SOMEWHERE
OUT THERE,
A KILLER IS WATCHING . . .

A creak in the floor woke me.

My eyes flew open to stygian black. My heart thudded against my sternum. Pulse pounded in my ears.

Outside, a gale whipped the trees, rain slashed against the windows. The wind. Imagination. Then I saw my bedroom door.

Ajar.

Darkness moved at my side. Large, male. A hand clamped over my mouth.

Every muscle in my body tensed. I twisted away, clawed at my captor. He pulled me against him. His whiskers scraped my cheek as he spoke. "Not a sound." Then I felt the cold steel of a gun against my bare thigh.

I froze. My thoughts and the world went spinning. In the millisecond it took to right itself, I realized the gun wasn’t pointed at me but at my bedroom door. And it wasn’t only my heart thudding out of control, but also that of the bare-chested man holding me. Torrance.

Read the First Chapter online.