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Chapter 1
The darkness of night swirls around me, clawing at my peripherals and snarling at my pounding feet. Branches catch at my hair and ankles, raking my skin and leaving whip-marks I can’t feel over the thudding, heaving pressure in my chest.
My breathing is ragged as I race barefoot and naked though the black woods. The thud-thud-thudding of my pulse roaring like a dragon in my ears drowns out everything—the sting of sticks and pine needles under my feet. The branches whipping at my exposed skin. The raised root that slams my shin as I vault over it. The screaming violence of fear, and the dark rush of excitement that comes hand-in-hand with it.
The thudding, pounding sound of heavy, masculine feet on the path behind me grow louder. The low grunt of his breath as he chases me… rhythmically, ceaselessly, sleeplessly. An animalistic, unyielding, utterly driven force inches away from capturing me.
The adrenaline screams through my body as I hear him pull closer. His breath, hot on my neck; his fingertips barely brushing the ends of my long hair, milliseconds away from tangling in my locks and yanking me to the ground like the prey I am.
I scream, my throat haggard and raw, my skin both recoiling and shivering for his touch and that single moment where I’ll go from hunted to caught. From fleeing to pinned.
From free tohis.
The fear spikes through me, shoving energy into my limbs and igniting the last few drops of fuel I have left in the tank. A wrenching sound breaks through my lips as I surge ahead, dodging left and then right through the black trees and swirling shadows. Branches slice at my face, cutting at my nakedness—clawing me back as if the very woods I run through are bent to his bidding, determined to deliver me into his grasp.
Faceless. Furious. Ceaseless.
My venomous fear, and my dark excitement.
The shadow that chases me screaming through the night and leaves me shivering and aching for more when it’s over.
I lurch between two trees and jerk to the left, bolting for an opening in the woods. The pounding of his footsteps draws closer, and closer, andcloser. My heart roars, my muscles scream, and my core clenches as I dig deep for the very last of my reserves, pushing myself to justget to the clearing.
If I get to the clearing, I’ll be safe. I’ll be free from his poisonous, all-consuming need for me.
Until next time.
With a choking, gasping sound from my throat, I surge forward.
Eyes on the prize.
Don’t look back.
Swallow the fear.
Run.
Something sharp slices the arch of my bare foot. I scream, stumbling but catching myself. It’s only a quarter second… but it’s enough.
I feel the ephemeral throb of his power against my back before I feel the very physical grip of his hands circling my neck from behind.
Oh God…
My eyes bulge, my throat closes off the scream. Hot, iron-corded muscles wrap around my body, yanking me against his bare skin before he brings me forward to the ground beneath him, the weight of him pinning me to the dirt and pine needles.
Every molecule in my body explodes. Every nerve ending howls. My breath chokes, my muscles scream, and the horrible ache in my core engulfs me in fire.
Hand on my neck. Skin on my skin. Lips rasping against my ear as he prepares to claim his prey.
“Mine…”
I bolt upright in bed, gasping and choking, my hands flying to my neck as my legs kick and thrash the blankets away.
Silence hums in my ears.
I swallow dryness, and blink at the semi-light of daybreak coming through the window shades. My pulse still screaming in my veins as my eyes dart around the frilly white bedroom.
The woods are gone.
