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I sputtered but only got a small breath before he slapped his palm onto my mouth and used the other to pinch my nose.

A door squeaked open. A roar ripped through the room. And then chaos. Garrett had walked out of the small bathroom and tackled the sheriff. Both men rolled on the floor, knocking over hospital equipment as Garrett screamed and fought like a wild creature.

The door opened, and the nurse stared, perhaps just as unable to believe the sight as I was.

“Call the trooper!” She dashed around the struggling men and came to the other side of the bed. Yanking my bed to the far wall, she put her arms around me, as if that would defend against the sheriff. “Get security!”

Sheriff Crow swung his knife and caught Garrett in the arm, but it didn’t stop him. Garrett slammed his elbow into the sheriff’s face. The man howled and tried to roll away.

Garrett grabbed him by the hair and yanked him down onto his back. Straddling him, Garrett grabbed the sheriff’s knife hand and beat it on the floor. Smack, smack, smack. The sheriff gave up, and the blade clattered loose.

“Lillian?” Garrett roared. He grabbed the sheriff’s head and slammed it down, blood spurting across the white tile. “Elise?” Another slam.

The nurse screamed as two more people in scrubs crowded at the door. The sheriff bucked and grabbed for something on his belt. Garrett swung wildly, fury in every vicious blow.

“Garrett!” I screamed as the sheriff sprayed Garrett in the eyes with something noxious.

The sheriff took the opening to shove Garrett off. Horror crawled around inside me, trying to scratch its way out of my throat.

Sheriff Crow, his back to me, reached for the knife as Garrett swung blindly.

I moved, slowly at first, the pain telling me I couldn’t do it. I ignored it and shook off the nurse’s clutching hands, but not before I grabbed the syringe from her pocket. Agony ripped through my abdomen as I struggled off the bed onto my unsteady feet. Surging forward, I ripped the IV free from my arm.

Sheriff Crow grasped the knife, then raised it over Garrett as he continued trying to wipe the spray from his eyes. I lunged forward and stabbed the syringe into the sheriff’s temple. He screeched and grabbed my wrist, but not before I depressed the plunger.

Dragging me to the ground next to Garrett, Sheriff Crow screamed and raised his knife again, though this time his arm wobbled. Garrett swung and landed a blow on Crow’s jaw with a sickening crunch. The sheriff dropped the knife, and his left pupil, near where I’d stabbed in the syringe, blew—the growing black hinting at his soul underneath.

With a shudder, he fell backwards and began convulsing on the floor. Garrett pulled me into his arms and rose to his feet. The sheriff stopped moving, his mouth slack and his eyes open wide. Backing away, Garrett and I both stared at him, hoping he was dead, fearing he wasn’t.

“I’ve got you, Red,” Garrett whispered into my hair. “I’ve got you.”

My nurse rushed around the bed and hit her knees next to the sheriff as others poured into the room. Garrett went against the grain, leaving with me in his arms, where I belonged.

EPILOGUE

THE SCENT OF EARTH clung to me as I hefted my shovel over my shoulder.

“Go easy there.” I stared at one of my undergraduate workers. “If you were to hit a piece of pottery, you’d shatter it.”

“Right.” She sat back and wiped the sweat from her brow.

Spring had hit Blackwood like a knockout punch in a prize fight. But instead of falling into darkness, light infused the air, the trees, and the plants. Wildflowers grew in the clearings, and the thickets bloomed with huckleberry blossoms and white honeysuckle. I skirted the dig and hooked my shovel onto the makeshift tool shed we’d built.

About a dozen students dug, scraped, and brushed dirt away from the remnants of a small Choctaw village about fifty feet from the spot where Garrett and I had dug the day we’d been shot. Green tarps shaded the excavations as eager students honed their skills and discovered secrets of a lost civilization.

I was in charge of the entire dig. Dr. Stallings stayed as far away from me as possible, and he was more than happy to give me carte blanche where Blackwood was concerned.

The breeze picked up, bringing a taste of wisteria in bloom. Cicadas hummed in the trees, their endless song foretelling another hot day in the Delta.

Arms snaked around my waist, and a familiar beard tickled the side of my neck. “Lunch?”

“Yes.” I smiled as Garrett pressed his lips to my skin, creating a storm of goose bumps shooting down my arms.

“I made something special.”

I craned my head to the side and peered up at him. “Like what?”

He kissed my forehead. “I can’t claim it all. Ty stopped by the house to help. It’s his signature country fried steak.”

My mouth dropped open as my stomach rumbled. “Are you kidding? I missed him again?”

“He’s a private guy.” Garrett shrugged and squeezed me.

“I’ve already put him in the same category as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.”

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Ty.” He released me and took my hand. “Come on. Let’s get you washed up. Your fingernails are blacker than mine. Then we can eat.”

I followed him to the small trough we’d set up with fresh water diverted from the nearby stream. After washing, we strolled hand in hand to the small picnic area where a few students ate their lunches and talked about what they’d found on the dig.

Pride must have been written all over my face, because Garrett smacked me on the ass and said, “You got this.”

I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him. “I’ve got you. That’s what matters.”

“I CAN HANDLE THE REST.” Garrett took the last dish from me and dried it with a faded dish towel. “You go on up to bed.”

I yawned and stretched. His eyes went to my chest where my nipples were hard and tingling.

He gripped my ass and raised me onto the counter. “Do you do these things just to turn me on?”

“What?” I bit my lip and stared up at him. “I just wanted to stretch.”

He smirked and planted his hands on either side of me, then leaned forward until our bodies were pressed together and his lips were only a breath away from mine. “Liar.”

His kiss heated my blood, my soul, warmed everything in me until I became an inferno that raged only for him. When he pulled away and traced his lips across my throat, I worked up another yawn.

He shook his head. “Go on to bed. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Okay.” I let my eyes droop a bit as he slid me off the counter. “See you upstairs.”

“Naked.” He popped me in the ass with the dish towel as I strode out of the kitchen.

“Mmhmm.” Once I hit the hallway, I practically sprinted to the foyer on quiet feet. I pulled on my shoes and laced them tight. This time, I was going to let go, to give us a night we’d never forget. The past two times when we tried to play this game, I’d called black before even getting to the woods. Garrett had caught up and carried me back to the house, cradling me in his arms and comforting me. His love healed me more than digging ever could.

And now that I’d seen the Lodge dismantled, the building literally bulldozed, and justice for the victims, I felt ready. I could give myself over to the fantasy—fear and love and lust all wrapped in a fucked up and beautiful package.

I pulled the red pea coat from the peg next to the door and slid it over my arms. The familiar flick of the kitchen light switch turned up my adrenaline. Footsteps, soft and even, made the wood boards creak as Garrett approached.

My hand on the doorknob, I looked over my shoulder.

He came into view and stopped, his body going tense. “Red, we don’t have to—”

“Catch me if you can.” I swung the door open wide and ran. My feet pounded the soft grass, and the cool night air whipped my hair out behind me as I sprinted toward the tree line. Dread tried to press into m

y thoughts, to bring up images of a light snow, a row of graves, and a sheriff’s hat. I burst through all those dark thoughts as I passed the first tree and plunged into the moonlit forest.

I took a different path, veering hard to the right and around a small thicket. The green of the trees gave me a better chance at concealment, so I stopped and leaned against a wide oak. The quiet woods played along, serving as my accomplice and hiding me from the predator on my tracks.

Heavy footfalls sped my breathing, and I plastered myself against the tree as closely as I could.

“Red, call black.” His gravelly voice sent a tingle down my spine.

I held my breath as the scrape of underbrush on Garrett’s jeans told me he was getting close.

“Just call black.” His voice was half pleading, half challenging.

The darkness tried to rise, to swallow up the silvery forest, the moon, the sky, but I pushed it away. These woods were mine now. No ghosts. Only Garrett and me and the connection that intensified every moment we were together.

“I can smell you, Red. I want to eat you up, make you scream, make you cry, and own you until I’m the only thing you can think. I know you’re close.” The footsteps grew ever closer. “Call fucking black.”

“No.” I dashed from my hiding spot and exploded through the trees. I ran with everything I had, forcing myself to push through every haunted memory of my father, Lillian, the sheriff, the mayor—I hurtled through them, and they scattered like petals on the wind.

“Fuck.” Garrett grunted at my back. He was close.

I hopped a stream and hurdled a set of cypress roots. He hit the ground hard behind me as I dodged a tree and scraped past another. My pulse pounded in my ears, and I could feel him before he even touched me. Garrett.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and yanked me back. I yelped as we hit the ground and rolled. He pinned me before I had any chance of trying to make another great escape.

“Call black.” He glowed under the moonlight, the silvery-yellow orb creating a halo behind him. But he was no angel. He yanked up my top and fastened his mouth to my breast.

I moaned when he sucked my nipple into his mouth and teased the tip. When he bit me, I arched and struggled. He kept me pinned and released my nipple, then eased down the mound and bit the underside until I whimpered. More bites followed, both breasts stinging as he left his marks.

“Garrett.” I squirmed. “Oh my god.”