Anima

By Laurie Bowler

Anima is an exhilarating shapeshifter novel that plunges readers into a gripping world where humans possess the blood and souls of animals. When impoverished university student, Joyce, is transported to this vibrant realm, she is thrust into a deadly battle for survival. But when she defies expectations by sparing her opponent, she catches the eye of Sung, the fierce and powerful ruler of the beasts.

 

With enemies closing in, Joyce must prove her strength and leadership to protect herself and the love that blossoms between her and Sung. However, the vengeful wolves will stop at nothing to dethrone Sung and usurp power.

 

As their adversaries close in, will Joyce and Sung's love be enough to conquer the insidious wolf tribe?

 

Anima is a heart-pounding tale of passion, sacrifice, and the fight for power, perfect for fans of shapeshifter romances.

 

Note: This book contains mature content but does not include sexual violence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackhawk Publishing
• Release date: Mar 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215748985

Laurie Bowler

Laurie Bowler is a bestselling fantasy author residing in Hampshire, a county in the United Kingdom, where she started writing fantasy fiction in late November 2009.    After reading hundreds of fantasy novels, Laurie knew she wanted to write within that genre. She set her mind to writing her first novel, 'Vanquished', which was then quickly followed by the award-winning Moon Rising series.  Laurie attended college and has gained qualifications in Creative Writing, Music and Health and Social Care. She is still undertaking as many academic courses as possible to improve her knowledge.  Laurie lives with her daughter, fiance and a houseful of pets, including eight cats and three dogs, to name just a few. Her new novel Mythical and its sequel, The Battle of Evov, have both been an immense adventure and creativity of her mind. 

Book preview

Chapter One

The Nightmare, the rite and the deadly fight

JOYCE 

Joyce blinked a few times, but the scene in front of her of a forest of twisted trees under an indigo moonlit sky was impossible, so she closed her eyes and tried to wake up. She opened her eyes again, but now her view was blocked by the face of a woman with thin, angular features and her head tilted sideways, staring at her from just a few inches away. She had been at the Patron’s ball in Henderson House at the University. And she had been drinking – this must be an alcohol-infused dream.

Joyce gasped and tried to push herself away from the strange woman, her hands clawing through the dirt; she wasn’t at the university anymore. And she was not at home in bed, either. This was no dream.

Wh - where am I?

The woman extended her hand, the long, bell-like sleeves of her thick robe swinging like a bird’s wing as she opened her hand to the forest around them. Joyce turned and gasped, scrambling to her feet.

She was in an almost perfectly round clearing surrounded by tree branches twisted and coiled together. The trees were silhouetted in the moonlight, so bright everything looked silver and cast shadows on the dirt and grass. Shadows of a hundred people or more stood shoulder-to-shoulder between the trees.

The sacrifice is frightened, a shaky voice whispered behind her and was immediately shushed by others. What? It is only the truth!

Lane, shut your mouth, or we will put you back into the nursery herd, and you will have to wait another year for your coming out, an angry male responded.

Joyce whirled to see where the voice came from, but the trees were thicker behind her, so she found only the silent figures of strangers staring at her.

What is this? Where am I? How did I get here? What's going on?

Your questions are normal, of course. But quite pointless. The ritual is about to begin. You would do better to make peace with your God if you have one, the woman in front of her said.

Tell me where I am and who these people are? her voice shook, and so did her body.

The woman sighed and fluffed her thick robe.

If you wish to spend your final moments in the search for truth, very well, but questions will only bring more questions. You are in Wildwood. You were brought here as a sacrifice (one who fights for the king's pleasure). It is a rare honour, though I know you were not raised in our world to appreciate it. You will likely not survive the night, but your death is not in vain. It will assure the survival of Anima. You should take great pride in it.

Joyce’s mouth dropped open. A sacrifice? What king? Who the hell are you, people?

The woman sighed and made a slight clucking noise. You see, I did tell you questions would only bring more questions. Hear me, then prepare yourself: when the drums begin to beat, the others will enter, and the fighting will begin. Show yourself worthy of the choice. Die with honour.

Die?! I’m not fighting anyone.

You do not have a choice, the woman ruffled her robe again. If you do not fight, you will be slain. It is not an honourable death.

Stop talking about me dying! I am not dying. This is a dream, or a hallucination, or something!

No, the woman said firmly and stepped close. So close, Joyce put her hands up to stop her in case this was the beginning of the fighting. Her finger brushed the woman’s robe, which was not fur but feathers. Soft, tiny feathers. But Joyce didn’t have time to consider what that meant before the woman continued, her eyes fixed on Joyce’s with a fierce light. This is not a dream. You are no longer in your world, and your chances of ever returning to it dim with every moment you refuse to fight. You must accept that your life has been altered and meet the challenge before you, or you will die, Joyce.

How do you know my name?

You were chosen for this. Selected by – A deep, rhythmic boom rang between the trees, and the crowd shifted, whispering. The woman cut off and turned, staring toward the moonlight. He comes, she said breathlessly. And the other sacrifices also. Give your life to please him, and you will be honoured by the tribes. Then she bowed to Joyce, muttered a few words under her breath, and disappeared to join the circle under the trees with a snap of her robe.

Gaping, Joyce turned in the direction of the drums. Between the two largest trees directly under the full moon, more than a dozen people walked slowly, their steps in time with the drum beat. There didn’t seem to be a line or order in how the people were gathered. However, they moved in clusters, all walking before a tall figure deep in the dark under the distant trees. A drummer at his elbow kept the time, and several behind him in a line, their instruments echoing in the chill night air.

Joyce covered her mouth with her hands as the first people at the front emerged from the shadows, and she could finally see them in the silver light.

They were all women.

They were all painted, their bodies dotted and lined in swipes of some paint that glowed white in the moonlight, making patterns on them resembling spots, stripes, feathers, and fur.

But, other than the paint, they were all completely naked.

Joyce looked in every direction, searching wildly for a way out, an escape from this nightmare; who were these people? And what were they going to do? But everywhere she turned, she met eyes fixed on her, sometimes teeth bared, and a wall of bodies that did not move to give her ground.

Then the drums stopped.

Joyce turned on her heel as the man, who was this King the woman had spoken of, finally stepped out of the darkness and into the moonlit clearing.

Head and shoulders taller than anyone near him and with a chest so broad he seemed to threaten the trees, he stepped into the circle bringing with him an air of violence only barely leashed, a sense of sheer feral power. His hair fell into his eyes, and his vest's thick fur collar that looked like a massive lion’s mane framed his angular face and light eyes. Under the high-collared vest that fell to sweep around his knees, he wore leather pants and no shirt. His biceps, chest, and abdomen were oiled and shining in the moonlight. He was perhaps the most carnal man Joyce had ever laid her eyes on, and he scanned the clearing as if it and everyone within it belonged to him.

There was a rustle in the trees, and Joyce realised everyone watching had bowed to him, including the naked women who had spaced themselves around the circle, each of them facing him with their heads bowed. Everyone, that is, except Joyce. She swallowed hard as they all straightened, the watchers in the trees leaning in, breathless and waiting for him to speak.

But Joyce froze because as he raised his great head and scanned the clearing, his eyes locked on her, and the light of recognition burned in them for a split second. There was a crystal moment during which their gaze held, and Joyce would have sworn he called her name, yet his lips didn’t move.

She blinked and sucked in a breath.

But his face remained a flat mask. Then he dragged his gaze to her left, and as he continued to scan the crowd, he opened his mouth and began to speak.

SUNG

He hated this.

Every step alongside the drums grated on Sung like a claw drawn down his spine.

He knew his people needed the ancient traditions to feel the instincts of their ancestors speaking in the tribes. But the rite of survival was brutal, uncivilized and deadly. It appeased the flesh but did nothing for the mind. So, he dreaded every step he took towards the circle. And hated that as king; he could not denounce it but the opposite. He had to protect the traditions no matter how terrible they were. This night would end with blood on his hands, with a copper tang of it in his mouth.

Sung let a low growl flicker in his throat. The drummer next to him eyed him warily.

Slowly, slowly they made their painful way towards the bloodbath. While there was no doubt he had seen that pure humans were often marked by the weakness of both body and mind. It was also true that if he were a human ruler, he would likely never find himself overseeing a fight to the death where females fought to become his mate.

There were some things the purists got right; the drums pounded on until finally Sung took his first step into the clearing, turning, nodding to show himself to his people. His people murmured and chattered their excitement as they bowed their submission to him. Most of them he knew bowed with gritted teeth and unsheathed claws, but at least for now, they disguised their treason.

Sung scanned the circle slowly, letting his scent call the devotion of the loyal. He reached the northern end of the clearing, and his eyes landed on the pure one that had been chosen. It was like a set of claws on his stomach. Only years of training and discipline stopped Sung’s jaw from falling open in shock.

Joyce? he breathed to himself; it was not possible, it could not be possible; it also could not be a coincidence. Yet, no one knew, and if she was here, she was destined for death.

The thought turned his stomach cold. She froze in his gaze, not because she recognised him but because some long-buried instinct within her understood the danger he posed. She responded to his presence, not his person. How was it possible that she was here?

Instinctively he turned to look at the wolves. He was sure this was their doing, but he could not let himself show her any special attention or let them know they had succeeded in unsettling him. So, after he met eyes with every Alpha in the packs, he moved on to the other tribes. But his mind turned back to her with every passing breath.

Welcome, Anima! he called across the night to the answering chorus of barks, coughs, calls, and applause. You come tonight in memory of your ancestors. The sacrifices you offer will ensure the strongest blood continues to flow in the veins of Anima’s rulers. These offerings will be honoured for generations. The clan leader, his father, and his father’s father thank you. He paused for effect and to receive their applause but was forced to suck in a deep breath to brace himself. Tonight, the future of Anima will step forward. Tonight, the tribes receive their queen!

The response would have sounded chaotic to human ears, but Sung could pick out the chitter of warning from the birdlike ava lines, the nicker of submission from the horse-blood equines, the snarls of the wolfish lupines, even the toadlike amphines raised their croaks along with the other tribes. All of Anima was represented tonight, and despite their different hopes for this night, all anticipated the next step.

Even Sung did not know how the wolves had found Joyce, but he knew the lupine battle strategy was second to none. He could not do anything to save her without weakening the position of the entire kingdom. The thought tore a snarl from his throat, echoing across the chatter and silencing the crowd. He let the silence hang in the air to remind the wolves who were in control.

He kept his face blank of emotion, knowing they would be watching him closely.

Only on this night, once per generation, do we bring the pure to Anima to offer them the chance to prove their blood. And so, I call on the tribes to recognise our human sister, the pure.

He swept a hand toward Joyce, and the tribes answered with hisses, croaks, barks and bleats, each calling to her ancient human blood in their tongue. It was tradition to give the pure sacrifice a chance to speak words to be remembered. So as they quieted, Sung held his breath, forcing himself to pretend disinterest in what she might say, despite his entire body yearning to lean closer.

I... I don’t even know you, people! Why am I here?

Murmurs rose in the circle, some with discomfort, others amused. There was a great variety of opinions about continuing the tradition of bringing a pure one into the rite. But no matter how soft-hearted, Anima would never respect a show of fear.

Sung did not miss that as the crowd murmured their thoughts to each other; Lucine, the lupine sacrifice, widened her eyes at Joyce and drew a hooked finger across her throat. To anyone from Anima, she would have clawed her belly to make the threat, but she knew enough of humans to understand that they would miss the reference to the wolves’ practice of disembowelling prey.

Let us get this shitshow on the road, he muttered under his breath. He nodded once, and the drummer next to him snapped his stick down on the drum thrice quickly. Let the rite begin! Sung roared and was answered by the crowd.

The women within the circle leapt to life or, rather, to death.

Turning to take his place in the circle, he knew he could not allow his face to fall or give away his pity for Joyce. But he felt it to his bones. Sympathy for her and rage for the wolves who had hunted her down, but also for himself. Joyce did not deserve to die because he had been too weak to finish his enemies.

JOYCE

That terrifying man roared a command to start. All the women in the circle immediately tensed. They moved from their almost prayerful stances to half-crouched on the heels of their feet as the crowd cheered.

Briefly, no one seemed to know what to do. The women all looked at each other, but no one moved; for a single breath, Joyce hoped none of these women would fight. Her hopes were dashed when a feminine snarl erupted from Joyce’s right. She turned to watch a woman, though clearly strong and painted entirely in fur, leap on the back of the woman closest to her, who was painted in swirls and spirals. The fur-painted woman took the other’s head between both hands and twisted her neck with a mighty jerk that snapped her spine.

The body sagged in her hands, and she let it drop, standing over it as it twitched for a handful of seconds while she scanned the clearing. For a moment, their eyes met, and the fur-painted woman smiled and raised her eyebrows but then darted across the clearing to a spot where another woman was rising. The woman rose from the ground shaking the dirt from a body in front of her. All breath left Joyce’s body; what nightmare was this?

Bile rose in her throat, and Joyce whirled around, painfully aware of the carnage behind her but looking to clear her mind of the gore and death occurring around her. Instead, she found a circle of people cheering, screaming, barking and growling like animals on the hunt. Their eyes passed over her with looks of contempt as she rushed to the tree nearby and leaned on it, throwing up the last of the alcohol and appetisers she’d had at the patron’s ball.

As she coughed and spat, her entire body trembling, there was a significant hiss and a shriek nearby. Joyce whipped around to find two women (one painted in feathers and the other one in a strange set of lines and dots) wrestling in the dirt, teeth bared.

It was instinct to get away, to hide, but there were so many people. Without thought, Joyce grasped the tree's lowest branch and pulled herself up, running her feet up the trunk as she had as a child. The ridiculous high heels she still wore slid on the bark, but she clung, and the thick denim of her nicest jeans gave her traction on the branch as she hiked a leg over and pulled herself to sit against the trunk.

It wasn’t a large tree, but there was a strange twisting in the branches with clusters of upward-pointing leaves at the end of every branch. A large branch gave her some cover from the battle below but allowed her to peer through to see much of what was happening below between the gaps.

Is she allowed to do that? the young voice she had heard earlier whined.

Joyce froze, but several shushed the young one, and no one came to tug her down, so Joyce braced herself against the tree trunk and tried to catch her breath, not that it worked. Her entire body trembled, humming with fear. She knew being up here only delayed what had to be an inevitable end. Whomever these people were, they did not hesitate to kill.

She peered between a gap in the leaves to see the fur-painted woman chase another across the circle, snarling, teeth bared and launching on the other woman. They rolled and tumbled through the dirt together, and when the dust settled, the fur-painted woman was the one to rise, her face dark with the other woman’s blood. A strange noise erupted from Joyce’s throat. Where is she? How the hell had she gotten here? And how long did she have before she died?

The wolf-daughter, Lucine, was ruthless and committed as a machine. She had been the first to take a kill which had the lupines howling their pleasure and excitement. And she was making her way through the other opponents which efficient, deadly grace. Lucan would be strutting for weeks.

Sung growled in his throat. He was distracted for a moment, watching her tear out the throat of the avalines sacrifice, an unnecessary reminder of the merciless nature of the wolves. But he turned quickly, unable to stop himself from looking for Joyce and, in the same breath wishing he never had to see her here.

With profound grief, he realised she was already down, gone for a moment; his memories flickered to a tiny, human girl, so kind and un-self-conscious. A little girl who had ignored his strange behaviour and instead simply shared his love for animals had made herself his friend. Defended him to her peers and her parents, who were wisely wary of the neighbour boy who demonstrated such strange behaviour.

Thank the creator; he had never transformed in front of them. His control had been patchy at best back then. Sadness settled into his bones as he realised that the only bright light in his childhood in the human world had been extinguished. The only light his heart had ever recognised. He allowed himself one moment of mourning, knowing the gathered audience would assume he had grieved all his sacrifices. But he resolved then that he would make sure she had a proper burial. He knew the pure humans generally felt a body must be buried or burned.

With stinging eyes, he inhaled her scent, intending to locate her body in the circle, so he could return later to bury her. Instead, his senses tingled with the smell of hot blood, still pumping her unique scent, impossibly alive. Turning his head left and right as if scanning the rite, he continued to breathe in the scents until he had identified her unique scent mixed with the disturbed bark of the tree on the northern end of the circle. But where was she? She had hidden.

Sung blinked; his two natures argued about how he should feel: The Anima within him, the blood of his predator ancestors, growled and shook itself. It had nothing but contempt for the prey's behaviour. But his humanity applauded her resourcefulness that she sought an answer other than bloodlust.

Both perked their ears as his heart beat faster because she was still alive. Then he blinked and turned away from the tree before anyone noticed his attention. The rite was almost finished, the clearing already littered with bodies. Lucine was in the dirt, far to his left, straddling the equine sacrifice, strangling the life out of her. The girl had stopped fighting, only one of her legs still kicking weakly. It would not be long, but he would be forced to watch Lucine slay Joyce with no other battles.

Fuck, he muttered under his breath. He had always enjoyed the human curses. They were very visceral, and he would undoubtedly utter a few more choice words before this night was over.

The wolves began howling and clapping as Lucine pushed her to her feet. She was exhausted but smiling; that wolf grin she knew made the herds shiver. She turned towards him and bowed, then started forward. Sung realised she and the wolf packs were unaware of Joyce, still hidden in the tree. Lucine was so confident that she would use only her eyes, not scenting for her enemies. It was a fatal mistake, and once he prayed, she would correct it before she reached him for the offering. He would not be able to accept it, and she would be shamed.

Unfortunately, she was too busy accepting the cheers of her people howling for the moon as she stumbled towards him, her body spent, to realise the error. So, when she reached the dirt just feet before him and swept a bow, he was forced to speak before she made her offerings of devotion.

There is still one left, Lucine, he growled. She blinked, but to her credit, she did not argue; she just dropped to a crouch and began scenting the clearing behind her. It took her only a few more seconds than it had already taken Sung himself to locate Joyce. Such a pity she was a wolf and would be shamed by this moment. She would make a formidable Alpha one day.

With Sung watching, yearning for this to end any way other than what it must do, Lucine tracked the scent straight to the tree. Without hesitating, she leapt and grabbed for Joyce, who shrieked like a wounded rodent in an owl's talons.

Sung was torn between contempt for her weakness and grief for the girl she’d been to him as she was dragged from the heavy branch. He was about to close his eyes, not wishing to see the moment when Lucine tore the life from her, but one of Joyce’s feet kicked out as she attempted to stop herself from being pulled from the tree, and the wicked heel on it caught an overly confident Lucine right in the face.

The wolf-woman yowled like a cat, flinching and letting go with one hand. Sung’s heart rose for a moment, but only for a moment, because a second later, even as Lucine held her eye with one hand, Joyce lost her grip on the tree and tumbled awkwardly to the ground on top of the wolf.

Sung braced himself for the bloodbath and forced his expression to an unfeeling mask, knowing even a tired Lucine would enjoy ending the pure one. But a murmur rose from the crowd in the clearing, many of the Anima shifting uneasily. Sung’s heart raced, but he forced himself to stillness as Joyce stumbled to her feet, staring open-mouthed at Lucine on the ground, who was not moving.

Joyce stepped back, then jerked to look left and right at the people surrounding the clearing as if someone else might attack her. Sung scented Lucine, but her scent did not have the pale chill of death. She was still alive but unconscious. Yet, Joyce continued to back away, and then she looked at him, her eyes and mouth wide.

She is not yet dead, Sung growled. Finish her.

Joyce’s entire body pulled away from him.

I’m not killing her.

The clearing shook with the fierce reaction of the crowd; all of the tribes agreed; the rite must be fulfilled. Sung snarled, and they quieted, but the wolves were pacing, all the herds stamped their feet, and the avalines kept ruffling their cloaks. Sung snorted her scent from his nose in disgust; the only counter to his rage was the awareness that Lucine’s father, Lucan, must be quivering with shame. His daughter was already humiliated by this loss. But to be declared too weak to be killed in good conscience and by an untried human! Sung would have given his left testicle to hear Lucan’s thoughts.

His enemy’s discomfort aside, Sung growled his anger. She would not force him to be the one to end this! He started toward her, the tribes chittering in response to the tension in him, their king lion on the prowl.

She is a sacrifice, he snarled. Just like you. Kill her.

But for the first time on this horrific night, Joyce showed a spark of the firm and vibrant child she had been. She straightened and turned to face him fully, locked eyes with him, clenching her hands into fists.

No! she yelled.

JOYCE

The rage in his eyes was terrifying, but if she was going to die tonight, it would not be with blood on her hands. So, with trembling knees, she stared him down, gulping when his eyes flashed, and for a moment, she thought she was staring into the eyes of a lion,

Unable to hold the penetrating gaze, she looked at the fur-woman, crumpled at her feet. Joyce knew she would be sore the next day, that fall had been awkward, and the ground was hard. But she had felt her elbow come down as she reached out to catch herself. She had taken the women in the temple. It was an accident, but it felled her like a tree.

Kill her! the king snarled, the last word guttering in his throat like the big cat he reminded her of. Joyce looked down at the woman again; no doubt she deserved to die. Joyce had just watched her kill several other women.

She could feel the eyes of the spectators on the back of her neck. But she took another step away from the woman and shook her head.

I am not going to kill her.

The crowd gasped, but no one said a word, and Joyce felt their attention shift to their leader. As did he; she seemed to swell under the scrutiny; he pulled his shoulders and head back, though his chin stayed low.

You would exchange your life for the life of a proud woman who would have torn out your throat without a second thought? You do not know what you do, he barked through his teeth.

Joyce shivered but forced herself to hold his gaze. I do not even know where I am! But I know life and murder, she pointed at the fur-painted woman. If I have to die tonight, I’ll do it with a clear conscience, unlike her.

The words were barely out of her mouth when the gathered people poured their disgust in an overwhelming roar of shrieks, howls, bleats and hisses. If the man in front of her were less compelling or in charge, Joyce would have whirled to ensure they did not come back at her.  But the man did not even look at them. Although his massive shoulders heaved with his breath and his hands clenched to fists at his side.

He lifted one hand, barely inches, and the noise stopped. Joyce could hear the people moving now, hissing their dissatisfaction to each other now that he had commanded them to stop yelling at her.

She swallowed hard, and the king’s eyes narrowed. She would have sworn that look of recognition passed behind his eyes again, but his expression did not change; he huffed a breath and thought he would speak, but suddenly there was noise to her left. She turned to find a man running hunched over, teeth bared, snarling.

You will not shame my sister! he roared.

Still twenty feet from her, the man leapt, and in the dark, he looked for a moment as if his limbs had become legs, his hands were paws, and his open mouth grew fangs that flashed in the moonlight as they came for her throat.

Chapter Two

Not Strong Enough, An Unquestionable king, Scent recognition

JOYCE

A vast shadow rose directly before her, then leapt forward to meet the attacker. Joyce realised the king had jumped between her and the man. The two now looked into each other’s eyes. They rolled in combat, snarling, snapping and moving so quickly. Joyce was sure her eyes played tricks on her, making her see silver fur and a black jaw tumbling in the dirt with a massive tawny hide and a golden mane.

The sound was horrific, with growls that rattled her ribs and snarls of bloodthirst. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. The man who had tried to attack her lay on his back with his hands clutching the king’s wrist while the king had his hands wrapped around his neck. He roared his words, and Joyce heard the animal in him.

You will NOT break the rite! You will not shame our people!

There was a moment where the man twisted under the king’s hand, then made a slight sound, and his body slumped. It reminded her so much of the sag of the dead body earlier that Joyce wondered if he had died. But no, as soon as he slacked, the king let go of his neck and straightened it but remained standing over him.

The man slowly got to his feet, his eyes alight with rage, but did not meet the king’s eyes or move towards her. He stood, head bowed, shoulders hunched on his heel and ran back to his place in the circle. The audience was utterly silent.

Then the king turned and stared at her, his chest shifting up and down with his breath. She waited, but he did not speak; instead, he walked towards her, chin low so the shadow cast by his stiff jaw cut across the thick fur collar of his vest. His hair had fallen over his eyes in the scuffle, and he peered at her like a lion stalking his prey. With each step, his graceful, rolling gait reminded her of a predator stalking its prey. He did not make a sound despite the forest floor littered with twigs and leaves.

Wh-who are you? Joyce stammered, backing away her hands up. He met her step for step until she came up hard against the tree behind her and did not stop until they stood toe to toe, and he loomed over her, so broad his shoulders and chest made a wall in front of her. She could feel the heat rising off his skin in the cool night air.

I am the king, his voice was dark and husky gravel. Behind him, a chorus of coughing cheers, howls and chirps of agreement rose from the people watching. And you are?

Joyce, she breathed.

Joyce, he growled, leaning in closer, bringing the scent of pine and rain and the musk of something distinctly male. His eyes dropped to her throat. He leaned in suddenly, inhaling deeply and gently dragged his nose along her collarbone.

Her skin prickled wherever he touched her. Her reflex was to put her hands on his chest to stop him from pressing any closer. When she touched him, he went still as a hunted animal. Then, he straightened, meeting her eyes warily. His face remained in that flat, expressionless mask. But his eyes glowed with a feral light that delivered a shot of adrenalin to her gut and a tingling thrill to areas she did not usually think about.

Joyce, he rasped again.

Yes?

I am Sung, he said the name with a strange, guttural roll that reminded her of a growl. "I am