Obsessed by Darkness Read online

  OBSESSED BY DARKNESS

  by

  Autumn Jordon

  OBSESSED BY DARKNESS

  by

  Autumn Jordon

  Chase Hunter, the youngest member of the elite U.S. Marshal C.U. F. F. Team, heads an operation on a college campus where a new drug is sweeping the campus and has caused multiple deaths. Chase’s own demons surface and he fights to determine when to trust his gut and when to obey orders, especially when it comes to their number one person of interest, the studious, pretty Emma Lewis.

  Chemistry graduate student Emma Lewis’s roller coaster ride begins when she discovers a fellow student dead, inciting the police to probe every aspect of her life. When new student Chase Hunter arrives on campus, he quickly becomes her emotional rock and Emma finds herself falling for him- until she learns his interest in her was all a lie.

  A murderer’s plans change as the heat on campus rises and Emma becomes the target of the psychopath. When she goes missing, will Chase find her in time?

  Other Titles By Autumn Jordon

  Romantic Suspense

  Seized By Darkness

  His Witness To Evil

  In The Presence Of Evil

  Contemporary Romance

  Obsessed By Wildfire

  PERFECT

  PERFECT HEARTS

  PERFECT PLAY- coming fall 2016

  OBSESSED BY DARKNESS

  COPYRIGHT 2016 by Dianne Gerber

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights are reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portion thereof, in any form. This book may not be resold or uploaded for distribution to others. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted material in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover design by Rae Monet

  Editor: Pat Thomas

  Published in the United States of America

  Acknowledgements

  This book is in honor of my husband, Jim, who remains my hero.

  Thank you to my children. Without your support, I could not do what I love to do.

  Also, heartfelt thanks to Rita Henuber and Sylvia Kaye who were my beta readers, and to my awesome editor Pat Thomas and her team of beta readers. You made this story great.

  And to my Ruby Slipperhood Sisters and soul sisters of the Pocono-Lehigh Romance Writers thank you for brainstorming and the encouragement. I love you all.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Autumn Jordon

  Prologue

  Denise did as he asked and placed the tiny pill on her tongue. Bitter grains trailed down her throat. She had a hard time swallowing pills without something to drink, but she didn’t like beer and beer was the drink in his hand.

  “Relax. It’ll be Ok.” Approval reflected in his eyes. “Trust me, babe.”

  Yes. She trusted him, but some things she didn’t want to share, yet. Keeping her apprehensions to herself, she simply dipped a nod.

  “Good.” He switched off the camping lantern that sat on the grass, off the corner of the blanket. Its flickering light made the setting even more intimate.

  Denise swept her hair over her shoulder in a move she’d copied from one of the girls on campus. The motion jutted her breasts forward just enough to cause a man’s gaze to drop to them. His tongue swept his bottom lip, and she knew she’d gotten the desired reaction from him.

  “Feeling relaxed?” he asked, running the back of his hand over her arm.

  Mmmm. She gave a long sigh. He probably thought this was the first time she’d taken the new drug sweeping the campus. He didn’t know the drug was the reason she looked hotter than she ever had in her life. It was the reason he’d finally noticed her, wanted her.

  She’d taken a pill earlier and with this second one, was deliciously relaxed. She fell back onto the blanket and didn’t even mind that it smelled of beer, gasoline and old tires. All her senses focused on his scent and the warmth of his body. Another contented sigh slipped through her parted lips. They were alone. Just the two of them.

  The small circular clearing within the forest was accessible only by the old logging road riddled with decades of ruts. A scattering of bloated gray clouds scudded past the early autumn moon. Wildflowers of every height, shape, and color dotted the hip-high meadow grass covering the field. Their full blooms swayed with each soft breeze, mingling their last bit of perfume with the scent of decaying leaves and dank earth.

  He rose and propped his weight on an elbow and studied her for a moment before drawing closer. His mouth slanted over hers, pressing gently. Her mind, fogged with passion, banished any chance of rational reasoning. Shifting his weight, the space between their bodies disappeared. He pushed the soft material of her skirt higher on her calves. His tongue flicked against the sensitive skin at the base of her neck and her breasts tightened, wanting his attention. He nibbled a path to her ear and then deliberately, devilishly, drew the lobe into his mouth and suckled.

  She pushed against his broad chest. “That tickled,” she giggled, covering up her yearning.

  “Tickled? Really?” A single furrow creased his brow, unsettling the want etched on his face. “I think you liked it. A whole hell of a lot,” he said, accentuating each word with a kiss on the palm of her hand.

  His erection pressed against her thigh and made her aware of how much he wanted her. For weeks, she’d dreamt of this moment.

  Denise trailed her hands along the solid cords of his muscular arms. Under his sweatshirt, she felt the strength of his muscles as they flexed. He combed his fingers through her hair, lifting the strands into the air again and again before letting them fall.

  Denise drew in the night air. Weightlessness crept through her muscles. She longed to dance with the stars, especially the twinkling one near the Big Dipper. “Did you ever want to fly?” she asked, without looking at him.

  Silence.

  She shoved him to the side and sat up but had to close her eyes to stop the dizziness from upending her equilibrium and her train of thought. With each breath she inhaled, she felt lighter. She raised her face to the sky. The stars twirled, trailing shimmering paths behind her closed lids. “Have you ever…?” She wanted to follow them. “Ever just wanted to fly?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know. Fly.” Denise scrambled to her feet as if there was no weight to her at all. She anchored her toes in the cool grass so she wouldn’t float away until she convinced him to fly with her. “Like a bird. Did you ever wish you could spread your arms and zo
om into the sky on a breeze? Go as high as the stars?” Her skirt swirled around her calves as she twirled at the blanket’s edge. Flower petals grazed her palms, releasing their sweet perfume. She twirled faster and faster. The stars’ tails stretched longer and longer until they transformed into rainbow-colored ribbons that trailed shimmering fairy dust.

  “Denise.” His rough fingertips grazed her calf again, sending a jolt to her center, and she staggered to a stop. She fought to steady herself for a moment before saying in a seductive drawl, “I’ll make you fly higher than you’ve ever been.”

  She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes to study him better, letting her hair fall forward as she inched her shirt up.

  His warm palm skimmed the inside of her leg, inching higher.

  Her blood turned hot and each quick breath made the next come faster.

  His fingertips grazed the silk of her panties.

  An owl screeched a warning from overhead.

  Denise searched the tree tops. With a blink, her mother’s scowl appeared before her eyes, reminding Denise of her up-bringing, her faith. Scolding her, telling her no man should know her secret place until they married.

  Again the bird cried.

  “Mom.” She rubbed her eyes and then combed the dark shadows again. “The limbs!” She gasped, pointing. “They’re weaving together.” Panic encased her heart. “It’s a trap.” Blood surged, prompting her to run, but she couldn’t. His touch fought to control her, to hold her there.

  The sour taste of shame laced her tongue. She had asked for this. She’d worked for his attention, chasing him. Hell, she’d even prayed for him.

  And Hell was where she would certainly spend eternity, if she succumbed to the desire that cascaded through her.

  His hands were everywhere enticing her to surrender.

  His lips parted. A glistening trail followed where his tongue trailed. The grin morphed into a frightening sneer and his fingernails transformed into cold talons that nipped at her skin.

  Before he could shackle her ankle with his icy grip, Denise twisted free and bolted through the tall grass, across the meadow. Grass stalks looped through her toes, grabbing at her. She yanked their roots free, and with her arms wind-milling, she staggered forward, faster.

  “What the hell? Denise. Stop,” he ordered from behind.

  She didn’t have to look back. His footsteps vibrated the very ground below her feet.

  She rushed into the murky forest and immediately faced daunting shadows with glowing eyes that scurried from one hiding place to another. The veiled forest remained soggy from yesterday’s rainstorms and cold muck sucked into her instep and sodden leaves clung to her legs. The fragrant, sweet scent of the meadow vanished. Death’s acid stench caused her stomach to lurch and she pinched her lips together to seal them.

  A branch snapped and she spun around. A spiked-nosed creature burrowed into the thicket beside her. She turned. A wide-eyed deer leapt across her path and disappeared into the darkness.

  Sweat coated her skin. She licked her parched lips. How could she see every little detail and the whole world at once? She blinked away the minute images and refocused on the obscurity surrounding her.

  “Damn it. Denise, you know I’m not going to hurt you,” his words grew louder.

  The warmth of his breath tickled her ear.

  She spun to face only darkness. Her nostrils flared, picking up his hungry scent. He was close. She had to get away. He was evil.

  She stumbled over an exposed root and pain shot through her toe and up her leg. She grabbed the oak’s rough trunk, regained her balance, managing to stay upright, and dashed forward.

  The thicket that concealed them from the world lashed at her clothes, her hair and her skin. Behind clamped lips, she trapped cries of pain which would serve her no purpose anyway.

  The unforgiving woodland gave way to another clearing. Above she saw stars. Thousands of them, twinkling in the night like diamonds spilled on black satin. A stone wall loomed ahead, obstructing her path.

  Behind her, twigs shattered in rapid succession. He was a beast on the hunt, determined to catch its prey. She had to scale the wall. He would never possess her.

  “Goddamn, Denise, wait.”

  A field mouse dropped its morsel of dinner. “Climb, you fool,” it said. Then scurried along the wall’s edge to safety.

  She scaled the wall, ignoring the pain in her knees as her skin gave way and her blood smeared the rough stone. She stood tall, feeling a power move through her shoulders. She unfolded her wings and extended them outward. They glimmered in the moonlight.

  Hope swelled in her chest. She was only a breath away from freedom. She inched forward, her toes curling over the stone’s edge.

  The night air vibrated with her pursuer’s panting breaths.

  She ventured a peek over her shoulder.

  “Fuck. Don’t move, Denise. You’re going to fall.”

  His pathetic expression seeped new confidence into her soul. She now held the power.

  “Let me help you down.” He stepped forward, arm upraised.

  “Stay away,” she ordered, pointing a wing at him. “You gave me the gift to fly and you’re not going to take it back,” she said and soared into the night.

  Chapter One

  At precisely six a.m. on Sunday morning, Emma Lewis exited her apartment building for her morning run and let the foyer door swing closed behind her. The lock clicked into place, securing the complex. She stashed her cell and apartment keys inside her jacket pocket, alongside the few sugar cubes she’d grabbed from the kitchen cabinet earlier.

  Above, pink and orange sun-ribbons streaked the teal-blue sky like an artist with a vision had flung them there. Emma’s gaze followed the white-puffed trail intersecting dawn’s creation and then honed in on the tiny, silver jet heading south toward the moon. Last night’s flash thunderstorm had definitely left behind a beautiful morning.

  Reaching toward the sky, Emma stretched. Then she grabbed her long hair and tugged her ponytail tight before she hurried down the remaining steps and jogged in the direction of the Tri-Penn Campus stables, where she planned to take a quick stop. The sights, sounds and smells surrounding the equestrian and dairy centers reminded her of her Kentucky home. Having stayed on campus all summer in order to work part time for a large pharmaceutical company and start her graduate work, she’d been away from the family farm for more than six months. And the only reason she had made the trip then was because her grandmother had insisted Emma be home to help her celebrate her eighty-fifth birthday. Recalling grandma’s face beaming at so many lit candles on the huge cake still caused Emma to chuckle inside.

  She missed home and could’ve gone to school somewhere closer, but Tri-Penn University had the best chemical engineering program east of the Mississippi and her family wanted her to have the best education.

  While systematically inhaling fresh air through her nose and forcing herself to exhale through her mouth, she mentally ran over her agenda for the day: run, breakfast, and review the lesson plans Professor Langson dropped off last night, before he left town.

  The knowledge she was in charge of the senior professor’s freshman classes for the week made her nauseous. She slowed her pace and drew in calming breaths. Although she understood the reasons he’d chosen her to be his senior TA, she didn’t welcome the times she had to stand in for him. So far, she had only done that for minimal time frames. Minutes, not whole classes. And certainly never for an entire week.

  Her eyes scanned the depths of the forest as she veered off the paved road onto the gravel path that led to the stables. Spying the dozens of grazing horses being cared for by the veterinary students ahead, Emma thought of their ranch and her lips curled into a smile. She missed her family. It would be another six months, or more, at least, until she could make a trip home.

  Before she’d reached the pasture, Buster, the sorrel gelding she rode on occasion, spied her, neighed and galloped to the railing.


  “Can’t sneak up on you, can I, boy?” She fished the plastic bag containing sugar cubes out of her pocket and chuckled as Buster’s soft muzzle tickled her palm.

  As happened when she’d spent time with her own horses, her fears waned and were replaced by a more logical and less emotional perspective.

  “I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of me this week,” she whispered to the horse who then tossed his head in agreement. “Ok. As long as you’re on my side, I can handle standing in front of a class. But, if things go awry, be prepared to get ridden a lot.” She tugged on his halter. “You hear me?”

  The horse’s neigh made her laugh. She gave him one last pat and nibble of sugar and then she jogged away.

  Thirty minutes later, she neared the crest of the last hill. Under her oversized sweatshirt, perspiration trickled down her back and her heart thumped against her ribs. Her blood warmed her skin from underneath.

  She peeked at her watch. Four and a half miles done. One half mile to go. She could break her record time if she picked her pace up a notch.

  Drawing in the crisp air, scented with full-fledged fall, she pumped her legs and arms harder and climbed the incline.

  A white sun now peaked over the mountain top to the east with such brilliance it caused her to squint. Reluctantly, she dropped her gaze to the uneven path spotted with twigs brought down in last night’s storm. She had to watch her footing. The last thing she needed was to blow out a knee or twist an ankle. Or land in a pile of horse droppings.

  Emma topped the summit and checked her time, again. Pride straightened her spine. She had a new record by two seconds. Satisfied, she slowed to a brisk walk, her chest heaving as she started her cool-down stride. She cut across campus between the administrative buildings and headed home.

  Nearing the bridge that crossed over the river that divided the campus, she noticed a discarded mint box on the asphalt path’s edge. Why did people think it was OK to litter? As she bent to snatch the box from the ground, a glimpse of fluttering blue among the earthy autumn tones caught her attention. She leaned on the stone wall to watch the blue jays feed on berries. Spying the woman below, she screamed, causing the birds to take flight. Emma searched the surrounding area for anyone to help her, but there was no one.