CHAPTER 1
Crack!Pop!
Quin leaned his shoulder against the tree next to him.The rough bark scraped his thick flannel jacket.Even though he stood twenty feet away, hidden from the contained fire that blazed under the full moon, his skin warmed from the heat.Or maybe it was the fiery brown-haired beauty making his body temperature rise.Too many times he’d sat around the fire on the same stripped fallen tree trunk where she now sat, watching Josie Ryan.
Only this time, he was being creepy as fuck.
This time, she didn’t know he was watching, and this time, she’d skin him alive if she caught him.Or worse, banish him from their hometown, which she had every right to do.She was sitting with two other women.He couldn’t make out their faces, but he’d bet his right arm one of them was her best friend, McKenna.
He itched to turn his wrist and check the time, but the last thing he needed was them seeing the light from his watch—or sensing his movement.He’d been gone eight months, but he’d never forget how powerful Josie’s intuition was.
He had to talk to her.Tonight.
When he’d knocked on her door and no one answered, it clicked.Tonight was a full moon.Josie would be out doing her thing in the field.Crystals, intentions, tea...Josie hadn’t changed.But her life sure as hell had.
One of the women stood and reached for a bucket.He stiffened and pulled away from the tree as she doused the fire.
Now he had to figure out how to convince his deceased best friend’s girlfriend not to hate him.
***
“That went byfast.”Josie stretched her arms over her head and bent to scoop up her oracle cards from the turned-over wooden box she kept in the field behind her house for this very reason.Opening her knitted bag, she dropped them inside and reached for her selenite crystal, tucking it away.
“I’m so tired,” McKenna said with a yawn.“Staying out past midnight once a month is wearing on my old body.”
“Oh, shush,” chimed Desiree.“You’re barely over thirty and you know you’re hot.Or at least Jaxon does.”
McKenna guffawed and stood from trunk.“Next month, ladies?”
“You bet,” Josie said.She’d been the one to end their meeting.Ever since the clock crept up on midnight, an eerie cloak had been pulling down on her spine.Something was telling her to get home and shut herself inside.Maybe it was the anniversary of Liam’s death that had her feeling jumpy as all get-out.
No.That wasn’t true.For the last few weeks she’d been uneasy—waking to every little sound at night, which was almost silly in their small mountain community of Whistlemore.But things weren’t as they used to be.This past year had taught her that every day came with new uncertainties.
The women gathered the rest of their belongings and headed toward the line of trees that separated Josie’s backyard from the small clearing that was the field.Although fatigue hummed along her nerve endings, Josie felt the usual sense of rejuvenation that meeting with the girls gave her.Something about letting go of her pent-up emotions along with the old moon did wonders for her soul.
The grass brushed over her loafers.An icy March wind swept through the mountains, making her pull the lapels of her coat tighter.Desiree and McKenna trekked beside her in silence.Shadows draped the trees ahead of them, and Josie blinked to avoid staring at the ominous shapes that would have made her scurry for her back door if it weren’t for her two best friends at her side.
Something was different tonight.A thickness in the air.A reminder of everything she’d lost.Everything that couldn’t be replaced and the twisting pain in her heart that burned every time she tried.
Three days until she had to relive the worst day of her life.
“You okay, Jos?”Dez asked.“You’ve been quiet tonight—umph.”A swift movement next to Dez told Josie that McKenna had elbowed her in the ribs.“I mean...”
“I’m fine.You both know what Monday is.”Dang it, so much for striving for gratitude rather than grief.She sighed and slung her bag higher onto her shoulder.The lightness of the material made her stop in her tracks.“Shit, I think I left my thermos.You girls go ahead.Text me tomorrow.”
McKenna’s brows pinch in the moonlight, but her friend lifted her hand and waved.“Night, love.”
Josie headed back to where they’d held their circle.She wasn’t in the mood to talk about Liam.Not right before bed when she’d lie awake, missing her lover and best friend.Plus, she was awake three hours past her bedtime.She needed rest.
She spotted her thermos under the tree trunk.By the time she’d retrieved it, her friends’ forms were out of sight.
Snap
She froze.Fear blazed up her back.
God, please don’t let a wild animal eat me tonight.
Her fingers dug into the thermos.Terror rapped against her breastbone.Goosebumps pulled at the flesh on her arms.She slowly inched her free hand toward the bear spray dangling from the clip at her side.
