Before The Dawn

The Killer Instinct series from New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden continues as an FBI profiler tracks a case that resurrects ghosts from his past

Ex-SEAL Tucker Frost knows that the world is full of evil. He saw it in the face of his own brother, Jason Frost, a cold, methodical, sadistic killer. A killer Tucker put down with his own hands in order to save Jason’s final victim—Dawn Alexander, the only girl who got away from the infamous “Iceman.”

It’s Tucker’s up close and personal experience with evil that’s made him perfect for Samantha Dark’s experimental profiling division in the FBI. And when women start turning up murdered with the same MO used by the Iceman, Tucker is sent back to Louisiana to investigate.

Ten full years have passed since the night that Tucker faced down his brother...and since he last saw Dawn, his one-time lover. But as Tucker and Dawn grapple with a desire that never died, they must also face the shared shadow from their pasts. Both have the same question—has Jason Frost come back from the dead to hunt again? And this time, will he succeed in killing the victim who got away?

Praise for New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden

“Eden shines with this taut romantic thriller, which opens her Killer Instincts series.”

—Publishers Weekly on After the Dark

“Cynthia Eden writes smart, sexy and gripping suspense. Hang on tight while she takes you on a wild ride.’’

—New York Times bestselling author Cindy Gerard

“Cynthia Eden’s Broken is what romantic suspense is supposed to be—fast, furious, and very sexy! In the LOST Agency, Eden has created a complex cast of characters that readers will love—leaving them eagerly anticipating the next team member’s story.’’

—#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose

“Sexy, mysterious, and full of heart-pounding suspense!”

—New York Times bestselling author Laura Kaye

“Fast-paced, smart, sexy and emotionally wrenching—everything I love about a Cynthia Eden book!”

—Award-winning author HelenKay Dimon

Before the Dawn

Cynthia Eden

www.millsandboon.co.uk

I fell in love with romance novels when I was thirteen years old. I’ve been addicted ever since. So this book—this story is for the other romance addicts out there. For the people who love their happy endings, who love the suspense and the adrenaline...for the ones who just love their books.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Praise

Title Page

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

“I’M GOING TO teach you to like pain.”

Dawn Alexander felt the tears trailing down her cheeks. She could only stare at the man who stood above her, a man with a face that was so heartbreakingly familiar, and shake her head.

Her hands were tied behind her back. The rough hemp rope bit into her wrists. She’d strained to break free for hours, and the rope had sliced into her wrists as she struggled. Each ankle was bound to a chair leg.

And Dawn was in hell.

He smiled at her. A smile that was wide and charming. A smile that flashed the dimple in his left cheek. “Right now, you don’t understand how good the pain will be. You still cry out when I hurt you.”

He’d hurt her plenty. The nightmare wouldn’t stop.

He lifted the bloody knife and pressed the tip to her cheek. “But soon the real fun will begin. By the time I’m done, you’ll be begging for the knife to slice you deeper.”

He means I’ll be begging for death.

“Please,” Dawn pleaded then as she had for hours. But he hadn’t listened to her. The man she’d thought was her friend had turned into a monster before her eyes. “Just let me go.”

His bright blue eyes hardened as he stared down at her. “You came into my life, Dawn. You came to me. You tried to come between me and the one person who matters most.”

Her breath sawed out of her lungs. They were in a small cabin, far away from the busy streets of Baton Rouge. The man before her—she knew him. She’d known him for years. Jason. Jason Frost. Everyone in the area knew him. Tall, handsome, smart and strong... Jason had been the star athlete on the football team. The guy most likely to succeed. Sure, there were plenty of stories that had swirled about his family—or rather, his father—but Jason, with his perfect looks and easy charm, had been the one all the girls loved.

But not me. I didn’t love him.

Because she’d lost her heart to his younger brother. She’d fallen fast and hard for Tucker Frost the first time they’d met.

She’d been thirteen. He’d been sixteen. She’d been so taken by him that no other boy had ever been able to compare. But when he’d turned eighteen, Tucker had left her. He’d joined the Navy, gone far away. She’d heard people say that he’d become a SEAL.

And he’d just...vanished.