It started in silence.
A low fog kissed the ground as Baron prowled barefoot through a shadowed parlor littered with gold. Moonlight dripped through the trees outside like melted silver.
The candlelights continued to bob like eager onlookers.
He could hear breathing.
Close. Unsteady. Feminine.
Then he saw her.
A beauty.
★★★
★★★
Her heart ticked fast — too fast.
Another sound spilled out. This time lower. Raw. A sound like pain and hunger all at once.
And then she pushed the door slightly open and saw him.
His back pushed sharply off the bed, muscles carved in tension, sweat-slick and twisting like something had crawled under his skin. One hand clutched the sheets, knuckles bone-white. The other dragged roughly across his chest.
★★★
★★★
She was no longer someone he knew. Not
