Page 2 of Ravaging Red
My truth was that I had to find her. I couldn’t leaver her here alone.
I clutched my bag tighter. It was filled with useless items I thought might comfort her. Items that might bring her memories back, allowing her to return. A blanket, her favorite dried cherries, the lavender soap she used to lather on her skin, a scent I always loved. Maybe I brought them for myself, some part of me needing the nostalgia to keep me sane.
But sanity felt slippery this evening. Something had shifted in the air around me, and it made the hair in the back of my neck stand on end.
At first, it was just a tremor, like a static crawling beneath my skin. Then came the scent. A tinge of what could only be described as wild heat. It came from something feral that didn’t belong in the human world. It was thick enough to choke on, to smear against my lips like a kiss I hadn’t ever been given.
I stopped walking, a chill racing down my spine despite the rising warmth inside me.
“What the hell…” I murmured, fingers brushing the hollow of my throat.
It felt like someone was watching me.
No…stalkingme.
The crickets had gone quiet. The owls had stopped their calls. Every sound in the forest was silently holding its breath.
My thighs clenched, and I swallowed back a moan. It surprised me how my body reacted, how my nipples peaked, how an electric heat coiled low in my belly, slick and slow and terrifying.
I’d heard about desire before I read about it in books. I listened to my friends’ whisper about it against the lockers that lined the hallways, glancing around and making sure they weren't caught talking about something so taboo. But I had never experienced it. Not truly.
I wasn’t some naive girl. There’d been a boy once, back in high school. He’d cornered me behind the science building after the last period, his breath warm and eager, his gaze flicking from my eyes to my lips, as if trying to figure out what to do with them. He leaned in, slow and shaking, and I remember the way his fingers brushed against my cheek, all clumsy and uncertain. Our mouths barely met, when the sharp clang of a door flung open behind us, ruining it all. A teacher’s voice barked out our names, and we jolted apart like we’d been caught stealing.
He never tried again. And in the last few years, I never really let anyone else get that close. So I remained untouched. Not because I was afraid, but because I’d never found someone who made my blood hum, someone who pulled that feeling out of me. That ache and need.
Instead, I lost myself in books letting those dark heroes sweep me off my feet. Bikers, cowboys and the occasional monster accompanied me beneath the covers. Imagining them between my thighs was my own little secret.
But this feeling…
This wasn’t desire.
It was something far more dangerous.
It curled through me like black smoke, thick and suffocating. It clawed at the inside of my ribs, making my skin feel too tight, too warm. My breath caught, my body vibrated, and that strong sensation of belonging to someone else ran down my spine.
No, this wasn’t some innocent kiss behind a school building.
This was a craving.A possession.
And I knew, deep in the pit of my soul, that once it claimed me, it would never let me go.
Whatever had been waiting for me in these woods, had just found me.
I paused, listening intently, turning in a slow circle, eyes scanning the trees, but I saw nothing except shadows. Still… I felt it. The heavy presence, undoubtedly male. It felt ancient and it licked at me. Invisible, yet very real.
And then I heard it. A low and soft-like growl against my ear.
Mine.
I gasped at the word, stumbling a step back and nearly tripping over the hem of my cloak. I searched the woods but there was no one else around me.No one could possibly be here.
Suddenly, a glimpse of a dark blur moved between the tree line. My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat painful and fast.
“Nana?” I called out, though my voice cracked on the word. “Is that you?”
Nobodyreplied. But the air grew hotter. Wetter.
I took a deep breath and regretted it instantly. The smell was stronger now. A blend of woodsmoke and musk. It smelled as if the woods had exhaled right into my mouth. I buzzed with an unwanted arousal as it ran through my veins, heating up my body.
