"Hi, Sampson!" Roberta said and waved to him as she walked by in her bikini, ostensibly on her way to the pool. All the lycan men stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Stared would probably be a better description. Roberta had never shown off her looks this blatantly before, and she was doing all she could not to blush as a dozen pairs of eyes looked her over with obvious hunger.

  Sampson looked up, and for the first time since she'd surprised him while working on that truck, he had that momentary look on his face like a deer caught in the headlights, followed by a brief pained expression, and then he turned back to his work.

  "Hi, Roberta," he replied.

  Roberta almost swore, she could tell he liked what he saw, the damn bulge in his shorts made that clear! But she hadn't missed the pained look on his face before he turned away.

  She tried to recall if she'd seen that pained expression on his face before. Did he still think she was too young? Maybe he wanted her but couldn't have her because of that?

  No, that was silly; she was well past the age of consent now. So what could it be?

  Walking on to the pool, deep in thought, she didn't even notice the three wolves who'd started to follow her, their eyes riveted on her ass, until she heard a deep growl.

  Looking up, she noticed that Sampson was staring at the three who'd obviously been following her, and had now frozen in their tracks.

  "Work now, playtime later," Sampson said in a very growly voice, and all three wolves immediately turned, tails tucked, and returned quickly to their jobs.

  Roberta looked at him, a little confused, then continued on towards the pool. Was the work they were doing really that important? That growl hadn't sounded like one of annoyance, but if he wasn't interested in her, why would he care if someone else was? It's not like they'd do anything to her without her consent; the rules here at the Sorceress Guild were pretty clear, and the lycans were pretty much by their nature fairly orderly. Well, at least the wolves were.

  Then again, it's not like she'd have resisted their advances all that much.

  "Roberta! What are you doing!"

  "Huh?" Roberta looked up; her mother Deanna was looking at her. "I'm going swimming!"

  "Not like that you aren't!"

  Roberta stopped and smiled slowly. "So, you want me to walk past all the men a second time?"

  Deanna looked at her daughter and sighed. Roberta definitely had a wild streak a mile wide and had already cut a noticeable swath through the lycan population that either visited the Sorceress Guild or actually lived here. At least she hadn't been going after any of the ones already in a relationship. Deanna was seriously starting to wonder about her daughter's morals, or perhaps the lack thereof.

  "Fine, go swimming. But take the shortest path back to your room when you're done. I'll not have you distracting everyone parading around the guild house all but naked."

  "Yes, Mother." Roberta smiled and nodded. After striking out with Sampson yet again, well, she really didn't want to parade around all that much herself. In fact, she'd rather go back to her room right now and put on something else, but then everyone would suspect she'd done this simply to try and get a rise out of Sampson and that wasn't something she wanted anyone to know.

  Not after having failed, that is.

  Setting her towel down, she got into the water carefully. The top she had on probably wouldn't stay on very well while she swam, and it definitely wouldn't stay on if she dove in.

  Sure enough, it came off several times while she was swimming, and over the course of the next hour, she got more than a few admiring looks from some of the lycans in the area. When she got out and spread her towel out on one of the lounges to get a little sun, she was surprised that not a single lycan came over to chat her up and offer to put suntan lotion on her body.

  That had never happened before! And after her failure with Sampson, she could definitely use a little something to distract her and her wounded pride. Especially now that she was starting to feel a little randy. Picking up her things, she made her way quickly back to her room, and after a long hot shower, she went and found her friend Pam.

  "No luck with that lion?" Pam asked.

  "No luck with anybody," Roberta complained. "I'm starting to wonder if my Mom put the word out to punish me for wearing that bathing suit."

  "Well, let's go hit the cantina and find out."

  Roberta smiled and nodded; the cantina was the old dining room in the original guildhall. A number of years ago a few of the older women converted it over to a bar of sorts, so if you didn't feel like going into town for drinks, you could just go there instead.

  Of course it had become a big hit with everyone, because most of the sorceresses really weren't interested in hooking up with mundanes or the male magic users. The mundanes because they didn't know about magic users and the greater world they inhabited; the male magic users because too many of them felt a woman's role in the magical societies and councils should always be secondary to that of the men.

  But the lycans, they were used to strong women and respected the sorceresses the same as they respected the female lycans. So needless to say, any male lycan looking to hook up with a sorceress for the night, or possibly even longer, was always welcome at the guild and, by default, the cantina.

  While the cantina may be a new addition to the local guild, the practice of sorceresses hooking up with lycans was one that went back as far as the guild's origins. This of course had led to a problem: how does a human woman get pregnant by a lycan man, especially when a large number of sorceresses ended up married to lycans? The sorceresses were nothing if not resourceful, and they'd figured out a way.

  All lycan males wore a collar while they were on the guild's property, or longer if they were in a relationship with a sorceress. The collars charged slowly, using they particular lycan's innate magic, and once full, any sorceress who put it on would then be able to have a child with that particular lycan. Roberta's own father was a werewolf who'd unfortunately been killed when she was a young girl.

  Walking into the cantina, they got a couple of sodas, found a table to sit at, and spent the next couple of hours flirting and talking. When Pam hooked up for the night and went back to her room, Roberta found herself left high and dry. The guys would talk with her, and even flirt, but not a single one wanted to hook up with her.

  After a week of this, she finally confronted her mother.

  "Okay, Mom, I got the message, now please tell them to stop it."

  "What are you talking about?" Deanna asked.

  "You're punishing me for wearing that bikini in public."

  "You mean that combination of dental floss and small fabric samples?"

  "Whatever," Roberta sighed, "but come on, enough's enough! Please tell them to stop it already!"

  "Stop what?" Deanna asked, looked perplexed

  "None of the lycans here will sleep with me anymore!"

  "And you think I had something to do with that?"

  Roberta looked at her mother. "You mean you didn't?"

  Deanna shook her head. "If they don't want to sleep with you anymore, that's not my doing. Not that I don't think you should slow down a little, Hon. I mean, really! You've been going through them like a wolf through a herd of sheep! I mean, it's no wonder they don't want to sleep with you anymore when you're not interested in anything more than a few hours between the sheets."

  "Oh come on, Mom! They're guys! Are you telling me they're looking for a commitment? I'm too young for that! Maybe when I'm older!"

  Deanna shrugged. "Well, I have no idea what's going on, so you'll just have to figure this one out yourself."

  The next year proved to be a very frustrating one for Roberta. None of the lycans at the guild would sleep with her anymore. She did manage a few rendezvous with two who didn't live at the guild, but even those dried up fairly quickly.

  As for Sampson, she learned he was from Rhodesia and had come here with a bunch of refugees from some sort of war about a decade ago. Why that had affected him, a lycan, she had no idea. For the most part, he showed up twice a month on Saturday, spent the weekend helping out around the place, and would then spend the night with one of the sorceresses.

  On her eighteenth birthday she was in the cantina drinking beers with Pam, Joyce, and a couple of others when Sampson entered the room and made for a table.

  "There's your lion," Joyce teased.

  "Please, I think he's been avoiding me," Roberta told her with a shake of her head. "Come on, Mark, let's dance," Roberta said, standing up.

  Mark shook his head. "I think I'm going to call it a night, Roberta."

  Roberta looked down at him. "It's only seven. What the hell is wrong with you?"

  "Nothing's wrong with me, I just had a long day, and I really need to get some rest. Night!" And just like that, Mark got up and quickly left the room.

  "Is it my imagination, or did he just flee?" Roberta asked, looking at her friends and their dates, who were three werewolves, a werefox, and a wereleopard.

  "Oh, I'm sure he was just tired," said Chase, one of the werewolves, and all the others nodded.

  "Oh, in that case, how about you? Do you want to dance?" Roberta said, fixing him with a glare.

  "Um, I think I'll pass on that," Chase said nervously, glancing over to the left.

  Roberta followed his glance, and all she saw was Sampson, who was talking with Jennie, one of her mother's friends.

  She turned and looked back at him. "Chase, you've got ten seconds to explain yourself, or I'm going to throw myself at you and we're going to have hot and nasty sex right here on the floor.

  Right up until that moment, Roberta would have sworn that a werewolf with a face full of fur couldn't turn pale.

  Chase turned pale.

  "You wouldn't!"

  "Nine."

  "He'll kill me!"

  "Who? Eight."

  "Sampson!"

  "What? He won't even go out with me! Six."

  "That time he growled at everyone!"

  Roberta stopped counting and looked at him. "Growled at everyone?"

  "When you were in that string bikini and a couple of us decided to go have some fun with you! He growled and well, from that moment on, we all knew you were off limits."

  "Son of a bitch!" Roberta growled and turned around to look at Sampson, who was oblivious to her being there, and Jennie.

  "Joyce, hold my beer, I'm gonna kill that damn lion for this!"

  Marching over to Sampson, Roberta looked over at Jennie. "Sorry, but birthday girl rules," and so saying, she threw her leg over Sampson's legs and dropped down into his lap, facing him.

  She was rather pleased to see him looking down at her, mortified.

  "Gee, who knew lions were so easy to embarrass?" she said smiling up at him. "Guess what? I'm eighteen now! Can't say I'm 'too young' anymore, can you?"

  "Roberta! What are you doing?" Jennie said from behind her.

  "This!" Roberta said, grabbed Sampson's mane with both hands, pulled herself up, and kissed him on the mouth, hard.

  To her surprise, Sampson growled, grabbed her with his hands, and pulled her away from his mouth.

  "What do you think you're doing!" Sampson growled at her.

  "Why, kissing my man of course!" Roberta growled back, glaring up at him.

  "Your man? Who said I was yours?"

  "You did when you growled at the others and made it clear that no one gets me but you! It's been a year, asshole! An entire year! I haven't gotten laid in a year! They won't touch me because they're all terrified of you! So I'm old enough, hot enough, and I'm more than willing to fuck you into the next century! Now are you going to take me back to my room? Or should I get naked and we can fuck right here on the table?"

  Sampson's eyes widened and he leaned back farther and farther away from her as she tore into him, loudly, in front of everyone.

  "I, I had no idea," Sampson said, looking down at her in shock.

  "Yeah, well, you can spend the night making it up to me. Okay?" Roberta said. Grabbing his mane, she tried to pull his head down. But his head wouldn't budge, and he still had a fairly tight grip on her.

  "Roberta, no, stop."

  "What, don't you want me?" Roberta said, looking up into his eyes, and damn if something didn't look wrong. "All the other guys want me, but you won't let them have me, will you?"

  "I'll tell them it's okay," Sampson said, but she could see the look he was giving her was at odds with his words.

  "Oh no, I've waited too long for this, we're going to bed."

  "You don't know what you're asking!" Sampson growled, but she could tell his heart wasn't in it, because sitting on his lap, she could feel he was hard as a rock.

  "I know exactly what I'm asking," she hissed softly. "Now, either you fuck me, or you kill me, but we're going back to my room and we're going there now!"

  "Rober…"

  She stuck her hand in his mouth. "No more words, no more talking. Only doing. Now, stand up!"

  Sampson stood up, growling.

  "Good boy! Now let's go to my room."

  The whole trip to her room, he held her off the ground, his hands holding her sides. She suspected he would have dropped her as soon as they got out of the cantina, but she had one hand wrapped around one of his fangs in his mouth, and the other had a death grip on his mane. She also had her legs wrapped around his waist, and she wasn't being at all shy about grinding into him the entire trip.

  He didn't stop growling or glaring at her either.

  When they got to the apartment she shared with her mother, he just walked right by Deanna, into Roberta's room, and kicked the door shut. Then he let her go and she dropped to the floor.

  "You missed, furball, the bed's over there," Roberta said, pointing.

  "We are not doing this!" Sampson growled, and the only reason she didn't notice just how mad Sampson was looking was because she was incredibly pissed as well.

  "Why the hell not? I know you want me! Hell, you're hard as rock damn near every time you see me! You growl if the others chase me!"

  "I can't…"

  "Bullshit! You've been doing it with half the women who live here! And don't give me any shit about being too young! Now get out of those shorts and get onto that bed!"

  "I said I can't!" Sampson growled. "You look exactly like my wife!"

  "If you're married, why the hell are you coming here?" Roberta fumed.

  "Because she's dead!" Sampson snarled.

  "Oh? Did you kill her, too?"

  Roberta regretted saying it the instant the words left her lips, and the response was about what she expected as he slammed her into the wall. Sampson's hand was around her neck and her feet were dangling beneath her, as he'd pinned her high enough to be at eye level.

  "She was murdered while I was out saving a friend's son from being assassinated. They killed her and both of our daughters. She was a magic user, like you, not a lycan. I came home and found their burned bodies in what was left of our house."

  "I'm sorry," Roberta gasped. His grip was tight and she could barely speak. "I didn't know."

  "Is everything alright in there?" Deanna asked from the other side of the closed door.

  "I should be going." Sampson sighed and let her drop to the floor.

  "I'm fine mother, please butt out!" Roberta yelled, then she grabbed Sampson. "Don't go. I want you to stay."

  "I can't," Sampson said, but Roberta noticed he wasn't trying to pull away.

  "Sure you can. Now, sit down on the bed and let's talk."

  "Talk?" Sampson said, looking her over warily.

  Roberta shook her head and smiled. "A big lion like you scared of a little girl like me?"

  "Larissa was about the same size as you, and I knew better than to ever mess with her."

  "Hmm, maybe I'm her reincarnated?"

  Sampson snorted. "No, you're too old for that."

  "Ha! First I'm too young, and now I'm too old! Make up your mind, Sampson," Roberta said, then steered him back to her bed and sat him down on it.

  Sampson sighed. "What do you want to talk about?"

  "Your wife, of course. Now that I know why you've been both refusing me and hot for me for the last two years, I want to know all about her. If she still rules your life this many years after her passing, trust me when I say, I need to know about this woman."

  Sampson sighed and smiled weakly. "We met at a place like this, of all things, back in Rhodesia…"

  Roberta sat there and listened quietly as Sampson told her all about his wife and their life together, their settling down and starting a family, his job working security for a diamond mine, then the collapse of the government, the ongoing rebellions, the civil war, then the reprisal killings, and how he'd unintentionally gotten caught up in the middle of all of it. And how his family had paid the price when he wasn't there one day.

  They sat there quietly, for how long after that she didn't know, until Sampson started to get up again, and she grabbed him and pulled him down.

  "Please, stay the night, Sam."

  "I, I don't think I should, Rob," he said with a heavy sigh.

  "Let me be Larissa for a night; let me give you the comfort she gave you."

  Sampson turned and looked down at her. "You don't know what you're asking."

  "Oh," Roberta smiled up at him, "I think I have a pretty good idea of just what I'm letting myself in for. But you know what?"

  "What?"

  "I think you're worth it, and I don't think I'm going to regret it come morning."

  Sampson turned to face her, and lowering his face to hers, he kissed her, long and sweet. When he finally stopped, Roberta was panting and had her hands tangled in his mane.

  "I don't think I'm going to regret it either," Sampson said with a deep, sexy purr.

  He slowly undressed her, taking his time and kissing her between each article of clothing he removed. When he stood up and shucked his shorts, Roberta was both impressed and incredibly turned on.

  He climbed into bed with her then, and laying her back, he kissed her as his hands slowly started to explore her naked flesh.

  "Sam," she said, looking down at him as his eyes glowed in the darkness. So much evil had been done to this poor man, so much unhappiness, so many bad things.