Page 2

Location: Serenity, Illinois

Sleep.

..

Dream.

..

Deep dreams of chase and kill and hunt and prowl and find and feed and fuck and play and live and risk and die and live again.

..

CRACK.

Somewhere to the north, a great crack sounded, startling Trevor Burbank awake. He lay still and listened intently, eyes wide open but seeing little in the early morning darkness. He was at home, in his bedroom on the second floor, in bed, with his mate, Ella, asleep beside him, their feet entangled—but something was wrong because the constant, familiar hum of electronics in the house had ceased. Outside, the wind whipped and howled, while inside, the room seemed unnaturally dark. Trevor rubbed his eyes, realizing the power was out. He rolled to his back, listening closely to the sounds of the house, sensing his brothers awake downstairs, doing the same.

All good? Trent’s voice rumbled in ruhi his head.

All good up here , Trevor replied.

Here too, Troy chimed in.

The house generator started with a thump and a dull roar, and the electronics quietly whirred back on.

Trevor picked up his phone and looked at the time—3:04 in the morning, and he had no notifications, which was very, very good. He put the phone down and settled back on his pillow, snuggling closer to his mate, listening to the whipping winds outside and the snow slapping wetly against the windowpanes. They were in the middle of a big storm—so big that Serenity Civil Defense had called a briefing yesterday afternoon, saying it could bring a foot of snow overnight. Trevor closed his eyes, not worried about a little snow and wind.

He dozed.