“I won’t lie. It is difficult at best for a male to control his need to claim his mate once he encounters her.” Didn’t he know it. “I’m not sure what would happen if a female flat-out rejected her mate. It’s never happened here, and if it did, the woman’s rights would be respected. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome would be for the male, because while the man may understand that his mate has rejected him, the wolf will insist upon taking what belongs to it.”
“Oh. I hope that never happens. That would be sad.”
He nearly groaned, and barely resisted the urge to crush her to his chest and assure her that he would never let any harm come to her. He wanted to hold her and promise to take care of her always, but he couldn’t. And now he’d just opened a whole new can of worms for himself.
What would happen if he forced his wolf, himself, to stay away from Melony? Would his wolf win out in the end?
51
Lycan Christmas
S. K. Yule
Chapter Seven
Melony gnawed at her bottom lip for a few seconds before realizing she was doing so yet again and stopped. Lorent was a beautiful man, and she wondered if he was aware of the effect he had on her when he looked at her with those gorgeous hazel eyes. She stared up at him, and even though she barely knew him, she was absolutely certain he had told her the truth. As long as she was at Sanctuary, she’d be safe. But another thought occurred to her.
“I won’t ever be able to leave here again, will I? Not if I truly want to be safe. Don’t get me wrong. I have no plans to leave anytime soon. I want the people at Sanctuary to be my family, need a place to belong, but what if one day I decided I’d like to go to Ireland or see the Pyramids or Stonehenge or go to Easter Island? Would I be allowed to do so?”
“Melony, I don’t think that’s something you need to be concerned about at this moment. We’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes. I can assure that you are not a prisoner here, but you do need to realize that this is the safest place for you. Sanctuary is still new as well, working out all the kinks, but no one is kept here against their will. I’m sure if you decided to trek around the world, you would be allowed to do so. I’m certain I can say that you would have a guide, though.”
She sat back down feeling a bit better about not being a prisoner. She hadn’t really given much consideration to such a thing to begin with, but she hadn’t thought things through thoroughly up to this point either. If she wanted to belong here, fit in, she had to trust that her safety was and likely would always be an issue.
“If rogues are so bent on creating such chaos, why don’t they just turn a bunch of people and create their own army to fight you?”
“Only potential mates can be changed, which is an exceptionally fortunate thing considering the concern you just raised.”
“Yeah, I guess it is, indeed.” She’d wanted to know these things, but it was all intimidating and frightening to her. “So you are telling me that if a 52
Lycan Christmas
S. K. Yule
rogue gets to me, he can bite me and change me against my will?” She gulped and swallowed hard.
Lorent sat next to her. “I can’t imagine what it is like for you to be learning all of this, as I’ve lived with it my entire life, but you are safe here. I promise I will never let anything happen to you.”
She forced a smile to her lips. She believed he meant everything he said, but he could never be certain he’d be there to protect her in every situation that might arise. Life was too unpredictable, and she knew that as well as anyone. She turned to him.
“Lorent, I believe, if possible, you would protect me in any harmful situation I might find myself in, but I don’t expect you to be able to protect me from everything. No one can promise a thing like that.”
“I can.”
She reached out to him and took his hand in hers, not missing the way he stiffened under her touch. Did he not like it when she touched him? She watched him for signs that might indicate he didn’t enjoy her touch, but she didn’t detect any. In fact, she got the impression he liked her to touch him, but maybe wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to her. He’d made such a big deal about not touching her on their walk to the Learning Center, maybe he wasn’t supposed to touch her. Maybe it was one of the rules here at Sanctuary.
“Lorent? Do you not like it when I touch you? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable in any way.” She kept his hand enclosed in hers, waiting for him to respond, refusing to let go unless he told her he didn’t want to touch her, not that he wasn’t supposed to touch her. If he didn’t want her touch, so be it, but she’d be damned if she followed some rule that said he couldn’t touch her because she was a potential mate.
Friends casually touched one another all the time. Yet she couldn’t deny that his touch evoked a bit more than friendly feelings in her. He was gentle, and he turned her on with his intensely quiet nature. But she wasn’t fooled by that calmness either, as she didn’t miss the way
