Page 3 of Darkhan

She was unprepared for the strength behind his touch when he proceeded to push and she stumbled forward.

Ricky snatched her nearest arm as soon as it was within reach, hauling her upright and leaning in until he was close enough that she was forced to smell him. She always had found it ironic that he stank as badly as he did, when he was supposed to be the one with the sensitive nose. “You look fuckingdelicious, Harmony.” He licked his lips. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

Was it possible for an entire body to cringe? Because hers did. She recoiled as much as his grip would allow. “Let go of me.”

“Harmony,” her mother admonished. “You’re going with Mr. Eades and you’re going to do everything he asks of you, do you understand?”

Horror washed over her and she craned her neck to gape at her mother. Until Ricky crooked a finger around her chin and guided her focus back to him. He’d moved closer to her, so close their bodies were almost touching. He was only an inch taller than her five-foot-five, so it wasn’t hard for him to hold her stare in a physical sense. He certainly didn’t have to tilt her head back or hold her at a weird angle. If it weren’t for the strength in his stocky body, he wouldn’t have been that imposing at all.

“You’re going to come with me, Harmony Lace,” he said, speaking in a low tone. He adjusted his grip on her arm to run his thumb along her wrist. “I’ve got a space all ready for us.” His gaze dropped from hers, his head tilting to the side as he eyed her body again. “Today, I finally claim your tight little virgin cunt.”

Harmony held her breath, doing her level best not to say anything stupid. She knew what he was. He wasn’t just a pig. He was a monster, through and through. He was stronger than her, faster than her, and with his hands on her, there was not a damn thing she could do to fight him off. She knew that.

Everyone who lived in their neighborhood did. Ricky ran with the monster gang that treated the rest of them like poor, backwater peasants paying some sort of convoluted protection tax. Except the protection they were paying for was protection from the very shape-shifting monsters who were threatening them. And Ricky was one of the worst.

She knew, but she did not understand why, even after the terrible thing he’d just said, her parents remained silent. Compliant. Not until she remembered what they’d said moments earlier and reality slammed into her.

The breath she’d been holding finally rushed out on a long, hard gasp as a single, traitorous tear rolled down her cheek.They sold me off.

Ricky’s smirk broadened and he leaned closer. His tongue pressed against her cheek, dragging up, tracing the line of her tear as he rumbled with a perverse chuckle.

Her stomach rolled and her heart clenched as ice settled in her veins. Still, her parents remained as statues. The same parents that had treated her like a doll to be sheltered and kept from all forms of contact up to this point. It was too much.

Filled with a sudden surge of fury and devastating heartbreak, Harmony ripped her arm from Ricky’s loosened grasp and shoved him away from her with all her might. She let out the loudest shriek of pain and rage she was capable of, needing to release the feelings churning in her chest, and when he stumbled back, she didn’t hesitate. She didn’t stop to consider the dress she was wearing or the flimsy house slippers adorning her feet. She didn’t stop to retrieve her phone. She just ran,making a beeline straight for the front door that hadn’t even been properly closed.

“Harmony, wait!”

“Harmony Lace, get back here!”

Even if she’d been tempted to look back, Ricky’s roar of outrage would have convinced her otherwise. She didn’t understand what had happened, not fully, but she knew one thing for certain.

She couldn’t let the monster catch her.

Chapter Two

Harmony didn’t know where to go. She knew a couple of people—former classmates—who were still local, but she was hesitant to run to them. Anywhere she went she put people at risk. If Ricky was genuinely pursuing her, where could she really hide? He wasn’t human. He could just follow her scent wherever she went. And he wasn’t humane enough to mind boundaries. Let alone the value of life.

Ricky had made a point of making sure the neighborhood knew what his claws could do. Harmony had watched once in open-mouthed horror as he’d ripped another man open with one hand. The image had scarred her, haunted her, but as she pushed herself to keep moving in some blind semblance of “forward” now, that memory was all she could really see.

That would be her if she stopped moving. Because her parents had handed her over on a silver platter.

Tears blurred her vision again and Harmony stumbled into the wall of whatever building was closest. She caught herself before she could fully lose her balance, sucking in a ragged breath and forcing the tears down.

How could they?It was hard to wrap her mind around. Nearly impossible. She didn’t understand at all.

Harmony pushed off the wall, thinking to aim herself at the intersection just ahead, and she didn’t realize the side door to the building that had caught her was opening until an obscenely tall man stepped through. In two strides he was blocking her path and had drawn her full attention, her mind finally focused on something other than her mad dash.

The man was at least a full foot taller than her, putting him at no less than six-foot-five. But his height wasn’t the only thing large and intimidating about him. His shoulders were broader than she might ever have seen, and his entire bodylooked strong, even beneath the obviously expensive button-up shirt and pressed slacks. His biceps stretched the shirt’s material just with his arms hanging loose at his sides. The man’s hair was a thick, luxurious-looking mane of silver-streaked black that was swept off his face and tied at the base of his neck. The light and dark blend in his hair gave him a distinguished flare to the hard-edged strength he presented. Even the still-dark trim of beard, kept short and barely creeping up over the curve of his jaw, presented like an underscore to his masculine strength.

The man’s skin was too dark to be any sort of tan, and too bronze to qualify as black. It made him look exotic. A sense that was enhanced by the entrancing beauty of his dark amber eyes, which struck her as reminiscent of the color of fresh honey. Even as he narrowed those eyes at her while his nostrils flared, likely in irritation that they’d nearly collided, she was captivated. Not even the angry scar that slashed diagonally across his right cheek seemed enough to mar him.

Harmony gave herself a hard shake and took a single step backward.What the hell is wrong with me?Sure, the man was gorgeous. He looked like he was probably twice her age and she still felt no shame acknowledging she’d never seen a hotter guy, even on television. That did not mean she could afford to stop and gawk. She cleared her throat, blaming her heightened emotional state for the sudden rush of self-awareness and her inability to hold his burning stare. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Why are you in distress?” His voice was rough, almost like he struggled to drag up the question, yet he didn’t move a single muscle when he spoke.

She lifted her head without thought, blinking at him in confused surprise. Was she being that obvious?Is it because of this dress?She had felt horrendously out of place in it, but what choice had she had? It wasn’t like she had a stash of clothessomewhere she could change into. Harmony licked her lips in search of enough breath to answer and another humiliating realization rushed through her. She was probably blushing like an idiot.

Her skin was naturally pale. Every flush showed like a glowing neon sign.

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