The Stalker Next Door: 10. The Brand

Mara woke slowly, her head pounding faintly, her body raw from the storm of the night before. The sheets tangled around her limbs like restraints, still damp with sweat. For a blissful second, before thought caught up, she thought she was alone. The room was quiet, the morning light a soft wash of gray.

But then she shifted.

And the ache between her thighs reminded her she was not free.

Her breath caught as she reached instinctively for her throat. The skin there throbbed with heat, tender from the bite he’d left. His mark. His claim.

She sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest, her eyes darting to the door. Empty. No hulking shadow waiting in the corner. No presence looming. He was gone.

Or so she thought.

It wasn’t until she swung her legs out of bed that she saw it: a length of black ribbon tied snugly around her wrist. Her stomach flipped. She hadn’t gone to bed with it on. The knot was perfect, deliberate, sitting at the inside of her pulse like a