Death Valley

by Karina Halle

For those who like their cowboys morally gray and their horror smutty

To eat the flesh of another is to become a monster. And this time, it was literal.

What will Aubrey do when she finally learns the truth about her sister? And what will she think of me when she discovers my part in it?

“A lot of things happen in these mountains. Not all of them make for good bedtime stories.”

“Stay quiet, darlin’.” It’s hard to obey when he’s all I can feel, all I can think about. Every nerve in my body is wound tight, every inch of me straining toward him.

He moves with a punishing rhythm, one hand gripping my waist, the other around my mouth. Every thrust pushes a strangled noise from me,

and I can’t tell if I’m afraid of someone hearing or desperate for them to.

But the memory of his hands on my skin, his voice rough in my ear, the way he looked at me like he was drowning and I was both the water and the air—those things will follow us. Into the mountains. Into whatever dangers await us there. And that might be the most dangerous thing of all.

“Related to the same baby that was rescued and adopted into a

new family. A family whose name eventually became Wells.”

should be thanking you. You giving me one last piece of heaven before we meet hell.”