Two For Twila
Serenity Series, Book 5
by Bonnie Rose Leigh
copyright 2009, eXtasy Books
Genre: Shapeshifter, Vampire, Menage (M/M/F), Paranormal, Series
Available: May 15th, 2009
Blurb:
Single mother Twila Wakefield spends her days working at her family’s diner and her evenings caring for her precious daughter. But when her daughter’s nightmares turn out to be real life tragedies, she doesn’t know who to turn too. And when her daughter Emily disappears out of her bed, Twila has no choice but to call on her child’s father for help locating her. Damian Santiago, the panther shifter who left town as soon as he graduated high school without ever knowing Emily existed, had connections she’d need if she ever hoped to see her daughter again.
PROLOGUE
Darkness surrounded her. No matter which way she turned, which way she ran, she couldn’t escape the suffocating shadows. She could feel its approach, feel the evil closing in, hunting her, hunting her family. Closer. Closer. The stench of evil wafted into her nostrils, urging her to pick up her pace.
In the body of the panther, she continued to run. She had to reach home, had to reach Emily before all was lost. Harder she ran, her claws digging into the dead leaves and rich soil of the forest floor. She could see the porch light glowing in the distance, but no matter how fast she ran, how hard she pushed her feline body, the safety of her home seemed to grow farther away.
Her limbs quivered as she ran harder than she’d ever run before. Her fur was slick with sweat and still she ran, desperate now, knowing that her family’s lives depended on her. Heart pounding, rage filled her. No one would harm her family. Screaming out her anger, the big cat lowered her head and increased her pace. Just when she thought she had a chance to reach her home, a scream of inhuman pain pierced the night, sending shards of fear rippling down the big cat’s spine.
Startled, Twila Wakefield sat up, her heart pounding in fear, dread suffocating her. Another scream rent the air. Throwing her tousled covers off, her feet hit her bedroom floor on a run. Her daughter, Emily, needed her.
Rushing into the bedroom next door, she found her daughter huddled into a tight ball in the corner of her bed, shaking with fear. Her hair lay matted against her head in a sweaty jumble. Her skin had turned incredibly pale and her green eyes looked haunted.
Gathering her precious child in her arms, she rocked her, waiting for the trembling to stop. Minutes passed, and when she finally lay in her arms with only an occasional shudder racking her small body, Twila smoothed her daughter’s hair away from her face and gazed into her haunted eyes. “Tell me baby, what did you see?”
Twila waited, knowing that only a terrible vision would have had her nine-year old daughter screaming out in terror. Emily’s father, Damian used to get visions, so when Emily started getting them as a toddler, she didn’t blow them off as nightmares as most parents might have. Instead she listened and did her best to make sure the future events her daughter predicted didn’t happen.
Emily shuddered one more time, then sighed. In moments like these, her daughter seemed so much older than her nine years. Was this how Damian had been as a child, growing up faster than he should have had to?
Twila flung that thought away. It been nearly ten years since she’d last seen him and yet at times like these she couldn’t help but think about him, couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what his life was like away from Serenity.
“What is it, baby? What did you see?”
Emily curled her arm around Twila’s neck and pressed her small body against her mother’s chest, burying her face in her mother’s hair. “I saw my father and another man fighting someone. You were bleeding on the groud, not moving. I was tied to a tree and couldn’t get loose to save you. Then the bad man started to say something and my father and his friend went flying through the air and landed hard on the ground. No one moved then the bad man started walking toward me. He pulled a knife out of his robe and started talking again but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. That’s when I woke up.”
Twila held her daughter, fear and worry swamping her. If Emily saw her father and another man battling someone, saw herself tied to a tree then more than likely it would happen unless she could do something to stop it. But what? What could she do? None of Emily’s predictions had ever been about her own family. And from what her daughter told her, it sounded like a cultist had taken her.
No one had heard from the cultists in months, assuming they’d left town when the Hunters, Noah Andrews and Chance Mercer, had arrived in Serenity right before Christmas. First things first, she’d contact Ben Marcum, Serenity’s Sheriff, in the morning. What she would do about Damian, Twila didn’t know.
Cuddling her daughter closer, Twila rubbed her back. “It will be okay baby. Somehow, Momma will make sure everything turns out okay. You have my word.” But in her heart, Twila knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing would be simple again.
