He checked the locks and turned off the lights and TV before heading to bed. As tired as he was, sleep eluded him for a long time. He and his brother Conor shared an apartment over the family tavern. The military had taught him to sleep through all sorts of noise, too. The dark quiet of the woods was alien. Danny needed a noise machine with honking horns and swearing drunks.

A flat-screen TV hung on the wall opposite the bed. Danny turned on the weather channel and lay in the dark listening to storm reports.

He lay awake for a long time. Even with background noise and flickering light, something still felt wrong.

Soft light glowed from the back windows of the contemporary house as Nathan crept soundlessly through the trees. To avoid announcing his presence, he’d left the ATV a mile down the trail. Though he preferred civilized life over the wilderness, his uncle had taught him well. Being in the woods felt like a return to childhood. When they’d moved to Huntsville after the deaths of Nathan’s parents, the forest had healed them.

Smoke rose from the chimney. The woodstove was in use. Perhaps he wouldn’t need the gasoline he’d found in the shed on his earlier visit.

Nathan approached the rear of the house and listened. Blessed silence greeted his ears. Moving closer, he peered into the window, the same window he’d nailed shut earlier. Danny Sullivan was stretched out on the king-size bed. His body was still, his eyes closed. Nathan watched the young man sleep for a long time. Anger festered in his belly. There lay the reason Nathan was alone, the man who dared to stand between Nathan and his May Queen. That was reason enough to pay a penalty, but the thought of the younger man charming his way into Mandy’s good graces—and her bed—lit Nathan’s gut on fire.

There was no question. He had to get rid of Danny Sullivan.

Nathan stole along the foundation to the back door. He inserted the key into the lock and turned it. The deadbolt clicked open. He listened for the telltale chime of an alarm system. When nothing but quiet greeted him, he stepped inside. No one expected middle-of-the-night intruders this far out in the woods. At least not the kind on two feet.

He passed through a large, slate-floored kitchen into the living room. Embers glowed orange through the slits in the woodstove door.