Excerpt of Wild Heart by Lori Brighton

With long, purposeful strides, he shortened the distance
between them. And she couldn’t move, couldn’t move a bloody
step, fear and something else holding her captive.
Nearer...nearer. Would he stop or knock her over?

Then their gazes met and any thought of escape fled.
Suddenly nothing existed. Ella fell into a warm pool of
gold. An eerie gold that glowed from his eyes, pulling her
under, drowning in emotion and leaving her gasping for
breath. It was coming from him...the emotion...the
need...the pain.

Birds, rabbits, even a fox, but never had she been
able to read a person’s emotions. Mesmerized, she didn’t
move a muscle when he stopped only a foot away, looming over
her like some archangel come to take her soul. Was the floor
still beneath her feet or was she falling? The room seemed
to spin as his scent swirled around her: sea salt, pine and
male; him.

“It is nice to meet you,” she somehow managed to get
past her lips.

His eyes narrowed into slits and his nostrils flared,
his breath a soft whisper as he inhaled deeply. Slowly, he
moved around her as if she were prey and he the hunter. He
stepped close, too close. With his chest hot to her back,
his essence seeped into her skin. His fingers brushed her
nape, wrapped around a loose lock, and the fine hairs on her
neck stood on end. She heard the distinct intake of breath,
as if he smelled the strands. Paralyzed from fright and from
another foreign emotion, Ella couldn’t move. Her heart
hammered in her ears, drowning out every sound but her own
harsh breathing.