Free Beneath a Darkening Moon by Keri Arthur Page A

him. And remember, too, that while you may be forced into the dance, you can probably control the way events unfold.”
    “Oh, I’ve already laid down the ground rules.”
    Neva grinned and squeezed Savannah’s hand again.
    “That’s my girl.” She quickly finished the rest of hercoffee and pushed to her feet with a groan. “No one told me pregnancy was a backbreaker.”
    As she waddled away, Savannah sipped her coffee and considered her sister’s advice. As usual, Neva was right. To get through this, she not only had to keep to the ground rules she’d already set, but she also had to keep it just about the sex. Hard, fast, long, or slow, it didn’t matter, as long as it remained detached. All about physical sensation, and not about feelings or emotions.
    He’d done it the first time—and he’d done it so well that she’d thought it
had
been real. Until the last night. Until he’d shown his true colors with that one, unforgivable act.
    But then, those events—both her foolishness with Cade, and not seeing what Jontee truly was—had, in many ways, led to her becoming a ranger. So, in some ways, she owed a debt of thanks to the past. She loved what she did, and she probably wouldn’t have thought to become a ranger if not for those events.
    A bell chimed as the diner door opened, and she looked up to see Ronan walk in. Though he didn’t often eat here, she wasn’t entirely surprised that he’d come tonight. She’d been avoiding him for most of the day, but it was inevitable he would catch up with her.
    Thanks to the aftermath of the dreams he’d witnessed so often, he knew a little about Rosehall. He would have recognized the intent behind the words carved into the victim’s back—and he knew those words had been aimed at her.
    She picked up her coffee, meeting his gaze squarely and watching him move through the tables. Aricaught him halfway, flirting more outrageously than she usually did. Ari had had the hots for Ronan, and had for as long as Savannah could remember. As far as she knew, he’d never returned the interest—but maybe that was
her
fault. After all, Ronan had been hurt by the past as much as she had, and she was just as much a crutch for him emotionally as he was to her.
    He dragged out a chair and sat down opposite her. “So,” he said simply. “Explain.”
    She did—briefly.
    “And Cade?” he asked.
    “Became sexually involved with me to get close to Jontee and stop him.”
    “So you were one of Jontee’s lovers?”
    “I was Sunday and Wednesday.” Though she hated the fact that she’d been involved with a killer, she couldn’t actually regret the rest of her Rosehall experience. If nothing else, it had been a wild, amazing ride. “Cade was under the impression that, as one of Jontee’s lovers, I had to know something about the murders. I didn’t.” Not through firsthand knowledge, anyway. No one had. Jontee had kept the dark intent of the commune well and truly hidden from
everyone
—something she’d told Cade over and over, but he’d never believed her. Never trusted her.
    “And the murders here?”
    “The MOs seem to indicate that someone didn’t take too kindly to Cade’s part in bringing Rosehall down.”
    “And what of your part in it?”
    “I didn’t
have
a part in it, but someone obviously thinks I did.”
    He studied her for a minute, his expression caring and his gray eyes concerned. “And Cade? What does his presence here mean?”
    She knew he meant on a personal level rather than a professional one, so she sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “We made a promise to the moon at Rosehall. Apparently, because we never actually fulfilled that promise, the power of it still holds.” Her gaze caught his over the rim of her cup. “For the next five nights.”
    He gave her a sweet half-smile. “I figured something was going on between you two.” He reached across the table and lightly pressed his fingertips against her hand. A brief but tender