S. Yule - Lycan Vengeance

To my husband who lets me subject him to the workings of my imaginationeven under duress at timesbut who is also proud of everything I accomplish.

As always, to my brilliant writing buddy, Tawanna, who allows me to bounce ideas off her, and has no qualms about giving me honest, helpful input and critique at any given moment.

And thanks to all of my wonderful readers who love reading about sexy, alpha lycans as much as I like writing about them.

Rose took aim at the lycan and pulled the bowstring back in a fluent, silent motion, waiting for the perfect moment to let it fly into the heart of the beast. Shed spent the last ten years hunting the monsters, and vowed to quit only on the day she drew her last breath. While most humans lived in oblivious bliss to the existence of the shape-shifters, she was not so lucky. The knowledge that such monsters existed would do nothing but create terror and chaos, a terror so deep it embedded itself into ones bones, ones essence. At this point in her life, oblivious bliss sounded like heaven.

While shed become somewhat immune to the frightening emotions concerning the existence of such monsters, she was still susceptible to the infrequent revolt of those emotions. On the occasions they would surfacerear their ugly heads like heinous horned mythical beaststheyd steal the air from her lungs and glare at her with an evil grin while she slowly suffocated.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins, and she took a long, indrawn breath, struggling to stave off the building tidal wave threatening to rip all logic from her brain, attempting to make her instinct of flight kick in.

The pungent odor of deer urine she inhaled nearly made her gag. The cloying scent shed sprayed on herself to mask her presence while hunting was one shed never grow accustomed to. A shower was always a welcomed necessity at the end of the day. Hell, shed be willing to run through a freezing stream of hose water if need be to get the stink off her.

Thus far, the Michigan winter had been brutal, and it had only officially started two weeks ago. The snow was nearly waist deep, the already cold temperature plummeted as night came closer, and the forest was a deadly place for anyone unfamiliar with the terrain. She tensed when the lycan shifted, sniffing at the air like a dog. This particular lycan had been a pain in her ass for almost a month. If she hadnt been a good tracker, his evasive tactics would have stopped her pursuit dead on more than one occasion. He was different from the others shed hunted. He seemed wiser, craftier, almost precise in each and every movement he made.

Her aim had to be exact. The arrow had to go through the heart, or the lycan would shift and heal itself.

Her iron-shafted, silver-tipped arrows were specially made, as was her bow, and it had taken countless hours of shooting practice to get her accuracy to near perfection with the heavier shafts.

Taking aim at something that appeared to be human was always unnerving, but she kept the images of what this particular man could becomean abominationburned into her brain for when her conscience whispered at her.

The memories of that fateful nightthe night that had changed the path of her life foreverso long ago were seared into her brain with minute detail. She doubted that even death could release her from the horrid events, for they were etched onto her very soul and would remain a part of her for eternity.

Tammys smiling face flashed before her, and images she struggled hard to keep buried tore through the surface of her will, shredding it with claws that would not be denied. Rose and Tammy had been inseparable once Tammys family had moved into the small house next door to her childhood home when they had both been five. Theyd instantly formed a bond and had spent the next several years growing up and learning about the thrills and letdowns of life together.

Theyd shared sleepovers, vacations, and even a pet turtle theyd found in the backyard theyd named

Gertie. As theyd gotten older, they experienced bullies, loss, triumph, and later first love togetheror what their young, naive hearts had thought to be love. Theyd confided in one another their fantasies and dreams.

They had no secrets between them.

After graduation from high school, theyd spent the summer mapping out the paths they wanted to venture down in life and how they would go about achieving their goals. They had both decided to attend the local collegeTammy to study biology and Rose to study nursing. Unfortunately, those were dreams that would never come to fruition.

The week before they were to start college, they had talked about how neither of them had been interested in partying or rowdy crowds. Both preferred to stay home and watch movies, read, or just hang outhad even been dubbed The Goody Two-Shoes Twins by their former classmates for being known as good girls.

Theyd wondered if they had missed out on some rite of growing up. Curious over what all the fuss was about, theyd decided to attend one of the parties on the campus of the college they would attend soon.

Unfortunately, fate did not choose to grace them with a premonition of the tragic consequences the night held for them. By the time theyd realized Tammys new boyfriend, Russell, had intentionally steered them to the pits of hell, it had been too late. The partyjust off campushad started out as any typical party might, underage drinking, pranks, skinny-dipping, and sex taking place, but within a matter of hours, things had changed drastically.

To make matters worse, the few sips of beer Tammy and Rose had consumed were enough to dull their senses and put them in a fog since neither had imbibed alcohol before that night. Their logic and instincts had been deadened just enough to effectively deafen the sound of the warning bells in their minds until it had been too late.

Neither of them noticed when most of the partiers had left the house or when only a few girls remained, outnumbered greatly by at least a dozen guys. By the time it had become apparent things werent quite right, there was no escape. Six of the men had circled them, while the remaining six circled the other two girlsgirls

Tammy and Rose had never met. When Tammy asked Russell what was going on, hed pasted a charming smile on his lying, evil lips and assured them not to worry, that it was just an initiation of sorts and that there was no reason to be scared.

When he handed them both a soda, Rose had felt a little better that he wasnt trying to ply them with more alcohol, and after taking a few sips, the tendrils of fear that they were in deep trouble were quickly numbed by the drugs that had been slipped into their drinks. She and Tammy were ushered to the couch along with the other two girls while a meeting among the men took place.

Russell seemed to be the leader of the gang and talked about rogues and mates and the mating scent and why it was their right as lycans to use the girls. Shed thought shed been hallucinating for most of the conversation because none of it had really made any sense.

However, when one of the men turned into a wolf, all four of them had been smacked back into reality by the cold hand of dread. Shed never forget the chilling apprehension that had slithered through her spine when shed seen the mans muscles contort and dark fur spring through every pore on his skin. His fangs had elongated, his eyes had glowed, and flashes of every scary movie shed ever seen shuffled through her memory.

None of them had come close to giving her the fright shed felt at that very moment.

Tammy and the other girls had shrieked in terror, but Roses vocal cords squeezed together in fear, paralyzing any sound she tried desperately to make. That one thingher bodys natural reaction to being subjected to a living nightmarehad been what had saved her. The shrieks from the other girls excited the men, attracted their attention as effectively as a flower drew a bee. Shed sat in frozen terror until one of them touched herthe touch enough to jerk her back into reality. Her natural instincts took over once again, and shed bitten down hard on his hand.