Raven smirked. “One that’s not as long as I’d once thought it would be,” she admitted dolefully.

Ian’s face hardened. “We all make choices in our lives that we have to live with. Do have any regrets?”

“None.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, Raven. Take it easy for the time being,” Ian cautioned as he exited her home.

Hmm,Raven thought, looks like a storm is brewing. They can’t keep me inside all day. Wearing a pair of velour lounge pants and one of Bo’s sweatshirts, she wrapped a Navaho print blanket around her shoulders and went outside through the rear sliding glass doors.

Raven loved days such as this. The low clouds skittered across the sky in shades of angry bluish grey. Had the temperature been lower, they would experience their first snowfall of the season. Instead, it was unseasonably warm.

The seas were churning like an old witch’s cauldron as Raven made her way closer to the rocky shore. A friend of Bo’s and fellow shifter, Seth, greeted her. His alter ego was a jaguar, fierce and quick on his feet-or paws, as the case may be.

“I’m just taking a walk down to the water. Maybe I’ll sit on the rocks and meditate for a while,” Raven called out over the rising winds.

Seth just nodded.

Raven’s favorite formation of jetty was one that jutted into the sea with perfect steps leading to a large, flat stone. The wind carried Bo’s laughter from the front of the house to the back. A familiar ache settled within her, and she longed to be in his arms again.

She thought about how Bo held back yesterday in bed. He must have been afraid of what their lovemaking might do to her. She was a human, and he could not totally lose himself in her anymore. Not as he had in the past. They had no boundaries in the past. It had been part of the way they made love-uninhibited. But that was then, and things were different. That saddened her.

She stepped on the first stone. It also frightened her that he would somehow stop loving her as a result. She knew it was unreasonable to think that way, but the passion they’d shared was unlike anything either had ever experienced. And, in a way, she felt cheated. She walked farther out on the jetty, like she used to. She felt cheated. She was sure Bo would eventually feel it, too.

These thoughts tormented her as she lifted her leg to step onto the last stone.

Something grabbed at her leg.

A small dinghy hid among the rocks. Hands latched onto her pants and pulled her down. She fell into the boat. A sweet-smelling cloth covered her mouth before she had a chance to scream.

Shit! was Raven’s last thought before she entered pitch blackness.

A humming echoed in the back of Raven’s head as she fought to reach the light of consciousness. Where am I? Is Bo asleep next to me?

The memory of walking out into the yard came back to her. She had wanted to go and sit by the rocks. Seth was outside with her.

She tried to move her arms and legs, but something kept them from responding to her mental cues. Her eyes fluttered open, but darkness enveloped her once again.

“What do you mean you don’t know where she is?” Bo growled as he searched the backyard and headed toward the rocks. “Seth, I told you not to take your eyes off her. She might have slipped and fallen into the ocean.” Bo worked the muscles in his jaw furiously. He threw off his shirt and dove into the turbulent Atlantic. The water was murky, but Bo’s altered state of awareness allowed his sight to hone in on the shapes under the water. None were human.

The young man, Seth, couldn’t really remember much of what had happened in the minutes prior to Bo asking him where Raven was. This wasn’t the first experience he’d had of being unable to account for certain blocks of time. In fact, it was happening often recently.

“Bo!” Seth called out to his heartsick friend before tossing off his shirt and following him into the water, washing away any remnants of the bokur’s powder.

“What’s going on?” Kyle, in charge of guarding the north side of the property, called to his friends before they dove down below the water’s surface. The winds strengthened and the water churned.

When Bo resurfaced, he told his friend to call 911. “Raven may have fallen into the water.”

Kyle flipped his cell phone open and immediately dialed, requesting assistance for Detective Wasake.

Seth resurfaced from the rolling seas. He wiped the salt water out of his eyes and turned to look all around him. There was no sign of Raven. “I’m sorry, Bo. She said she wanted to sit by the rocks and meditate. I turned away for a split second.”

Bo pulled himself out of the water and onto the rocks. The wind caused goose flesh to spread across his body and whipped his hair behind him. He reached for Kyle’s cell phone. He punched in Solaris’s number at Blood Pool, striding anxiously up and down the backyard, waiting for her to pick up the phone.

Bo rubbed the back of his neck, kneading out the knots of building tension. “Sol, Raven is missing,” he blurted. “I need you to come to the house and see what you pick up psychically about what might have happened to her, please.”

Silence filled the other end. “What? Oh, no! I had an eerie feeling all morning, and could not get thoughts of Raven out of my mind.” Bo heard Sol take a sharp intake of breath. “Bo… I don’t need to come over. He’s got her. Laroque’s somehow gotten to her. I was just about to call you and see if she was all right. I’ve been worried about her. Shit! I knew I should have stopped by.”

Bo knew enough not to ask if she was sure, even though the words were on the tip of his tongue. His whole body stiffened. His nightmare became reality. Fear gripped its stone cold fingers around his heart and squeezed mercilessly.

This simply could not be happening.

His voice had a cold edge to it. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have disregarded my inner prompts. All my thoughts revolved around Raven. It was as if I was walking through sludge. I was about to call you as soon as I realized I was under the influence of powerful magick.” Solaris’s voice was childlike on the other end. “Whoever conspired with Laroque has no memory of it. He was coerced into it.”

“Terrific.” Bo clicked the phone shut.

Tobias reined in his temper while trying to convince his friend to make certain changes in the itinerary of the island’s celebration.

“The Festival must take place, Tobias. Our success in the coming year depends on it,” Frank Dubois argued, seemingly unaffected by the recent happenings. Lately, Tobias noticed an air of detachment around the mayor. He seemed to be distracted, by what exactly, Tobias didn’t know.

He slammed his fist onto the maple desk separating them “He is going to try and destroy our island and my daughter in the process, and he’ll use the Festival to do it.”

Frank shook his head in denial. “No. We’ll find her. We have search and rescue looking for her. If she’s out there, we will find her.”

Tobias exploded, his anger spilling over, and for one second he bared his fangs, threatening Frank. What had come over his friend? This was not the same man who claimed to love Raven as if she were his own flesh and blood.

“Damn you, Frank-what is wrong with you? Solaris has already informed me that Raven is in the clutches of that lunatic. Raul and Seth are infected and in the ICU. I need to find out where Laroque is holding my daughter. Solaris is trying to find out, as is the rest of the community, but his magick is powerful. He has many charms and glamours to keep Raven’s whereabouts hidden.”