by S. K. Yule
Lycan Contempt
By
S. K. Yule
Copyright © September 2012, S. K. Yule Cover art by Mina Carter © September 2012
Formatting by Bob Houston eBook Formatting Amira Press
Charlotte, NC 28227
www.amirapress.com ISBN: 978-1-937394-62-2
No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Amira Press.
Chapter One
“I thought you loved me, Connie. Were al those late night, whispered promises al bulshit?” Anger and hurt burned through Kish’s chest as he waited for an answer from the woman he’d falen in love with over a year ago, the woman he thought had falen in love with him.
Her flawlessly painted red lips—lips he’d kissed more times than he could count—puckered up in a pout that could rival Marilyn Monroe’s. Now that pout, the one she’d frequently used on him to get her way, had no effect on him other than pissing him off even more than he already was. She must have finaly figured that out since her mouth turned down into a scowl.
“Don’t be so overdramatic, Kishy.” She glided to him. Gliding was the only way to describe the obviously practiced, overexaggerated sway of her slim hips. When she reached up and ran her fingers down the undamaged side of his face, longing danced in her eyes. Kish knew exactly what she was thinking because he’d seen that look many times before.
She wished that the right side of his face matched the left. But it didn’t, and he’d been dumb enough to believe that she had seen past his imperfection. God, he was a fucking fool. Once again, he’d handed his heart to a woman who didn’t deserve it, a woman that like al the others at the start of the relationship, had insisted that the scars didn’t matter when they realy did. He looked her up and down.
She was perfect in every way—perfect lips, perfect body, perfect black hair that fel into perfect waves around her perfect oval face. Too bad the inside didn’t match the outside. Too bad he hadn’t seen her for what she realy was—a shalow, uncaring, selfish bitch—until now.
“How many times have I told you not to cal my Kishy?” He curled his lip at her.
The endearment he’d let her get by with because he loved her and thought she’d loved him now made him feel like a dog getting its fur stroked the wrong way—irritated as hel and ready to snap.
Anger quickly marred her beautiful features.
“Come on. You had to know that one day it would come to this.” She shrugged as she turned and walked across the room. “Don’t get me wrong. You are gorgeous, but no matter how I feel about you, I can’t make everyone else overlook your little imperfection.”
“What the fuck does it matter what everyone else thinks?”
She laughed a tinkle of a giggle that scraped over his raw nerves as effectively as fingernails on a chalkboard. He ground his teeth together.
“You know what kind of crowd I run with.” She sat in front of the vanity in the bedroom they’d shared for the past several months.
“Oh yes. Yes. I do know that.”
Rich snobs who thought they were better than everyone else whose main goal in life was to party as hard as possible while schmoozing with others whom they deemed to be good enough to be within their presence. People who thought they were flawless in every way even when they were sniffing cocaine and drinking enough alcohol to keep ten bars in business.
Why had he been gulible enough to believe Connie was different?
He glanced at the bed. The rumpled silk sheets made his stomach churn. Less than two hours ago, they’d made love in that bed, and now she was giving him the fuck-off speech. The fact that their lovemaking had obviously been a one-for-the-road didn’t help his boiling temper, didn’t do anything but rub salt in the wound she gashed deeper into his heart with every careless word from her once-kissable mouth.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Kishy.” She unscrewed the mascara and began applying it thickly to her fake eyelashes.
Kish squeezed his hands into fists until his knuckles cracked. He ached to punch a hole in the wal, but he’d never let her see how much she was tearing him apart. He’d never give her the satisfaction.
“I thought since you were rich, I could convince people to overlook the scars, but some simply insist upon perfection.”
“So because a few of your bitchy, tight-ass friends don’t like my scars, you’re going to dump me? It’s that easy for you after al we’ve been through?”
Connie shrugged. “Look.” She set the mascara down and eyed him in the mirror. “I thought you might be a refreshing change from the usual guys I date. You’re great and al, but it’s time for me to move on.”
“In other words, our relationship was some sick experiment of yours.” He forced the words through clenched teeth. “You never gave one shit about me.
Everything that you ever said to me was a fucking lie.”
She sighed. “No. I meant when I said you were good in bed.” She gazed at his crotch and licked her lips. “That is one thing I wil definitely miss about you.
You have the tools to satisfy me, but that can’t account for everything, unfortunately.”
It amazed him that in less than five minutes, every ounce of desire he once had for this woman drained out of him as quickly as floodwater from an opened dam. How could she sit there nonchalantly primping and dumping him as if he were nothing more than an annoying fly she was shooing away?
A tick started in his jaw that matched each heartbeat. “I cannot believe I thought I loved you.”
This was the last time he’d trust his heart to a woman.
She giggled again. “Oh. I’m easy to love. Men fal in love with me al of the time.”
“Yeah? Wel thank God you know how to conceal that shalow bitch that lives inside you, or I’m sure you wouldn’t find so many men dropping at your feet.”
“Don’t get so riled, Kishy. I’m no worse than anyone else. I have to look out for myself, you know.”
“You mean you are no worse than the selfish, twatfucks you hang out with? Because I have to tel you, no normal person is capable of the conniving, unfeeling, manipulative nature you’ve shown me tonight.”
She laughed at him again, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to hit a woman. But he’d never do such a thing, no matter how much she deserved it.
Men hitting women was unacceptable.
“Who wants to be normal? It’s so boring.” She sighed as she put down the mascara and picked up a tube of lipstick. “Come on. You’re a man. Men tel women lies about how they feel al of the time. This situation is no different. It’s just reversed.”
Her indifference to the situation was glaringly obvious by the way she brushed off his insults as if they were nothing. That only proved to piss him off more if that was even possible. He raked his fingers through his hair, contemplating tearing it out. The predator that lurked inside him snarled and howled to be free.
“Yes. I am a man, but I would never use a woman like you used me. Honesty and integrity are two things I pride myself on having.” He squeezed his fists tighter. “And who the hel would want to be a normal, caring person with a heart?” He blew out a breath in agitation. “Um, me.”
Why the fuck hadn’t he learned by now? This was not the first time a woman had decided she couldn’t be with a man who was scarred, but he’d make damn sure she was the last. Never again.
He walked to the closet, scrounged around in the bottom before finding his duffel bag—the one he’d brought with him when he moved in with Connie a few months back. He went around the room gathering his clothes. After stuffing the bag ful, he zipped it then started for the door.
�
�Not even going to say good-bye, Kishy?” Connie said as she continued putting on the layers of makeup she insisted upon wearing before stepping one toe out of the condo.
“Yeah. If you find that I’ve left anything behind, burn it. And have a wonderful fucking life.”
Without another word, he left the bedroom, went down the stairs, got his leather jacket out of the coat closet, puled it on, zipped it, then left out the front door. He headed straight for the motorcycle parked in the drive—the one thing he’d refused to give up for Connie even though she’d been adamant about not liking it—and secured the bag to it. He fished his sunglasses from the front leather pocket, pushed them on, straddled the bike, fired it up, backed out onto the road, and drove away without a second glance.
His life with Connie—with any woman—was over.
From this day on, he vowed the only contact he’d have with women would be strictly for sexual gratification. His heart was off-limits for good.
He smiled as the cold bit into him. No one else would be caught dead riding a motorcycle in the wintertime, but the cold wasn’t a problem. His elevated body temperature kept him nice and toasty.
That was one of the perks about being a lycan.
Snow? That was another thing altogether. Even he wasn’t dumb enough to ride his bike in the snow.
He had a house about six hours north in the deep woods of Wisconsin. He’d left it when he moved in with Connie. Thank God he’d had enough sense to hire someone to look after it while he was gone. He’d wanted to take Connie there several times, but each time he’d mentioned it, she’d scrunch her nose up and say she wasn’t a woodsy-type girl. That should have been his first clue that a relationship with her would never work for the long haul.
Even if the long haul would have been a span of twenty years or less because he didn’t age like a human and Connie wasn’t his mate. He couldn’t turn her into a lycan, and she along with everyone else they knew would eventualy become suspicious of his youthful looks when age started to bear its mark on them while he remained unaffected by the ticking of time.
He laughed into the wind whipping his hair, but the sound was drowned out by the loud purr of the motorcycle. To think he’d been ready to spend that many years with her. He reached up and adjusted his sunglasses. You are a complete idiot indeed, Kish.
A complete idiot.
Chapter Two
“We’re only going to be gone for a week, Henry.
How many bags do you need?” Joey complained for what seemed the twentieth time in the last half hour.
Georgia smiled as she listened to her best friends bicker with one another. The bickering was always good-natured, and never led to nasty fights or insults.
Joey and Henry were in love, and she loved them more for the dedication they had to one another.
“Come on, guys.” Georgia laughed. “I’ve known you two for ten years, and in al that time, why is it that only I have realized Henry would over pack even if we were going to a nudist colony for a week?”
“A nudist colony? Now that is a good suggestion,”
Joey said.
“Wait a minute. That was not a suggestion, and you wel know it.” Georgia put her hands up in surrender.
“Does going to a nudist colony actualy appeal to you?” The shock in Henry’s voice was evident.
Georgia had become accustomed to reading others’ emotions through the tones in their voices and pauses in speech. While she could tel Joey was trying to rile Henry up, as usual, Henry fel for it—as usual.
Lucy shifted beside Georgia, and she reached to pat the dog that had been her companion for the last five years on the head.
“Calm down, love. It was a joke. Although I can’t say it wouldn’t be an interesting place to go.” Joey laughed again when Henry huffed.
“Are you two about ready? I swear you take longer to get ready than any woman I’ve ever known.” Georgia smiled as she teased them.
“Yes. Yes. We’re ready,” Joey said. “Let me help Henry put the bags in the car, and we’l be on our way.”
Georgia nodded and stood. Lucy immediately stood next to her left leg, and she reached for the handle on Lucy’s harness. “Door, Lucy.”
Lucy immediately began walking beside Georgia to the front door of Henry and Joey’s house where she waited patiently for Henry and Joey to finish packing.
Scuffling and rushed trips to grab forgotten things ensued.
“Okay. I think we are ready,” Henry finaly said.
“You sure you’re up for this, Georgia? It’s probably going to be colder than a witch’s ass at the cabin.”
“I’l survive.” Georgia made her way to the vehicle as Lucy guided her around any obstacles. “Besides, we’ve al been talking about doing this for two years now. It’s far past time to quit talking and do it.”
“Yeah. I know. But I can’t help but think if Frank didn’t have this cabin when Cindy married him, we’d never contemplate taking a roughing-it-in-nature trek four hours north. Hel, central Wisconsin is cold enough. North wil be worse.” Henry started the car after they were al situated inside.
“That’s the point. The opportunity arose from Cindy’s new marriage, and we should take it.
Besides, Henry, it isn’t as if Frank is going to get any good use of it any time soon. Cindy would rather die than rough it in a cabin.” Joey chuckled.
“I’m beginning to think she has the right idea on that one,” Henry quietly said.
“Don’t tel me you’re turning into as big of a wuss as your sister, Henry,” Georgia ribbed him good-naturedly.
It was true. Cindy was a sweet, honest-as-the-day-was-long, kind person, but an outdoorswoman she was not. Georgia had always loved nature. The sounds of the crickets, the rustle of leaves in a breeze, a babbling creek had always proved comforting to her. The only thing that she could think of that would be better was if she could see the things she heard.
She didn’t feel sorry for herself because she was blind, but she doubted she’d be human if she didn’t wish now and again for what she’d been born without. She’d adapted wel to her blindness and was able to take care of herself fine. And when she’d been fortunate enough to obtain Lucy, the dog had given her even more independence. She not only viewed Lucy as a coworker, but as a best friend.
“Wuss? Did you actualy cal me a wuss?” Henry said incredulously.
“I believe she did, old boy,” Joey chimed in.
“Actualy, I view it as more of a, shal we say, manly chalenge.” She settled into the comfortable backseat and leaned her head against the headrest.
“Chalenge accepted. But I stil think we are crazy for going during wintertime,” Henry grumbled.
“Until April next year, it’s the only time we could both manage to get off work,” Joey chastised.
“I’m looking forward to getting away for a week, but only if I don’t have to listen to you two hens cackle the whole time.” Georgia barely kept a giggle from escaping.
“Oh no you didn’t, girl. You did not just say that,”
Joey said.
Georgia laughed and soon Henry and Joey joined in. She loved that she could be herself with her friends, and that they never took her jokes seriously because joking was a big part of her life. She’d gotten through many tough times with laughter. It was the best medicine.
A while later, she started dozing off while Henry and Joey bickered over which station to listen to on the radio. She’d never managed to stay awake on a long car ride. Soon nothing but sweet silence engulfed her.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We’re here.”
Georgia woke up to Joey poking her in the ribs.
“Hey! You know I’m ticklish. Stop it!”
“Geesh. Change Sleeping Beauty to Grumpy,”
Henry said.
“You both know I’m a little cranky when I first wake up. It’s one of the hazards you have to put up with having me as a friend.” Georgia stretched and yawned.
“Uh-hu
h.” Joey laughed. “We’re going to unload and take the bags in. Do you need help with anything?”
“Nope. I’m going to take Lucy to do her business, and I’l be in in a couple minutes.”
“See ya in a few then,” Henry caled to her as she gave Lucy the go ahead to take her potty break.
The fresh, cold air hit Georgia in the face as she stood after letting Lucy’s harness go. The mushy ground under her feet told her that it had rained recently, and the breeze made her wonder if they would be getting more inclement weather soon. The air was fresh, but she shivered when a particularly strong gust of wind hit her ful-on. She was glad when Lucy came back and stood beside her shortly afterward.
“Lucy, take me to Henry and Joey.”
Lucy immediately turned and walked to the left of Georgia as she led her to Henry and Joey.
Georgia folowed Lucy’s signals and made her way up three steps across a smal span of what she figured was a wooden porch by the thumping sound under her shoes, and through an open door.
“Got everything from the SUV inside. Your room is down the hal to the right, Georgia,” Joey said.
“I’m going to get a fire lit,” Henry piped up to her left. “Thank God there is a mountain of wood beside the cabin. I don’t think I’d fare wel playing a lumberjack.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Henry Bunyon has a ring to it.
You think we could find you a blue ox to carry al the lumber for you after chopping it?” Joey laughed.
“You’re so hilarious. Ha. Ha. Ha.” Henry didn’t sound amused in the least.
While Henry and Joey continued their playful banter, Georgia let Lucy lead her around the room so she could get a feel for the layout and where the furniture was situated. After this initial familiarizing, she’d be able to find her way around the cabin with ease by herself. The room was surprisingly big and had leather furniture that was soft and creamy to the touch and stil gave off a rich, welcoming scent. She’d always liked the smel of leather.
The kitchen was quite large as wel. She took things more slowly in that room, opening drawers and cabinets before carefuly feeling the contents so she didn’t get cut by a stray knife or other gadget. After coming across a coffeemaker, she filed it with water and reached for a container that she thought was coffee sitting on the counter. A quick smel of the contents proved she was correct, and she spooned some into the filter, replaced the lid, and turned on the machine. It started gurgling and popping immediately.
