Angels of Darkness

windowsill.
    â€œHe guarantees her safety,” Arthur said.
    â€œThe children . . . will be returned to their families?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI agree.”
    A gentle hand seized her mind and pulled her back through time and space to the reality of the round table and the hot tea mug in her hand. She looked at Arthur.
    â€œMy daughter, Emily?”
    He didn’t answer.
    â€œYou promised me the children would be returned to their families. Her father is dead. I’m the only family Emily has. Where is she?”
    He smiled, a flat curving of lips without any emotion. “She’s at the main house for the time being.”
    No, she wasn’t, Karina realized. He was lying. “I want my daughter. We made a deal. Bring me my daughter, or I am leaving.”
    Daniel rocked back on his chair and laughed. A door slammed. Footsteps echoed through the house. “Cooperate with Lucas and your daughter will be brought to you,” Arthur said.
    A man walked into the kitchen. Tall, corded with muscle that bulged his T-shirt, he dwarfed the doorway. He wasn’t just large, he was massive and wrapped in menace, as if he were a whirlwind of violence, barely contained in the shell of his body. Black hair fell on his hard, aggressive face in long strands. He glanced at her, his eyes green and merciless. She met his gaze and gulped. It was like looking into the eyes of a tiger. His stare promised death.
    Recognition sparked in his green irises and flared into rage.
    He lunged forward, inhumanly quick, and hit the table with his palm. She jerked back.
    â€œGet your hands off of her!” His voice rippled with a snarl.
    Henry raised his hands in the air. The man grasped the chair, Henry still on it, and tossed it aside. Steely fingers grabbed her elbow and pulled her up. He swiped her off the floor with ridiculous ease, locking her in the crook of his arm, and snapped like a rabid dog, “Mine!”
    â€œWe have no intention of taking her from you.” Arthur sipped his tea.
    â€œDon’t any of you fuckers touch her!”
    She flailed in his arms, trying to break free, but it was like trying to push back a semi.
    â€œYou must forgive Lucas,” Arthur told her. “He tends to be overprotective of his food.”
    A familiar scent of heated metal invaded her nostrils. Panic squirmed through her. She fought harder, but her feet kicked only air. He carried her away out of the kitchen back to the bedroom where she had awakened.

CHAPTER 2
    L ucas dropped her on the bed and went to lock the door. “Stay away from Arthur. He’s a sick fuck.”
    He turned and strode toward her, enormous, overwhelming in his sheer size. Karina shrank back until her spine hit the wall.
    He looked her over, a long, lingering stare that made her want to cover herself, frowned and ducked into a doorway on the left. Water gushed. Lucas reappeared with a tall glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink this. It will help.”
    She drank.
    He sat on a chair across from her and pulled off his socks. Only now she noticed that he wasn’t wearing any shoes. He balled the socks into a clump and tossed them into the room where he’d gotten the water, then shrugged off his T-shirt. Karina’s breath caught in her throat. Faded ragged scars crisscrossed his massive back. His legs were long, his waist narrow in comparison to his vast shoulders. His lines were almost perfect. As he squared his shoulders, muscles rolled under his skin, forming hard ridges. He didn’t move—he stalked and prowled, like a huge predatory animal, menace cascading from him in waves along with his hot metallic scent.
    Her memory thrust Jonathan before her. Her husband had been handsome and well built, an average-sized man. Lucas could’ve snapped him in half and wouldn’t have given it a second thought. He’d just toss the broken body aside and continue on his way. She had no chance. In a physical fight, Lucas would destroy her.
    â€œDrink,” he said.
    Karina forced some more water down. Her throat had gone dry and she drank again. Suddenly Lucas gathered himself. His gaze fixed on the door. His body tensed, his expression alert. His feet gripped the bare floorboards, his legs bent lightly, as he readied to launch himself into a leap. Muscles bunched and knotted across his shoulders and back. His arms lifted slightly, spread wide, the fingers of his big hands like talons, ready to