For the first time in her life, Ruby knows exactly what she must do. As criminals run rampant, it's up to Ruby to save the city that she holds so dear. Armed with a weapon most would kill for, Ruby enlists the help of the sexy and irresistible Vik Roy, a rogue cop. But when they begin to uncover secrets—secrets Ruby was never meant to learn—she doesn't know who she can trust. Her friends may be her enemies, and her enemies just might be out to save her. Now, it's up to Ruby to not only battle for her city, but fight to protect her heart as well.
Chapter 1
I should be dead and headed for my funeral pyre. Except in a final desperate attempt to slow down my fall, I put out my hand, grasp the concrete edge of the platform and scream as my fingernails tear.
There's a low rumbling, growing louder.
The noise heightens, building, and then, it whooshes towards me.
The 8:05 a.m. local train to Churchgate station blares its horn, coming straight at me.
My heart slams with panic, mind gone white with fear and I can't think. Can't. Breathe. I've got to get the fuck out of here.
Stuck between the platform and the tracks, I look up into the man's face. Eyes gleaming, he's caught in the throes of arousal.
I'm afraid, so very afraid, and when he leans down, stretching out a hand, I shrink away towards an end that is more preferable. I look the other way and see the stream of white sparks spewing out of an open electric wire dangling on the other side of the tracks. Get out of here. Get out. Now.
"Help!" I scream.
Not one of the rush-hour Bombay commuters hears me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Look at me. Help me, somebody. I am here. Here. I scream again.
My voice, torn out of me, scatters over the crowd who have eyes only for the incoming train.
No one sees me.
None except him.
He's there, standing on the platform, staring at me.
He's waiting.
Waiting for me to ask him, to beg him to rescue me. I don’t have a choice. I have to ask him for help. Ask him. Do it. DO IT.
I fling out my arm and, bending towards me, he clutches my wrist. It’s him—the same guy who fondled my thigh earlier and threw me off the platform—he claws my other palm off the platform, jerks me up, high, almost at eye level with him. I hang there suspended, swaying.
Heat from the oncoming train rushes at me. It's on me, almost at me. I shriek with terror. My mind’s babbling, thoughts tripping over each other; the blood thunders in my ears. It's over. All over. A trembling grips me. I shut my eyes tight.
"Don't go too far, little girl," Ma's voice taunts. "You don't know what demons are out there."
Then, I'm flying through the dust. He throws me free of the track, out of the path of the train and towards the open electricity wire.
Blessed silence.
I've always been obsessed by the future. Is it because I don't have one?
Awakened is the first book in the Many Lives series. Get your copy here
About the author: Laxmi Hariharan is a USA TODAY bestselling author of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Get the three best novellas written by her FREE when you join her newsletter here
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