Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Arriving in the living area of the mansion with Asher still in her arms, Harper turned to Ciaran. “Did she enter the room while you were still in there, fooling you into thinking she was me? No, of course she didn’t, or you’d have been shocked to see me in the yard,” Harper reasoned. It was hard to think clearly when her world was in utter chaos.

Ciaran frowned. “Was who in there? We couldn’t see shit through the frost blocking the doorway. We just heard slamming and pounding and knew something bad was going down.”

Nerves raw, she gave him a quick rundown of what had occurred, finding it utterly surreal. It had all happened so damn fast. One moment, she’d been enjoying the party. The next moment, she’d been terrified for her son’s safety. Would the demon have hurt him? Or had she only meant to take him? Neither bore thinking about.

Harper tightened her hold on Asher, trying not to squeeze him too hard. He didn’t writhe or fuss. He just babbled to Hound, tugging at its ear.

Paling, Ciaran rubbed a hand down his face. “Shit, Harper, I should have stayed with him.”

“No, I should have stayed with him.” She was his mother; she was supposed to protect him.

“You hurt? You have blood dripping down your temple.”

Becoming suddenly aware of the wet trickle, Harper wiped it with the back of her hand. “Hit my head on the wall.” Until right then, the throbbing ache of the wound hadn’t registered. “I’m fine. But the other kids are, and they need help. Maybe if you teleport them out of the room they’ll unfreeze or something—I don’t know. I need you to go back, do what you can, and make sure that everyone knows that me and Asher are okay. We can’t afford for Jolene or the sentinels to go off the deep end.”

Ciaran nodded and then gently shook Asher’s hand. “Take care, kid.” With that, he teleported away.

She pressed a kiss to Asher’s head, inhaling his sweet scent. Tears stung her eyes, but she held them back. “You okay, baby boy?” she asked softly, doing her best to mask her fear. He was here, safe and warm and unhurt. “I think it’s time to call your father. But not while you’re in the room, just in case his demon blows a gasket.” Meg, I need you.

Meg entered the room moments later, brow furrowing. “Harper, what’s wrong?”

“I need you to take Asher up to his room and just watch him for a little while. Can you do that, please?”

“Of course.” Meg carefully took him. “But you haven’t yet told me what’s wrong.”

Harper flexed her fingers. It had hurt to let him go when all she wanted was to cling tightly to him. “I will; I just need to speak with Knox first.”

“All right. Call me when you’re done here.”

Once they left the room, Harper closed her eyes and took a long, steadying breath. She wanted to cry. Lash out. Scream until her throat hurt. Instead, she desperately sought calm. If she didn’t, she’d only feed Knox’s anger. But it was hard while the panic and terror were still so fresh and the adrenalin crash had left her edgy and restless.

She found herself pacing, footsteps stiff and jerky. She simply couldn’t settle. Couldn’t shake off the anger or fear. Especially while her inner demon was raging, demanding vengeance. Demanding that someone pay and pay dearly. Knox’s demon would no doubt demand the same thing.

The first time she’d met Knox, he’d rattled her typically dauntless inner demon. He didn’t just exude blatant danger, he embodied it. He was as brutal, merciless, and ruthless as the demonic population believed him to be. Still, Knox never spewed venom or yelled. Never exploded or foamed at the mouth. But he didn’t always contain the rage either. And when he let it out, well, people tended to die. Especially if his demon—an entity that was cold, malevolent, and hard as stone—took the reins.

Knox had a better hold on his inner demon than most did. There was no way for anyone to fully control the entities. Work with them? Yes. But that meant ceding control to them at times while still maintaining the position of dominant figure. The constant power struggle led some to turn rogue, go insane, or commit suicide. As such, most demons were eager to find their psi-mates.

Demons came in pairs, which meant each had a predestined psi-mate, or “anchor”, that would make them stronger and enable them to maintain the dominant position over their inner demon. The bond was purely psychic, not sexual or emotional. Still, anchors were often very close. Even the pairs who didn’t get along very well would still be supportive, loyal, and defend each other against any threat. Who wouldn’t want such absolute loyalty? Someone they could always count on, no matter what?

It wasn’t all stars and rainbows, though. Anchors could be possessive, overprotective, and highly meddlesome. It was also psychically uncomfortable for the pairs to be apart for long periods of time. Moreover, the death of an anchor was painful and draining for a demon. So, yeah, there were good points and bad points.

In addition to being Harper’s mate, Knox was her anchor, so he’d been annoyingly protective and intrusive from the beginning. It had surprised her that he wanted the anchor bond. He was powerful enough all on his own and maintained dominance over his inner demon just fine. Of course, he still relinquished control to it when necessary, but never for long. But it didn’t need “long” to cause utter destruction, and she knew it would be tempted to cause exactly that when she told him—

Her head snapped up as Ciaran reappeared with the sentinels.

“What the fuck just happened?” demanded Keenan, eyes manic, as he slung Asher’s bag on the floor near the sofa.

“Who was attacked—you or Asher?” Tanner asked, muscles rigid.

“Me, but it was Asher they wanted,” said Harper, grim. “I was just about to call Knox. Thanks for bringing them here, Ciaran.”

Her cousin nodded. “No problem. Good luck dealing with your mate.”

Yeah, she was pretty sure she’d need it.

“The only reason I didn’t call out to Knox was because I figured you already had,” said Keenan when Ciaran was gone.

“Same here,” Tanner told her. “I couldn’t see anything through the frost. I thought he was already in there with you.”

Harper shoved a hand through her hair. “I was too busy panicking about Asher to think of anything or anyone other than him.” But now it was time to reach out to Knox.

She took a deep breath. Knox? She tried to sound casual and failed by a long, long mile. Her telepathic voice fairly shook with the fear that still clogged her lungs so that it hurt to breathe.

His mind touched hers, vibrating with concern. Harper, what’s wrong?

I’m at home. Could you please—

Fire erupted out of the ground in front of her, snapping and crackling. The flames died away, revealing a tall, solid, imposing figure in a tailored Armani suit. Shimmering pools of black roamed over her, taking in everything.

“What is it, Harper?” Brows drawn, Knox stalked toward her with an animal grace that usually made her stomach flip. Right then, her stomach was rock hard. “Baby, you’re shaking. What is it?”

She licked her lips. “Someone tried to take him. Someone tried to take Asher.”

For a moment, Knox simply stared at her. Then his face tightened into a mask of savage fury and flames flickered from his fingertips. His rage crashed into her as it swept through the room like a tidal wave. The furniture shook, the ceiling spotlights buzzed, and tremors rattled the walls. Then it stopped, but she wasn’t mistaking that for the danger passing.

“Where is he?” clipped Knox, body unnaturally still.

“Upstairs with Meg. He’s fine, Knox,” she assured him, even though she suspected he’d already touched Asher’s mind to see that much for himself. “Really, he’s okay.”

Knox’s eyes bled to black as his demon rose to the fore, and the room temperature dropped so low she shivered. “He wasn’t harmed?” asked the demon in a flat, chilling, disembodied voice.

She swallowed. “No. They didn’t even touch him. They couldn’t; he’d raised his shield.”

“I want to know everything.” The demon prowled toward her, every inch the lethal predator. “I want—” It cut off, nostrils flaring, and its obsidian eyes glittered with renewed fury. “I smell your blood.”

Shit.The air suddenly turned muggy and oppressive, like just before a storm. The demon’s rage was so live and electric, it was almost tangible. Meeting its unblinking stare, Harper forced herself not to tense. It didn’t matter that she knew the demon wouldn’t harm her. Only a total idiot wouldn’t find something that old, dangerous, and pitiless to be unnerving.

Neither she nor Knox had expected his demon to form such a powerful attachment to her that it wanted to claim her as its own. Knox would have been forced to give her up if things had turned out differently, because a person couldn’t take someone as their mate unless their inner demon accepted them too.

Even though joining their psyches had made Harper more powerful, Knox and his demon were still just as overprotective as ever. It didn’t even matter that, thanks to his power flooding her mind, she could also call on the flames of hell—Knox still wished he could tuck her away somewhere safe.

Now that she had Asher, Harper finally understood why. She worried for Knox just as he worried about her, sure, but she had the comfort of knowing that he was a supreme badass. Knox, however, didn’t have that same comfort, because she was nowhere near as powerful as he was. To Knox, she was vulnerable in ways he would never be. Likewise, Asher—though powerful—was vulnerable to harm in ways that neither she nor Knox were. It made her want to hide him away, where no one could ever touch him. And maybe that was exactly what she should have done.

Feeling like an utter failure, Harper licked her lips. “Please don’t go postal. I need Knox. I can’t do this by myself.”

*

It was the shake in her voice that reached the demon through the red hazing its vision. Its mate was strong. Brave. Resilient. Incredibly self-reliant. To admit to needing anyone, to being unable to bear the situation alone, meant she was in genuine distress. The demon’s fury receded slightly. “I don’t like the taint of fear in your scent, little sphinx.” When Knox fiercely reached for the surface, wanting to reassure their mate, the demon retreated.

In control once more, Knox cricked his neck. His chest expanded with a full breath that he slowly blew out. Anger simmered low in his core—an anger that had moments ago inflated inside his chest until there was no way to breathe without tasting red-hot rage. It had flooded his body, poured into his extremities, and made his blood boil and smolder like lava. His demon had gone into a volcanic rage, roaring so loudly it had made Knox’s head throb.

Only one thing had stopped both him and the entity from losing control—on touching Asher’s mind, they’d sensed no anguish or fear in him. Only calm and contentment.

Focusing on his mate, Knox saw just how terribly shaken she was. He knew Harper. Knew she’d be blaming herself. Knew that she’d be hurting right down to the deepest part of her soul. He also sensed that she was keeping a chokehold on her anger so that she didn’t exacerbate his own. He could do no less for her. She needed comfort. Support. Reassurance. Not the rage sitting in his gut like lead.

Locking down the dark emotions threatening to send him into a frenzy, Knox crossed to her. “Come here, baby.” He curved his hand around her nape and pulled her close. At first, she remained stiff and unresponsive, as if she thought she deserved no comfort. He smoothed his hand up and down her back until the stiffness leached out of her. “Tell me everything.”

Pulling back, Harper licked her lower lip. “We were at Jolene’s tea party. The kids were all sitting in the dining room with Ciaran, watching the clown that Jolene hired.” She gestured at the sentinels, adding, “The three of us were stood in the hallway just outside the room—we could see Asher clearly. We heard the bouncy castle burst outside, so we ran out into the yard. Thinking back, it seems likely that someone burst it to distract us. Asher’s mind touched mine. I knew he wanted me for something, so I went to him. And there was this woman.”

“A woman?”

“She looked like me. Exactly like me. Either it was a shape-shifting demon or my fucking doppelgänger. She was cooing to him and saying it was time to go home, probably hoping he’d think it was me and then lower the shield he’d wrapped round himself.”

Knox’s demon snorted. Their son would never be so gullible, infant or not.

“When she saw me, she let out this weird surge of ice cold energy that froze everything and everyone in the room. Asher’s shield must have protected him from it. It didn’t work on me either, so she conjured a wind that flung me into the hall. I managed to get inside the room before a sheet of frost built across the doorway. But the frost blocked the others from getting inside to help.”

“I bashed it with every bit of strength in my body while others hurled orbs of hellfire at it,” Tanner cut in. “It didn’t even weaken.”

Harper plucked at her clothes. She felt so hot and edgy that the cotton chafed her skin and made her feel smothered. “I flew at her, dealt her some soul-deep pain, stabbed her with my blade and … I don’t know if I killed her. She just faded right in front of me and then disappeared.”

A familiar mind slid against Knox’s. Is everything all right? asked Levi, his sentinel and personal bodyguard. Knox had left him outside the conference room at the hotel where he’d held his business meeting.

No, it’s not.Knox quickly explained what had happened, pausing only when Levi bit out several curses. Relay the situation to Larkin, Knox continued, referring to his fourth sentinel. I’ll meet you in my office within the hotel soon. Knox couldn’t ask Levi to leave without him. It was important that Knox was seen to be both coming and going from places or it would raise questions.

Breaking his connection with Levi, Knox smoothed his hand over Harper’s shoulder and down her arm. “Where are you hurt?”

“I whacked my head on the wall and scraped my side on the frost.” She shrugged, as if it were nothing.

“Let me see.” He peeled up her T-shirt, finding an ugly slash on her side, and ground his teeth. “Looks more like someone slashed at you with a razor blade.” The she-demon would die for that alone—but not until he was done “punishing” her, if he ever would be done.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that someone tried to snatch Asher.”

“Firstly, you very much do matter—never say that again.” Probing her head gently, Knox found a lump, but she barely winced. “Secondly, you should have called me.”

“I wasn’t thinking of anything other than getting to Asher. I fucked up, I know—”

“You didn’t fuck up. It was only natural that your thoughts were only of Asher.” He squeezed her nape. “You did good.”

Her shoulders slumped a little. “No, I didn’t, and we both know it.”

He could see that she was awaiting judgment. “You think I should blame you?”

“I left him.”

“I left him,” said Keenan glumly.

“We all left him,” clipped Tanner. “The bitch who tried to take him fucked with the bouncy castle to distract us. We fell for it.”

Knox dug into Asher’s bag and pulled out a wet wipe. He gently cleaned the blood from her temple and then carefully dabbed the cut on her side. Later, they’d shower together, and he would properly clean the wounds and baby her until it drove her so crazy that her needless guilt was drowned out by irritation. First … “I need to see Jolene’s dining room. I might pick something up.”

Harper lifted her chin. “I’m coming with you.” She didn’t want to leave Asher, but she needed to see for herself that the other children were okay.

“Me, too,” said Tanner. “If I can detect the bitch’s scent, I may be able to track her. And I need to get the car anyway.”

“We’ll all go,” declared Knox. What he wanted most was to see Asher. To touch him. Hold him. Assure himself that he was okay. But Knox didn’t want to go to his son while in this state. Anger was riding him hard, taunting him with the cutting impulse to hurt and mangle and avenge. Making it worse, his demon continued to seethe, demanding vengeance, pushing at Knox to hunt the bitch who’d tried to take Asher and had made Harper bleed.

The only thing currently keeping it from surging to the surface and taking control was, quite simply, Harper’s nearness. She was an anchor to both Knox and his demon in every way that counted. In that sense, she had more control over the demon than Knox did. It was calmer and much better behaved when Harper was close by. It detested parting from her, and it quickly became bored and restless without her.

Knox couldn’t claim to need her any less than the entity did. Control was important to him. Essential. Not just due to the scars his childhood left on him, but because he had to keep a tight hold on his abilities and his inner demon. If Harper was taken from him, that control would eviscerate, and all hell would quite literally break loose.

He wouldn’t simply hunt and destroy those responsible for her death. That wouldn’t satisfy him. Vengeance wouldn’t be enough for him or his demon. The entity would want the freedom to do exactly what it was born to do—wreak havoc and chaos. Knox would give it that freedom, and an immense amount of destruction and death would follow.

In that sense, Knox’s emotional stability rested on her. He hated that she had to bear the weight of it, but there was no changing it. She’d been his one vulnerability until Asher came along. Now Knox had two, and both had been threatened today.

Brushing a kiss over Harper’s now clean temple, Knox squeezed her wrist gently. “Call Ciaran, baby. He can teleport us all there.” Knox didn’t pyroport in front of many people, liking to keep their kind guessing about what he could and couldn’t do.

Moments later, Ciaran appeared, looking somewhat frazzled.

“Any luck unfreezing the kids?” she asked him.

“No,” her cousin replied. “I can’t melt the frost barring the doorway either. Hell, I can’t even teleport anyone into the room. It’s hard enough to teleport myself in there.”

“Why is it such a struggle?” Knox asked.

Ciaran shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s like the frost on the door and walls of the room acts as an energy barrier or something. I can’t explain it. Please tell me you can do something.”

“Take me to Jolene’s house,” said Knox. “Let’s find out what we’re dealing with.”

Ciaran teleported Knox, Harper, and the sentinels to Jolene’s hallway. It was crowded with people who were obviously anxious to get to the children. They parted at the sight of Harper and Knox, letting them through.

Jolene turned to them, looking harried. “How’s Asher?”

“He’s okay, Grams,” Harper assured her. “No one hurt him. I just needed to get him out of here fast.” To a place Harper knew beyond any doubt that he was safe. She lightly touched his mind and felt only contentment.

“Ciaran told us everything,” said Jolene. “He also said you were bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Really.” The wounds stung like a bitch, now that the adrenalin had faded, but Harper had had way worse. She didn’t say that aloud though as it would have riled Knox. Right then, he looked unnaturally calm in a way she found plain terrifying. Harper figured that if it weren’t for the way his rage thickened the air, people could think him completely unmoved by what had happened.

Devon gave her a quick hug. “Did she really look exactly like you?”

At Harper’s nod, Raini spoke, “Must be a demon with the power to shapeshift.”

“It’s not an unusual gift,” began Khloë, “so that won’t help us work out who it was.”

Jolene’s face hardened. “They’ll pay for this. Nobody tries to harm me or mine—especially in my own home.”

“Yes, they will pay,” agreed Knox, voice low, steady.

Drew reached around his sister and lightly touched Harper’s shoulder. “You all right?”

Knox’s eyes slammed on the unfamiliar male that touched his mate. A hellcat, Knox sensed. The demon’s psychic shields were weak, so Knox caught some of his thoughts. The male thought Knox to be cold and uncaring and without mercy. Believed he was as emotionally stunted as Harper’s father. Didn’t understand why Harper had committed herself to such a creature or believe that she belonged with someone who could never truly care for her.

Envy spiced the internal rant, which would have made Knox smile if there wasn’t also a possessive edge to the hellcat’s thoughts. Knox didn’t fucking like that at all. In fact, he felt the grip on his anger loosen just a little, which was very, very dangerous. His inner demon snarled, deciding the hellcat needed a ball of hellfire lodged up his rectum.

As Knox possessively shackled Harper’s wrist, the male boldly met his gaze and said, “We haven’t met before. I’m Drew Clarke.”

“Devon’s brother,” Keenan added, shifting in front of the male so that he effectively cut Drew out of the main circle of people. Apparently, thought Knox, the sentinel didn’t like him either.

“Do you think you can help?” Martina asked Knox, gesturing at the frosted doorway. “We’ve been hitting it with orbs of hellfire for what feels like hours. It’s not melting.”

Knox examined it closely. “This isn’t real ice. It won’t melt.”

“But it can be destroyed, right?” asked Harper. She watched as he lifted his hand and released a wave of raw, undiluted power that buzzed in the air like a swarm of bees. The frost didn’t crack. It dissipated, becoming pure mist. Going by the boom of silence, people were too awed by his show of strength to be relieved that the barrier was gone.

She kept pace with Knox as he prowled into the room—each step was slow, deliberate, casual. Again, a wave of raw power swept out of his hand, making the air buzz and shimmer. The frost on the walls dissolved, and the kids and creepy clown immediately resumed what they were doing, as if nothing had occurred. While some imps rushed inside to fuss over the kids, others followed Harper and Knox to the rear of the room.

Studying the wall, Knox felt the waves of violence and the residue of his mate’s rage. She’d been blinded by it. So blinded that she hadn’t even thought to call for help, and he wondered if her attacker had counted on that. “You fought her here.”

Even though it wasn’t a question, she nodded. “I kind of slammed her against the wall a few times before I stabbed her with my knife after I infused it with hellfire. She faded until she was like vapor, and then she was just … gone.” Feeling the prick of her nails in her palms, Harper realized she’d clenched her fists so tight that her knuckles turned white. “I should have bitten her fucking face off.”

Knox gave her nape a gentle squeeze. “I’d say she walked out of that fight in more pain than you did. Tanner, do you have her scent?”

The hellhound turned to them, jaw hard. “No. There’s not even a hint of one that doesn’t fit the people already in the room.”

Harper’s lips parted. “How can she not have a scent?”

Tanner shrugged. “There’s no scent of death either.”

Harper swore. “Not only is she still alive, you can’t track her.” Groaning, she rubbed a hand down her face. “None of this makes sense. All I can be sure of is that she’s pretty powerful. Most people are so overwhelmed by the soul-deep pain that they can’t think through it, let alone find the will to defend themselves or try to escape. They just turn into a ball of misery. The pain distracted and weakened her, but it didn’t disable her.” And that was frightening, because Harper relied on that power to protect her.

Keenan held out her stiletto blade. “This is yours, right? Found it on the floor.”

“Thanks. I must have dropped it.” Harper frowned. “There’s no blood on it. I stabbed her with this right in the heart, but there’s no blood.”

A baffled silence met that statement.

“It was probably an ice demon,” said Drew, glancing around.

“No,” said Knox. “None of it was real ice.”

Drew jutted out his chin. “So, what was it?”

“Glacial energy that immobilized whatever it touched,” Knox said simply. “If it had been molten energy, it would have presented itself as fire. But it wouldn’t have been real fire, just like that wasn’t real ice.”

Drew stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Does that help work out what she is?”

“No,” replied Knox.

“Then I don’t see that it matters.”

“It matters. Every piece of the puzzle matters.”

Harper nodded. “She’s able to shapeshift, leave no trace of herself behind, transform into vapor, and emit glacial energy to form ice or wind. Knowing these things may not lead us to her, but they do help us know how to combat her if she makes a reappearance. Asher was sitting over there,” she added, pointing to the center of the room. “He’d popped up his shield. She didn’t seem able to get past it. He didn’t even cry.”

“Of course he didn’t,” said Jolene. “He’s a Wallis.”

Knox’s jaw clenched. “He’s a Thorne.”

Jolene waved that away. “You know what I mean.”

Drew folded his arms across his chest. “Do you think one of the Primes could be behind it?”

Harper’s nose wrinkled. “I doubt it.”

Drew frowned. “You’re the only mated Primes in the world. You’re both powerful, and so is your kid—I could sense it. That has to make the other Primes nervous.”

“It probably does, but you haven’t seen them with Asher. I really don’t think they’d hurt him.” Before Asher was born, Harper wouldn’t have thought she’d ever say those words. Demonkind had feared that the baby would be the same breed as Knox—they might not know what Knox was, but they sure didn’t want another hanging around.

The Primes had been especially nervous so, when Asher was five months old, Harper and Knox had done the unexpected: They’d taken him into a meeting with the other US Primes. All of them had fallen head over heels for the little guy.

The move had not only demonstrated that Knox and Harper believed in their ability to protect him, it had forced the Primes to view Asher as a person, not an abstract potentially soulless baby who might be too powerful to exist. They’d seen how playful, inquisitive, and happy he was. Seen that he was just like any other baby. Sensed that he had the air of a sphinx, like Harper, which they seemed to have found particularly comforting. The only gift Asher used during the meeting was his shield. It had impressed people but, as a defensive ability, hadn’t made the Primes in the least bit nervous. They’d found it cute.

Honestly, Harper often wondered if there was something preternatural about Asher’s ability to win people over. Like maybe he’d been gifted with strong charisma or something. She was sure he would even have won over Knox’s bitchy ex-bed buddy, Alethea … if the she-demon wasn’t missing. No one had seen Alethea since just after Asher was born. Her brother, Jonas, was worried, despite that he could still feel her psychically and, as such, knew she was alive.

“I agree that the Primes wouldn’t hurt him—Asher has them wrapped around his little finger,” said Jolene. “But that’s not to say they wouldn’t hire someone to kidnap him so that they could use him for one reason or another.”

“I’m more inclined to think it was the fourth Horseman,” said Raini. “I actually thought he or she might abandon the group’s goal, since the other three are dead. But maybe not.”

Knox would put his money on the fourth Horseman being behind the attack, but he wasn’t so sure that the demon who tried to snatch Asher was in fact the Horseman. Striking while Asher was at the home of a strong Prime like Jolene Wallis was extremely bold. The fourth Horseman had never appeared on the scene to help defend Isla, Roan, or Nora when they were up against Knox and Harper. That suggested the remaining Horseman was happy to sit back and let others not only take the risks but deal with any consequences alone.

Turning to Ciaran, Knox said, “I’d be grateful if you could return us to our home.”

Tanner gestured outside with his thumb. “I’ll drive the car back.”

“I’ll come with you,” Keenan said to the other sentinel.

Knox turned to Jolene. “I doubt that the she-demon will return here, but if she does, call me.” The female Prime didn’t respond. He arched a brow. “I know you’re angry, Jolene, but this she-demon made my mate bleed and tried to take our son. It happened in your house, true, but Harper and Asher are my family and part of my lair. As Primes, Harper and I deal with anyone who threatens it.”

“I can’t promise I won’t kill her if she returns here,” said Jolene. “I don’t have that kind of restraint. Won’t it be enough for you to know she’s dead?”

“I don’t want her dead. I intend to find out who she is. I will seize and detain her, but I won’t kill her. I will mentally destroy her. Completely. Utterly. I will break her. Crush her spirit. Torture her until there’s no fight left in her. And she will live in fear that I’ll return to her prison to do it again and again. And I will.”

Jolene looked at him for a few moments. “I can get behind that.”

With an amused snort, Devon squeezed Harper’s hand. “Take care.”

“And give Asher a kiss for us,” added Khloë.

Knox curled his arm around Harper’s shoulders, who leaned into him and slipped an arm around his waist. Just like that, more of Clarke’s thoughts split the air like gunshots. No one else heard them, of course. Only Knox. This time, it wasn’t just thoughts that leaked through Clarke’s shields. It was memories. Memories of Harper. Her taste spiced with mojitos. The softness of her skin. The weight of her breasts. The feel of her pussy, hot and tight, around his fingers. The raspy sigh she let out when she came.

Knox’s rage mingled with that of his demon, who lunged for the surface, making the room temperature plummet. It spoke to the hellcat mind-to-mind, effectively crashing into the male’s thoughts. I could steal those memories from you so very, very easily.

Drew’s eyes widened.

Perhaps I should share some of my own with you.The demon thrust past Drew’s weak shields, forcing its own memories to replay in the hellcat’s brain. Harper screaming as she came. Her telling Knox she loved him. His flesh burning as her demon branded him. Her face all soft and warm as she slid his rings on her finger. Her laughing as they both played with Asher, happy and relaxed.

Clenching his fists, Drew scowled. “Get out of my head.”

Harper belongs to me. Belongswith me. If you wish to challenge my claim on her, do so now. I will enjoy watching you die. When Drew remained quiet instead of disputing its claim to Harper, the demon retreated.

“What going on?” asked Harper, wary, as she fisted the back of his shirt.

Knox stroked his thumb over Harper’s jaw. “Nothing, baby. Ciaran?”

With a nod, the imp teleported them back to the living area of the mansion.