Page 7 of Darkhan

“I-I’m sorry,” she said, ducking her gaze. “You probably don’t care. Or don’t want to hear about that.”

Zeno propelled himself forward and caught hold of her chin, tipping her head up with thumb and forefinger. He curled his other fingers into the back of the sofa to keep from hauling her bodily onto his lap. “Just the opposite, Harmony. Idocare. Where you’re concerned, I care more than I can put into words. I want to hear everything. Tell me every fucking detail. Every offense, every struggle, every triumph.” He stroked his thumb over her smooth skin. “Tell me the name of the insignificant honey badger that touched you, and who his alpha is. Tell me where I can find the bastard.” He paused, sucked in a breath, and whispered, “Tell me what I can do to earn your trust.”

Harmony stared at him, shock working its way in through the fear. He watched her swallow, heard her heart slow to something closer to normal before leaping into a faster rhythm again, and waited as her lips parted. She reached up, moving slowly at first, and cautiously pressed her fingers against his wrist. She seemed to gain confidence when nothing happened and pushed his hand from her chin. He allowed it, because he’d known he shouldn’t have touched her again so soon.

Her hand immediately fell back to her lap and Harmony said, “I still don’t understand what you even want with me. How can you ask me to trust you when you do all this? How can you expect me to trust you when for all I know you just want toeatme?”

Yet another angry growl clawed at his throat. He knew damn well she didn’t mean that the way he would if he’d made the suggestion. “Are you saying that vermin—”

“He’s a violent, murdering monster,” Harmony said, her voice suddenly filled with fire. “And he isn’t even the worst of them. He’s just the one who kept sniffing after me, the one I could never get away from. So today, when my parents decided to hand me over to him like some game show prize, I finally ran. I just literally ran out the door in a panic. I don’t even know howI got away. I wouldn’t have if he’d had any of his friends with him—the wolf is fast, I’ve seen that guy move before. But today I was lucky. Today Ricky came by himself, like he really thought I’d just go along with that.” Tears spilled down her face as she paused for breath, her voice cracking. “At least, I thought I was lucky, but now here I am, grabbed up by another shifter. So, what do you want with me? Are you going to eat me? Rape me? Dissect me? All of the above?”

This time Zeno didn’t fight the growl as it rolled up his throat and vibrated past his lips. He could feel his blood heating with his anger. He understood a little better now, and that understanding was going to be a very bad thing for more than one of his shifter cousins.

He knew, vaguely, of a group of mismatched shifters who had set down roots in some small section of New York. They had banded together some decades prior and carved out a section of the city for themselves, much the way wolves form a pack and stake a territory. Since their establishment they hadn’t drawn any egregious public attention, so the larger shifter populous had let them be. For the most part, shifters as a species tended to abide by a “live and let live” philosophy whenever possible. They were as similar to each other as they were different, and most of them respected that. Zeno, for one, typically appreciated it.

Except in this instance. In this instance, his mate had been threatened, and no self-respecting dragon could let that go. Neither could he afford to make handling that situation his priority.

Willing the fire within him to settle again, Zeno released a slow, almost steam-free breath. “I will deal with that threat, Harmony,” he said. “More importantly, I want none of those things.” His lips curled despite his best efforts. “I will eviscerate anyone who ever threatens you in such a way.” He wanted to properly answer her question, but he feared she wasn’t mentallyready to hear the words. “Though I will allow you a say in the fate of your parents. After we’ve fully discussed the situation.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Allow me—” She leapt to her feet. “They’re my parents!”

Zeno nodded. “Precisely.”

“Don’t ‘precisely’ me.” She shot out a hand and snatched up one of his couch pillows, swinging it at his head without warning. She continued to smack the pillow into his head and shoulders as she shouted, “Don’t—just—sit there—threatening—my—parents!”

Zeno finally reared back, reached around the useless weapon, and caught her flailing wrist in a just-firm-enough hold. “They bartered you off to a man who would have raped and likely slaughtered you. If you were lucky. And they did so knowingly.”

Her blue eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she glared defiantly at him. “They’re myparents.” Despite the look in her eyes, her voice cracked with her words, the pain too deep to hide.

He gave a light tug on her arm, toppling her onto his lap and causing her to lose her grip of the pillow. Then he banded an arm around her back, cupped her face in his other palm to hold her startled stare, and said roughly, “And you are mymate.”

Her wet gasp rattled his soul as she gaped up at him. Her chest heaved with a hard breath. “I’m … what?”

Zeno brushed some whisps of blonde off her forehead and let his fingers glide over her smooth, quickly reddening cheek. It took more than a little willpower not to drop his gaze down her exposed throat and see if the blush faded there, or extended down to the tantalizingly low neckline of her dress. He wanted to know—he wanted to know so many things—but he had to wait. She didn’t even trust him yet.

Making sure to hold her wide-eyed stare, Zeno gentled his tone and said, “You, Harmony, are my mate. The predestined partner I have been searching for.”

The breath rushed from her and she gave a hard shake of her head, dislodging his hand before she finally started to squirm in his hold. “No. No, I definitely am not.” She shoved free of him, stumbling several steps away this time before turning to face him again. “Mate? I’m not an expert on all that, but there’s no way a guy who looks like you and has resources like you obviously do would choose a poor, sheltered, fat girl with nothing to her name. Like,nothing.” She motioned down herself. “This stupid dress is worth more than I am, okay? So whatever your angle is—”

Zeno shoved to his feet and stepped into her space, planting his hands on her hips before she could run. He held her firmly in place, barely enough space between them for a heaving breath, and said lowly, “The next time you so much as imply that this scrap of fabric holds more value than you, I will tear it from your body, rip it into shreds, and set every one of those shreds on fire. One by one.” He let his grip tighten, just a little. “As for the rest of your self-image, Harmony, let me tell you how we fix all of that. If you’ve been sheltered, I will show you the world. You can explore anything and everything you desire, learn languages and trades to your heart’s content. Or you cannot, if you so choose. If my wealth is a problem for you, I’ll cast it off. No fortune in the world is more valuable than a mate. And as for your perceived difference in ourlooks—”

He bent down, lowering his lips to her ear, and pulled in a lungful of her scent. “When I say you look delicious and I want to eat you, I’m not talking about dinner. I mean, all I can think about is burying my face in your pussy, your thighs locked around my head, and feasting on your sweet nectar until your legs give out. I look forward to sinking my teeth into your thighs, your hips, your shoulders, and your fucking perfect breasts. Not to take a bite, but because I want you to feel the raw passion the mere sight of you rouses in me. Your body is temptation madeflesh, Little Dove, and I do not intend to share.”

She was trembling again, her breathing erratic, but this time he could smell the distinct aroma of her arousal fighting with her lingering fear. The fear itself had lessened considerably. Both were good things, but the fragrance of her arousal was a distraction Zeno wasn’t sure he could handle. Perhaps he should have held his tongue somewhat.

Harmony lifted a hand and pressed against his chest, pushing hard enough to prompt him to straighten and lighten his grip. Her eyes were confused and glossy. “Why … why would you choose someone like me? You don’t even know me.”

Zeno offered her a small smile. “Our match is fate, Harmony. Our souls have been assigned to each other since we came into being.” He lifted a hand and brushed his thumb over her cheek, beneath her eye, as one of her tears attempted to leak free. “I will give you time to get to know me, and I hope to learn everything about you. But the one thing I already know—” He curved his hand behind her head, letting his fingers thread her hair as he pulled her closer. “You are the one I have been searching for, and no matter how long you ask me to wait, I will not walk away from you. From us.”

She set both hands on his shirt, her fingers curling in the fabric. “You would wait?”

“Yes.”

Harmony swallowed visibly, rolled both her lips between her teeth, and a distinct tension settled in her shoulders. As if she were bracing herself for something. “I feel kind of overwhelmed with all of this, and today in general, but … I can’t really run away from home like this.” She dropped his gaze to glance down at herself, and her expression was sheepish when she looked into his eyes again. “Could you—or do you know someone who could—come with me back to my parents’ house?” She licked her lips. “I can’t expect to get anywhere with just adress. I don’t even have a way to call someone. But I’m afraid … I’m too scared to go back on my own.”

Zeno released a slow breath and leaned in, allowing himself to press a kiss to her forehead. She wasn’t screaming, panicking, frozen in fear, or trying to run. She wasn’t agreeing to hide away with him and bare their souls, let alone bond them, but it was still a start. Any step forward was better than where he’d been the day before. “I’ll go with you, Harmony. But I would like to know a little more about that situation first. And you still need shoes.”

She let out a bark of laughter and slumped completely against him. “Seriously, do you have a foot fetish or something?”

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