Page 360 of Evil Hearts

That fanged grin only got more unhinged. “You, flower. I want you. Wealldo. And as I’ve said, I am I. I have always been. A monster, a shadow, an angel. Whatever you’d like of me, I can deliver it with the mostdeliciouspain.”

I was frozen, unable to move and unsure if I wanted to. It was ludicrous,psychotic, but I remembered what he’d felt like against me. I remembered his claws around the throat of a frat boy who was about to rape me.

“I…Do you have a name?”

Rolling his head, the monster tracked me with his eyes—all of them. “I do, Akirako. You may call me Runethok.”

“Or just Rune,” a voice cut it from just behind him, lighter and feminine, “because who the hell wants to say ‘Runethok’ all the time?”

My nerves flared into panic all over again, and I looked behind Rune to see three more…creatures staring back at me. I was going to fucking pass out at this point. It was all too damned much. I’d clearly jumped right off the deep end and joined my mother in a mental break from reality.

“What the fuck?!”

Rune stood up, rolling his many eyes. “Fucking hell, Keika. I’d just gotten her heart rate down. Thanks.”

The woman he was speaking to looked Japanese, of all things, but she wasn’t entirely human, far from it. Large, fur-coveredears perked up from her head of thick black hair that stretched down to her waist. In fact, her entire body was covered in a short layer of fur, swirled with large patches of color like a calico cat. I’d had one growing up for a time, and thiswoman—if I could call her that—had the classic piebald pattern of white, black, and orange across her entire body, which was incredibly curvy. Full breasts and wide hips, a smooth line from her sternum down to her pubic bones, it was like a damned tabaxi come to life.

“Oh, come on. We could all smell Aki upstairs. I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to,” she slinked forward, effortlessly graceful, “get a sniff of our new roomie.”

I was flush against the wall behind me. There was nowhere to go, but I still flinched backward. The woman chuckled, reaching out with fingers decked in wicked claws at least three inches long.

“Shh, pet.” She raked one down my cheek. “I wouldn’t dream of marrying that beautiful face.”

Lowering her head toward me, I could sense her take a deep breath as I turned my face away from her. Fuck, how could Ifeelher in my skin when she wasn’t even touching me. She looked so very cat-like but still human—an intriguing blend that had me trembling nearly as much as Rune did.

“You know, Rune, I can hardly see like this. How about a little light.”

Before anyone could say anything more, a flash of bright light erupted from behind the cat-woman’s back.

“There now. That’s better. And she looks so cold, too.” The woman’s voice was so deep, with a soft lilting rhythm to it, like she was purring, not speaking. “Should Keika warm you up?”

I couldn’t respond. My brain was not comprehending what was going on. So when two flaming tails circled around from Keika’s back, all I could do was scream.

“I won’t burn you, pet.”

But I was hardly convinced, and the panic was too intense to ignore. “Get away!”

“Ugh,” Rune grumbled again, and I flicked my stare up toward him as two more masculine figures pressed in closer behind him, “Kei, this was exactly what I saidnotto do.”

Keika huffed a slight pout, one that nearly made me laugh, and then stood up, giving me space but not extinguishing her tails.

“Fine, fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest, decidedly beneath her impressive breasts. “But don’t stand there on your high horse and pretend that you’re notlovinghow scared she is.”

Eyeing Rune, I watched him smirk as he returned his attention to me. He tilted his head in that strange way again, and I pulled my knees up in front of myself, some dumb act of self-protection.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t, Kei.” He held his stare glued to me. “But I had hoped this little…introduction could go a bit smoother so that we could get to the fun stuff quicker.”

“There shouldn’t be any fun stuff. She’s a fucking human, and she should have stayed where she belongs.”

The deep voice that boomed through the shadowy hallway was fathoms more ruff and knife-sharp than any I’d heard before. I could see someone still a few paces back where I couldn’t make them out, and the others—including the other cat-like person who’d yet to introduce himself—all rolled their eyes.

“Baltz, I told you that—”

“I don’t give a fuck what you told me. I never liked this. We should’ve just wiped her completely.”

Rune turned over his shoulder as the other creature stepped up. I looked like it was a move more down out of the need to menace me than reveal himself. He still clung to the shadows, and while he shared a similar set of glowing eyes, this monster’s were light blue and a good few inches above where Rune’s sat.

There was also, thankfully, just the one set.

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