Misty tendrils snaked between Rayanna and the officer as they crept down the mountain's inky, tangled face. Clouds mauled the full moon to further darken their forest swamped trail. They crept after the officer's bobbing flashlight ray, though low, murky fog swallowed its edges. Despite a void of words, the forbidden…
Rayanna folded her shoulders inward, but the bitter night wind thrashed against her bare skin. The chill intensified the quiver in her voice as the knife-wielder inched over the threshold toward her, right hand behind his back. She stammered, "I--it was a camping accident. At least, I think so." "What do…
Rayanna twisted her sweat-slicked wrist and wrenched free from his grip. He snatched the hem of her blouse and snarled. "No, you don't." She pulled away with every ounce of strength. "Lemme go!" Her shirt ripped as she lunged for the door. The rent fabric peeled from her body and scraped…
She howled as the fiery steel sizzled against her flesh. Burnt skin odors burrowed into her senses. Writhing, she thrashed against the rocker. Jerked against the crazed stranger's grip. "Hold still." Cursing, Reeve wrenched her wrist in a tightening grip. "You ain't goin' nowhere." He peeled the blade away, ripping a…
She wanted to jump to her feet and shove the old man. Call him crazy. Tell him he couldn't be more wrong. More than anything, she wanted to run. Rayanna darted a glance at the door--ten paces or so. Reeve let out a slow, throaty chuckle and turned the tip of…
"My wounds look human to me. And you seem ..." Rayanna's lips pursed aside, unable to spit out a valid description of him as a normal man. Reeve dipped his stubbled chin and arched a brow. "So, how do you reckon I seem? Odd?" Eyes riveted to her, he bared the…
A wisp of smoke curled from the fireplace and traced the storyteller's jawline. Reeve sucked his crooked teeth as he surveyed the writhing flames. "There's critters born tender as kittens. But earth's foul air can poison things. So a purr can't be trusted. At any moment, a sweet-sounding thing'll carve your…
Between her shoulder blades, hairs prickled up her spine to the nape of her neck. Rayanna shuddered under the grizzled hunter's glare and forced herself to sit in the unsteady rocker. "If I don't know my story, how can I ..." She hesitated, regretting the impulse to blurt her concern aloud.…
Musky stew grease still coated Rayanna's tongue. And her host's line of questioning didn't help the swill of bad tastes filling her mouth. She grimaced, unable to swallow away traces of bile. "Guilty of what?" She rose a few inches, but didn't make it to her feet. Reeve kicked the…
Reeve glowered in the shadow of the flames raging at his back. With his curled lip and statuary position he seemed almost like a grotesque carving mortared in with the hearth stones. The fire's heat surged past him and pricked at the scabbing wounds on Rayanna's face and arms. She dipped…