In a blur, Blake shot from his chair, sailing toward me over the table. His hand curled around my throat and the momentum of his move carried me backward, lifting me up. My long skirt tore when it caught briefly on my tipping chair. Before I could blink, Blake slammed me against the wall, pinning me by my throat. My feet no longer touched the ground.

My stunned mind couldn’t comprehend what just happened. No one should be able to move that fast.

Barely breathing, I panicked, and fought to pry away his hands, forgetting to be meek. He laughed and squeezed a little harder. Behind him, Richard stood, but said nothing.

The calculated look in Blake’s eyes reminded me of his expectation. Swearing at his “associate” hadn’t been a bright move. Still trying to wheeze in air, I stopped clawing at his hands and instead wrapped my hands around his forearm for support. His hold loosened, and I gasped. The air burned, but I didn’t stop pulling it in.

All the men at the dinner table watched us, and the one who had kicked me, smirked.

“The time for niceties is at an end. We’ve amassed our fortune. It’s time for the next step. You will choose one of us and evolve your abilities as you were born to do.”

I barely heard his words. His teeth claimed my attention. As he spoke, they grew. Elongating. Already panicked because of the hand at my throat, my racing heart kicked into overdrive at the sight of his canines. His face changed slightly as his jaws expanded to accommodate his teeth.

He can’t be human. What is he?

His grip tightened with his next words.

“You will allow each male here, and every male I bring from this night forward, to scent you. If we decide you are his Mate, you will bite him and establish your Claim.”

His hold loosened. Still gasping for air, I didn’t immediately register that my feet again touched the ground. Bite one of them? He dropped his hand and moved away from me but his piercing gaze held me in place.

“Frank, since she offended you, you can go first.”

Frank quickly leapt over the table, his teeth also abnormally long and pointy. Swaggering toward me, he leaned in close and licked my neck. A shiver of revulsion ran through me.

“You’re mine,” he whispered before he moved to allow the next man close to me.

I turned my face from them and pressed myself against the wall. Despairing, I closed my eyes. Tears fell from the scrunched corners. I couldn’t escape.

After the last man leaned in close to my neck and inhaled deeply, Blake commanded me to leave. I fled to my room and locked the door behind me.

When I woke, I found a manila envelope shoved under my bedroom door. A Post-it decorated the front of it. I easily read Richard’s scrawl.

Run as fast as you can. Everything is in your name.

I gazed at those words with a sinking feeling of dread. Somewhere in the house, a phone rang. Without looking at the contents, I quickly stashed the envelope in my pillowcase and made my bed. Before I finished, a key rattled outside my room and the door swung open. David eyed me as I stood next to the bed, tugging the quilt into place. I still wore my pajamas.

Since Blake needed Richard in the office and didn’t trust me home alone, he’d brought in David as my keeper. Well paid, David did as Blake said. I wondered if David knew about Blake’s teeth.

“You’re not supposed to be in here until I knock,” I said, repeating Blake’s rule.

“Today is an exception. Blake’s on the phone.” David held out a cell phone.

I stared at him a moment before I approached him to take it. What game did they play now?

“Yes?” I said, putting the phone up to my ear.

“Richard’s dead. This changes nothing. We’ll be back tonight.” The line went dead. Richard’s scrawled message ran through my head.

David walked further into my room, a suspicious look on his face. He moved past me and pulled back the quilt. I looked at my shelf where my softball participation trophy from middle school sat. When he lifted my pillow, I quietly lifted the trophy. I could hear my brothers’ muffled voices on the other side of the wall, still locked in their own room.

David never heard the envelope crinkle.

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Bestselling Amazon Series

RUNES

(Book One)

By Ednah Walters

Raine Cooper does not believe in magic or the supernatural, until her new neighbor, Torin St. James, uses weird markings to heal her and she starts seeing things others don't see and feeling things she's never felt before. There’s only one solution, she must find out what he is and why he can’t leave her alone because everything about him says he’s not human.

I texted Coach Fletcher, in case I didn’t make it on time, then slipped behind the wheel. The tire pressure should hold. Please, let it hold.

I backed out of the driveway and reached out to shift gears when my new neighbor left his garage, pushing a Harley. Shirtless. I swallowed, drooled. His shoulders were broad and well-defined. His stomach ripped.

He glanced my way, and I quickly averted my eyes and stepped on the gas pedal. My car shot backwards instead of forward and slammed into something, jerking me forward. Panicking, I hit the brakes and looked behind me.

“Oh, crap.” Of all the mailboxes on our cul-de-sac, I just had to hit the Petersons’.

Cursing, I shifted gears, moved forward until I got off the curb, switched off the engine, and jumped out of the car. Everyone had their mailboxes imbedded in concrete, but not the Petersons. They had to go overboard and use a fancy, custom-made miniature version of their house. Now the post leaned sideways like the Tower of Pisa, with red paint from my car all over the white pole. Their mailbox was totaled, the mail scattered on the ground.

Someone called out something, but I was busy imagining Mr. Peterson’s reaction when he saw his mailbox. He was a big conspiracy theorist. The government and people were always out to get him. He’d believe I deliberately knocked down his stupid mailbox.

“That looks bad,” Blue Eyes said from behind me, startling me.

“You think?”

He chuckled. “From that snarky comment, you must be okay.”

“Peachy.”

I picked up the mail. He moved closer as he helped, bringing with him a masculine scent hard to describe. It bugged the crap out of me that I liked it. Worse, the heat from his body seemed to leap through the air and wrap around me in ways I couldn’t describe.

My mouth went dry. The instinct to put space between us came from nowhere, but I ignored it. Only cowards ran when faced with something they didn’t understand, and my parents didn’t raise one. Still, a delicious shiver shot up my spine, and a weird feeling settled in my stomach.

I waited until I was in control of my emotions before turning to face him. I tried not to stare at his masculine arms and chest. I really did, but all that tanned skin was so inviting and begging to be ogled. I’d seen countless shirtless guys before. Half the swim team spent time in tight shorts that left very little to the imagination, but their bodies were nothing like his. He must be seriously into working out. No one could be this ripped without hitting the gym daily.

“My face is up here, Freckles.”

My eyes flew to his, and heat flooded my cheeks. I rushed into speech to cover my embarrassment. “I, uh, I was just leaving to go to swim practice and… and...”

“I distracted you. Sorry about that.”

He didn’t sound sorry. “You didn’t.”

He cocked his eyebrows. “Didn’t what?”

“Distract me,” I snapped and snatched the mail in his hands. “Thanks. I was checking my text messages when I should have been paying attention to where I was going,” I fibbed.