Tall Dark Handsome Lycan (21 page)

Her mind raced.  “Elizabeth, my family, Alek. 
Elizabeth is a little girl back home at the orphanage.  I’ve grown to love as my own.”

“We can adopt Elizabeth and Alek.  Of course we will have to tell them what we are and swear them to secrecy.  Alek is old enough for the truth, but
Elizabeth is too young.  We will have to wait a few years.” 

“What about my shop.”

“Sam, I have had four centuries to accumulate my wealth.  It was only in the past eighty years my family has ventured into the hotel business.  I am a very wealthy man. You never have to work again, but if you still want to, we can open another shop wherever we put down roots.”

“You seem to have an answer for everything.”

“I have waited four hundred years for you.  I will not allow you to leave me now.  Sam, I want to marry you.”

She loved him, but too much had happened.  She needed time to think before she made a decision.

He snapped his head in the direction of the door and sniffed.

“What is it?”  She asked.

His face turned grim.  “Stay here.  I need to take care of something.”  He rose and got dressed quickly.  “Lock the door behind you,” he growled before he left.

Frowning, she got up and slipped on his black, silk robe that was draped on a chair.  All of a sudden, her Lycan hearing came into play and she heard a woman scream downstairs.  Maria!  There was an intruder in the house! 

Without thinking, she ran from the room.  Leo could be in trouble!  She heard yells and screams coming from his office and she sped down the stairs.

Fearing that Leo and Maria were in trouble, she opened the door and ran inside, frantically scanning the room for them.  Sam froze as she watched Katina shift in her Lycan form, holding a silver dagger. 

Sam spotted Leo, still in his human form, standing a few paces from the She-Beast. 

“I am sorry, Katina.  You must accept Sam is my
one.
  I love her and I will marry her as soon as possible,” he said in a surprisingly calm tone.

“No!  You bastard!” Katina screamed in her eerie voice.  “I came here as soon as your mother told my parents you found your
one.
  I’ll kill you before you marry someone else.  For three hundred years I’ve waited for you.  Three hundred years!”  She screeched.

“Katrina, I will not hurt you.  Put the knife down.”

“No!”  Katina lunged toward him.

Sam growled, momentarily shocked at the sound she made, and saw everything in the room rise.  What the hell was happening?  Her growl changed as she found herself on four paws, snapping her jaws.  Katina spun around and growled at Sam.

“Sam, get the hell out of here!”  Leo growled.

Without warning, Katrina vaulted toward Sam, her dagger raised, as Leo roared bloody murder while he shifted into his Lycan form.

Sam bared her teeth as she watched Katina lunge toward her, when Leo sprung through the air and dragged the crazed She-Beast back.  Horrified, Sam watched her body transfer back to her human and she fell back on the floor, desperate to change back into her massive wolf so she could help Leo.  He gave Sam a quick look as Katina flew at him with the dagger.  Sam screamed and Leo jumped to the side, the dagger narrowly missing his heart as it cut into his shoulder.  Almost immediately, his cut disappeared as Katrina flew through the air toward him and landed on him, their Lycan forms falling back on the ground.  Sam screamed again.  Leo rolled over Katina and lifted her off the ground, throwing her against a wall. 

He tossed a frantic look at Sam.  “I said leave, dammit!”

Sam was numb.  She sat there, staring at him as a sob rose in her throat.  She caught Katina rise from the ground and vault toward Leo.  He was still staring at Sam and didn’t see her.  Sam’s heart stopped.  He was going to be killed!  Suddenly, she called upon her wolf, shifted, and sprung in the air, over Leo’s head.  She bit into Katina’s neck, making the crazed She-Beast scream.

Katrina collapsed on the ground, reverting to her human as the gash on her neck slowly disappeared.

Sam reverted back to her human and ran into Leo’s monstrous arms.  His eight foot frame towered over her as he held her close.

“Do not move, Katina.  This gun has silver bullets in it and I am not afraid to use it,” Maria said from the doorway.  “I called your parents.  They’ll be here very soon to take you away.”

Leo changed back into his human and continued to hold Sam.  “It’s over.”

Sam pushed out of his arms, tears falling from her eyes.  “How can you say that?  What makes you think she won’t come back?”  She cried.

He grimaced.  “We, my family and Katina’s, come from a big and powerful pack.  When we are sworn into the pack, we have to vow never to harm one another.  Breaking this sacred oath, results in grave consequences.   Katina’s parents know this and will abide by our scared rules.  She will be given daily injections of mercury that immobilizes her ability to shift.  That is the closest thing we do to banishing someone from our pack.”

Sam was reeling.  “It sounds barbaric.”

“It would be worse for her if she killed you.  Our main oath is to protect the innocent.  If she had killed you, her father would be honour bound to drive silver through her heart.”

Sam sobbed.  “I…I thought you were going to die.”

“It will take more than a jealous rage from Katrina to kill me, Sam.  If you leave me, that will kill me.  I will still walk and breathe and eat, but I will be dead on the inside.”

His eyes looked curiously shiny and she placed her hand on his cheek.  “We’ll make it work, Leo.  I love you.”

                                     The End

            
Coming soon…Tall Dark Handsome Lycan, Book 2