“Dawn,” she said softly. “Let her awaken before you give up on her.”
Fuck. He’d heard rumors, whispers of this kid’s strange knowledge, her sometimes spooky advice. He shook his head, believing them now.
“She’ll come to you.” Her smile was sad. “And you’ll both hurt. Remember that, Seth. You’ll both hurt. But she’ll be whole then.”
Then she turned and walked slowly down the hall to the curved staircase and down the stairs. Seth felt a chill race up his spine, freezing his insides with the knowledge that Dawn would never come to him. He waited, then followed slowly, moving to the marble foyer and turning to stare back at the entrance to the stairs that led to the infirmary. Where Dawn was under the doctor’s care. Where she was hurt. Where she lay alone, wounded, without him.
He had imagined hanging around Sanctuary for a while. Getting to know her, finding ways to make her laugh, to just once see a smile in her eyes rather than that soul-deep sadness that seemed to permeate every part of her.
He wanted to take her on a picnic. He wanted to take her to the mall. He wanted to take her parking and kiss those perfect pink lips and he wanted to lay her down in the bed at his home and love her until she screamed for more.
And it wasn’t going to happen.
He could have never imagined doing what he did next. He turned and slowly left Sanctuary, and the woman he knew would never come to him.
And in doing so, he left his soul behind.
CHAPTER 1
It was the dreams that brought her awake, sweating, snarling, terror and rage snaking through her system with icy chills and harsh, violent shudders.
Dawn cringed, flinched, her flesh crawling at the feel of icy hands ghosting over it, pinching, probing. She tightened her thighs as she fought to scream, feeling the touch there, hating it, snarling in rage at the pain she knew she was coming.
She prayed. God wasn’t for her. He didn’t care. He didn’t listen to Breeds, but still she prayed.Oh God, make it stop.
She could hear the laughter at her ear, the hands prying at her legs, forcing them apart, securing them with the metal restraints as the cold steel bit into her thighs and warm flesh moved between them…
Her eyes snapped open; savage, inhuman growls were still tearing from her throat, rasping it as it clogged with the tears she couldn’t shed. Her hands bunched in the blankets around her, her arms straight at her side, her legs stiff, the muscles cramped.
She felt restrained. She stared into the darkness, feeling the metal restraints cutting into her flesh, her blood seeping from her, agony resonating through her thighs, her stomach, as a stark red haze met her vision and a feline scream tried to tear from her throat.
She jerked upright, sightless, fighting to breathe, fighting to see what she couldn’t see, to remember what she refused to remember. To breathe. Hands clenched on her flesh, fingers dug into the muscle, and laughter, always the laughter echoed in her head.
“Dawn’s rising soon. It won’t be dark any longer.”
The soft, sweetly pitched voice whispered through the room as Dawn came from beneath the blankets in a surge of violent fury, crouched and snarling, feeling her lips peel back from her canines as she prepared to attack.
The enemy sat curled in the chair across the room, a long linen gown shrouding her figure, her waist long, pitch black curls framing her heart-shaped face, and her eyes eerie, brilliant blue glowing points in the darkness of the room.
It took Dawn a moment to realize that her weapon, never far from her side, was trained between the child’s eyes. Her finger was trembling on the trigger, sweat pouring from her body, dampening the thin tank top and gray boxer panties she wore as she shivered in reaction. The chill of the air conditioner washed over her flesh, sending a harsh shudder racing through her body as Cassie Sinclair stared at the weapon.
“You shouldn’t have to wake in the dark alone,” Cassie said gently, reaching out to turn on the light by the chair. Dawn flinched at the movement.
Growls vibrated in her throat, and a distant part of her screamed out in horror at the animal that had pushed ahead of her and stared at the kid with ruthless savagery. She had to fight back the rage, the memories that weren’t memories, that screamed in her head and refused to show themselves. The ones that the animal, determined to survive, refused to let the woman confront.
“Dash.” The word was savage, guttural. “Where’s Dash?”
The girl’s father should never have allowed her there alone. He should watch after his daughter better, rather than allowing her to slip into a room with a beast that could already taste blood. A single tear slipped down Cassie’s cheek as her lips trembled. But there was no fear. No scent of terror, just of pain, compassion. And Dawn hated it.
She forced the weapon down. She forced herself to ease out of the crouch, but she couldn’t force back the screams echoing in her head. A child’s screams, an animal’s screams, horrific in their terror and pain.
“Dad is still asleep,” the girl said gently, her hand moving to indicate a tray that sat on a nearby table. There was a steaming pot there, two cups. “I thought we’d have some hot chocolate before you had to get ready and begin your day, Dawn. I didn’t want you to have to wake alone this morning.”
“Are you f**king crazy!” Dawn stared at the girl, well, young woman, really. Cassie wasn’t a precocious child any longer. She was eighteen and still eerie as hell. “Don’t you know better than this, Cassie?” She slapped her weapon to the bedside table as she collapsed on the side of the bed and stared back at her in horror. “I could have f**king killed you.”
Cassie shrugged. “Death isn’t that scary, Dawn. And better your bullet than a Coyote’s rage, yes?”
Eighteen. Cassie was f**king eighteen. A baby. Innocent, sheltered and protected since the moment the