Chapter Eleven

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Need explodedin Devon’s stomach. Little sparks played across her skin, as if she’d been plugged into an electric socket. She gripped his shoulders, so shaken by the sheer intensity and ferocity of his kiss that she might have pulled back if she’d possessed the willpower. Instead, she melted against him as his mouth consumed hers; stealing her breath, sucking her into a maelstrom of sensation, relentlessly hacking through every bit of resistance she had.

She lost awareness of everything but him, his mouth, his hands. Felt feverish with the pressing, crushing need to have him inside her again. Filling her. Stretching her.

Tanner groaned as soft hands slid up his shirt and splayed on his chest, sharp nails pricking his skin. He angled his head, making the kiss deeper, harder, wetter. He was lost. Lost in her taste and scent and the searing heat of her mouth.

His cock was so fucking hard it was painful to walk as he herded her through his apartment and back to his bedroom, stripping them both of their clothes as he went. Standing at the foot of the bed, the breath almost left his lungs as he drank her in. She was all wicked curves and soft skin. Had the most phenomenal breasts—round and high. His mouth watered at the sight of those tight, rosy, pierced nipples. Fuck if she wasn’t … “Perfect.”

He fisted her hair and snatched her head back, arching her spine so he could suck one hard bud into his mouth and tug on her piercing. Spurred on by her little moans, he teased her nipples, alternating from one to the other as he licked, suckled, and scraped them with his teeth.

“I’m going to come all over these one day,” he told her. Growling low in his throat, he sank his teeth into the side of her breast, injecting his venom into her bloodstream.

Hissing, she straightened and glared at him. “That hurt.”

“You liked it.” He grunted as she bit into his chest in retaliation. The burn of her venom went straight to his aching cock. Cursing, he tossed her on the mattress. “Lie back. Good girl.” He joined her on the bed. “Now stay still.”

“Stay still?”

“I warned you I wanted to explore and savor,” said Tanner, sliding his fingers over the flock of butterflies that had been tattooed on her side. He also wanted to make some memories that would keep him warm and sane when she was gone. Wanted to make memories for her—ones from which she’d never escape.

The mark on her palm wasn’t enough for him. He needed to leave some mark on her soul. Needed to make this so good for her that no other man she had in her bed would ever measure up—not even whatever male she took as her mate. That made Tanner a bastard, he knew that, but fuck if he wouldn’t claim and keep some part of her. “Just lie back and enjoy.”

Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, an hour later—Devon really couldn’t be sure—he was still busy indulging himself, and she was so hot and shaky she looked close to feverish. His mouth and hands, so warm and skilled, explored and teased her body … but they always skirted her pussy—a pussy that felt so excruciatingly empty it was painful.

Excitement pooled in her stomach. She was hot and frantic for release. Her body screamed out for his, holding its breath in an agonizing anticipation that she couldn’t bear much longer. And every swipe of his tongue, every scrape of his teeth, and every proprietary squeeze of his hands only made it that much worse.

She slapped the mattress. “Dammit, Tanner, I think it’s safe to say that the time for exploring is over!” She might have sounded a lot more imperious if her voice hadn’t cracked.

He looked up from where he’d been licking the delicate swirly tattoo that circled her navel piercing. “What do you need, kitten? Tell me.”

Well, obviously she needed something inside her. His fingers, his tongue, his cock—any would do fine, she wasn’t fussed.

“Not fussed, huh?”

Wait, she’d said all that out loud?

Her lips parted as he plunged two thick fingers into her pussy.

He put his mouth to her ear and nipped the lobe. “This isn’t going to be a slow finger-fuck, baby. I’m going to pound your pussy with my fingers until you come hard all over my hand.”

Those fingers didn’t give her an inch of mercy. They drove into her hard and fast. And when he curved his fingers just right and stroked that sweet spot inside her, she did exactly as he’d said she would—she came hard all over his hand.

“Good girl.”

She lay there with her eyes closed, panting and trembling … until he curled his hands around her thighs and pulled them further apart.

“I didn’t get to taste you last time,” he said, settling himself comfortably between her thighs. Using his thumbs, he parted her folds, and she shivered as the cool air whispered over her clit. A full body flush swept over her skin as he stared at her pussy, his eyes darkening with hunger, intent, and sheer male possession.

He inhaled deeply, and a growl rumbled out of him. “Fuck, you smell good.” He licked at the crease of her thigh. “I’m gonna enjoy this.”

Instead of delving right in, he nuzzled her folds and gently nipped at them. And she sensed he wasn’t one of those guys who did the bare minimum to get a girl off. No, he was one of those rare gems who settled in and took his time. Damn, he was racking up points by the minute.

Her eyelids fell shut as he fluttered his tongue through her slit. His low growl sent a little shiver up her spine, and then he feasted. Lazily lapped, sipped, stabbed, and drank from her—in no rush whatsoever. That fabulous tongue lashed at and swirled around her clit, first one way then the other.

The whole time, he watched her closely, taking in what made her squirm or moan or gasp, and then he did those things all the more; always alternating between fast and slow, keeping her off-balance.

Her body was in chaos, both inside and out. Feel-good chemicals flooded her. Desperation pumped through her veins. Her pussy blazed and throbbed.

Moaning, she sank into the mattress when the flat of his tongue started rubbing up and down her clit. He was ruthless. Unrelenting. His teeth nipped, his tongue tasted, his fingers traced and probed. And when he started pumping his tongue inside her while growling in the back of his throat, there wasn’t a hope in hell that she could last.

Her breaths quickened, her hips bucked, her thighs shook. And then she was coming with a choked moan, her back bowed, her pussy quaking around his tongue.

She slumped. Damn, the fucker was good with that mouth. Struggling to catch her breath, she—

Sharp teeth dug into her inner thigh, breaking the skin, and she hissed at the sting. “Enough with the biting.”

He looked at her, his lips glistening. “I want my venom inside you. I want to be in your blood.” He eased his powerful body over hers, giving her his weight, making her feel trapped yet safe. So full and long and hard, his cock pulsed against her clit. “Just like you’re in mine.”

Devon wrapped her legs around him and went to grab his solid shoulders, but he caught her wrists and then pinned them above her head with one hand. She wasn’t gonna lie, it totally pushed her buttons. Her back arched as he swiped the head of his cock between her folds and aligned it just right. But he didn’t sink inside. “Tanner …”

His gaze dropped to her lips. “I want to feel that mouth on my cock. Want to come all the way down your throat. You’ll give me that—don’t say you won’t.” He flexed his hips forward, pressing the thick head of his dick a mere inch inside her. He nipped at her lower lip. “Open for me.”

She did, and he all but ravaged her mouth—licking, kissing, biting. He took and took, owning her mouth just as he’d told her he would. But he didn’t thrust inside her. Not even when she squirmed or clenched her inner walls around what little she had of him.

She hissed, out of patience. “I’m really not into delayed gratification, pooch, in case you hadn’t already noticed.”

“What do you need, kitten? Tell me.”

“I need you to fuck me.” Devon sucked in a breath as his fat cock slammed home, sinking so deep it hurt, stretching the walls of her pussy until it burned.

Tanner ground his teeth as her slick, inferno hot inner muscles clamped around him. His cock throbbed with an almost vicious drive to possess and claim. “I told you you’d give this pussy back to me, didn’t I?” He slowly pulled back until only the head of his cock was inside her. “You won’t keep it from me again.” And then he did what he’d been aching to do since he first saw her—he fucked her hard, deep, rough enough to hurt.

He kept her wrists pressed into the mattress as he pounded into her, his eyes never leaving hers. A fevered haze was threatening to fall over his vision, and he was barely holding onto his control. How could any red-blooded male cling to their control when they had the object of their fantasies beneath them, accepting every hard thrust of their cock?

With the taste of her pussy in his mouth, her intoxicating scent filling his lungs, and her blazing hot pussy clutching him so tight, it felt like his senses were drowning in her. He knew he’d never forget the image of her there—her curls fanned around her face, her eyes glossy with need, her lips swollen from his kisses.

“You won’t let anyone else near my pussy, will you, baby?”

“Yours?” She snorted. Snorted.

He pulled on her wrists, letting her feel the strain in her shoulders, knowing she liked the bite of pain. “It’s mine for as long as you’re in my bed.”

“Deluding yourself again? How sad.”

He slowed, eased up on the depth and intensity of his thrusts. “I’m serious, Devon, I won’t share you. Tell me you get that.”

She sighed. “Can you quit with the chatting and fuck me?”

Devon knew she’d made a mistake when a very inhuman growl vibrated in his chest and his eyes bled to black. A chill breezed over her skin as the room temperature lowered … and she found herself the focus of his demon’s dark, reptilian glare. Shit.

Her feline pushed close to the surface and watched it carefully, but not with fear—it trusted that the hound wouldn’t harm Devon. Yeah? She wasn’t so confident of that. There was something exceedingly dangerous glimmering in the depths of those eyes. A callousness that no one in their right mind would want directed at them.

Another growl shook its chest, and then it … nuzzled her neck. Which would have been a relief if its teeth weren’t now so close to her jugular.

She swallowed. “What do you want?”

An image flashed in her mind—one of her giving Tanner a slow nod. Apparently, the demon wanted her to yield to the pooch. Not that simple. It wasn’t that she intended to date other guys or anything, she just didn’t want to encourage Tanner’s possessive behavior. He’d be a nightmare to deal with if she let him get away with that shit.

Yet another image flashed in her mind. An image of the hound standing in front of her in its true form, growling at a group of faceless men. She understood the telepathic message—it wasn’t going to allow other males to touch her. Wonderful.

She winced as its teeth dug into her throat; knew the entity was waiting for its answer. “You’re not being rational.” And those teeth dug a little harder. Having no curiosity about how it would feel to have her throat ripped out, she said, “Okay, okay, there’ll be no other guys while Tanner and I are together. Now ease off, Fido. I’d like Tanner back—he has a job to finish.” She’d been very close to coming when the damn entity made its appearance.

The demon lifted its head. That dark gaze shimmered with something that might have been amusement. It lowered its mouth to hers, bit her lip. And since she had no intention of letting it dominate her, she snapped her teeth at it. Yeah, that was now definitely amusement in its eyes.

It nuzzled her neck again. Nipped at her pulse. Licked over the small hurt to soothe the sting. And then the flesh of her wrists started to burn—the flesh beneath its fingertips.

She hissed. “What the …” Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” The motherfucking psycho was branding her.

The demon retreated just as the burn faded. Golden eyes stared down at her, looking far too satisfied for her liking.

“Your damn demon just—” She cursed as Tanner slammed into her.

“We can chat, or I can fuck you. Choose.”

She tightened her legs around him. “Fuck me, you bastard.”

He powered into her with a growl and—Oh, God, yes. She lifted her hips to meet each brutal thrust as he drove deep again and again, building the friction inside her once more. His expression was cold, but his eyes were so hot they seared her.

Devon struggled against his grip, wanting to touch him, scratch him, fist his hair. But the prick wouldn’t let go, and that—warped as it was—only seemed to make her hotter.

“Fuck, baby, I’m close.” He moved his mouth to her ear. “Want me to pull out? Or do you want me to come inside you?”

She swallowed. “In me.” She felt his mind brush against hers, and she immediately dropped her shields. He poured in, letting her feel an echo of the sensations that were pushing him closer and closer to his release. All of that fueled her own arousal, winding her so tight she couldn’t take it.

His pleasure, her pleasure—she couldn’t tell the difference anymore—built and built like a pressure cooker. And then it exploded.

Surge after surge of white-hot bliss whipped through Devon and zipped up her spine as she came with a scream. Grunting against her neck, he pounded harder, faster. The headboard thumped against the wall with each feverish slam of his hips as he drove his cock impossibly deep over and over and over.

Tanner spat a harsh curse as he rammed into her one last time. She felt his cock swell and throb inside her, felt every hot splash of his come. Then they both sagged.

Muscles quivering, heart racing, Devon lay there as they each struggled to catch their breath. Her limp body felt utterly sated and deliciously sore. She’d needed a good, hard ride, and he’d given it to her.

Hauling her close, he pressed a kiss to her neck and then rolled onto his back, taking her with him. Draped over his chest, she lifted her head and found him staring at her through languid, heavy-lidded eyes that gleamed with a wicked satisfaction. And then she remembered.

Sitting upright, she examined her wrists. And gaped. “What the fuck is this?”

Lips twitching, he splayed his hands on her thighs. “They look like fingerprints to me.”

Because that was exactly what they were. “Your hound is out of its everloving mind.” If demons became very possessive of someone, they sometimes branded them—hell, Harper had quite a few brands from Knox. To the human eye, they look like tattoos. But demonic brands weren’t permanent; they could fade if an entity lost interest in the person. And that meant that until his hound lost interest in her, she’d be walking around with these goddamn fingerprints on her wrists.

Hell, she’d known that the mark on her palm was going to bring her nothing but trouble. It had obviously sparked a possessive streak in his demon, and now she was dealing with this crap.

Devon narrowed her eyes. “You think this is funny, don’t you?”

“No.” Tanner caught her hands and took a closer look at the brands, feeling satisfaction once more swell low in his belly—the same satisfaction his hound was feeling. “I think it’s hot.” He could be incredibly possessive when it came to Devon Clarke, so seeing his fingerprints on her wrists … maybe it made him fucked up, but he liked it. “My demon has never branded anyone before.”

“Well you’d better tell it not to pull this shit again.”

He gave her hands a sharp tug, drawing her toward him so she was once more sprawled on his chest. “I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.” Not just because his hound was territorial of her, but because its instinct when she fought that possessiveness was to make it exceedingly clear that it had rights to her.

She made a sound of sheer exasperation. “You only like it because you know no other male demon will dare touch me while I’m branded.”

He gave a careless shrug. “All you had to do was agree not to let other men near you while we were sharing a bed—something you could have done, since we both know you wouldn’t juggle two males at a time; it would feel like betrayal to you. But you fought me, so my demon took what measures it felt were necessary to be sure no one else touched you. My advice? Don’t fight it or me again on this, or you probably will find yourself getting branded again.”

He watched her warily as she glared at him through eyes that were dark with indignation, her flushed face getting redder and redder by the second, until he was honestly worried about her blood pressure.

She snarled. “I don’t know why women have a thing for alphas—no matter the species, you’re all a goddamn pain in the ass!”

“I hear the love in your voice, kitten.” He quickly caught her wrist when her claws sliced out and she tried swiping at him. “Christ, baby, why do you always go for my eyes?”

*

Mouth slack, Khloë stared down at Devon’s wrists the next morning. “Oh, Lord.”

“Fingerprints?” Raini eyed them closely. “Tanner’s demon did that?”

“Uh-huh.” Devon tugged down her sleeves, casting a quick glance at the front door of the studio. Clients would start filtering in soon, and though Devon knew it wasn’t likely that she’d be able to hide the brands from everyone—her luck just wasn’t that great—she intended to give it her best shot.

Leaning back against the checkered partition near her station, Harper blew out a breath. “And I thought Knox’s demon putting a ‘K’ on me was possessive.”

Raini’s brow wrinkled. “It put a ‘K’ on you? Where?”

Harper averted her gaze. “Um, never mind.” She looked at Devon. “How do you feel about the hound branding you?”

A whole host of things. Shocked. Bewildered. Ticked off. Honestly, she was still struggling to wrap her head around it; she just never would have expected his demon to do such a thing.

Okay, maybe a small, girly part of her liked it—the same part of her that enjoyed romance novels, was a sucker for corner-of-the-mouth kisses, had crushed on him for far too long, and believed in the concept of soulmates. Hey, if there were such things as psi-mates and creatures that could wield a shitload of power, the idea that people might have a soulmate doesn’t seem so fanciful. But no one else needed to know that a silly, hormonal part of her was secretly thrilled by the brands.

“Well, obviously, I’d like to ring the entity’s neck.” She really didn’t need or want the kind of attention that these far from inconspicuous brands would bring her. Sighing, Devon raised her hand, palm out. “I blame this damn mark—it made the hound all possessive, and now it’s behaving like an idiot.” Branding its natural enemy was nothing short of idiotic.

“And your feline?” asked Raini. “How’s it feeling about this?”

Devon absently rubbed at her arm. “It’s weirdly disinterested.”

Harper’s head jerked back. “Disinterested? How can it be disinterested about being branded? That’s not exactly a small thing in our world.”

Devon shrugged, absolutely flummoxed. “It’s like my demon just doesn’t take them seriously. Like it finds the brands beneath its notice.”

Eyes narrowing in thought, Raini said, “Which Tanner’s demon will no doubt sense, right?”

“Right,” Devon agreed.

“Then maybe that’s why your feline’s being so dismissive of the brands; it wants to piss the hound off,” suggested Raini. “Which is sort of their normal type of interaction, isn’t it?”

Hell, yeah, it was. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the feline’s just toying with the demon for fun.” Noticing that Harper was staring at her with an odd expression on her face, Devon frowned. “What is it?”

Harper’s shoulders lowered. “I’m worried about you. You think we don’t know that you care about Tanner?” she asked, her tone gentle. “You think we don’t know exactly how much it’ll hurt you when this fling ends?”

Suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable, Devon let her gaze flit around the room.

“You might not like these brands,” Harper went on, “but when you see them start to fade, it’s going to hurt, because you’ll know it means his demon’s losing interest. You’ll know it means your time together is coming to an end.”

A sharp pain struck Devon’s chest. Yeah, she knew this thing she had with him was a dead end; she’d never once let herself forget it. But she couldn’t claim that being prepared for the end would spare her any hurt.

Slumping against the wall, Devon weakly threw up her arms. “I tried to push him away.”

Harper gave her a wan smile. “Tanner’s not a guy who can be pushed anywhere he doesn’t want to be.”

“Tell me about it,” grumbled Devon.

“I’d be pissed at him if I didn’t wholeheartedly believe he cares about you, too,” said Harper. “Anyone who knows him well can see that you’re important to him. You’ll both be hurting when this is over.”

Devon felt her nose wrinkle. He’d said she mattered to him, but that didn’t mean she was important to him. Hell, coffee mattered to Devon, but she could live without it. The people she cared for? They were important to her, and she’d do whatever it took to keep them in her life. She simply didn’t have that much value to Tanner.

He probably wouldn’t be happy when it was over, but she highly doubted he’d be hurt by it. Especially since his main objective was to fuck her out of his system.

“Playing it safe and keeping him at bay didn’t exactly make me happy,” said Devon. “So, I’m just gonna take what I can get while I can get it—knowing it won’t last and that there’s no HEA in store for me where he’s concerned.”

“Or you’re setting yourself up to be hurt,” said Harper. “I don’t want that for you. I want you to be happy. A short fling—”

“The best thing about all this is that it’s nothing more than a short fling,” Devon cut in. “It means he won’t have the opportunity to make any kind of mark on my life; it won’t devastate me when he’s gone from my little world because he was never truly in it—he’ll simply have existed around it.

“I’m not going to lie and say I won’t still be hurting when he and I go our separate ways, especially since I’ll have to see him every day. But I’ve been through worse than losing Tanner Cole. I survived those things, and I’ll survive this. I’ll just need you girls to take me out and get me blind drunk a few times.”

“We can do that,” said Khloë, giving her arm a light squeeze.

“Whatever you need, sweetie,” Raini promised. “We’re always here for you—you know that.”

Yes, she did know that. Damn if she didn’t have the best group of friends ever. Forcing a smile for them, Devon said, “Hey, don’t fret so much. I’ve got bigger things to worry about than Tanner. As it happens, so have you, Raini.”

The succubus shot her a narrow-eyed look. “It’s so typical of you to turn the attention to someone else when you’re in the spotlight.”

“Yep,” Devon admitted, unrepentant. “But I’m right. Have you heard from Maddox?”

Raini sank into her leather chair. “He talks to me,” she blurted out, her gaze on the wall. “Mind-to-mind, I mean.”

“Saying what?” asked Harper, but the succubus didn’t respond. “Is he pushing for you to form the anchor bond with him?”

Raini shook her head. “He just … checks in. And stuff. But I never respond.”

Khloë lifted her brows. “What do you mean by ‘and stuff’?”

“It’s not important.”

“It is if it’s bothering you,” said Devon.

Raini forced a nonchalant smile. “I can deal.”

“You sure of that?” asked Harper. “Because I could ask Knox to have a ‘chat’ with him and tell the guy to leave you be.”

Again, Raini shook her head. “There’s no need. Maddox will get bored when he realizes I’m not going to answer him. Like I said, I can deal. I’ll let you know if that changes.” She doodled an X over her heart. “I promise.”

Harper let out a heavy sigh. “All right, if you’re certain?”

“I’m certain,” Raini assured her.

Sighing again, Harper turned to Khloë. “What about you?”

The imp’s confused gaze darted left to right. “Hmm?”

“What are you going to do when Keenan finally acts on his little thing for you?” asked Harper.

Khloë waved that away. “Keenan doesn’t need a girl in his life, he needs an AA sponsor. Or a dick surgeon to make his package more in proportion. Do they have dick surgeons? Or do the doctors have another title? Like Penis Fixers or something?”

“I’m seeing through all this flippancy,” Harper told her. “You like him.”

Khloë made a face. “He’s good-looking, sure, but that’s just skin, muscle, and bone. And his incubus mojo.”

“A mojo you’re immune to,” began Raini, “so you can’t blame your attraction to him even partly on that. Besides, you don’t just like his looks, you like him.”

“I like lots of guys,” said Khloë with a casual shrug. “I’d prefer one who wouldn’t love to permanently hook himself up to a drip of pure vodka. You all know how I feel about alcoholics.”

Yeah, she had no time or respect for them. Mostly because her mother was a raging alcoholic. Demons were prone to developing addictions; it was sadly one of their curses. It was also partly why the Underground was so popular with all its bars, casinos, and other gambling events.

“Knox said that Keenan isn’t an actual alcoholic,” Harper told her. “He’s positive that the incubus could cut vodka out of his diet if he needed to—he just simply doesn’t want to.”

Khloë pursed her lips. “Hmm, I’m not buying that. Speaking of ‘buying’ stuff … what do I get our little Asher for his birthday? I have some ideas, but I want to get him something he’ll really like.”

“If it lights up or makes noise, he’ll like it,” said Harper. Raini tilted her head. “What time’s his party on Sunday?”

“Two pm,” replied Harper. “I’ll expect to see you all there. Including you, Dev. I don’t want to hear any of that ‘I can’t go because it would lead danger to your door.’ I’m asking you to attend a party, not move in. You’re going.”

Devon saluted her. “I’ll be there.”

Khloë absentmindedly played with her earring as she turned to Devon. “When are you moving into Tanner’s building?”

“Later on.” If Devon liked the look of the place. Which she probably would, if it was anything like Tanner’s apartment.

Harper gave a satisfied nod. “Good. If you need help moving in, give us a call.”

The bell above the door chimed, and in breezed—groan—Eleanor. Devon tried not to tense, but it was impossible when looking at the woman who wanted the guy you cared for to impregnate her.

Devon’s feline bared a fang, recognizing the female who’d falsely professed to having a claim on Tanner. It was a little disturbing that her feline had developed a possessive streak where he was concerned.

Keeping her keen eyes fixed on Devon, Eleanor walked up to the reception desk. Khloë made a move toward it, but Devon touched her arm and said, “I got this.”

The girls looked confused. Well, of course they did. She hadn’t told them about her previous conversation with Eleanor. Or about what the bitch wanted from Tanner.

Going for nonchalant, Devon casually made her way to the desk with a professional, impersonal smile. Deciding to channel Jolene, she greeted, “Eleanor, always a pleasure.”

Stone-faced, Eleanor glanced at the hand that Devon had braced on the desk. “Is it true? Did he mark you?”

Devon could have played the “I don’t know who you mean” game, but that would only drag out the conversation. “Yes.”

The female hellhound pressed her lips together and took in a deep breath through her nose. “And you two are sleeping together?”

“Now, that’s not really any of your business, is it? And for the record, I don’t appreciate you turning up at my place of work, just as I didn’t appreciate you turning up at my apartment.”

Eleanor sighed. “Look, if you were anything other than a hellcat and he didn’t have the typical male hellhound commitment issues, I’d step aside. I’m not interested in messing up a relationship. But there can never be anything between you and Tanner other than however many fucks your demons allow. Quite frankly, I’m surprised they allowed it to happen even once.”

“I’m not sure at what point you reached the conclusion that I’d give a rat’s ass what you think about anything. You can leave now.”

Nostrils flaring, Eleanor leaned forward slightly. “You have to know it would be good for him to start a line of his own. It’s hard enough for demons to maintain dominance over the entities within us. The older we get, the harder it gets. Tanner’s never going to have an anchor to ground or center him. Having a child of his own could do that. I’ve seen how becoming a parent can change people.”

“Just because he hasn’t found his anchor yet doesn’t mean he never will.”

Eleanor very slowly tipped her head to one side. Something that might have been sympathy flashed on her face. “He hasn’t told you, has he? It’s probably not something you should take personally. I doubt he’s told many people. I only found out about it because it came up in the background check I had done on him. A lot of Tanner’s past is … ‘off-record,’ shall we say? There are probably a great many things that neither of us know about him.”

“And yet, you still want him to be the father of your child?” Something that made Devon want to lunge for the bitch’s throat.

“Yes, I do. You’re young, you may not be interested in having children just yet, but I suspect you might want them in the future. Just think about how dearly you wish to have, hold, and love a child of your own someday. And think about how Tanner could just warm up to the idea of experiencing that for himself … if you’d only let him go.”

Devon almost jerked back. “I don’t have any hold over Tanner.”

“Oh, I think you do.” Her eyes dropped to Devon’s wrist. “Those are his brands, aren’t they?” Whatever she saw on Devon’s face made her nod, adding, “That’s what I thought. It’s a shame for both of you that nothing could ever come of it.”

The bell jangled as the door opened again. One of the guards who Tanner had stationed outside stepped into the reception area and shot Eleanor a hard look. “Time to go, Miss Owens.”

The female haughtily lifted her chin. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve been ordered by Tanner to escort you out of here,” he said.

Which meant Harper had given the pooch a telepathic heads-up about Eleanor.

“There’s no need for that,” Eleanor told the guard.

“Because you’re ready to leave, right?” It was a pressing suggestion, not a question.

Lips thinning, Eleanor spared Devon one last look as she headed for the door. “Think about what I said.”

As if Devon could do anything else.

The moment the other female was gone, the girls crowded around the desk.

“Did I hear correctly that, in a nutshell, she wants Tanner to ‘sire’ her kid?” asked Raini.

Devon sighed. “Yep.”

“And if my ears didn’t deceive me, she once turned up at your apartment,” said Harper, eyes narrowed. “That true?”

“Yep,” Devon admitted, too tired to play dumb.

Khloë put her hands on her hips. “Okay, Clarke, I think it’s time you fessed up the rest.”