Edge of Hunger. Rhyannon Byrd
expecting her to turn and hightail it away. At six-four, he was tall and broad, with enough muscles to make most people back down when he wanted them to. Wearing his meanest scowl, he held her stare, the look in his eyes purposefully hostile and fury-darkened. When he finally spoke, his words came in a low, silken rasp that he expected to buy results. Immediate ones.
âWhat do you mean, no?â
WHAT DID SHE MEAN? She had no idea.
You are insane, Molly. Freaking certifiable.
How did you explain death and ghosts and pure, bone-chilling evil?
How did you explain the existence of hell on earthâ¦or the fact that monsters really did hide in the shadows?
That something was watching you over your shoulder?
That we, humanity, were no longer alone?
How did you explain to someone that their entire world was about to change, never to be the same again?
Molly didnât knowâdidnât have the answers. She was only the bearer of bad news, not its source, and she thought of the old saying: Donât shoot the messenger.
Somehow, she didnât think Ian Buchanan was going to be so understanding. Her mind felt dazed, and she knew why. It was pathetic, but the manâs physical presence had short-circuited her mental faculties. He wasâ¦she faltered for a word that would do all that beautiful, hard-edged male power and arrogance justice, but failed. Elaina had warned her that heâd be distrustful, but she hadnât mentioned how bitter heâd become. Or how gorgeous. Despite his crass rudeness, the man was a walking, talking poster boy for every womanâs hidden bad-boy fantasy.
Beautiful and dark and delicious, he was everything Molly had always thought a man should be, but had never encountered. Hard, rugged lines. Ink-black hair, thick and healthy and windblown. And those eyes, the deep fathomless color of a clear blue sea. They were so much more than attractive. They held a fire. A dark, dangerous intensity that made her insides tremble. Made her breath catch. Made the air around her feel alive, as if it were crackling with electricity.
Not good, Molly. Stay focused.
âI canât give you any proof, Ian,â she said, and there was no missing the hard edge of desperation in her words. âBut if you donât listen to me, if you wonât work with me, someone is going to die. Someone you care about.â
âI donât know what youâre trying to pull, but it isnât going to work, because anyone who knows me can tell you that I donât give a shit about anybody but myself.â
âI donât believe you,â she argued. âNot after the things that Elaina has told me about you.â
He smiled coldly, clearly disbelieving every word sheâd said. âYou wanna lead some guy on a wild-goose chase, try some other sucker, but leave me out of it. In fact, why donât you give the local sheriff a call? I can guarantee heâll get a kick outta you, sweetheart. Youâre just Saint Rileyâs type. Heâll be more than happy to help you try and save the world.â
âDammit, this isnâtââ
Sheâd reached out to grab his arm as he moved past her, recognizing it as a mistake the second he looked down, the deep, raging blue of his gaze driving straight into her, all hostile and violent and strangely arousing.
The words tumbled past her lips without any direction from her brain. âShe said that when the darkness callsââ
He tensed so quickly that her voice faltered, and she knew sheâd struck a nerve. There was no give in the burning, powerful muscles beneath her handâthe bulging bicep rigid with furyâ¦and something that she couldnât put a name to. Taking a deep breath, Molly repeated the words Elaina had told her to say. âWhen the darkness calls, your mother said that youâll know. That youâll findââ
âNo.â His lips barely moved as he ground out the word. âNo fucking way.â
Trying not to get lost in those feverishly blue eyes, Molly stared up at him, imploring him to believe her. âShe wants me to explain, Ian. Explain the things that she should have told you before. Warnings that she should have given you before you left home. Please, just listen to me!â
âYou can find your own way back down the mountain,â he growled, yanking his arm from her hold with ridiculous ease. âJust stay the hell away from me.â
A moment later, he was slamming the door to his truck while he cranked the engine, leaving her standing in the cloud of dust kicked up by his tires.
When he cast one last look in his rearview mirror, she was still standing in the same spot, aloneâ¦watching him run from something that Molly knew he had no chance of evading.
It was one of the elemental truths of the universe. Night would always follow day. Summer would always follow spring. Death would always follow life. And try as you might, you could never outrun something that was already a part of you. Sheâd learned that lesson the hard wayâand still carried the guilt to prove it.
Whether he believed her or notâ¦listened to her or notâ¦gave in or forever told her to go to hell, Molly knew one thing with absolute, undying certainty:
Ian Buchananâs past had finally caught up with him.
CHAPTER TWO
The Midnight Hour
KENDRA WILCOXâS MOTHER had always warned her about picking up strange men. Especially beautiful ones. Ones who were too good to be true. But the stranger sheâd met back at the bar was her best chance at getting over Ian Buchanan once and for all. No way in hell was she going to turn him down.
Sheâd waited for hours, but Ian hadnât shown for their weekly Friday night bump and grind. Now she was pissed enough to do something reckless. Not that she cared about Ian Buchanan, she silently vowed, knowing very well it was a lie. Damn pain in the ass had wormed his way under her defenses, and she knew she was going to end up hurt. Hell, she was hurting already.
She needed this. Needed tonight. Needed to bang him out of her system, which was why she was now speeding down the road with the windows down, the midnight wind whipping through her hairâ¦in another manâs ride.
Mr. Tall Blond and Deadly Handsome was going to be the perfect medicine for what ailed her. And if Ian found out about it later, all the better. His outrageous ego could use a good dent or two.
Kendra turned her head and smiled at the stranger beside her, remembering how heâd asked her, back at the bar, if she liked to be taken in the moonlight, under the skies, where she could scream as loud as she liked when she cameâand heâd promised sheâd come, harder and heavier than she ever had before. Thinking it would serve Ian right if she found someone new to scratch her sexual itches, she only hoped he proved to be as good as he claimed.
They pulled into a grassy meadow a few miles outside of town, and he came around to her door, taking her hand to lead her out into the verdant open field. She felt wild and reckless, like the night, the shots of tequila sheâd downed with him before leaving the bar making her head feel fuzzy. Her mouth was dry.
The tall, blond Adonis smiled down at her, his ice-blue eyes shining bright and deliciously wicked in the silvery rays of moonlight bathing their bodies. Her head filled with the fertile scents of the forest, the damp ground beneath her feet, and his masculine warmth. He was so hot, he felt as if he had a fever, the skin of his palms burning as he curved them over her shoulders.
âDo you like it hard, Kendra?â
âOh, yeah,â she slurred, pushing out her chest so that he could see her braless nipples pressed clearly against the thin cotton of her tank