He didn’t say anything to her for the rest of the night.

She couldn’t help but feel like she’d tread on some touchy subject. She just didn’t know which one it was. Him living out here alone or having a sexy orgasm. God, she could hardly believe he’d actually pulled himself out like that. That was unexpected!

All she did know was that she wanted to know everything about the giant lykaen. She’d never met one before, or if she did, then she never realized it. No, she’d never miss someone who smelled let alone looked like him.

She’d always pictured them to be...hairier. With bigger teeth maybe.

Darien’s hair was perfect though. A shade of stubble grazed his jaw and neck and she could easily see him sporting a trimmed beard. Seeeexy.

When she yawned, he finally turned to look at her. She’d never seen someone not talk so much. He was probably doing it just to irritate her at this point. She kinda didn’t blame him though.

“Take the cot.” She looked at the cot that barely looked big enough to fit his big body in it.

“No, really I can’t. I’ll be fine on the floor.” His eyes were hard and unflinching as he stared at her.

“You’ll do what I say or you’re out of here.” O-kay, Mr. Grouchie Giant. Wishing like hell she had a hair tie for her hair, Cassie climbed aboard the miniature bed. A soft sigh left her. It was surprisingly soft around her and it smelled like him. Not so bad at all. Her lykaen. She chuckled softly and turned on her side to watch him in the firelight. She was so not a creeper, she told herself.

“You’re very kind.” No answer. “Thank you.” Nothing. So she tried, “I really am sorry about before.” Still no answer. Her frustration level rose like a boiling thermometer. “I find you intriguing.” He shook his head side to side as if he was on the verge of either strangling her or getting a migraine.

“If you knew everything about me then you’d find that I’m anything but intriguing, Cassie.” Shivers trembled over her, making her heart speed up. The cabin was dark except for the orange, flickering light of the fire. It crackled and made the room smell of wood and Darien. Two wonderful smells when combined together made a deadly and seductive combo.

I’m not so sure about that was what she wanted to say. But instead, she sighed, “Are all lykaens so sexy?”

His head turned sharply to hers. Anger bracketed his mouth. “Go to sleep, Cassandra.”

She glared at him. “No need to be rude. It was a serious question.” Okay, half-serious.

“Please just go to bed woman.”

“Ha, I bet all lykaens aren’t such grumpy giants.” With voices that make me melt. She heard him sigh, but whatever, she was done. She rolled over in a huff and closed her eyes.

With his scent rolling around her and the soft cushion of the bed gently supporting her tired body, she was out like a light.

* * *

He was chasing her again. Fear clutched her throat like death’s grip. She pumped her arms faster, screaming inwardly at her legs to move!

“Come back to me, Cassandra.” His cold voice trailed after her sounding both faraway and close at the same time.

Cassie was outside. The night was so black the sky looked like inky tar above her, blocking out the moonlight and stars. The soft thump of footsteps trailed after her, taunting her. He didn’t have to let her know he was there; he enjoyed tormenting her with fear, letting her know how close he could get.

“If you come back now, I promise everything will be okay.”

“Yeah, right.” Her heart was beating too fast, any second now and it’d explode in her chest. He was a liar. She used to believe those lies, but now she knew better. She learned from her mistakes.

“Tell me where you are,” he hissed. Cassie sobbed as cold breath trailed across the back of her neck. She never stopped running. The scenery changed, morphing from a flat field to a thick forest.

She leapt over fallen trees and rocks then ran smack into the middle of a hard tree and cried out as the wood bit into her hands. Shaking, she had only a terrifying moment to look down to see the harsh red scrapes on her palms before she he flashed in front of her.

“No!” She got up and ran. No matter how hard she pumped her arms or pushed her legs, he was right there behind her.

“Cassandra.” A big booming laugh filled the forest, somehow echoing from all directions until her eardrums were barricaded with the horrible sound.

“Stop,” she whispered ruggedly. The landscape changed so suddenly that she yelped and grabbed onto a tree branch to stop her momentum. The land in front of her was shifting, morphing like a gaseous entity into a dark, watery mud pit. Cassie bent down to her knees, gasping in large gulps of air for her burning throat. Sweat ran down her face and neck, sticking to her shirt like a second skin.

“You can’t run from me, Cassandra. You will never be free of me.”

“Like hell I can’t.” Determination hardening her, she stood and stepped her foot into the mud. Her leg sank to the ankle. The mud was cold and wet, gripping her ankle like little hands. She stepped her other leg, again and again, wading through the mud until her calves were deep in the brown sod.

A cold presence filled the area behind her, stilling it like ice. A sob broke through her lips and shaking started in her knees and spread to her hands. She couldn’t move, no matter how much she told herself to lift her legs and run, she was powerless—frozen in fear.

Ice cold fingers wrapped around the front of her chest, pulling her back into his cold body.

Tears ran down her heated cheeks. “Please don’t.” The grip on her throat tightened, squeezing her so hard she was wheezing in air.

His pale face pressed hard against the side of hers, his hard, unforgiving voice a hiss in her ear. “Tell me where you are.” He squeezed her harder, choking all the air from her throat. Panic filled her, had her throwing elbows back that met with nothing but empty air. Finally he released his grip on her, allowing her to speak.

“Hawaii. I like the pineapple down here,” she croaked. She waited for one long moment as he did nothing.

Then his grip tightened, his sharp nails digging painfully into her skin until it broke. His hand slid away, then both of his arms were locked around her in an unmovable grip. He pinned her arms to her side, pulled her roughly against his chest, and bit down on her neck.

The bite was bruising, burning, stinging like salt on a wound. He growled, sucking hard, pulling every ounce of life out of her.

Cassie sobbed, cried out for help that wasn’t there. Blackness muddied her vision. It flickered on and off like a dying lamp. Then as the last drop of blood left her, she floated down to the mud her cheek hitting the cold, wet surface.

He wasn’t laughing anymore, but his voice trailed after her as blackness receded over her eyes. Death. Death was coming.

“I’m coming for you.”

Mud slid over her cheek, up her nose, and over her eyes, until finally everything was black.

Chapter 4

Cassie’s eyes popped open and she scanned the room expecting to find him and his men towering over her. Emptiness greeted her though, and she released the breath she’d been holding. Empty but for her and the lykaen.

It was early morning. The sun was just coming up and casting light through the single window by the front the door, lighting the cabin in a dim orange glow.

The lykaen giant slept in the same chair from last night, facing the dying fire. In sleep his brows were drawn down into a furrow, his lips pulled into a frown. Maybe he didn’t have good dreams either. Though she seriously doubted he was being stalked by a heavy-handed vampire bent on marrying him.

Yeah, right.