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.

      â€œWhat do you mean, no?”

      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 earth…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 didn’t know—didn’t have the answers. She was only the bearer of bad news, not its source, and she thought of the old saying: Don’t shoot the messenger.

      Somehow, she didn’t think Ian Buchanan was going to be so understanding. Her mind felt dazed, and she knew why. It was pathetic, but the man’s physical presence had short-circuited her mental faculties. He was…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 he’d be distrustful, but she hadn’t mentioned how bitter he’d become. Or how gorgeous. Despite his crass rudeness, the man was a walking, talking poster boy for every woman’s 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.

      â€œI can’t give you any proof, Ian,” she said, and there was no missing the hard edge of desperation in her words. “But if you don’t listen to me, if you won’t work with me, someone is going to die. Someone you care about.”

      â€œI don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but it isn’t going to work, because anyone who knows me can tell you that I don’t give a shit about anybody but myself.”

      â€œI don’t believe you,” she argued. “Not after the things that Elaina has told me about you.”

      He smiled coldly, clearly disbelieving every word she’d said. “You wanna lead some guy on a wild-goose chase, try some other sucker, but leave me out of it. In fact, why don’t you give the local sheriff a call? I can guarantee he’ll get a kick outta you, sweetheart. You’re just Saint Riley’s type. He’ll be more than happy to help you try and save the world.”

      â€œDammit, this isn’t—”

      She’d 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. “She said that when the darkness calls—”

      He tensed so quickly that her voice faltered, and she knew she’d struck a nerve. There was no give in the burning, powerful muscles beneath her hand—the bulging bicep rigid with fury…and something that she couldn’t put a name to. Taking a deep breath, Molly repeated the words Elaina had told her to say. “When the darkness calls, your mother said that you’ll know. That you’ll find—”

      â€œNo.” His lips barely moved as he ground out the word. “No fucking way.”

      Trying not to get lost in those feverishly blue eyes, Molly stared up at him, imploring him to believe her. “She 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€œYou can find your own way back down the mountain,” he growled, yanking his arm from her hold with ridiculous ease. “Just stay the hell away from me.”

      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, alone…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. She’d learned that lesson the hard way—and still carried the guilt to prove it.

      Whether he believed her or not…listened to her or not…gave in or forever told her to go to hell, Molly knew one thing with absolute, undying certainty:

      Ian Buchanan’s past had finally caught up with him.

      CHAPTER TWO

       The Midnight Hour

      KENDRA WILCOX’S MOTHER had always warned her about picking up strange men. Especially beautiful ones. Ones who were too good to be true. But the stranger she’d 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.

      She’d waited for hours, but Ian hadn’t 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 hair…in another man’s 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 he’d 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 came—and he’d promised she’d 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 she’d 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.

      â€œDo you like it hard, Kendra?”

      â€œOh, yeah,” she slurred, pushing out her chest so that he could see her braless nipples pressed clearly against the thin cotton of her tank