CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Seeing Harper there, injured and at risk of being killed right in front of him, the past and the present collided; Knox’s hold on his fury slipped a little. He had watched his parents die. He wouldn’t watch Harper die, wouldn’t allow anyone to take her from him. The demon was raging at the danger to her. It wanted to express its rage in the only way it knew how.

“Surrender yourself, and we will free them!” shouted the bastard now pointing a knife at his mate’s throat. “If you do not, she will die!”

More anger pulsed through Knox, mingling with his demon’s rage. “Give her to me, or you’ll all die.”

“We know what you are!” The practitioner wore a self-satisfied yet shaky smirk. “You’re Lucifer himself.”

Had Knox not been drowning in a fury that bordered on madness, he might have laughed. As it was, Harper and Larkin did laugh. “I’m not Lucifer,” Knox told him. “I’m worse.”

Knox released the power buzzing through his veins; let it fill the air as he called to what birthed him, to what lived inside him. The ground shook beneath him as flames circled his body and licked over his skin. The fire within Knox surfaced, beginning to take over every inch of him. “Now you die.”

Oh, shit, thought Harper. Every hair on her body stood on end as a gray, thick cloud began to build directly above Knox, swirling and frothing. It looked alive, aggressive. At the same time, a red haze began to fall, and she quickly realized the moon had bled from silvery white to blood red. Worse, the flames that had circled Knox were now heading for the house, leaving a trail of black and red ashes in their wake. A figure of raging fire, Knox slowly walked towards the building.

“The flames of hell,” gasped the practitioner who was pointing the knife at her. He fisted her collar and began dragging her away. Not a chance. She went limp in his hold, causing him to stumble and bend forward. Then she slammed her hand down on his foot, letting the protective power in her fingertips pass into his body and torment his soul. As he cried out, she grabbed her stiletto blade from the ground and thrust it upwards, burying it into his heart just as she infused it with hellfire.

Blood dripped onto her face – ew – as she withdrew the blade and shuffled away from him. When he hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, she turned to Larkin...just in time to watch the harpy finish off the second practitioner with nothing more than her hands.

Harper might have expressed her admiration for the female’s combat techniques if it wasn’t for something else. “We’re surrounded.” Flames at least ten feet high framed the psi-cube that enclosed the house. It was odd seeing fire without smoke. “The cube’s still up.” That meant no one had managed to escape. “The practitioners wanted to trap him. Instead, they’ve trapped themselves.” It was almost ironic.

“Do you think the flames will get through the cube?” asked Larkin, wiping blood away from her nose.

“The flames of hell can get through anything. Where’s Tanner?”

“Last time I saw him, he was on the roof.”

Harper looked up at the roof, straining to see or hear him. It was hard to hear anything over the roar of the flames that battered at the cube. “The practitioners are all gathering up there. They must think they’re safer on higher ground.” There was no safe place when you were facing the flames of hell.

Tanner? Harper called. Tanner? “He’s not answering me telepathically.”

“Nor me. He must be still in his demon form.” Larkin shot vertically into the air, wings flapping gracefully. “I see him,” she said, hovering at a stand-still. “He’s stuck under some kind of energy net, but he’s conscious. And seriously pissed off.”

“Can you get to him?”

“Not without getting extremely close to the practitioners. They’ll attack me.”

“I think they have more pressing problems,” said Harper as she looked at the energy wall on her right. “Look.”

“What?” Larkin tracked Harper’s gaze. “The flames are eating the cube.” There were holes that looked a lot like cigarette burns. Larkin returned to Harper, landing gracefully. “And they’re out of control.”

The flames – so beautiful, yet so deadly – indeed looked that way. But Harper shook her head. “Knox wouldn’t hurt us.”

“That’s not Knox.”

Through the fire surrounding them, Harper caught glimpses of the flaming figure. “No, it’s not.” As pot holes began to appear in the ceiling of the cube, she said, “We need to get Tanner.”

“I can’t leave you.” Larkin’s voice was firm, implacable. “You’re Knox’s mate. I’m sworn to protect you.”

“That’s great and all, but I don’t like Tanner being up there with them.” The practitioners were now stood in a circle, hand-in-hand, and appeared to be chanting something.

“What are they doing now?” asked Larkin.

“Probably casting counter spells.” A pointless exercise, in Harper’s opinion. “It might distract them enough for us to get Tanner. If they need to hold hands, I doubt they’ll break the circle just to keep him.”

Picking up movement in her peripheral vision, Harper turned her head…and found herself staring directly at the flaming figure that was her mate. Even her demon was wary of what he’d become. Only the flames and the disintegrating cube separated them. There were no eyes, no facial features of any kind, but she knew that it saw her somehow.

Knox? Knox, can you hear me? Silence. Nothing she said seemed to penetrate the mental shield of fire that was now between them. The figure took a slow step backwards and was swallowed up by the flames. “Where’s Levi and Keenan?”

“They had to stay behind. Isla’s demons went crazy, and there was no chance Knox was going to stay there and take care of it while you were here.” Larkin peered up at the ceiling of the cube. “The holes up there are getting a little bigger. I’ll fly you out as soon as one is large enough.”

“Not until we have Tanner,” Harper told her. “We’re not leaving him behind.”

“I can come back for him.”

“We leave together, Larkin. Now let’s fucking go get him. It’s risky, I get that. Putting me near the practitioners might tempt them to grab me again, I get that too. But if Tanner’s stuck here when those flames get through, he dies.”

Larkin growled. “Fine. But if those bastards grab you, I’ll kill you myself!”

“You can try, I guess.”

With another growl, Larkin flew them both onto the roof. Tanner was thankfully outside the circle that the practitioners had formed. It was as both females struggled to find a way to break the energy net that one of the practitioners saw them.

As he broke the circle and advanced toward them, Harper shot to her feet, blade in hand and glowing with hellfire. “If Knox sees you holding me, you’ll be the first person he kills when he gets through the cube.”

“What is he?” the practitioner demanded. When she didn’t answer, he snarled, “Do you want to die? Look around you.” The holes were everywhere, making the cube look like a chunk of cheese. “Tell us what he is. If we know, we can stop him.”

“Fuck. You.” A growl came from the now free hellhound at her side, causing the magickal shitheads to jump.

“Maybe if we offer to give her back to him, he’ll stop,” said another practitioner.

A third practitioner responded, “He won’t hear us over the flames. He’ll just—” The walls of the cube flashed repeatedly, making everyone freeze. Then, with a sizzling sound, they disintegrated. “We’re dead.”

The flames rushed at the house, making Harper, Larkin, and the hellhound back up fast. Worse, the flames were so tall they were curling over the building, so thick and raging that there was no clear path for Larkin to fly them all out.

An elderly practitioner shrunk away from the sight. “We’ll be safe if we get inside,” he told his friends. “The house is protected, it will remain standing.”

One of the other practitioners shook his head. “No. The protective spell will do no more than buy us time.” He turned to Harper. “If you don’t tell us what he is, if we don’t stop him, you’ll die with us. You’ll—” He screamed as a single flame suddenly curled and contracted around him like a boa constrictor.

Another flame hooked around the throat of a female practitioner and tossed her into the fire. A black flame then lashed out like a whip and wrapped around the ankle of a chanting practitioner, causing him to fall flat on his face. He screamed for help, scrabbling at the floor for purchase, but the flame dragged him into the fire.

“Harper, we’re dead if those flames keep coming!” shouted Larkin, face red from the blistering heat.

She was right, but the figure controlling them didn’t appear in a rush to ease them. It stood there, calm as you please, as it watched the destruction around it. The flames were licking along the walls of the large building, ready to devour it. Each time she breathed and took that hot air into her lungs, her chest felt tighter.

“Call to him, tell him to stop! Yell at him telepathically!”

“There’s a shield of fire between his mind and mine.” Once more, Harper attempted to fierce it, but it held strong.

“If he doesn’t pull back, he’ll kill us all!”

Harper was about to reassure her that Knox would stop, that he had the control to pull back, but then she remembered something he’d once said. ‘If anything happened to you, if you were taken from me, that control would be gone.’ More of his words came to her…‘I’d make them all pay. But I wouldn’t stop there. It wouldn’t be enough. Not for me, not for my demon. So many would die, so much would be destroyed.’

It was only now – as the flames ate at everything they touched, as the practitioners screamed in agony, and as the building began to creak and weaken beneath their feet – that Harper truly understood the severity of his warnings.

Desperate, Harper psychically battered at the shield between her and Knox. It hurt like hell, but she kept going; slamming her mind against his, crashing her psychically spiked shields into the wall of fire, calling on every single ounce of psychic energy she had and—

Screaming, Harper curled in on herself as the shield cracked and a scorching heat poured into her mind, flooding every crevice, and searing everything it touched. The agony spread like wildfire, making her back arch as it crackled its way down her spine, boiling her skin until it sweltered and sizzled. The pain ate every vertebrae, every nerve, every muscle, and every ligament.

Tears burned her eyes. She was going to die. She was. No one could live through this.

Her demon panicked, fought to surface and somehow help, but it was trapped. Harper screamed again as the scalding pain blasted the space between her shoulder blades, making her bones groan under the strain and her skin peel. She could smell her flesh burning, could hear it sizzling. Then it was like something ripped the skin off her back. A scream slid through her gritted teeth and she—

The pain stopped. Just stopped.

“Oh! My! God!”

Frowning at Larkin’s exclamation, Harper went to speak when she suddenly became aware that something was very different. Very wrong? Her demon didn’t think so.

“You have wings, Harper!”

Wait, she what? Sure Larkin was wrong, Harper glanced behind her and…“Oh, my God.” She had motherfucking wings. They were…well, they were gossamer. A striking gold with strands of red and black. Well, fuck.

The building shuddered and creaked once more. It wasn’t going to last long.

“Harper, if there’s something you can do, do it now!”

There was really only one thing she could do. There was a good chance it wouldn’t work, but she was fresh out of ideas. Taking a preparatory breath, Harper jumped to her feet, rushed across the roof, and leaped into the flames – heading straight for the figure of fire. Because there was another thing that Knox had once said…‘The flames can’t burn you, Harper. Because they’re me. And you’re right, I’d never harm you.’

She’d love to say she flew, but it was more like she shakily soared through the fire and, fuck, it was hot! The flames scorched her skin, zapped every nerve ending in her body, as she headed for him. But they didn’t hurt her. Somewhat ungracefully crashing into him, she picked him up, ready to fly them out of the flames. Not yet adept at flying, however, she lost her balance and they slammed to the ground, rolling several times.

As they came to a halt with her straddling him, Harper distantly registered that she might have broken a few ribs and maybe even cracked her skull, but her concentration was on getting the flaming figure beneath her to hear her. “Knox, pull back!” He didn’t respond, and the fire continued to rage. “Pull back!” Just when she was about to pummel the shit out of him with her fists, the flames seemed to peel away from him, starting from his head and making their way down his body. “Thank fuck.”

Eyes of pure black met hers. “Mine,” stated the demon, as if that was all it recognized her as right then.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not important right now. Knox! Seriously, answer me!”

The demon blinked, and then it was Knox looking back at her, brows drawn together. “Harper.” Her name was a guttural growl.

“Knox, pull back the flames. Now.” She wasn’t sure whether it was as effortless for him as it looked to be, but a single sweep of his gaze at the fire seemed to have it instantly beginning to calm. It wasn’t just calming, it was shrinking and thinning out.

An emotional mess, she dropped her forehead to his chest, panting hard. “For a minute there, I didn’t think you were coming back from that.”

Sitting them upright, Knox pressed a kiss to her temple. “I almost didn’t.” He’d had one goal in mind: To get to Harper. He’d been willing to destroy everything that stood in his way. His anger had blurred his thoughts, given him tunnel vision until he hadn’t spared a thought for anyone but her. Not even for his sentinels.

It had been Harper’s touch, scent, and voice that pulled Knox out of that state. But even with her safe in his arms, his demon hadn’t wanted to retreat – too caught up in its rage and too drunk on the power it was using. The demon had been born to destroy, and it had continued to do exactly that. Being anchored by Harper in more ways than one had given Knox the strength to reach for supremacy and regain his control.

As the flames finally disappeared, Harper’s stomach dropped, and her heart slammed against her ribs. There was no building. No Larkin. No Tanner. Not even a single body. Only black and red ashes. No, no, no, no—

“You both look like shit.”

Harper tracked Knox’s gaze and saw that Larkin and Tanner, no longer in his hellhound form, were staggering toward them. Relieved to see them alive, Harper wanted to smile. Instead, she heard herself growling, “I thought you were fucking dead!”

“When the flames eased off, I flew us out of there,” the harpy explained.

“You’re okay?”

Tanner waved a dismissive hand at Harper’s concern. “It’s not like it’s the first time he almost killed us.”

Harper really didn’t know what to do with that comment.

“Wings, huh?” Knox whispered his fingers over them. “Soft. Hot.” His memories were blurred a little by the rage that had consumed him, but…“I remember you cracking through the shield. My power spilled through into your mind.” And gave her wings whatever push they had needed to finally surface.

“That was a really stupid but ballsy move, Harper,” berated Tanner.

Harper rubbed her nose against Knox’s. “The flames can’t hurt me – not inside, not outside. Can we go home now?”

Knox kissed her forehead. “Whatever you want.”

Lying on his side on the bed, Knox watched his mate putter around in just panties and a tank top as she spoke to Jolene on her cell. Maybe another person might have wanted a little private time to assimilate the fact that their life had been threatened and they’d just watched their mate almost destroy everything around them. Not Harper. She’d stayed close to him since they returned to the mansion; had even insisted he join her in the bath. Maybe it was her way of reassuring him that he still didn’t scare her – or, at least, not enough to make her leave.

“Grams, I’m fine, I promise. Of course I got out of the house by myself, don’t insult me. There’s nothing left standing for you to reduce to rubble. According to Levi and Keenan, Isla’s demons have left, and the mayhem in the hotel is over.” She let out a heavy, put-out sigh. “Fine, put him on.” A long pause. “Hello, Lucian. I’m fine. Knox came for me. He’s not a deranged psychopath.”

She crossed her eyes, making Knox smile.

“I will come see you tomorrow, okay? Then you can see for yourself that I’m fine. Right now, I’m tired and I need sleep – so do you, if the rumors I heard about you and Raini’s aunt are true. La, la, la, I didn’t say I wanted to know if it was true. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” Puffing out a long breath, she placed her cell on the drawers.

“Come here.” A growl of contentment rumbled up his chest as she slipped under the covers and fit her body snug against his. She was such a little thing, yet she’d robbed him of his infamous control. But she’d also given it back to him when he’d been bloated with power and overtaken by rage.

Harper’s eyes fell closed as his hand roamed over her, both possessive and reverent. As if he just had to touch her. “I take it Isla’s dead.”

“She ate an orb of hellfire.” His inner demon smiled at the memory. “I got to the practitioners’ house just as you stabbed ‘Kendra’ through the neck.”

Harper opened her eyes. “Her real name is Jeanna. She’s very much dead.” As something occurred to Harper, she clicked her fingers. “Oh shit, the demon that took me, I think his name is Jacques, was waiting—”

“In the woods. Tanner killed him.”

“Good.” As he traced a half-healed stab wound, she assured Knox, “I’m okay, really.” Most of her injuries had already fully healed.

“But you might not have been. The practitioners could have killed you before I even knew you were gone, if that had been their goal.”

“But they didn’t kill me. And I’m not easy to kill.”

Slipping his hand under her tank top, Knox closed it around her breast. “It would be better if you were much harder to kill.”

She arched into his proprietary grip as he cupped and shaped her breast almost idly. “It would.” When his hand slid to her back and traced the markings there, she smiled. “Even if I do say so myself…my wings are seriously cool.” They had sort of melted back into her skin about twenty minutes after they’d returned home. She’d have to get some advice from her relatives on how to control them.

“They are,” he agreed. It hadn’t escaped his notice that they were the same colors as the flames of hell. What that meant, he didn’t know. Maybe it was just a mere reflection of his power. Maybe it was nothing to be concerned about. But while his fear for her was still fresh, he couldn’t relax.

“I’m safe now,” she soothed when she heard his teeth grinding.

He touched his forehead to hers. “When I realized you were gone, I almost lost my fucking mind.” Intellectually, he’d known that he’d lose control if she was ever taken from him, but he hadn’t been prepared for the blind fear and sheer panic that tormented him. “I haven’t felt fear in a very long time.”

Harper pressed a kiss to his mouth. “I thought you handled it pretty well, all things considered,” she quipped. His mouth curved in amusement, just as she’d hoped.

“Yeah, I only called on the flames of hell.”

Chuckling, she kissed him again. “Thank you for coming for me.”

“Of course I came for you. Tanner believes I love you. Love? I don’t know if you could call it that. What I feel isn’t romantic. It isn’t soppy or gentle. It’s dark and consuming and intense – far more intense than any supposed ‘love’ I’ve sensed in another person.” He skimmed his fingers down her arm and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her palm. “Whatever the hell it is, it’s strong enough to mean my soul is right there.”

She gave him a watery smile. He was better with pretty words than he thought. “That’s only fair, since you have mine.”

Knox kissed her hard, pouring that undefinable emotion into it, letting her feel it for herself. Levi had once said that Knox lived for her now. The reaper was right. Knox had been alive a very long time, knew exactly how it would feel to go through a lifetime without her. He couldn’t go back to that numbness. His demon had no intention of doing so.

Tangling his hand in her silky hair, Knox kissed her again, indulging in a thorough tasting of his mate as he rolled her onto her back. Knox suckled her bottom lip. “This mouth is every man’s fantasy. But it’s mine. Only I can have it. Only I can taste it and fuck it.” To punctuate that, he thrust his tongue back inside to stroke hers; dominating and exploring with an urgency that was fed by the fury still fizzling inside him. He needed to take her, claim her, and own her so completely that she’d never be free of him, just like he’d never be free of her.

Shoving his hand up her tank top, Knox possessively splayed it over her breast and squeezed. Her soft moan made his cock twitch – already he was long and full, desperate to be in her. “I want you wet.” With a pinch to her nipple, he smoothed his hand down her flat stomach and into her panties, cupping her. There would be no psychic fingers tonight, just his skin and hers.

Harper curled her legs around him as he began pumping two confident fingers in and out of her, expertly stroking right over her g-spot each time. He didn’t just hit the spot, he doodled circles on it, fluttered over it, swirled around it. Shit, it felt fucking amazing.

With his free hand, Knox peeled up her tank top and drank in the sight of her luscious breasts. “My marks have faded. We’ll have to fix that.” He latched onto a taut bud, sucking it deep into his mouth.

Moaning, Harper shrugged out of her tank top and tossed it aside. Each tug of his mouth on her nipple sent a jolt of pleasure straight to her pussy. She hissed as his teeth bit the side of her breast. There was no repentance in the dark gaze that met hers; only pure, unadulterated possessiveness. Her hiss became a sob when he withdrew his talented fingers. “The teasing has to stop.” Her stomach was knotted with need – a need to have him in her, stretching her. “Fuck me.”

“No. I want to savor.” Knox suckled and bit his way down her body. Every part of her was imprinted into his brain; not just her taste, scent, and the feel of her skin, but every curve, every indent, every freckle, every birthmark. He danced his tongue over his demon’s brand as he tore off her panties. “I’m going to taste you now. And then I’ll have you. And this tight little pussy will explode all over my cock.”

Fingers biting into her thighs, Knox sank his tongue inside her. The taste of her burst through him, and went straight to his painfully hard cock. Gluttonously, he licked, lapped, and sipped at her pussy; he couldn’t get enough. Would never get enough. He’d always need her.

As his tongue fluttered teasingly against her inner walls, Harper pulled hard on his hair. “In me.” He moved to her clit, licking and swirling…and she realized he was writing his name over her flesh. “Fuck, Knox, now.” She could only get out key words at this point. Her body was wound so tight, she was shaking. “Knox!” He got to his knees and moved to straddle her chest; his sensual features alive with raw hunger.

“Get me wet, baby.”

The command vibrated with enough power and dominance to make her shiver. She opened her mouth, and he surged inside. Wrapping her hair around his fists, he worked his cock in and out of her mouth, all the while looking at her like she was the most fascinating thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

Fighting the urge to stay in the heat of her mouth, Knox stopped after only a few thrusts, and then he positioned himself between her thighs. “You ready?” At her nod, he smoothly sank into her with an agonizing slowness. She pressed her nails into his back in feminine demand, but he continued to slowly surge forward until he was finally fully sheathed.

“Fuck me hard.”

Knox cocked his hips, giving her a shallow thrust. “When I’m ready.” He kept his strokes sensual and wickedly slow, never moving his eyes from hers. With his cock buried in her body, he kissed her; poured everything he had and everything he was into it. She kissed him just as hard and demandingly, feeding him little moans and whimpers that made his cock pulse. He breathed her, tasted her, felt her running through his veins and imprinted on every bone.

“Harder.” She inhaled sharply as he suddenly slammed hard. “Fuck.” He hooked one of her legs over his shoulder and then he was plunging in and out of her with frantic, branding strokes. The sleek muscles of his back flexed and bunched beneath her hands. Caught in his gaze, she could see his pleasure, the fury of his possessiveness, and the depth of the raw, biting need he had for her – all of it heightened and intensified her own need until she could sense her release tumbling fast toward her. “Don’t ask me to wait, I can’t.”

“Then come,” he said against her lips. He closed his mouth over hers, swallowing her scream, as her pussy rippled around his cock. Her release seemed to echo through him, making him explode with an unnatural force as he drove deep.

As she lay shuddering beneath him, Knox nuzzled her neck, inhaling her warm, honeyed scent into his lungs. “Now I feel better.”

“Yeah? How’s your demon doing? Calmer?”

“It’s smirking. It got what it wanted.” He kissed her. “You.”

“Brace yourself, because I’m going to annoy you, ignore you, and surprise you for as long as we both shall live.”

He smiled. “And I’m going to spoil you, fuck you, and – of course – order you around for the rest of our lives.”

“You’re going to try,” she corrected.

Kissing her again, Knox chuckled. “You’ll definitely keep things interesting.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

None.