Marked. Lydia Parks

and tossed the remote aside.

      She often felt restless during thunderstorms, but this was something more. Cole’s bizarre statements had stirred her psyche, bringing to the surface doubts she’d carried since childhood. She’d doubted that her father was really dead, and she’d often doubted the memories she had of her mother. So many of her memories felt like dreams that she couldn’t tell which was which.

      She couldn’t remember her mother’s face, but she remembered the kindness in her mother’s dark eyes, and the love in her kisses and touch. She didn’t remember her father at all, and her grandmother had always refused to talk about him, claiming that the memories were too painful.

      One thing Alicia had seen in a dream as a child that she associated with her parents was a beautiful valley viewed from high up in the mountains—a valley filled with mountain lions. She knew this wasn’t real. Mountain lions didn’t run in packs like dogs; they were solitary creatures. In her dream, forty or fifty giant cats, all beautiful, sleek, their tawny hides golden in the sun, romped and played like kids. Just the memory of that dream brought her joy, but also made her lonely.

      She hadn’t thought of her dream of the valley of mountain lions for years. Cole had stirred up too much of her past in few short seconds. Damn him.

      She wished she still had her grandmother to call for support. The woman’s death was too fresh a wound to have healed and, as she sat on the sofa thinking about her, Alicia felt as if she’d just ripped off the scab. Tears burned behind her eyes.

      Lightning flashed in the front window, followed by a crack of thunder. The storm moving in might even drop snow on Sandia Crest.

      Fighting the urge to scream, she yanked open the front door, stepped out and crossed to the railing, where she faced the parking lot. Beyond the asphalt and buildings, she studied the veiled face of Sandia even as clouds crowded in to block her view.

      Lightning forked from the sky, popping in the distance where it met the ground. Nearly instantaneous thunder shook the walkway and railing, and filled her soul with excitement. She squinted against a gust of sand-filled wind and gripped the railing tighter.

      “Magnificent, isn’t it?”

      Alicia jumped at the voice from behind her and spun around to find Cole looking out at the storm, his face raised toward the clouds. He stood less than two feet away.

      Apparently not noticing how he’d startled her, he moved forward to stand beside her at the railing.

      She turned, gripped the cool metal and looked out. Below them, the parking lot and lawn had been abandoned for the storm and the night. Although it couldn’t be later than six-thirty, building lights on photocells blinked on.

      “This is the time of year when everything is full of energy,” he said. “Rain carries life from the sky to the ground where it’s soaked up by the young corn and the sage.”

      His voice was deep and soothing, and, surprisingly, she found his presence comforting.

      “You sound like my grandmother.”

      He turned his head and smiled down at her, studying her face with his golden eyes.

      Alicia’s mouth instantly dried out and her throat tightened. She saw smoldering desire in his gaze and felt as though it were more important than it should be. What difference could it possibly make that this gorgeous man wanted her? Lots of men had wanted her, and she’d wanted more than a few of them.

      But this was different, more personal somehow.

      Lightning drew her attention from him, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the vibration of thunder in her chest.

      “It’s not surprising,” he said.

      “What? That you sound like my grandmother?”

      “Yes. Her people and ours have been bound together for centuries.”

      Alicia turned to face him. “By ours, you mean yours and mine?”

      “Yes.”

      “This is bullshit, Cole. I don’t know—”

      “You feel the connection. I know you do.”

      Her breath caught in her throat. She did feel some kind of connection to him, but it made no sense. He was little more than a stranger.

      She shook her head. “No, it’s…”

      “What?”

      She met his gaze. “It’s just lust.”

      His eyes widened as if with shock, and she laughed. In that instant, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her, no matter how strange he was.

      Cole shook his head and looked away. “No,” he said. “I wish it were that simple.”

      Exasperation swelled under her rib cage in spite of her laughter, and she wanted to yell at him in frustration. “Okay, then, explain it to me.”

      His gaze slid to hers. “If I do, you must promise to listen with your ears and your heart.”

      God, he did sound like her grandmother.

      “Sure. I promise. Tell me the big secret.”

      Cole straightened. “Not out here.”

      “Fine. Your place or mine?”

      He frowned down at her. “Yours.”