No, not only instinct. He needed to make her happy.
As the Learning Center came into view, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least here, others might be around off and on. It was difficult to be alone with her—walking through the woods, even sitting in her cabin watching her scribble a list—without touching her.
He opened the door for her, and after she entered, she spun in a slow circle while whistling long and low.
“This place is amazing.” She tilted her head up and studied the fifteen-foot beamed ceilings.
“All the buildings and cabins here are built by hand from the trees on the land. I helped with this building. Not much, because it was nearly done by the time I arrived, but I got to help with some finish work.”
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He agreed with her. It was amazing. It had no grand facade, but the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and rustic lights and decor gave it an air of elegance and functionality—two things he’d never imagined would coexist with such ease.
She ran her fingers along a row of books—a row amongst many that lined the whole south wall—and smiled. “I love to read.”
“I love to read as well.” Another thing he hadn’t learned until he’d come to Sanctuary. It hadn’t been a necessity for his lifestyle before then, but it had been part of the reformation program.
At first, he’d scoffed at learning to read, but once he’d put his nose to the grindstone, he’d picked it up fast. He loved spending late nights lost in a story, imagining he was in the world created by the author right along with the main character. Sometimes he was the hero, and sometimes he was the villain. Reading had proven to be another welcome way to escape when things closed in on him.
“What will you teach me first, Lorent?” Melony wandered around for a few more moments before taking a seat at a long desk with a laptop at one end. “Wow. Can you actually get the Internet way out here?”
“Sometimes. The service isn’t exactly reliable, but we make do.” It took him a few seconds to remember that she was waiting for him to fill her in on the agenda, so lost was he in the simple act of looking at her. He cleared his throat. “I thought maybe we could just talk about some general things the first day. I could answer a few questions. We could do that tomorrow, too, and when Monday comes we can start with the self-defense since there won’t be another break until Christmas.”
“Sounds good. One thing that has been niggling at the back of my brain for a while . . .”
He nodded, and she continued on.
“It seems that all the potential mates I’ve heard about so far have been women. And all the rogues have been men. Don’t you ever find male potential mates or female rogues?”
“No. All male lycan are born lycan, and all potential mates are female. It’s not something we can explain, but it’s the way it’s been since anyone can 49
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remember. We’ve never heard of a female turning rogue once her mate changes her. In fact, we don’t think it’s possible. On the other hand, it’s not known if a rogue has ever found his intended mate either. If that were to happen, we haven’t a clue if the rogue would get more aggressive or if the natural instinct to protect and love his mate would aid in reformation.”
“Oh my. I never thought of that. That would truly be a sticky situation to be in.”
“Yes. It would be.”
What would he have done had he come across Melony before he’d come to Sanctuary? He wasn’t sure, but he did know one thing. He would have never hurt her, not physically. He may have taken her, believing it his right to do so, but might have never come to fully understand why the need had been so much stronger with her, would have never known it was because she carried the mated scent that only he could detect. Now that he was reformed, he understood that had he found her before Sanctuary and forced her to stay with him, she would have probably never forgiven him, probably grown to hate him.
Not to mention the fact that at that time he could not have protected her. How would he have kept her from the other rogues? He would have most likely unintentionally and naively led her right into harm’s way. The others would have taken her from him, abused her, and he would have had no way to stop them. In fact, the instinctive need to protect her would have probably ended up getting him and her both killed. His stomach curled at the thought, and he silently thanked fate for not bringing her to him when he was still a stupid child unable to take care of himself, much less a mate.
She frowned, and he wanted to smooth the lines from her face with his finger and then his mouth.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to find the man I was destined to be with, only for him to subject me to violence. It would be heartbreaking.
What if a woman meets her mate and they don’t get along?” Her eyes glistened. “My God. You don’t force women to be with their mate if they don’t want to, do you?”
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She stood. Her skin paled, and she began to visibly tremble. He went to her and laid his hands on top of her shoulders.
“Melony?” He waited until she looked up at him. The bewilderment in her eyes nearly brought him to his knees. “No woman will ever be forced to do anything against her will while under the care of Sanctuary. We’ve never had
