Red (VonRouge Book 1) Read online

  Red

  VonRouge #1

  Copyright © Jacqueline Noir

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This work is copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the author.

  Cover image licensed by fotolia.com/ ©Andrei Vishnyakov

  Cover design by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Editor

  N. Isabelle Blanco & Carol Allen – Promo Stars

  Publication Date: May 12 2015

  Genre: FICTION/Romance/Paranormal

  Copyright © 2015 Jacqueline Noir

  All rights reserved

  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost, I want to thank my loving husband for dealing with my crazy butt during this whole process. From cleaning around me as I write to letting me use you as a sound board for my ideas, you have been more than I could ever ask for. Forever and a day.

  Next I want to thank my mom for showing that following your dream might take hard work and lots of coffee, but it is achievable and completely worth it.

  When I first started as a blogger I already had the greatest cheerleader in my corner, Diana. You have helped me grow, encouraged me, and continue to be one of my best friends through all of this.

  Finally, none of this would have been possible without Nyddi and Elena. Wow! I don’t even know how to express my gratefulness for you girls coming into my life. I never dreamed this would happen but you two took me under your wings and now this baby bird is flapping her wings. House of Malfunction has become my home thanks to you girls.

  Hussy Squad! You girls rock and simply are the best street team ever.

  Prologue

  When people lay their heads down to sleep at night, it should be a peaceful experience. It should be a time filled with their dreams and aspirations.

  It shouldn’t be ruled by fear.

  Nighttime, however, also means darkness.

  And when the darkness comes, so do the creatures that walk in its shade.

  Sounds like an opening line in a cheesy horror story, doesn’t it?

  Unfortunately, I learned that monsters don’t merely exist in fantasies or under the bed. They really do exist in the dark.

  Or, in this case, in the woods behind my house.

  My eyes wander to the large window next to where I’m lying in bed. The moon shines brightly in the clear sky, taunting me. Reminding me of the secrets blanketed in its shadows. Secrets that are no more.

  Thinking back to the night, which brought to light those secrets, sends a shiver through my body.

  A week ago, I went out to the forest behind my Aunt Tasha’s home. I needed the wild blueberries that grew out there for the muffins I wanted to bake. As I was buttoning up my gray pea coat, my aunt gave me two instructions: stay safe, and don’t wander too far off the trail in the woods alone.

  She treats me as if I’m not an eighteen-year-old girl and wouldn’t know any better.

  I had laughed it off, grabbed my basket and placed a kiss on her cheek.

  The forest always held a sense of peace for me, being thicker and darker than the one behind my old home in Flagstaff, Arizona. When my parents were still alive, and I’d been a little girl, I would roam the parks behind their house for hours with my mother. We would stop, have picnics, and she would read while I sketched. Sometimes it seemed like we spent more hours together in those woods than we did inside our home.

  The woods behind my old house are definitely different from the woods behind Aunt Tasha’s, but there is just something about them both. I can’t seem to place my finger on it though. I mean they are in two different states for crying out loud.

  Each time I step into the woods behind my aunt’s home, the damp, chilled air seeps into my lungs, almost freezing them with each breath. The air grows so heavy that my mind can only focus on catching my next breath. It almost feels as if I’m drowning.

  Suffocating.

  Just like the woods back at my old home. Moisture seems to hover in between the trees and the sensation it creates is eerie.

  As if time has been frozen.

  The sweet flavor mixed with hardy oak enveloped me as a memory of my mother played in my mind. Suddenly, I was carried years back, to when I was about ten. My mother and I had gone off for one of our weekly picnics in the woods. While she laid under the shade of green-leafed branches, I chased around the butterflies. I had been completely obsessed with them as a child. Their bright coloring fascinated me. I was always trying to catch one, just to get a closer look. My favorite thing about them though was to watch them fly. They would flutter to and from, not a care in the world. I envied that ability. After hours, with no luck of catching a flying gem, I plopped down next to my mother, my breathing heavy from running.

  Warm arms encased me from behind as my mother leaned close to my ear, chastising me for not slowing down. Over and over she had explained, but I never truly understood. “The forest air is different than the regular air out in the rest of the world, honey,” she’d said, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ears. “You have to keep your breaths slow and even, or it will be too troublesome to breathe.” She spoke softly, explaining that the forest consisted of an abundance of moisture-filled air, which was too difficult to breathe with hurried breaths. It was meant to make you slow down and enjoy the peace nature offered.

  That same sweet, hardy flavor seeped into my mouth, bringing comfort to my aching heart. I missed her so damned much. Some days breathing was all I could manage. Outside, I smiled to the world, showing a strong façade.

  Internally, however, it was as if the cold forest air had frozen my soul in a layer of ice, not only freezing my lungs but every cell of my body in sadness. Confessing that I miss my parents—especially my mother—doesn’t do the pain justice, but anything more would be crippling. If I allowed myself to feel their loss, to truly take it in, it would be as if a piece of me would forever disappear.

  As I walked along the forest path, I took slow and even breathes, just as my mother taught me. My hand skims over the foliage, plump with water from the last storm. I tried to let my mind get lost in the thoughts of slow breaths and butterflies, to get absorbed by these simple things instead of the memories. I failed. All I could do was think of them, and yet again, my body is almost paralyzed with pain, knowing they are never coming back. They are truly gone.

  My head snapped to the right at the sounds of rustling. Disorientated, I blinked, trying to focus, my eyes scanning the forest. Holy cow. It was night already.

  Frustration builds. Ugh. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I couldn’t keep letting their memory before the car crash take over my thoughts. I become a walking zombie. I had gone farther into the forest than I meant to go and there were but a handful of berries in my basket. At this rate, I was going to end up lost if I didn’t get back to the house soon.

  As I walked back the path I came, I carefully stepped around overgrown tree roots, squinting to see through the darkness. The sounds of rustling grew louder off to the left. Suddenly a bird dashed out, taking flight. There was something about its urgency to take off that made me pause mid step, my breath catching in my throat.

  I froze, my gut coiled—something was watching me.

  My heart raced as I swept my eyes left to right while spinning in a circle. Nothing. Only endless darkness with the outlines of tree trunks and
dense foliage. The only sound I heard was the rustling of leaves from the wind. Or was it another bird?

  A tingle danced down my vertebra making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The pounding of my heart grew louder. The dark had taken my sense of sight. Then I heard it.

  The distinct sound of branches snapping.

  A dark figure of a man appeared off to my right. We were parallel to each other. The sheer size of him . . . much larger than any normal man I had ever encountered. My head screamed at me to run, yet I stood glued to the spot; adrenaline overloaded my system, making my senses short circuit.

  The silence was broken by my feet shuffling along the dirt floor. Quietly, I held my breath, praying he didn’t hear that; my silent prayer was not answered. The massive figure of a man rolled his neck and started to walk toward me.

  Adrenaline began pumping.

  Then I did what I was taught to do since I was a little girl.

  I started running as fast as I could.

  Being a small girl, I would be no match for him physically, no matter what I did. But I could try to outrun him.

  Night had fully immersed the forest. I squinted my eyes as tight as they would go, but I still could hardly see my own hands in front of my face. Frantically, I took off running, darting and weaving in different directions, desperate to just get away from that man.

  All that matted to me was losing him.

  A stinging pain shot straight down my arm as I ran into a tree. My basket fell. Pushing off the trunk, I propelled myself forward, using the momentum to help gain speed, pumping my legs harder. I focused straight ahead, even though I wanted to look back. I couldn’t risk it. Only one second of distraction was all it would take for him to gain the advantage.

  That couldn’t happen.

  I heard nothing but the sounds of my own heavy breathing and my feet hitting the forest floor. Nothing behind me, but that didn’t ease the fear coursing through my body. My legs pushed harder and my lungs burned.

  Almost, there Sadie. Just keep running. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. You can do this, you can lose him.

  The chant looped endlessly in my mind. It was the only thing keeping the fear from swallowing me whole.

  If that man caught me, who knew what he could do to me? Would they even find my body?

  Snap out of it. Don’t think that way. Focus. Left foot. Right foot. Keep going.

  My legs burned like they were on fire. The only sounds I could hear were from my own two feet.

  Did I lose him?

  After running a few more steps I decided to look over my shoulder. It was a risky move but I needed to know.

  There was . . . nothing.

  Absolutely nothing.

  Oh God. I did it. I lost him.

  The adrenaline didn’t ebb, and whether from fear or hope, my legs kept moving forward.

  I should have stopped though. I should have paid better attention.

  Maybe it would have saved me.

  Oblivious, I kept looking over my shoulder, instead of paying attention to what was in front of me.

  It was then I went from the being the prey of one hunter, to the catch of another.

  The second my eyes landed on the wolf blocking my way will be a moment that’s forever branded in my memory. His black fur seemed to sparkle from the light of the moon as it encased his larger-than-life frame and surrounded eyes that were an eerie gray.

  I skidded to a halt, my shoes digging into the dirt beneath my feet from the momentum. A mixture of sweat and humidity dripped down my face. Chest tight with panting breaths, I stood there frozen as I stared into the wolf’s eyes.

  This couldn’t be happening to me. No. How did I escape one dangerous situation just to end up here? Run, Sadie. Turn around and run.

  My body didn’t listen.

  It’s those eyes that burned themselves into my brain; how they swirled with colors as if a storm brewed inside them. They held me transfixed against my will.

  His nostrils flared. Each breath he took caused his massive body to shutter, from the top of his ears to the tip of his tail. Huge paws clawed at the ground in my direction, and I could sense he was about to bolt toward me.

  There wasn’t a choice between flight or fight; flight was the only option. I pushed off the ground and ran left, sucking in a deep breath and dug deep for the strength I needed.

  This time I wasn’t fortunate enough to be awarded with silence.

  I heard every step he took, every branch he snapped. Each snarl he growled vibrated into my back. There was a wild hunger in those snarls. My entire nervous system seemed to sense it.

  The need to run became the only thing on my mind, breathing a close second. It seemed like the sound of every branch that snapped under my boots was deafening. Between the moisture thick air suffocating me, the fear pounding through me, and the colors of the night that appeared to grow even darker, my vision tunneled.

  Self-preservation was the only thing that didn’t allow me to stop. To collapse as my tiring body wanted me so badly to do.

  I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, forcing them to run as quickly as they would go. My chest ached as the air I needed refused to come in fast enough. I’d never run so fast in my life. My body almost couldn’t take it.

  Despite the cold, beads of sweat rolled down my face. A mixture of fear and helplessness made me weak, and I had to push through it to keep on running. I kept telling myself not to look over my shoulder to see how close the wolf was.

  But I knew how close. The faster I ran, the more he caught up, each puff of breath he exhaled seeming stronger against my back. His paws hit the forest floor, his growls and snaps of his teeth getting closer and closer.

  My panic level reached an all-time high. The inner voice in my head screamed to keep moving, but it seemed to be a futile attempt. Two legs versus four. Anyone could do that math and see who the loser would be.

  All the things I wanted to do—get married and have kids—were rapidly slipping through my fingers. My tears turned from those of fear to those of heartbreak for the last moments of my short life.

  Suddenly, something bright caught my eye off to the right. Outlines of trees and the trail faintly reappeared. My burned-out legs pumped harder at the sight; there was a way out and I was desperate for an escape. The need to breathe became insignificant as I gave everything I had to reaching safety.

  Just when I thought I had a chance, the wolf tackled me to the ground.

  Air rushed past me as my legs lifted off the forest floor. It was so quick; I didn’t even have a chance to brace myself for the impact.

  Pain sliced through my whole body, my arms and face scraping against the debris on the ground as my forehead bounced off a rock. I barely had time to register what happened before a more terrifying realization hit me; the wolf’s heavy weight was on my back.

  I tried curling into a fetal position, whimpers pouring out of me, but the wolf growled, as if warning me to stop. His front legs anchored me down by my shoulders and his hind legs weighed down my thighs.

  Escape was useless. Tears continued to fall from my tightly squeezed eyes. A massive paw, that felt bigger than my head, curled over my shoulder, rolling me over effortlessly.

  I was at the beast’s mercy.

  My thoughts raced through my mind, an incoherent mess of nothing but terror.

  I was going to die.

  I was going to die, eaten alive by a wolf.

  A deep down-instinct kicked in. Giving up was not an option. My life had had some painful moments—really painful ones—but I wasn’t ready to let it go. Not yet.

  I thrashed around as much as I could. My head tossing side-to-side, I kicked my legs and pushed my arms against his paws with all the strength I had in an attempt to free myself. I didn’t even care anymore if my flailing around angered him. My only thought was to get free.

  The wolf lowered himself onto me, our bellies touching.

  My sobs became pleas to
spare my life; promises to never come back to the forest were all I could offer to this animal.

  As if he could understand me.

  The wolf snapped and snarled in response at my attempt to negotiate. Warm breath fanned my face while he skimmed his cold nose along my hairline.

  My entire body froze, waiting for the first bite.

  For the inevitable end.

  Every move he made intensified my fears.

  I knew nothing about wolf behavior. Was this normal? Do wolves sniff you this much before tearing into you?

  Oh God. This was really happening. I really was going to die. Here. Tonight. In one of the worst ways possible.

  The weight on my arms and legs eventually shifted, becoming a bit lighter. The wolf stopped snarling, moving off me slightly. For a moment, hope flared. Was he leaving me? Was I going to be spared being his dinner?

  My eyes opened and I found the same gray eyes staring down at me.

  From behind thick black lashes.

  Human lashes.

  My heart seemed to stop.

  Then it restarted with more force than before as my eyes slowly moved to take in what was now above me.

  Those gray eyes were complemented by high cheekbones, dark buzzed hair and a hard, naked body.

  A very hard, naked male body.

  The man was breathing as hard as the wolf had been only moments before. Every inhalation caused his body to push deeper into mine, and I could feel every naked inch of him pressing into me.

  Jesus—what the hell?

  My breathing accelerated, my mind battling the fear—confusion—something else I didn’t want to examine too closely.

  Those eyes searched my face, taking me in—his eyes shifted from light gray to an almost black color and I yelped in surprise when I saw the change. Then, his mouth curled into a small smile complete with dimples, baring a set of canines that elongated right before my eyes.

  Holy fuck.

  God.

  Had I fallen and busted my head open? Was I hallucinating?