A hand on her shoulder pulled Riann from dreamless sleep. Mikal's silhouette loomed above her, dark against a greater dark. She blinked, disoriented, the previous night's events washing over her. Cougar scream. Naked walk to the studio. Kneeling before him. His arms carrying her back to bed. Without speaking, he placed a folded bundle of clothes beside her, his fingertips grazing her bare arm. The brief contact sent elect...

Late afternoon sun baked the intersection of a little-used dirt road and an even lesser-used two-track. Both disappeared into the vastness of the Nevada high desert. Sagebrush dotted the terrain, silver-green against red dirt. Stands of juniper clung to rocky outcroppings, twisted and stunted by wind and drought. In the distance, jagged mountains cut a serrated edge against a too-blue sky. Beautiful in its harshness. Brut...