ittle to cushion her bare, bleeding feet. Rick's agonized howls

The doors slid open, and two housekeepers pushing

an acciden

unmarked door of a service stairwell just as

rug was a furnace inside her, a molten core of heat and confusion. Her vision d

d air from the hallway vents was a shock to her exposed skin, a brief

heavy thud of boots on th

all, forcing her trembling legs t

of darkness in the dimly lit hall. There was no

fingers finally managing to throw the deadbolt. She slid down the cool wood of the door, landing in

the suite

ang of blood and the faint, anti

s screame

the slats of the blinds, casting long, skeletal shadows across the room. In th

ma

oned, revealing a torso wrapped in blood-soaked bandages. His

ut. There had to

cross the plush carpet. Her foot bumped against

sound echoing like a g

the sofa

s snapp

ying speed of a predator, a panther uncoiling. Before she could even scream, he was o

as like iron. Black spots exploded in her vision a

his gaze focused on her face, on the tear tracks and the raw ter

just

nt filled her lungs. It was a strange, intoxicating

ug in her veins declared war

r body, no longer her own, acted on a primal instinct she didn't know she possessed. She sagge

glazed, unfocused look in her eyes. He frowned, his mind, clouded by pain and the lingeri

an to a piece of driftwood. Her hot, clu

spark that

old killer in his eyes was consumed by a different, darker fire. His mouth came down on hers, n

a maelstrom of instinct and sensation,

intrusive, sliced

her body aching in places

de her, a man lay with his back to her. A bac

er. The darkness, the scent of cedar and bl

mbled out of the bed, snatching her ruined dress from the flo

out. Now. Bef

arely turn the deadbolt. The click sounded like a thunderclap.

ervice elevator at the end of the hall. She jabbed the button for the ground

or, Chelsey Burke, followed by a smirking private inves

er face alight with vicious trium

two men in immaculate black suits. The men didn't speak. They didn't hav

the shadows. Jobe Alvarez

id, his voice quiet but carrying

again. The professional, deadly aura surrounding them was something she

strated, angry sound,