Hi, everyone! Today I’m going to post the first section of a fun, Halloween round-robin story…I do hope you enjoy it!  Several of my writing buddies (Shelli Stevens, Juliana Stone,  Jess Granger, and Rebecca Zanetti) all agreed to help me write this tale. Each day, I will post a different author’s segment until, on October 31st, the last installment is posted.  So, let’s just dive in to…

Part 1

By: Cynthia Eden

Confession was supposed to be good for the soul.

It wasn’t. Sometimes, it was the worst damn thing that could happen to a soul.

Karen Harvey stared at her husband. Husband. They’d been married for less than twenty-four hours.  Now this…

“Don’t say anymore,” she told Jon and refused to look at the ridiculous heart-shaped bed that waited behind them. They’d wrecked that bed last night. The sex had been incredible—all fire and passion. From the moment they’d met, everything had been fire and passion.

Until this morning, when she’d woken up and taken a good look at the marks he’d left on her neck.

How could I be so stupid?

“Karen…” A muscle jerked along his jaw.  That sexy, strong jaw that she’d stroked so many times. “This is going to be hard for you to understand, but I need you to trust me.”

She almost rolled her eyes.  There was very little that she didn’t understand about this world.

“I’m…not human.”

Her hands fisted. Hadn’t she told the guy not to say anymore? She glanced away. Looking at him hurt too much. Why did I fall for him so fast? “What are you?”  Though she knew. The instant she’d seen the bite marks, she’d known.

Not a vampire. There would have been puncture wounds if he’d been a vamp. But when she’d been having the best climax of her life, Jon hadn’t been drinking from her. Instead, he’d been claiming her. She knew a claim bite when she saw one.

“I’m a werewolf.”

Damn, damn, damn.  She spun away and ran a hand through her tangled red hair.  Her suitcase was open, perched on a chair just a few feet away.  “Yeah, I figured that one.”

Mated to a werewolf. Her family was going to flip out over this.  Even if she lived to be a hundred, she would never live this one down.

Silence behind her. She shoved her hand into the suitcase.

“You don’t seem surprised to find out that werewolves are real.” Now a new tone had entered his voice. Anger? What—he got to be the mad one? Hell, no.

She’d dated him for a month and hadn’t suspected the truth. Not even once.  Or had she?  “I’m not.”

He grabbed her arm and spun her around. Ah, there it was—that fast werewolf speed. He’d been holding back on her. Tricky. Then again, she’d been holding back on him, too.

“How do you know about werewolves?” Jon demanded. Handsome, sexy Jon. With his rugged features, that thick mane of dark hair, and the greenest eyes she’d ever seen…She’d wanted him from the first moment she saw him.

We can’t always get what we want.

But she’d taken him anyway.  Now he stood before her, his muscled chest bare and a pair of jeans riding low on his hips.  She could still taste his kiss on her mouth.

Slowly, she lifted the weapon that she’d taken from her suitcase. A knife made of solid silver. She pushed the blade against his chest—right above his heart—and watched as his eyes widened. “I have a confession, too,” she told him, even as she felt stupid tears well in her eyes.

She’d thought she could escape her past. New city, new name, new life. No more death and blood.  No more monsters.

A new life—a fresh start.

“What the fuck?” He glanced down at the knife. The tip pressed against his flesh and already a soft plume of smoke was rising where the silver touched him.   Werewolves could never handle their silver.

“I’m a hunter,” she told him, voice quiet. The old story about Red Riding Hood had been so wrong. Twisted. A big, bad hunter hadn’t come out of the woods to save Red—Red had been the hunter.  She’d also been Karen’s very distant relation.  Hunting was in her blood. She’d been trained to kill monsters since she hit puberty. Trained to kill them on sight.

Not fall for them. Not marry them. Not…love them.

She saw his canines begin to lengthen. Figured that it would come to this. Hunters and Weres were mortal enemies.

Then Jon smiled, showing off his fangs, and her blood chilled when he said, “I know, sweetheart…why do you think I married you?”  He glanced down at the knife. “Now do you really think you can kill me—or are you ready to hear what I have to say?”

Ready to hear—

Her eyes narrowed and in an instant, she brought up her left hand. She always kept supplies tucked in her bag. She sprayed the liquid silver right at his eyes and when he howled, she jumped back.

“I can kill you,” she’d killed plenty of wolves before, “but I won’t.”

While he cursed, she leapt for the door.

Bones snapped behind her.  His curses became snarls, and she looked back just once…

And saw that her husband had transformed into a big, bad wolf.

***

Tomorrow, the lovely Shelli Stevens will be taking charge of the story. Come back to find out what happens!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Romance. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.