Chapter One

Mora

Ilove Halloween. I always discover the best things on Halloween. Like a field of blooming flowers on a full moon and not a person in sight. It is perfect.

I remove my shoes and inhale, absorbing the feel of the grass and dirt beneath my bare feet. Each small blade of grass brushes like silk against my skin. I reach out, pull a flower to me and inhale it’s sweet scent. A smile comes to my lips. I skip through the flowers that skirt the edge of the woods. The full moon illuminates the shining white and yellow flower buds that brush my fingertips. Holding my arms wide, I twirl with abandon through the field, my laughter filling the quiet night.

SNAP

I freeze. What was that? The back of my neck tingles, and my skin prickles like ghostly hands are caressing me. I shiver and rub suddenly clammy hands across my arms.

Something is watching me.

The trees that surround the small clearing rustle in the wind. The hairs on the back of my neck rise, and my brows furrow. Something dangerous is coming. I cautiously move forward, my eyes scanning the edges of the field that doesn’t feel so magical anymore.

Nothing.

The shadows of the massive trees hide whatever lurks in the forest. Perhaps it was simply a small animal darting through the underbrush.

I place a hand on my chest and let out an unsteady breath. Way to go, working yourself up over nothing. I shake my head. I should get going, anyway. I was already late before I decided to frolic through the flowers.

I turn and come face to chest with a very broad chest in a tight, pitch-black shirt. I slowly lift my eyes, taking in a strong neck, angled jawline, gleaming cheshire-like smile, bright blue eyes like that of a blazing fire, and pure white hair. The top of it is longer and the sides are buzzed short, revealing silver earrings that gleam in the light of the moon. I feel entranced, my mind sinking into those blazing eyes. No one was out here.

“Lost, little rabbit?”

a deep voice says from behind me.

I spin with a gasp. An identical face greets me, but where the other one’s hair is white, this man’s hair is midnight, black as shadow, and shines blue under the stars. It’s also longer, with soft waves. Twins? My eyes flick between their enthralling faces.

Close. They’re too close.

I take a step back, trying to keep both men in my sights. Their eyes glint in the moonlight as they follow every move I make, tracking me like predators that just spotted their next meal.

“Poor little rabbit wandered into the wrong place,”

the white-haired one says.

I stiffen, they can smell rabbit on me. What does that make them?

“I bet the rabbit was curious about the big bad wolves and came all on her own. Naughty little rabbit,”

the other says with a chastising tone that does not match his wicked smile.

Wolves. Are they wolf shifters? Fuck, I am so not in the right place.

The white-haired man leans in close and sniffs my neck. “You smell delicious. Do you taste just as good, rabbit?”

My mouth goes dry. “I—”

Invisible claws tighten around my throat, and my heart takes off in a dead sprint.

The dark-haired one raises a brow, looking unbothered and nonchalant with his hands in pockets. As if it’s a casual thing to find someone alone in the middle of a flower field on Halloween night.

“I-I’m just a little turned around,”

I whisper.

I’m hyper-aware of their movements as the two of them start to circle me with a slow, calculated, preternatural grace. The dark-haired one on my right moves slightly closer to me, pulls a hand from his pocket, and points to the left behind me. “Ah, well, if u go that way, it’s the vamps’ den, the Larose House, and—”

A hand brushes my neck. I freeze, and my muscles lock up. Shivers skitter down my spine.

“And this—in case you missed the gaudy black gates and no-entry signs—is the Galper residence,”

the white-haired man finishes.

I did, in fact, miss those signs, far too distracted by my discovery of the flower field.

“Which happens to be our territory.”

His lips brush my ear.

A tremor crawls beneath my skin at the caress of his warm breath, and heat ignites in my core. It is so deliciously wrong.

The dark-haired one leans closer as if to tell me a secret. “Do you know what happens when little rabbits run into the wolves’ den?”

“No?” I squeak.

“They get devoured.”

The other man snaps his teeth right next to my earlobe.

My pulse skips a beat. I hiccup and stumble backwards. I drop my shoes, arms flailing, trying to grasp at the flowers to stop my fall. I only tear them down with me. My ass meets the hard dirt with a thud. The dark-haired one chuckles, and the other licks his lips like he’s salivating for a taste.

“Poor lost little rabbit,”

the dark-haired one coos. “Tell you what, I’ll give you a chance.”

The other one growls, eyes narrowed at him.

“W-what?”

I stammer out.

“If you make it out that gate…”

He points behind me.

I glance behind me, eyes catching on the small iron gate, nestled between ivy-covered walls, I passed through when I entered the field. I quickly look back at them.

“We’ll let you go free,”

he says with a wave of his hand.

The white-haired tilts his head to me, his lips twisting. “But if we catch you first…”

He bends over me, and the moonlight catches on his earring and the necklace around his neck. “Mmm, the things we will do to you…”

He licks his lips.

“Better run. You have till the count of sixty,”

the dark-haired one says, and his lips pull into a smirk.

“One.”

His grin stretches.

“Three,”

the other says.

I can practically taste their excitement clouding the air, and it only makes my heart race faster.

My fear-addled brain takes a moment to put two and two together, then I scramble, stumbling over my own feet and falling backward.

The shorter one grins widely, like he can scent my fear. “Ten.”

I stumble to my feet, crushing the flowers and grass in my wake. The once beautiful flowers scratch and nick my skin as I race through them.

“Twenty.”

The single word rumbles in the air, followed by a deep laugh. It spurs me to go faster while also begging me to look back.

Run! Run! Run!

My feet slap against the hard dirt.

“Thirty,”

a voice says from behind me, much too close.

What happened to giving me a head start? Or have I just not gotten that far? Fear licks my spine like the hot lash of a whip, and I jolt forward. My heart thumps loudly in my ears but not loud enough to drown out the deep laughter that echoes behind me.

I see the exit.

Five feet.

Come on.

Four feet.

Fuck! Fuck! Almost there!

The thumping of feet larger than mine draw closer.

The gate is right there. I throw my arm out—

Hot breath tickles the back of my neck. “Thirty-six.”

I shiver and smile, then dodge right, dashing back into the property.

Crash.

A growl sounds behind me as the man thumps into the gate.

My victory is short-lived. The dark-haired man blocks the path to the property, still walking casually towards me.

“Fifty,”

he calls out.

I can’t stay out here. It’s too open. I won’t make it to the mansion behind him. I turn and sprint for the forest that skirts the edge of the property.

Pebbles and dirt soon turn to twigs and leaves that scrape the soles of my bare feet. I pay no heed to the pain. So close. If I can just reach the woods, I can lose them in the shadows of the trees.

Branches whip past me, nicking my skin and splattering the ground with drops of blood. I pay it little mind.

Run, run.

Primal instinct urges me onwards.

“Sixty,”

a voice from the edge of the woods calls.

I crash through a bush, and it snags my dress. I tug, tearing the fabric. It sends me reeling back and crashing into a tree. A howl rakes through the air in the distance.

“Ready or not—”

I’ve never felt this before. Fear grips my throat. Confusion swirls through my mind. Panic bites into me with its sharp teeth. All battling for the reins of my psyche as I regain my footing.

“Here we come.”

That came from—

I jerk my head up just as the dark-haired man drops from the tree.

His large hand grasps me around the waist, turning us as he crashes into me. His back smacks the ground first as I let out an “oomph,”

the air knocked from my lungs. I take in the dark sky and trees for a moment, then shoot my elbow back. He grunts, and we roll down a small hill to halt in the dirt between two massive trees.

He smirks from above me, and I scrunch my nose. I wriggle and writhe under him, pushing at his chest, but his sheer mass presses me into the fallen leaves.

His dark chuckle fills the air. “You should have left, little rabbit.”

He licks his lips, then grips the front of my dress in a tight fist. In a blindly fast move, he shreds it. The cold air bites over my skin and turns my nipples hard in an instant.

His hot breath fans over my chest, warming the quickly chilling skin, then he drags his tongue slowly from my collarbone to my neck. I scream. It echoes through the trees, high and haunting. He clamps a hand over my mouth cutting off the sound as he chuckles against my skin. He pulls up his eyes meeting mine, “Shh, little rabbit-”

I grit my teeth and kick up with my knee. His eyes go wide as he gets knocked to the side. I scramble through the dirt and leaves, pulling myself away from him.

He grabs my ankle, yanks me back to him, and slaps my ass. “Naughty rabbit. I’m going to take you now, and you will love it.”

“Fuck you,”

I hiss, then toss leaves at him.

He leans over my back, pressing my bare chest and stomach against the unforgiving forest floor, and his hard cock bumps against my ass. Despite the fear, despite the twigs and rocks digging into my exposed skin, arousal slides down my legs in hot, slick streaks.

He chuckles, his fingers digging into my hip. “Seems the rabbit likes it,”

he whispers in my left ear.

It’s so very wrong, and yet those dark whispers spread warmth through my veins in spicy tingles.

His hand roams over my hip and down to my core. He traces my wet pussy, then spears me with two of his fingers. He whispers in my right ear. “Wants it.”

The cool air nips at my throbbing clit, and I gasp.

“Takes it.”

He growls, jerks me to my hands and knees, then thrusts into me.

His cock is far bigger than any I’ve had before, and I shudder as he fills me completely. He moans, pulls back slightly, then thrusts back in, his balls slapping my clit. His rough fingers leave my pussy lips and glide up my belly, brushing over my breasts, then clamp around my neck.

“Good rabbit, you yielded so well.”

My pussy flutters around his cock at the praise. I feel like I’m choking on him. He is larger than me, surrounding me, and his heady scent of bergamot and sandalwood fills my senses. I can’t find the words to fight back. Do I even want to?

My muscles relax as I give into the heat racing through my veins.

“That’s it,”

he coos. “Good rabbit.”

I flush at his words. He pulls back and slams back into me with the force of a crashing tsunami. He controls every move I make with his grip around my neck. His other hand squeezes and tugs at my breast. Sparks shoot straight to my core, and I ache.

I won’t come. I refuse to give in. I’ll never give him that. I let out a growl that might sound more like a moan, despite my resolve. His hand moves from my neck to my hair, and he pulls my head back, arching my ass against him.

“Shhhh…” he says.

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

“My brother”—his speed increases with every word—“is still hunting you.”

Faster and faster, he pounds into me.

My skin feels too tight, too hot. Everything is burning. Pleasure simmers low in my belly, rich and undeniable.

“If you’re too loud, he will find us.”