Bomp. Bomp. Bomp.
The closer he got to me, the louder it became. Blood rushed to every part of me that mattered, and I swore I watched him sniff the air that came from my direction as a smile slithered across his half-hidden face. Warmth ran through me and it felt like his fingers were tracing under my breasts and between them landing on my throat. I lost my breath and with a gasp, the spell was broken.
I lost him when I blinked. He had to have gone into one of the buildings around us, but I couldn’t see any of the doors swinging shut behind him. Curious to know where he went, but also needing to get home, I watched for him as I made my way down the quickly darkening street.
There had been a string of odd deaths in the town the past few months and because of that, there was a mandatory curfew. At first it wasn’t so bad, but as the days grew shorter and the nights longer, the solitude of being in the house alone grew into an almost unbearable loneliness.
I had moved to the small West Virginia town of Hazelton when I turned sixteen. Running away from home wasn’t the dumbest thing I had ever done, but looking back, it was in the top five.
I made it back to my small house in the woods and was about to light a candle when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. A gasp sneaked out and I ran to the front door. Stumbling over the length of my dress, I tried to catch myself as I reached for the handle to get back outside.
Smack!
A hand raced in front of my face and knocked on the door hard, making me jump. Blocking the only way out of my small shack, I tried to turn to face the other way and was blocked by a cold, hard something.
“Where are you going?” a deep voice asked.
Without even knowing who it was, my body responded in a way it never had before. My chest rose and fell as my breath caught in my lungs, making my heart race faster than before. I knew who was there and tingles raced up and down me in places they never had. While my mind was saying run, the rest of me was longing for the touch of a stranger.
“I was...I...”
“Relax. I won’t hurt you. I saw you looking at me in the street and I had to come meet you. Please, sit.”
I heard the chair move out from the table. The wood legs scraping on the wood floor sent a chill through me again. How he knew where my furniture was when it was so dark in the house had me curious and terrified. I wondered how long he had been in there and what else he had planned for me. Was he the one who had been killing people or was I letting my imagination run wild to hide the fact I wanted him?
“For you,” he said as he lit the candle I was working on when he startled me.
He stood before me with his hat and gloves off. His hair almost glowed in the light of the candle. His piercing blue eyes looked through me and into my soul. I saw the deep cleft in his chin and the dimples on each cheek when he smiled at me. There was something so familiar about him, like I had seen him before that night, but I couldn’t place where.
“How did you get in here?” I asked. I tried to get my voice to steady, but the tremble in it was easy to hear.
“You invited me, remember?” His voice was as smooth as silk. The words flowed from his mouth coating my ears in his velvet tone.
“You can stop by my place anytime,” were the words I had thought that day as he passed me, but I hadn’t said them out loud. If that was what he was talking about, he was creeping me out even more.
“Yes, that was the time I was talking about,” he interrupted.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I know, but I still heard you.”
“How?”
“Because you are my soul mate. I can hear every thought you have and, once we become one, you will be able to do the same with me. I can smell it. You have never been with a man before. I will be your first.”
“Slow down. I never said any of that and I don’t even know you.”
“Not yet, but you will. My name is Regan.” He held out his hand for me and I sat there in the chair he had pulled out for me and looked at it. “Don’t be afraid of me or what you are feeling. Your body and soul know more than you do. You should learn to trust it.”
“I have a fiancé,” I blurted out of nowhere.
“You had,” he fired back still holding out his hand to me.
“What?”
“You had a fiancé. You left him when you ran away to come here. That makes you single and that makes you mine.”
“That makes me nobody.”
“Oh, sweet girl. You’ll see.”
His laugh was captivating. Deep, short, and loud, even the sound of that was turning me on. I felt a draw toward him I couldn’t explain. It was like I needed to be his and he was offering. I wasn’t sure why my mouth kept refusing him when every other part of me wanted nothing but to be consumed by him. I also couldn’t figure out how he knew anything about me or my past. I hadn’t told anyone there about my fiancé for a reason, but he knew.
“I think you should go now,” I said without any authority in my voice.
“Not yet. I will soon though. There’s something I want you to know first.” He leaned down to hover over me. I felt his hot breath on my face and smelled the sweet aroma of a good cigar on him. “You will be mine. It was destined to be long before you were even born. Fighting it will only make it sweeter for me.”
“What?” I asked, but it was too late. He bent down and put his lips on mine. Fighting him off, I gave in after a second and let him. Closing my eyes, I let the intense feeling he was giving me rush from my head to my toes. A chill started when our lips touched and was quickly chased away by a warmth that swallowed my whole body.
When I opened my eyes again, he was gone. My heart sank in my chest, but I could still feel his lips on mine. Putting my finger to them, I traced them over and over. I could still taste him and still feel the weight of them on me.
That night I had a dream about Regan so real, I woke up and expected to find him naked, in bed, next to me. I woke up alone, but the scent of him lingered on the extra pillow I had and on my own. The need to see him was so strong, I wasn’t sure how I could fight it off.
Or if I wanted to.
CHAPTER ONE
Two nights later
“I wasn’t sure if you had left town or if you were avoiding me.” I didn’t need to turn around to know he had come into my house. I could feel him on every part of me.
“I can’t leave. Not without you. I had to take care of a few things, but I wasn’t far from you. Did you enjoy your dream after I left you the other night?” His voice dripped, but I couldn’t tell if it was from honey or venom.
“What?” I knew exactly what he was talking about and was sure he could tell I was playing dumb. Nothing would get me to forget that dream even if I wanted to. Thinking about it then, I could feel his hands slowly moving along my body, touching me in every spot. A tingle ran through me and I shivered.
“Almost as good as the real thing.”
“You have to stop this.”
“You have to give in to me. The faster you do, the easier it will be. You are fighting a battle you’ve already lost. Do you believe in finding your one true mate?” he asked as he pulled a chair away from the kitchen table and took a seat. Crossing his one foot over the knee of his other leg, he sat straight and commanded authority.