Chapter 1: Prologue

Talon Avery paced back and forth in front of the school library. His tense posture and scowling expression kept friend and foe at bay, though it didn't deter any from keeping track of his every move.

When a lethal weapon was barely contained, it paid to be on the alert, and damn near everyone on campus was aware that Talon was about to blow his top and unleash his infamous temper on all and sundry. Thankfully it was a known fact that only those in the direct line of fire ever felt the full force of his wrath.

Skye Abbott fielded her fifth call in as many minutes, heart racing and pulse going haywire. Reading the face of her cell, she saw that it was her BFF Stephanie calling.

***

TALON

***

I can feel everyone's eyes following my every move as though they were expecting me to lose it any minute and go postal. If I were being honest with myself, I would admit that they had every right to be apprehensive, but I'm not feeling very magnanimous at the moment.

What I felt was rage, anger, and frustration, a very volatile combination for someone of my temperament. I tried my phone one more time, punching the redial button like it was the enemy. If these clowns didn't get the fuck gone, I just might take my shit out on one of their asses.

I glared behind me, and they either scattered or pretended interest in the sky and the surrounding scenery to avoid eye contact. Nosy fucks.

***

SKYLAR

***

"Steph, what the hell's going on?" I yelled into the phone at the end of my rope.

"Skye, where the hell are you?"

"What...I'm at the pharmacy. Calm down; what's everyone so excited about anyway?"

"Skye, hon listen, I know you've only known Talon a short while but trust me when I say you do not want to cross him."

"Cross him; what the hell are you talking about?" I held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I tried to read the directions on the over-the-counter antihistamine I was in dire need of.

My head is full of cotton balls, my eyes are itchy, and my nose would give Rudolph a run for his money. Maybe that's why the panicked voices of my last four callers hadn't registered until Steph's almost frantic tone.

"Did you tell Talon you were going to the pharmacy Skye?"

"What does that have to do with anything? Talon's, at ball practice; I was on my way to the library, but my allergies started acting up out of nowhere, and here I am. You know you're the fifth person to call me in a panic? I'm sure you're all overreacting. I'll call Talon as soon as I'm done here; tell everyone to just chill.

I hung up the phone, confident that everything would be okay. I'm not doing anything alarming, just a side trip to the pharmacy. I have no worries; I know how Talon can be; although we'd only met just a few short weeks ago, I've become pretty in tune with his mercurial moods.

But there was nothing to worry about. I felt my heart do that melting shifting thing it always does whenever I think of the new man in my life. He had become such an integral part of my life so suddenly, so unexpectedly.

I remember the day almost a month and a half ago when I'd been standing on the sidelines of the football field after the big game with Stephanie, who is head cheerleader. The game had been a success. Our team had trounced the opposition forty-two, fourteen.

Everyone had been in high spirits, and though I knew very little about football, I, too, had been caught up in the euphoria that was in the air and was enjoying the festive mood. Steph had been waiting anxiously to get her hands on the team's wide receiver Kevin, her boyfriend of a year and a half, and had dragged me along to the field with her after getting me from the stands.

Amidst all the revelry and congratulations floating around me, I'd felt a prickling sensation, like a target caught in the crosshairs. I followed the sensation across the field with my eyes until they connected with the most startling green eyes I'd ever seen.

My heart lurched somewhere south, and I had to blink rapidly to keep my focus from blurring. He stared at me in a way that made me feel like there was no one else in the world. I could feel an invisible string drawing me across the field, and only the sudden lead in my legs kept me rooted to the spot. It was the strangest experience of my life, almost like one of those out-of-body things you hear so much about.

In my peripheral, I saw Steph and Kevin locked in one of their embarrassingly passionate clinches, but this time I didn't feel the need to make a snide comment about their public display. All my energy was too caught up in the force field of the man standing across from me. I couldn't break the connection and was more than a little surprised to realize I didn't want to. That was so not like me, to stare at a total stranger with what I was sure was longing.

My view was rudely interrupted by the appearance of a stunning blonde who threw herself into his arms exuberantly, wrapping herself around him. I blinked away the sudden moisture from my eyes as I rubbed my hand across my chest where my heart laid as if to wipe away the sudden pain that lodged there.

I forced myself to look away, not understanding the sudden feeling of grief that was almost crippling.

I had a fairly good notion of who the guy with the fallen angel looks was: Talon Avery, star quarterback and all-around lady's man. I had heard the stories, of course, having just transferred here two weeks before in the middle of the semester. It seems like he was the main topic on everyone's lips. When I wasn't being warned about his philandering ways, I was being bombarded by what seemed like every female within a hundred-mile radius gushing over him.

I had no interest in his type, not after what I'd just been through, the reason I'd transferred here in the first place. I wanted nothing to do with the Adonis everyone described, no matter how amazing some seemed to think he was.

I had gone through too much to get here to let myself be caught up in the whirlwind of disaster that was Talon Avery. All I wanted was to get my life back on track and move on from the dark hole I'd just escaped.

It hadn't been easy, but with my grades and transferable scholarship, my counselor had made it happen by the skin of her teeth. And now here I am in this little college town in New York, a long way from Rhode Island where I'd grown up, where I had always believed I would spend my whole existence.

I'd loved my home, the big old farmhouse where generations of Abbotts had lived since the eighteen hundreds. I'd loved the woods around our acreage, where Steph and I had spent countless hours weaving tales of happily ever after.

My happily ever after had come crashing down around me after my first year at the local university when I found my boyfriend in bed with my cousin. An experience that had sent my life spiraling out of control, burying me under a pain I thought I'd never escape from. Until I landed here and felt like I'd finally left that all behind, a new start, a new beginning, maybe I could salvage some happiness for me after all.