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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 body looked 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 clothes somewhere 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.

The imposingly alluring man’s brow pinched tighter. “Is there somewhere you urgently need to be, or are you fleeing from something?” His amber eyes raked over her and she swore her entire body heated despite that he didn’t linger anywhere indecent. “Those are not outdoor shoes, Little Dove.”

Everything he said perplexed her more. She didn’t know what to answer first, or even if she should try. “I—” Little Dove? Was that some sort of endearment, or an insult? “Harmony,” she said.

He arched a brow. “Harmony?”

Something inside her clenched at the sound of her name on his lips, in that rough timbre he spoke with. She wouldn’t have minded hearing it again, but she needed to get herself in order. This was not a man who gave a darn about her. She still wasn’t safe. Harmony drew herself up as best she could, despite the confusing flush and butterfly feeling in her belly, and forced herself to look directly into his eyes. “From,” she said. “The answer to your question is ‘from.’” She swallowed again. “And I really can’t linger. I’m very sorry I almost ran into you.”

The furrow in his brow disappeared and one edge of his lips kicked up in a faint smirk that practically made his eyes glow. “I’m not.”

Harmony shifted her weight, unable to stand still yet unable to look away. Unable to get moving. It’s too soon to stop moving.

The stranger took a step closer as a sleek black luxury sedan rolled up to the curb behind him. “I’ll have you tell me everything, Little Dove.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?”

The next thing she knew, the stranger had an arm around her waist and had hauled her straight up and off her feet. He didn’t throw her over his shoulder or swing her into some unnecessary princess carry, but instead lifted her high enough that she could see over his shoulder while he held her chest-to-chest. Then he turned and started walking, his other hand sliding into her hair almost before her senses returned enough for her to try and rear back.

“Just a moment,” he murmured into her ear. The lowered vibrato of his voice did things to her traitorous body she couldn’t put words to and certainly didn’t have time for.

Harmony pushed at his chest, feeling as weak as a newborn in his grasp. “What are you doing? Put me down!”

His hand slid from her hair even as her poor attempt at thrashing finally tossed her tattered slippers off her feet. She spotted one as it flopped onto the dirty concrete now behind him a heartbeat before her sexy kidnapper bent them both forward. She realized with a start he was ducking them into the car she’d seen moments earlier. He didn’t seem to care about her struggling as he twisted himself sideways and set her on a long, plush leather seat. He paid no mind to the driver whose head she briefly glimpsed. He simply set her down, reached over her shoulder, and pulled the seat belt around her in one smooth motion. Once that was clicked into place, he snapped the door shut and settled in his own seat.

“Home,” he said, tone sharper than she’d heard it, his gaze darting forward only for a second.

“Yes, sir,” the driver said as the engine rolled over.

Harmony was too stunned to find her voice for several long, precious seconds. You have got to be kidding me. It wasn’t until an actual privacy screen began sliding up between the diver’s cab and the larger rear space containing her and her kidnapper that she finally snapped into motion. Or, at least her mouth did.

She twisted as much as her seat belt would allow and let loose. “What is the matter with you? You can’t just kidnap me like this! And in broad daylight? No way no one saw that!”

He looked amused, which did nothing to make him less appealing. Damn him. “Yet no one tried to stop me.” His amusement fled as soon as the words left his mouth. “I’ve hardly kidnapped you. You were fleeing. I’m helping you flee faster, and with less damage to your inadequately protected feet.”

“My—” She stopped herself before she could repeat his ridiculous words. “You can’t be serious.”

His expression settled into something she could only define as hard. “Deadly.”

Harmony dragged in a breath, attempting to keep herself focused and calm. “If I’m not kidnapped,” she said, trying to speak at a respectful level, “then let me out.”

“Anywhere you need to go, I will take you.”

She frowned. “That’s not the same thing. Why should I trust you? Why should I not assume you want to hurt me the same way he did, or worse?” If worse was possible. She did have her doubts.

His expression darkened and he reached out, pulling one of her arms into his hand. She stiffened, yet his touch was surprisingly gentle as he ran his fingers over her forearm. Over the exact spot where Ricky had gripped her before she’d finally broken free. “I will not harm you,” he said. “You will learn to trust me, Harmony. And you will tell me the story behind your panic today.”

Some stupid, na?ve part of her wanted to trust him. It was a feeling she couldn’t explain. She had to draw yet another deep lungful of air—air that smelled much more like him, which didn’t help—to remind herself that she couldn’t. She was on her own. Even her parents had betrayed her. This stranger had no obligation, no motivation , to do anything other than take from her.

Harmony pulled her arm from his warm and faintly calloused touch, noting he offered no true resistance. Of course, he had her belted into the back of his vehicle. She couldn’t exactly run.

“Believe it or not, I’m used to being locked down. So if you’re banking on me caving to some messed-up Stockholm syndrome, you picked the wrong woman. You’re better off to just let me out.”

A low, rumbling growl emanated from him. “Add that to the list of things I want to hear about sooner than later.”

Well, she would admit to herself, that wasn’t the response she had expected. He’s playing me. Harmony folded her arms across her chest and scooted to put her back against the corner of the seat, for what distance that managed to create.

“You want me to spill my entire life story to some stranger who just grabbed me up off the street? Why, exactly? Do I look that stupid to you? I don’t even know your name , I didn’t actually run into you, and despite what you said, you’ve yet to let me out of this car. I don’t know what you want, but you aren’t entitled to some kind of compensation from me, so chances are you’re going to be severely disappointed.”

Infuriatingly, his face transitioned back to visibly amused for a lingering second. The expression softened the edges of his eyes, giving them a warmth she could easily appreciate. If she were in a position to appreciate him. Then he propped an elbow onto the back shelf behind the headrest between them, the motion tilting his body slightly toward hers, and he said, “Zeno Darkhan.”

Harmony stared at him, her mind not processing his strange words. The subtlest hint of an accent flared in his voice when he had spoken that time, too faint to identify but adding to his allure. Allure I am ignoring. She pursed her lips and repeated what he’d said to herself. “Is that your name?”

He inclined his head. “Yes. And to answer the rest of your accusations, I do not take you as stupid, nor do I have any ill intentions toward you. Whatever you’re running from, Harmony, you are safest with me. But I cannot remedy your problem without knowing what it is, so no, I have not let you out of the car. Nor will I, while you have neither a destination nor proper footwear.”

She scoffed before she could stop herself. “ You cost me my footwear!”

He arched a brow. “Those worn-out slippers were little more than tissue paper.” In a fluid movement he bent forward and pulled both her feet up onto his lap, physically twisting her sideways on the seat in the process.

Harmony let out a yelp in surprise. “What are you doing?”

Zeno curled both hands around the tops of her feet, just shy of her ankles, and squeezed gently. “Making sure you aren’t bleeding, Little Dove.” He moved his hands up the length of her feet in a caress she would have called tender under any other circumstance. His mesmerizing gaze had dropped to her feet as well, and despite the angle he’d given himself, he didn’t seem to be making any effort to sneak a peek up her skirt.

Harmony squirmed, her face heating as his fingers moved around to her exposed soles and her weakness was revealed. Her feet were horrendously ticklish. “D-don’t!”

Zeno chuckled, the sound low and rumbly. She could feel the vibration of it through her legs and it sent a very different vibration through her body. He continued gently sweeping his fingers over her feet, even inspecting her toes and rubbing her heels, before finally dragging his gaze back up to hers. “It seems I owe those flimsy slippers of yours an apology. They at least did their job.”

She wasn’t sure what sound she made, or even how to describe the feeling as it crawled up her chest. It was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, blended with a gasp of relief. “You … you really…” What she wanted to ask sounded so stupid, and felt stupid, but it needed to be asked. She licked her lips and tried again. “You were really just checking to see if my feet were okay?”

Zeno inclined his head, rubbed one thumb across the inner curve of her ankle, and gently returned her feet to the floor. When he straightened, and after she had resituated herself, he met her increasingly confused stare. “I will never lie to you, Harmony.”

Warmth blossomed in her chest for no reason whatsoever. She pushed her face into a frown despite the feeling. “You expect me to believe that?”

He didn’t blink. “I hope you’ll allow me the opportunity to prove it.”

She should have anticipated that response. Then again, she could never have anticipated any of this—any of the events of the afternoon. So Harmony replayed everything Zeno had said to her since their surprise encounter, searching for a single clear contradiction. The only thing she could find was the whole possible-kidnapping thing. And something inside of her insisted she consider that he’d been gentle with her at every turn. A fantastic deception, or proof of his claim? He asked for an opportunity. She’d lost her mind if she was even considering believing him, but she wasn’t sure what more she had to lose.

Consciously uncrossing her arms in an effort to not exude such shut-off body language, Harmony posed a theoretical question. “So, if I asked to go to the airport?” He had said something about her having a destination, so making the scenario specific seemed more sensible.

His brow twitched almost imperceptibly. “I would insist on a detour to acquire you new shoes,” he said, tone calm.

He’s really hung up on that. “But you would take me to the airport?”

“Yes,” Zeno said. “I would take you to the airport.”

Harmony studied him. “And you’d let me go into the airport? Board a plane of my choosing?”

Another whisper of a smirk teased his lips, just for a second. “I appreciate your cleverness, Little Dove. And yes, I would.”

She warred with herself on whether she should believe him. His responses seemed sincere, but how well could she really trust her own judgment? She pushed the concern down. There was another question she needed to ask. No more theoretical crap. It was easy enough to pass those tests. “Then … why?”

One of his dark brows arched up his forehead again.

Harmony made a vague sweeping gesture to the cabin of the vehicle surrounding them. “Why all this? Why give a darn about me? Why the pledge of eternal honesty?” Okay, phrasing it like that makes it sound a little dramatic. But he had said “never.”

Zeno made a sound like a muted sigh. “It might be too soon for that answer, Little Dove.”

She frowned. “So you won’t lie to me, you’ll just straight up refuse to answer.”

He held her stare with faintly narrowed eyes. “Tell me this: did you run from the vermin who put his hands on you because of what he did , or because of what he is ?”

The breath lodged in her throat and Harmony’s eyes blew wide. She barely registered the sensation of the car coming to a stop. Her heart leapt back into overdrive as a new realization rushed through her. This man who may have kidnapped her or may have deluded himself into thinking he was her rescuer was like Patrick Eades. He was a shifter.

She knew they existed outside of her neighborhood, she wasn’t that ignorant, but she’d let her guard down anyway. She hadn’t considered she would somehow run into one once she’d put that comparatively small section of New York behind her. She was a fool.