.

feet and teeth. Her knife. Slashing. Blood, pain, screaming.

      Everything blurred.

      * * *

      She woke up screaming, throat raw. Something held her down and she writhed, fighting it until she realized it was the soft weight of a comforter. She’d been sweating beneath it, wearing only panties and the tank top she’d gone out in earlier. Her hair had come free of the elastic and tangled over her shoulders.

      For the first few seconds, Monica still didn’t know where she was. Then it came to her—the bungalow at DiNero’s menagerie. She’d gone out, then she’d heard something...the peacocks, screaming. She swallowed hard at the thought of the beautiful birds being torn apart.

      She’d gone to find out what had happened. Something had attacked her. She had to get up.

      She winced and cried out softly when she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her head pounded, the back of it tender and swollen where she’d hit the ground. A stinging line on her throat had come from the thing’s teeth, she remembered that much. Another set of four slashes on her side hurt, too, but they’d been cleaned and bandaged, so she couldn’t see how bad they were. They didn’t feel deep enough to be terribly serious, she thought and wondered why on earth she hadn’t been torn to ribbons.

      The thing had been big and strong and angry, and yet it had not actually tried to kill her. It couldn’t have. She’d have been dead if it had. She was certain of it.

      As it was, her entire body ached. When she got up and went into the bathroom, her reflection showed a pattern of bruises already gone black. She eased up the tank top to look at the bandages, which had been expertly applied. Gauze and medical tape, not adhesive bandages. The edges glistened with antibiotic ointment. She pulled her shirt back down and turned to go back to the bedroom—and let out a shriek.

      She’d punched Jordan twice, first in the nose and then in the throat, before she could stop herself. He stumbled back with a shout, and Monica muttered a stricken apology.

      He watched her warily, his eyes watering. She hadn’t made him bleed—at least there was that. She might’ve laughed at the look on his face if everything didn’t hurt so bad and if she weren’t so freaked out by what had happened. That and the dream. Always the dream.

      A strangled sob had forced itself out of her throat before she could stop it. She found herself pressed against him, though if she’d reached for him or he’d pulled her close, she didn’t know. What she did know was that his hand stroking her hair felt good, as did his arms around her. Even the pressure of his body on her aching bruises lessened the pain.

      When he picked her up and carried her to the bed, she expected him to lay her down, but instead Jordan sat on the edge of it and held her on his lap. Monica was no small woman and had never been fond of being made to feel delicate, but something in the way he cradled her only made her bury her face against the side of his neck.