The Chosen Ones

The Forsaken Ones: Sneak Peek

Prologue

I am going to die.

Every night it's the same.

Every night I am running...running through the darkness, down a narrow hall when my toes hit a carpet. I trip. Falling...falling. I hit the ground hard, grunting. The taste of fear is bitter on my tongue, and I almost gag. I don't have time to flee, for immediately he's there...

Firm fingers grip my upper arms and flip me over, slamming me to the ground. The air is knocked from my lungs and I'm gasping for breath. He pins me to the hard floor. I can barely move underneath his strength. I am completely aware of the differences between us. My body seems so fragile, so human, compared to the animalistic power radiating from his muscled form.

I know what comes next.

Desperation. Terror. Death.

I can feel my skin bruising under his tight grasp, but what do bruises matter? I don't scream, there's no point. I merely stare up at him in mute horror as he hovers above me, his gaze glowing, those long, dagger-like teeth glistening in the dull light that hangs from the ceiling above.

With a grin, he lowers his head and I know I'm going to die.

That's when I wake up panting, terrified.

As I thrash about on my bedroll, Thane is there, reaching out to offer me comfort and tell me everything is well; it was just a dream. But it takes hours before I fall back asleep.

It's difficult to relax when the very man who attacks you in your dreams night after night is cuddled up next to you in reality.

I try to ignore the remnants of the dream, but it haunts me during the day, stalks me in the dark. I can't help but wonder if it's not a dream at all but something more...a premonition.

After all, I know deep down how this will end: with me as the meal of some blood drinker. I accepted that fact the moment I accepted the reality of this world.

But I never expected that blood drinker who took my life would be the very man I have come to love.

It's just a dream. Thane won't hurt me.

That's what I tell myself.

So why don't I believe it?

Chapter 1

The rabbit was dead.

It stared at me from across the camp, its innocent eyes glassy, its neck bent at an odd angle, and its skinned body as still as the rock it lay upon. The lifeless bunny would have bothered me months ago. But looking at the animal now I saw only a meal. Food. Nourishment.

And that worried me.

I released a sigh and pulled a book from my pack. Until Thane returned, I'd read. Perhaps a book could keep my mind from the dead rabbit watching me; from the apprehension that my own compassion was fading and I'd soon be as ruthless and cold-blooded as a beautiful one.

Alone for three weeks.

One day had morphed into another, until three weeks had suddenly faded. It felt as if my life in the compound had been years ago, my days with Will and Kelly a dream. Some odd memory I wasn't quite sure was real or imagined. What a strange thing the passing of time could be. When I'd lived in the compound the days had dragged. Out here they seemed to race by, as fleeting as the spring.