Caught in between

ranches forming an almost oppressive canopy that blocked out what little moonlight had broken through the clouds. The headlights o

voice-a warning wrapped in something more... primal. His gaze had lingered too long, his words too deliberate. She shook her head, t

gle-story cabin with peeling paint and a sagging porch, it wasn't much to look at, but

now, leaving the ground damp and the air heavy with the scent of wet pine. As she

en't unheard of in the area-she'd read about them while researching Blackwood-but there was something about the ho

to herself, slamming the trunk

r pulse quickened, and she

her, dropping her bag onto the worn couch in the living room. Boxes were stacked haphazardly in the cor

to prepare for her first day at the clinic tomorrow. But her thoughts kept drifting back to the di

in had started again, a soft patter against the windows. She

vers pulled tight around her, that she heard

y creak of the house, every rustle of the wind. And then, just as she was beginn

e, like claws

es locking onto the window. The curtains were drawn, but she could s

uder this time, followed

couch. The front door was locked, but the back..

pulse roaring in her ears. The growling stopped, repl

it had come, the presen

t the ceiling, listening to the rain and the wind and t

y in a daze, her hands trembling slightly as she poured herself a cup of coffee. The events of the night

der, a middle-aged man with a kind smile and a tired face. The clinic

id, shaking her hand. "I hope

adjustment," she admi

it. The woods can be a little eerie at ni

n't stop thinking about the scratches on her window

s finally beginning to settle. She was examining a golden

see Lachlan stand

't move, his silver e

id, his voice smooth but gua

ing around the leash of the dog in

ine and rain clinging to him. "I need y

his tone-an edge that s

sked, forcing herse

is jaw tighteni

off guard. "You want m

oice low. "And it's not something yo

Amara found herself nodding.

. She didn't know what she was walking into, but the look in Lachlan's