out to her. She only hesitated for a moment before taking it, and he led her to the loft. After helping her up the ladder, he pointed to a place where he’d arranged soft hay in front of the double wooden door that stood open to the night sky. The moon was full and casting a soft glow over the darkness.

“Would you like to sit with me for a while?” he asked.

“That would be nice.” She followed him.

After sitting down and leaning back against a stack of bales, he patted the spot between his jean-clad legs. She hesitated again and blushed.

“I won’t bite,” he said.

She sat down and rested her back against his chest. He put his arms around her and placed his lips close to the soft skin by her ear.

“Unless you want me to,” he whispered.

She placed a tiny hand on his thigh and squeezed. “Galen, you do things to me, make me feel things that I don’t quite understand.”

“I think you understand them perfectly,” he breathed against her lobe.

“It’s too fast. How can I want you this much simply because of the way you look at me?”

“Because it was meant to be. You do the same to me.”

“But you are going to leave me.”

“I don’t want to. I will do my best to come back to you. To Patrick.”

She half turned so she could look up at him. “You are telling the truth, aren’t you?”

“I would never lie to you.”

“Then I want to enjoy the time we have together.”

“I want that more than anything, angel.”

“Will you kiss me again?”

“You never have to ask. I’m always here for anything you want. Talking. Kissing.” He nipped her ear gently. “Making love.”

He cupped her nape and pulled her to his mouth, where he captured her lips in a possessive but gentle kiss. When she sighed, he slipped his tongue between her lips, and she opened for him immediately. He groaned when her sweet taste hit him. She was everything he’d never thought to have. Genuine, loving, beautiful, fierce, determined, loyal and . . . his.

The thought of leaving her sent pain ripping through his chest like stray shrapnel from a bomb. Every second he was away from her he would be reminded of her scent, of what he was missing, of the mate he could not claim because of some idiot rogue who’d told lies about him.

Without breaking the kiss, she turned to face him and sat on her knees between his thighs. She looped her arms around his neck and linked her fingers together, holding him tight as he unashamedly assaulted her with his kiss. The way she arched into him told him she was enjoying it as much as he was. He ran his palms down her sides, over the flare of her hips, and around to cup one cheek of her firm ass in each hand.

She cried out, and he dipped his head to her throat. He kissed, licked, and nipped at the tender column of her neck while kneading the soft yet firm globes of her ass. Her throaty growls of pleasure made him so hot, so hard, his balls tightened with need. She wanted him, and there was no doubt that he wanted her, but he couldn’t take advantage of her. Even with every cell in his body screaming at him to claim what was rightfully his, he couldn’t do it not knowing the outcome of the current mess he was in.

If he was free to stay with her without the possibility of putting her in danger, he’d claim her without delay. But he was not. He would not claim her—mark her as his forever—without being able to freely promise her forever in return.

“You are so fucking tempting, angel,” he whispered against the soft skin above the neck of the gown.

The creamy swell of the tops of her breasts peeked from the fabric, and he longed to bare her fully to his eyes. He wanted to see the pink nipples tighten under his touch, wanted to witness the pleasure he bestowed upon her. Instead, he reluctantly pulled back and placed his forehead against hers.

They were both breathing heavily, and she clutched at his neck as if frantic for him to continue touching her. He knew exactly how she felt. The need to continue stroking her, to take them both to the pinnacle of their desire consumed him until it threatened his sanity.

“Don’t stop, Galen,” she pleaded.

“I have to, angel. You deserve so much more than I can give you right now.”

“I don’t care. I want you. Here. Now.”

“As I do you, but you will regret it later.”

She looked up at him and cupped his face in her hands. “I would never regret being with you.”

He leaned down and kissed her before staring into her beautiful eyes. “If I had to leave tomorrow, you would regret being with me tonight. Hell, Myka, if we made love and I had to leave at all, you’d regret it.”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Yes. You aren’t listening with your mind right now. You’re only listening to what your body and heart want. If I thought for a moment that our making love wouldn’t end up hurting you, I’d already be inside you.”

She gasped and undulated her hips. He doubted she was aware of what she did and ground his teeth together to keep from exploding when she rubbed against his throbbing cock.

“I would never regret making love to you, Myka, but I want it to be right for both of us.”

She sobbed, and he wrapped his arms around her. He stroked her hair as she lay against his chest while lust, love, and anger beat through him. It was unfair. Finding his mate was not supposed to be like this, riddled with danger and uncertainty of the future—if any—they would have together.

“I promise you, angel. I will make this right. One day we will be together. No matter what it takes, I’ll do it.”

And at that moment in time, he became resolved about what he might possibly have to do to keep that promise. Kill his own kind. Renewed anger tore at him once again. One thing was for certain. If he found out for sure that Terrance had caused this mess he was in—and he was ninety-nine percent sure now—the rogue was a dead man. He hoped when all hell broke loose the others who were after him would listen to reason and believe him. Because whatever they thought gave them the right to hunt him was wrong. He hadn’t done a damned thing to cause them to call out a manhunt for him.

He smiled when he heard Myka’s light, even breaths against him. She had fallen asleep. He wanted to sleep like this with her every night from now until the day he died. She was heaven in his arms. A miracle that he’d never thought to find.

“I love you, angel.”

She didn’t hear his whispered words, but he didn’t care. He needed to say them to her. One day soon, he hoped she’d say the words back. Until then, he’d relish every second he had with her.

“He’s damned good at covering his tracks.” Raze sniffed the air.

Lorent nodded in agreement. “We’ve barely caught a trace of his scent the past six months. By the time we do, he’s long gone.”

“If what Terrance says is true, we need to get him soon,” Knox said quietly.

Brent cast a quick glance in Terrance’s direction to make sure he was out of earshot.

“I’m not sure how much I believe what comes out of his mouth. At first, he was more convincing with his story. Now?” Brent shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems like a lot of the little details have changed over the months of retelling.”

“I’m with you on that,” Raze agreed. “I spent many years with rogues, and something about Terrance rubs me wrong. He has that restless shiftiness about him. Like he’s hiding something.”

“I can see that as well, but we have to get Galen and find out once and for all who’s telling the truth,” Knox said.

“I agree we need to hear his side of it. I’m just not sure at this point how amiable he’s going to be to telling us. We have been chasing him, and he obviously doesn’t want to be caught. He’s no pup. I haven’t come across many ancients that have turned rogue in my life. If we keep pushing, sooner or later he’s going to push back. We can’t afford to lose any more of our kind.” Brent clenched his fists.

“No. We can’t. But we have to clear this situation up,” Lorent said.

“I agree. I hope we can do it without bloodshed. When we get Galen’s scent again, we need to make a plan to capture him without anyone getting hurt. We can’t kill him and ask questions later simply on Terrance’s word,” Brent said.

“Still no paper trails?” Raze asked.

Brent shook his head. “Nope. We’re watching, but who are we kidding? He’s like us. Any one of us could survive the rest of our lives without money. It might not be a pretty life, but it’s doable.”

“You guys find something?” Terrance jogged up, then stopped beside the men.

“No. Not yet,” Knox answered.

“You need to kill that bastard as soon as we find him. He’s dangerous,” Terrance said.

Terrance had been gung ho on Galen’s death from the start, which in itself didn’t sit right with Brent. There was more to Terrance’s story, and he was going to find out what that was.

“He’ll be dealt with appropriately,” Brent murmured after a quick glance to Knox, Raze, and Lorent.

They nodded, in tune with exactly what Brent’s words meant. Terrance took them to mean they would be killing Galen on the spot. Little did the pup know that he would be scrutinized right along with Galen. And if they found out Terrance was a traitor? Brent was sure Terrance had no idea they were doubting his story. If he had, he would have made a run for it by now.

Brent hated the situation they were in. Why couldn’t all of his kind realize the importance of banding together? Of following the simple ancient rules in place to protect all females with the main scent? The lycan species was dying out thanks to the rogues killing off potential mates. If things didn’t turn around soon, there would be no saving the lycans.

He gritted his teeth. He hadn’t wanted to take Terrance with them on the hunt for Galen, but the idea of leaving him at Sanctuary was even more unappealing. All of their mates, and a few potential mates, lived there, and while the women were always heavily guarded, he couldn’t stand the thought of any threat near Rindy while he wasn’t there. The others felt the same way about their mates.

Brent thought about Rindy. She’d been chased by rogues for most of her life. Fortunately, he’d found her before it had been too late. That was the driving force that kept him going after rogues and maintaining Sanctuary. Many other lycans, including Knox, Raze, and Lorent, now helped at Sanctuary and with the reformation program for rogues. It had saved many rogues from being killed, including Lorent, who Brent trusted with his own life. If Lorent hadn’t been reformed, he would have never met his mate, Melony.

Now other Sanctuaries were popping up across the country. Brent hoped like hell it would be enough to save his kind.

Galen drove the old truck along the bumpy road. Patrick sat in the middle between him and Myka.

“It’s only about ten more minutes,” Myka said.

“Do I have to go see Doc Wheeler? I feel fine now,” Patrick scoffed.

“Yes. It won’t hurt to get checked over.”

Myka glanced over at Galen, who had barely said a word the whole ride to town. That morning, she’d awakened to find him still by Patrick’s side, as he’d promised. After she’d thanked him again, he’d left. By the time she’d gotten Patrick up and breakfast ready, Galen had fed the horses, turned them out for the day, picked the stalls, and was working on getting the rest of the garden harvested.

While Patrick had been getting dressed, she brought Galen some orange juice and an egg sandwich. He’d eaten all of it in a few big bites. He did seem to like her cooking. By the time she’d taken the dirty plate back inside and made sure Patrick was ready, Galen had all of the veggies from the garden lying in a neat row on the tailgate of the pickup and had found the small chicken coop beside the house.

They talked about building a bigger one, and he agreed that it would be a good idea. However, she didn’t miss that he didn’t come right out and say he’d build it for her. Was he planning on leaving soon? Her stomach flittered. She hoped not. She was starting to get used to having Galen around. More than that, she liked having him around. If only he’d stay for the long haul. She could easily see herself settling down with him. He was a good, caring man, and Patrick liked him as well. As far as she was concerned, if the animals and kid both liked him, he couldn’t be that bad.

After she’d gathered the rest of the eggs from the fridge, she’d taken them to the truck. She then took out the vegetables she planned to keep and washed the others and packed them in plastic containers. After loading the truck, they’d all started for town.

“If there is anything you need to do in town, Galen, please feel free.”

“I could use a couple pairs of jeans and some T-shirts. But I’ll unload the truck for you and get you and Patrick to Doc Wheeler’s before picking them up.”

They pulled into town before she could answer, and she pointed to Mr. Lee’s grocery store. Galen parked out front, then turned off the engine.

“I can take care of this, Galen. You’ve already done more than enough this morning. You should take some time for yourself.”

“I’m going to unload the truck for you. I don’t mind, and it’ll only take me a couple minutes.”

“You are a stubborn man, aren’t you?” She grinned because she couldn’t help it. Besides, how could she get upset with him because he wanted to help her?

“Sometimes.” He winked at her before getting out of the truck.

She talked to Mr. Lee after Galen unloaded the produce for her, and was pleasantly surprised at the price he paid for it.

“It’s getting close to most things being out of season around here. The demand is higher for the fresh stuff right now. After this, I’m going to have to order out,” Mr. Lee said while pushing his thick glasses further up his nose.

She’d always liked Mr. Lee. He wasn’t much taller than she was, but was several years older and had a sprinkling of gray throughout his dark hair.

“Thank you.”

“No sense in thanking me, Myka. You always bring me beautiful produce. If anything, I should be thanking you. Everyone loves it when I get a load of your stuff in.” Mr. Lee smiled warmly. “Patrick, why don’t you go and pick something for yourself from the candy aisle?”

Patrick’s eyes lit up. “Can I, Myka?”

“One thing.” She lifted one finger to stress the term one clearly. “Hurry, because we need to be getting over to Doc Wheeler’s.”

They watched as Patrick scurried off.

“He sick?” Mr. Lee asked.

“He had a fever last night, but it’s gone now. I’m taking him in as a precautionary measure.” Myka smiled and motioned for Galen, who had been waiting by the door.

“This is Galen, Mr. Lee. He’s been helping me out at the farm.”

“Nice to meet you.” Galen shook Mr. Lee’s offered hand.

“I’m glad you found someone else, Myka. I know it’s been hard for you.”

“I’ve managed.” Her cheeks heated.

“I know you’ve managed. You are a hard worker, determined as hell, but you needed some time off. All you ever do is work. Now you can spend some more time with Patrick. I know you’ve been wanting to be able to do that. Maybe you can work some time in there for yourself as well.” Mr. Lee grinned.

“Maybe.” She laughed.

“You should go buy that dress you’ve been eyeing at Susie’s across the street,” Mr. Lee said.

“You know as well as I do that there is nowhere for me to wear a dress like that around here. It would be a waste of money.”

“Not if it makes you feel good. You deserve something for yourself once in a while.”

Myka didn’t miss the way Galen was watching her, or the frown he was sporting.

“I’ve got to get Patrick to Doc’s. Patrick!” she called.

“Right here.” Patrick walked over beside her with a huge lollipop in one hand.

“What do you tell Mr. Lee?”

“Thank you, Mr. Lee,” Patrick said.

“You are more than welcome. I’ll see you all later. It was nice meeting you, Galen. You take care of our girl.”

“I’ll do my best,” Galen said in a low voice as they all made their way out of the store.

“Doc is just a block that way.” She pointed to the left. “We can leave the truck here. If you still want to pick up some jeans and shirts, Susie’s has men’s clothing as well.” She pointed across the street.

Galen reached down and ruffled Patrick’s hair.

“Meet back at the truck?”

“Sounds good. Maybe we can get some lunch before heading back. There’s a small diner up the road.”

“I love eating at Polly’s. The food there is awesome!” Patrick practically jumped up and down.

“I guess that’s settled then.” Myka laughed.

“I’ll see you two in a bit.” Galen nodded.

Myka watched him jog across the street before she turned and started toward Doc’s with Patrick. The man was sexy, but he wasn’t an ass about it. She’d met some good-looking guys in her time. Most seemed to know it, and it had shown in their inflated egos. She didn’t like egotistical men. It was a big turnoff. If Galen knew he was good-looking—and he’d have to be blind not to—she’d never seen him use it to his advantage. She liked that about him. Hell, there wasn’t much she didn’t like about him.

As she walked with Patrick to Doc’s, she remembered the dream she had last night. It had seemed so real. Galen had set her on fire with his kisses, with his hands, but he had refused to make love to her. He hadn’t wanted her to regret it. Even in her dream he’d all but told her he was going to leave. But in the dream, he’d promised to come back.

You’ve got to stop it. No matter how many reasons there were pointing to why she shouldn’t have feelings for Galen, she simply couldn’t stop herself from liking him. Liking? She was sure that a simple nudge could turn her feelings for him into much more than like. Maybe that nudge has already happened.

She had to focus. She couldn’t afford to get involved with Galen because if she did, she wasn’t the only one who’d get hurt. She glanced down at Patrick, who was happily licking the lollipop, which was considerably smaller than a few minutes ago. Why couldn’t Galen stay? Patrick needed a man in his life. She needed a man in her life. A plan started to form in her head. Maybe if she showed Galen how good life could be with her and Patrick here in Loring, he’d be too happy to leave.

She sighed. She was an adult, for goodness’ sake. She was well aware that changing Galen’s mind wouldn’t be that easy. But why? She was growing suspicious of him. While he was kind, generous, and honest with her, there was always an edge about him. As if he was constantly looking over his shoulder expecting something to happen. Or maybe someone? Was he in some kind of trouble?

Stop it. Galen is a good man. He’s given no reason to assume the worst about him. Deep down she didn’t believe he’d done anything wrong. She was searching for a reason he couldn’t stay, a bigger reason than he didn’t want to, because then it wouldn’t feel like she wasn’t enough for him. She shook her head.

“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked in between licks.

“Nothing, baby.” She patted him on the back. “Nothing at all.”