Page 29 of One Forbidden Moment

A figure stumbled out of the swirling dust.She squinted.It was Copper.

His coat snapped violently in the wind, his hair whipped back, his eyes wide in his hurry to reach them.

"Moe," Copper shouted, voice nearly swallowed by the storm."You're making a huge mistake."

The motorcycle vibrated to life underneath her.Moe grabbed the handlebars.

"No, I'm not," he shouted.

Copper staggered closer, fighting the wind."You don't understand what it wants!"

Jillian's blood ran cold.What it wants?

The wind howled, rising to a pitch that made her ears ring.The sky above them pulsed.Once.Twice.Almost like a heartbeat.

Copper pointed toward the swirling clouds, his voice straining over the noise."It's not stable.You take her through now, and you won't—"

A blast of wind cut him off, shoving him back a step.

Moe revved the engine."Hold on to me," he yelled over his shoulder.

Jillian tightened her grip, heart pounding so hard it hurt.The air around them crackled, the pressure building until her skin prickled.

Copper's voice tore through the storm one last time."Moe, don't!"

The sky split open.

A column of dark fog rolled down from the clouds, slamming into the center of Everstill with a loud enough sound to crack the street in half.

Moe gunned the engine.She held on, trusting him as the storm swallowed them whole.

He took them straight into the shadow.

Disoriented from the darkness, she squeezed her eyelids shut as the wind roared around them.A weight pressed down on her skin, her ribs, her lungs.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't think.

She couldn't hear anything except the storm screaming in her ears.

The motorcycle bucked beneath them, skidding sideways as if the ground had vanished.Jillian's arms tightened around Moe's waist, fingers digging into his jacket.He twisted, bracing her with one arm while fighting the handlebars with the other.

"Hold—" he shouted, but the wind tore the words apart.

The air thickened, turning syrupy, dragging at her limbs.Her stomach lurched as if she were falling and floating at the same time.The pressure built around her, squeezing her chest, her skull, her thoughts.

Something brushed against her.

Not wind.Not air.It was cold and caressed her.

It slid along her skin.A whisper of sensation like fingers trailing through her mind, searching, testing, tasting.

She gasped and clutched Moe harder, lifting her chin to see how he was faring against the storm.

His face was a blur of determination and fear.She locked her ankles behind his back, gripping tighter to the one thing in the world that made her feel safe.

"Jillian!"His voice was raw, torn by the storm."Stay with me."