Another Damned Darling by Myka Bound

Author:Myka Bound
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781955466080
Publisher: Tripawd Publishing

24

NEVER

Shit, shit. Stay or run?

Every cell in my body voted for running.

I turned and took off through the woods as fast as I could, stumbling over shallow roots and rocks. “Light!” I hissed, without glancing down at the pendant. It bounced darkly against my chest without giving off so much as a spark.

Of course.

Branches slapped at my face and scraped against my skin, and I prayed to any god that would listen not to let whatever razor-sharp thorny shrubs were in my path take out my eyes. I squinted, keeping my hands up protectively and my lids narrowed to slits. I moved through the woods like a blindfolded kid doing a trust walk at camp. Except without the partner for guidance.

The boys’ hyena-like laughter faded, at least from what I could hear above my own hammering heartbeat, and I let myself slow for a moment.

Epically, stupid mistake, Never.

“Hello, lady.” The voice was male and sounded about as old as I’d figured, college-aged maybe.

When I whirled to face him, I was greeted by a smiling Adonis with predator’s eyes. A torch flickered in his right hand, and he had a hungry look that made my stomach do a weird little somersault.

His deeply tanned skin gleamed in the orange fire light, highlighting the thick muscle layering his bare chest. Save for the battered board shorts he was wearing that looked vaguely homemade, he could have stepped right out of a magazine.

Drool-worthy—I think that was the right term—like he’d been plucked from a college swim team and dropped in that magical forest to play out all my darkest sexual fantasies. If not for that gleam in his eyes.

I could get on board with shirtless and shoeless, but I drew the line at soulless.

I squared my shoulders. “Are you one of the lost boys?”

He didn’t say anything in response, only stared at me like I was a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and he’d been neck deep in a keto diet for three months.

Maybe he hadn’t heard me?

I kicked my voice up a notch. “Where is my brother?”

His eyes flickered at that. It was a tiny, almost imperceptible twitch of the lids, but I saw it.

My system was in overdrive, caught between running and fighting, while that base, primitive part of my stupid brain seemed perfectly happy focusing on the last of the four F’s: fight, flight, freeze, or fuc—

He took a slow, measured step toward me before I could finish the thought. Finally, the part of my brain that wasn’t trapped in my panties took over. It was only then that I realized I was clutching the pendant again. I dropped my hand and reached for my blade, but at the sight of the temperamental trinket around my neck, he stilled.

His voice was low and dark, rumbling through the air. “Where did you get that?”

I glanced down at the shiny stone resting against my breastbone. “A friend.”

He nodded slowly, shifting his grip on the torch and running his tongue over his bottom lip.

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