The agonizing contraction passed, and Harper almost slumped to the ground. Her knees, back, and shoulders felt stiff from being in the same position for so long. But she wouldn’t give in to the urge to lie down. No, she wouldn’t make herself even more vulnerable than she already was.
Her movements clinical, Linda used a cloth to dab the sweat from Harper’s forehead. She was a panting, moaning, sweaty mess, and she knew that her face was probably haggard and pasty. Her eyes watered with both the pain and the harsh wind that kept slamming into her face, stealing her breath. At least the haunting sound of it helped her block out the hideous, droned chanting that grated on every nerve she possessed.
Tied down while surrounded by chanting hooded people, she might have felt more like she was having an exorcism than that she was in labor if it weren’t for the excruciating spasms that continuously wracked her womb.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been at this. The minutes had soon become hours, and the hours felt like days as cramp after cramp assailed her. As time went on, the intervals between them became shorter and shorter, and the pain had become more intense.
She kept reaching out to Knox, but she only heard from him occasionally. She knew the long gaps in those conversations was due to the difference in how much time passed for each of them. For Knox, he was talking with her a few times per minute. For Harper, it was a few times per hour and his responses were always delayed reaching her.
Of course, he didn’t know any of that. She’d kept it to herself because she knew that the truth that she’d been in agony for hours would torture him, just as she knew from the other times that she’d been taken from him exactly how hard his demon would be riding him.
God, she really was sick of being kidnapped. The first time, it had been Knox that the culprits wanted to capture – she’d been nothing but bait. The second time, she had in fact been the target. This time, the baby was who the kidnappers wanted. If they thought they’d get their hands on her child, they were out of their ever-loving minds.
“Here,” said Linda, holding a bottle of water to Harper’s mouth.
Throat dry and lungs burning with every breath, Harper gulped down the water, not worried that it could be drugged. They wouldn’t give her anything that would kill her – the dark magick would do that for them once the baby was born.
Well, Linda probably would be tempted to kill her beforehand, considering she now sported one whopper of a bruise on her jaw. Her demon absolutely loved the sight of it. Shame the vines had restrained Harper’s feet to stop her from kicking the bitch again.
“I’ll bet you’re wishing you were in a hospital right now having an epidural,” said Linda with a smirk. “Sorry, no pain relief for you.”
Harper narrowed her eyes. “I hope I shit on you.” She’d heard women sometimes did it during labor, and she’d hoped it wouldn’t happen to her. Now, however, it would be a fucking treat.
Linda’s lips pinched together. “It won’t be anything I haven’t seen before.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I haven’t shit for about two days. I’ve got lots stored up there.” Her demon might have chuckled at that if it wasn’t so wound up.
A crippling pain once again rippled through her womb, sending her back arching. She tasted blood and distantly wondered if she’d bitten her tongue. It didn’t matter. It was the baby that mattered, and she figured that it had to be even harder for the baby, since it was pretty much stuck in what couldn’t be a comfortable position.
“How dilated is she?” asked Nora, voice a little hoarse due to chanting non-stop for God-knew-how-long.
Ignoring Harper’s curses, Linda checked and replied, “Four centimeters.”
“What?” clipped one of the figures – Harper had nicknamed him “Whiner” because he moaned constantly about her slow progress. “This has gone on too long!” Like the others, his face was pale and his expression was pinched. They were all tired and weakening. Ha.
“Labor can be slow, especially when it’s a woman’s first pregnancy,” Linda explained. “I’ve told you time and time again that it may help if we let Harper change positions, but you’re set on keeping her still.”
Whiner humphed and then spoke to Nora. “We need to find a way to speed it up. You might be sure that Knox can’t get to her in time to help her, but I’m not.” That was the first bit of wisdom he’d shown.
“If we speed it up, we risk hurting the child,” said Nora.
That didn’t seem to bother any of them, Harper noted. Fucking bastards.
“And if we don’t,” began Whiner, “we risk finding ourselves in the hands of Knox Thorne – no thank you.”
Another incantor – who Harper called “Jumpy” because he seemed to be a nervous wreck and constantly scanned the landscape as if expecting Knox to jump out at him – said, “He’s right, Nora. We can’t take any more chances than we already have.”
After a long pause, Nora said, “Then take a brief break and recharge.”
Hoping to delay them from resuming their horrible chanting, Harper spoke to her. “I don’t understand. If you’re one of the Horsemen, why did you even tell us about them?”
Nora twisted the cap off a water bottle and took a long drink. “Because people need to know about us, and the Primes need to fear what’s coming.”
“But you described Roan, you basically handed him —” Realization smacked Harper right in the face. “You wanted him dead, didn’t you?”
Nora merely shrugged. “He had to go. He became a liability. He’d lost control of Crow and was too blinded by his hatred of you to be efficient. He knew about my vision, knew a baby would come, but he wanted you dead too badly to see the bigger picture. I couldn’t risk him killing you.” She took another long swig of water and then recapped it. “Everyone ready?”
Harper went to speak again, but another contraction hit. When it faded, she was shaking feverishly… and too late to engage Nora in more conversation. The old bitch resumed that horrible chanting, and the others quickly joined in. The chanting was louder now, and the words came faster. There was a frantic edge to them that hadn’t been there before.
The wind howled as it picked up in intensity, whipping up and tangling Harper’s hair. The trees creaked under its brutal force, and she hoped one would snap and smack one of the incantors right over the fucking head.
She flinched at the sharp crack of thunder, and had the satisfaction of seeing Linda almost jump out of her skin. That satisfaction left her when yet another contraction made her almost double over – this one more painful than any that had come before it. When it stopped, she panted, “Tell me about Sam.”
Linda reared back as if she’d been slapped.
“I’ll bet it hurt when you lost him,” Harper said gently. “I’ll bet you’ve never felt pain like that before or since. The worst day of your life, right?”
“By far.”
“And yet you want to take my baby from me. You of all people should know what an injustice it is to lose your own child.”
Guilt flashed in Linda eyes for a brief moment. “They won’t let you live to keep it anyway. I’ll only be taking it because there’s no one else.”
“There’s Knox,” Harper pointed out. Another contraction came along and stole what she was about to say. As she moaned and panted, lighting repeatedly flashed within the clouds. It was an isolated electrical storm that seemed too close for Harper’s liking.
Knox, where are you? I don’t want to do this alone. She hadn’t envisioned it happening this way. Not once.
Her demon paused in its raving, sending Harper an impression of them being one – telling her that she wasn’t alone. It was the first time the entity had ever offered her any support of any kind. But then, they had a common goal: they had to protect the baby. They just weren’t sure how they’d do it.
The terrible facts were that she was outnumbered, restrained, in no physical state to fight, and she couldn’t access her abilities. Moreover, she’d been infected with some kind of dark magick that would kill her pretty much instantly after she’d given birth.
In sum, she was fucked. But that didn’t mean she’d give up hope. That wasn’t who she was.
We’re almost done reopening the portal, baby, just hold on for me.
Hope flared. She closed her eyes, imagining him standing right there, being calm and supportive to keep her own fears at bay. Hurry, Knox. She must have said that aloud, because Linda snorted.
“No one’s coming for you. Even if they did, they’d be too late – just like Nora said.”
“Nora’s batshit.”
Linda inclined her head. “Possibly.”
“Yet, you’re working for her.”
“Working with her. She needs me.”
Harper couldn’t imagine Nora needing Linda. What she needed was a midwife; one who would risk going against Harper and Knox; one who was expendable and could be manipulated into helping. But Harper didn’t get why she’d been so easy to manipulate. “Why help Nora?”
“You shouldn’t have taken McCauley from me, Harper. And you definitely shouldn’t have killed Jeanna. She was my best friend.”
All right, that was a shocker. “She was also a demon for hire who tried to kill me and led Knox into a trap.”
“I know. I’m not really doing this because of them anyway. I’m doing it because Nora made me a very good deal. If I help her, I get to keep your baby.” Linda smiled, but it was a creepy smile. “Nora will hold it over Knox’s head, but she can’t take care of it herself. That’s where I come in.”
Harper’s demon snarled. “What about Wyatt?”
Linda snickered. “Oh, don’t feel bad for Wyatt. He’s had plenty of affairs over the years.”
“Talia,” Harper guessed, remembering what McCauley had said about Linda hating the she-demon.
Taken aback, Linda blinked. “Yes, she was one of them. How did you know that?”
“Wild guess.” Harper gritted her teeth as another contraction wracked her womb. When it finally eased, she asked, “If you hated Talia, why would you have kept her son?”
Affronted, Linda glared. “I would never punish a child for someone else’s mistakes. If I was that sort of person, I wouldn’t be willing to raise this baby, would I? I’ll raise it as mine, Harper,” she taunted. “It’ll believe I’m it’s true mother. And I’ll raise it to hate you and Knox. I will. I’ll fill its ears with stories of what horrible, pitiless people you are. It will grow into someone who despises you both.”
Just the very idea of that was a knife through Harper’s soul.
“It might even one day kill Knox for us,” Linda continued. “It won’t matter if it’s as powerful as Knox or not – he’d never harm his own child, especially when it’s part of you. And that right there will give it power over him.”
She was right, the bitch. But… “You can’t think Nora will really give you the baby, Linda. Think. Think past how badly you want a child. To Nora, this baby will be a weapon she can wield over Knox’s head. She’ll keep it hidden but close and highly protected. She won’t want it to be loyal to anyone other than her. She’s not going to give you the baby and then send you on your merry way. She also won’t let you live to tell anyone what she’s done.”
Linda’s smile faded, but then she snorted. “You won’t divide and conquer us, Harper. Now, why not just concentrate on delivering my baby, hmm?”
“My baby.”
“No, mine.”
Harper hissed, wishing she could kick the bitch again. But that hiss turned into a moan as yet another contraction hit. Then there was another. And another. And another.
Once again, the minutes bled into hours. She groaned. She cried out. She whimpered. She cursed a blue streak that made Linda jerk back in horror at one point. And now she was more of a sweating, shaking, moaning mess than she had been before.
Her head drooped forward as another contraction eased off. God, it was so tempting to collapse on the ground and give her aching back a break. She was more exhausted than she’d ever been in her life. Her limbs and eyelids felt so damn heavy, and it was a wonder she didn’t fall asleep between contractions.
She felt all hollowed out, like she had nothing left in her. She wanted the pain to end, but she also didn’t want the labor to end – the thought of her baby in the hands of these neurotic motherfuckers… she couldn’t stand it.
She’d truly thought that Knox would have got there by now, but there was still no sign of him. If her demon had been able to call the flames, it would have taken over and done so, but neither of them could do a damn thing. I’ll think of something, she told it.
“How dilated is she?” Nora asked.
Linda checked. “Nine centimeters.”
“Not good enough,” Whiner snapped. “We can’t afford for this to go on any longer. And I don’t know about any of you, but I’m tired and uncomfortable. This ground is solid.”
Was this asshole for real? She’d been in pain for hours, prodded and poked by Linda, had nothing but tepid water, and was stuck in the same awkward position for way too long – her legs spread in front of multiple people as she waited for her cervix to dilate to the size of a freaking ball while her body felt like it was splitting in two… and he was tired and uncomfortable?
“Her water broke not so long ago,” Linda reminded him. “That’s progress.”
“We need more than ‘progress’,” he clipped. “We need the child in our hands.”
Harper shrugged. “You can’t blame the baby for not wanting to come out.”
Jumpy honed in on her, a glint of fear in his eyes. “What do you mean it doesn’t want to come out? How would you know what it does or doesn’t want?”
“It told me,” she lied, delighting in the way his face paled.
“Nonsense,” Whiner scoffed. “It doesn’t yet have the capacity to speak in either thought or voice.” But he didn’t sound so sure. He exchanged wary glances with the others.
“Ignore her,” Linda advised. “It’s just a baby.”
Jumpy spoke again. “It’s not just a baby. It is Knox Thorne’s baby. We have no idea what he is, which means we have no idea what we’re dealing with.” He looked at Harper. “It talks to you?”
“Not with words, but with images and impressions,” Harper replied.
Jumpy swallowed. “I would like to disbelieve you, but you have shown too little fear for my liking.”
Because she’d wholeheartedly believed that Knox was coming… but she was beginning to think he wouldn’t get there in time. Heat seemed to build behind her eyelids, and a lump formed in her throat. But she’d never been a person who accepted defeat. Never. No self-respecting Wallis ever would. She could see only one way to fight the incantors that were holding her captive. Just one. It would be a huge risk because she had no idea what would truly happen, but she had to take it.
Harper dug her fingers into the soil, felt the vortex’s menacing energy sizzling beneath her. Instead of fighting the vortex as she’d done since she arrived, she worked with it. It was definitely not the best idea to work with a malevolent, indiscriminate energy, but she was out of options.
Hoping it would be strong enough to help her, she sucked it in. Absorbed it. Welcomed it – and maybe that was why it didn’t hurt her. The dark energy mixed with the protective power in her belly, which painfully shot to her fingertips like zaps of electricity. Without a second’s hesitation, she called to her wings. She felt them respond, felt them begin to rise… but they didn’t. Damn.
“You think the child will save itself, don’t you?” Whiner asked.
Ignoring him, Harper sucked in more of the vortex’s energy. Took it, filled her metaphorical power tank with it even as it made her feel soiled inside and caused her head to pound like a bitch. A contraction caught her off-guard, breaking her concentration. Shaking, she breathed and moaned through the excruciating pain. Once it passed, she took yet more of the vortex’s energy, seeking out the “bridge” between her wings and the flames. And there it was.
“You do think the child will save itself, don’t you?” Whiner pushed.
Harper glared at him, smiling inside as the ground began to shake. “No, I don’t.” The air buzzed and thickened with power. “I think it will kill you all.”
Flames exploded out of the ground in front of her – red, black, gold, and hungry. They devoured Linda whole, and Harper couldn’t help finding immense satisfaction in the bitch’s screams. Yeah, maybe the vortex’s energy had fed her vengeful streak a little.
The unbearable heat radiating from the flames burned Harper’s skin, but they left no blisters. Despite their strength and power, they wouldn’t harm her. Instead of spreading as she’d hoped, the flames returned to where they came, leaving only ashes behind. Shit. It was hard to concentrate while battling with panic, pain, and rage.
Head still pounding, Harper infused hellfire into the grass, making the enchanted vines restraining her wrists catch fire. They released her with an animal-like squeak, and she sat up and did the same to the vines restraining her ankles. Finally free, she forced herself to get to her knees. The others were all staring at her in horror – no, at her belly in horror.
“It was the child,” Jumpy cried out. “It called the flames!”
“We’re leaving,” declared Nora. “Get her.”
Whiner frowned. “But —”
“We didn’t go through all this to leave her here,” Nora hissed. “She comes with us.”
Harper struggled to her feet and waited, ready to make her move. Her last reserve of the vortex’s energy strained against her skin, wanting freedom, wanting violence. Dark, revolting images flashed in her mind – images of all the things Harper could do to the people around her. Images that both tempted and sickened her.
She shook her head, needing to think clearly. Her heart jumped as Nora lowered the enchanted vines that surrounded the boulders. Yes, that’s it, bitch, send your little helpers this way. As two robed figures raced toward her, Harper called to the —
Pain thundered through her womb, sending her to her knees once more. Motherofgoddamnholyfuck. The incantors reached her, and fingers dug into her arms. “No!”
A blast of energy swept out of her body – a beautiful gold, sheen of light – and knocked every single incantor to the ground. Harper’s mouth fell open, and she got to her feet once more. Oh, little baby, you’re gonna be a handful. Because Harper had not done that.
That familiar dreaded, droning sound filled the air again, making everyone freeze. A portal burst to life… and several figures stepped out of it. The sight of the dark demon leading them, danger in every line of his body, made her knees shake.
“Knox,” Harper breathed in relief. A sob almost choked her. He looked at her, his eyes fevered and glittering with rage. They softened with relief for the briefest moment… then his body jerked as his eyes abruptly bled to black, like the demon had forced its way to the surface. It stared at her, and then she could almost feel its soul-eating rage from there. The incantors must have felt it too, but they didn’t act. They stayed frozen, like prey hoping not to catch a predator’s attention.
A buzz vibrated the air, and her stomach churned. She knew what was coming. It wasn’t like when Harper called to the flames of hell – that “buzz” was the power gathering as it came to her. For Knox, the power lived inside him… the demon was simply letting it free.
A tremor rumbled through the ground, and she planted her feet. The power purred against her bare skin; the force of it burned her eyes, rattled her teeth, tightened her chest, and caused a low ringing sound to blare in her ears.
As the air seemed to pinken, she looked up, unsurprised to find that the moon behind the frothing ugly cloud was now blood-red.
She jumped as flames burst from the ground with a roar. They didn’t devour the incantors. No, the blinding, tri-colored, ten-foot high flames swirled around Knox’s demon, engulfing it. They hissed, crackled, and spat as they danced and swayed – wild and angry, meaning that the demon was wild and angry. Her heart raced as a figure of raging flames stepped out of the fire. No eyes, no facial features, no clothes – just flames.
Knox was gone. The archdemon had come out to play.
Shit.
That was when the incantors seemed to snap out of their shock, hit by their “fight or flight” instinct. And they fled. The ragged line of fire headed straight for the running incantors, leaving a trail of ashes in its wake. Hell, she’d never have thought that Nora could run that fast. The archdemon followed the incantors, its movements almost mechanical.
The sentinels then raced over to her, Tanner in the lead. “Fuck, Harper, you look like shit.” He curled an arm around her, helping to take her weight. It was a good thing, because a contraction hit her so hard, her legs almost gave out. Her moans were barely heard over the screams of pain and terror coming from the incantors.
She gripped Levi’s arm. “I am so fucking glad you’re all here, even if our archdemon has lost its shit.”
She winced at a high-pitched screech – a gold flame had hooked around the neck of a fleeing incantor and tossed him into the fire. At the same time, a black flame circled Whiner, cutting off his retreat and trapping him; he screamed from the searing heat alone, and she could imagine how his skin would be blistering and eating away at itself.
Keenan whistled as a third flame wrapped around Jumpy’s body and slammed him into the ground once, twice, three times. There was a nauseating crack, and the incantor’s cries died abruptly. The archdemon could have killed them all outright, but it was toying with them first.
“Where’s Nora?” But then Harper saw her gripping a boulder, screaming as a red flame repeatedly lashed her. At any other time, Harper would have marched over there and dealt with the bitch herself. Right then, she could barely stand on her own. She groaned through her teeth as another spasm assailed her womb. “I am not having this baby here!”
Keenan scratched his nape. “I don’t think leaving here is going to happen any time soon.”
No, neither did Harper. The archdemon was out of control, drunk on power. She knew exactly how that felt, because her own demon had experienced the same invigorating, intoxicating, high. No demon came down from that easily, especially not one on a warpath. As for an archdemon on a warpath… well, that was a whole other thing, and she wasn’t equipped to talk it down. It had a habit of developing tunnel vision when it thought she needed avenging.
She’d managed to talk it down once in the past, but not before an entire building and a bunch of dark practitioners were destroyed. Hell, it had almost killed Tanner and Larkin that night, too set on getting to Harper and slaughtering those who’d taken her from it to really think. It couldn’t happen again. It —
Harper froze at the familiar droning sound. Fuck. She spun to see that Nora had opened another portal and was reaching out to it with one hand. “Oh God, she’s going to get away.”
“No, she won’t,” Levi growled. He flicked a hand, and Nora’s head suddenly slammed against the boulder. The portal disappeared with a pop.
Harper released a sigh of relief. She’d forgotten the reaper had a telekinetic ability. “Thank you, Le —” She cut off as she spotted the archdemon walking toward Nora. She was the only incantor still alive, Harper then realized.
The flame whipping Nora paused. Like a snake, it slithered up her body and contracted around her. Then it dived down her throat. Eyes bulging, she choked and jerked as more and more of the flame shoved its way inside her – no doubt searing, burning, and consuming everything it touched.
Agony blazed in her amber eyes and her face scrunched up into a silent scream, but Harper had no pity for her. None at all. And when Nora’s body spontaneously combusted, Harper’s demon grinned with pleasure and satisfaction.
She let out a long breath. It was over. They were all dead. The fire hadn’t died, though, she realized with a frown. No, it was still blazing, fierce and furious. It was also spreading along the landscape, consuming the snarled trees and frail shrubs. The mist was gone, and now heat waves shimmered in the air. The archdemon turned away, apparently not done playing.
“Stop!” Harper shouted. “They’re dead. Thank you. They’re gone… I need Knox right now. Let him come to me.”
But it didn’t. The demon walked away. The vortex was feeding its anger and ill-intent, she realized, and that was not at all good. “We need to get Knox away from here. This place…”
“I know, I feel it,” said Levi. “But getting the demon to leave will be a big fucking job, and I don’t think you’re up to it right now.”
He was right, but… “I have to be.” Harper sighed. “I guess I’m gonna have to fight fire with fire.”
Larkin stilled. “What?”
Locking down on all her out-of-control emotions, Harper used the last of the dark energy within her to tap into her link to her wings. As Knox had taught her, she used it as a bridge… and she called to the power waiting on the other end of it. The ground trembled and the air buzzed as, at Harper’s will, flames of hell sprouted out of the ground in front of the archdemon. They acted as a barrier, got its attention. The demon tried to lower them but it couldn’t, because these flames were answering to her, not the entity.
It slowly and stiffly turned to face her. Although there were no eyes, she felt it looking right at her. It knew what she’d done, and it wasn’t happy with her. Then it stalked toward her, and she lowered the flames before her panic could send them out of control.
“Harper, get behind me,” said Tanner.
She resisted his attempts to move her and instead stepped aside, putting a little distance between them, hoping another contraction wouldn’t make her double over. “Don’t be stupid. If it thinks you’re trying to keep it from its mate, it’ll hurt you – sentinel or not.”
Tanner growled. “And what if it hurts you, huh?”
“It won’t.”
“Ordinarily, no, it wouldn’t. But this place is feeding its anger and warping its mind. Right now, it’s got vengeance on the brain, and you just pissed it off. What if it now wants vengeance against you?”
Harper swallowed. “Then we’re all fucked.” She put up a hand as the demon came close. “You need to stop.” It didn’t. She touched its psyche and felt only a blinding rage. Shit. Her heart started pumping even crazier than before and her inner demon began to panic. The entity was almost on her and —
A shower of embers, sparks, and ashes burst to life in front of her… almost like a shield. It popped and snapped and made Harper’s face go slack.
“How the hell are you doing that?” asked Keenan.
“I’m not,” said Harper in a stunned whisper.
The archdemon didn’t seem impressed. It punched through the shield, and there was a harsh sizzling sound, like hellfire eating flesh. But the entity didn’t pull back, apparently not bothered about a little pain. The embers and sparks winked away, and the ashes disintegrated. Then the demon’s hand snapped tight around her throat. The sentinels lunged for her, but a wall of flames abruptly shot out of the ground to surround her, pushing them back and blocking their access to her.
Harper grabbed onto its flaming wrist, hissing at the burning heat, although it didn’t hurt her. She tried to free herself, but the demon didn’t even loosen its grip. “If you kill me,” she managed to wheeze out, “you’ll kill the baby. I know the baby matters to you.”
Blinding pain rushed out of its hand and filled every part of her. She screamed. She sobbed. She begged it to stop. It didn’t. It kept on flooding her with white-hot pain. As she waited for death to come, she silently apologized to the baby for being unable to protect it; for trusting this demon she apparently never should have trusted.
Her skin felt cold, wet. Blood, she thought. The demon was somehow making her blood seep out of her pores. But she didn’t smell blood. No, she smelled… decay. Rot. Sickness.
Harper looked at her arms, realized black liquid was bubbling out of her skin. And she understood. It wasn’t attacking her; it was attacking the dark magick that had infected her. She hadn’t thought there was any chance that the demon could help; it wasn’t built to heal. But this wasn’t healing – this was destroying magick. The side effect was that she was healing.
Gradually the pain dimmed, and she let out a shaky breath. The fire started to peel away from the demon, starting from its head. But the eyes were black – the entity was still very much in control.
The hand collaring her throat pulled her close, thumb circling her neck. “Mine.” It kissed her hard, inhaling her scent… and then the hold on her throat gentled, and she knew Knox was back.
His hands cradled her face. “Baby…” Using his thumbs, Knox brushed the tears from her cheeks. He was about to tell her how sorry he was, that he knew he’d fucked up and he’d make it up to her, but then she sucked in a breath and doubled over. He supported her weight as she breathed through the contraction. Once it finally eased away, she fisted his shirt and yanked.
“You need to get me away from here, Thorne! This baby’s coming whether we like it or not.”
“I can see that.” Knox scooped her up. “Go through the portal,” he told the sentinels. “Tell Jolene and the others that she’s fine so they don’t lose their minds.”
“What do we tell them when they ask how you got out of here?” asked Keenan.
“Tell them I made one of the incantors open a second portal that leads straight to my home right before I killed them – I don’t care. I’m taking her straight home.”
Harper watched as, with nothing more than a single sweep of his gaze, the fire began to calm and thin out. Still, she knew it would look much like a strip of dead, blackened land.
Golden flames built around them, licking over her skin without harming her. Soon, the fire faded and they were in their living room. Everything was set up, ready. Plastic sheeting and old towels and bed sheets were all laid out. Blankets and clean warm towels were set aside, along with Dr. Rodgers’ bag. There was even an incubator in the event that the baby might need it, and that made her feel slightly better.
Meg literally dived at her, hugging her and muttering in Spanish. Swiping a tear from under her eye, she stepped back and Rodgers came forward.
“Harper, Knox – this is my mate, Sharon,” he said. “She’s a midwife, and she’s here to help.”
Harper forced a smile for the curvy brunette. “Shame we had to meet for the first time under these circumstances.”
Knox carefully positioned Harper on the covered floor, and her hand shot out in a panic to grab his own. “I’m right here, baby, I’m not leaving your side,” he vowed. As the doctor and midwife examined her, Knox kept his focus solely on Harper. He’d wanted to be with her every step of the way, and he was going to make up for the fact that he so far hadn’t been. He’d keep his fears and concerns to himself. This was all about her.
“I wouldn’t bother with the heating pad or anything, Meg,” said Rodgers. “The baby’s crowning already.”
Seeing fear glimmer in Harper’s eyes, Knox squeezed her hand. “Just think, we’ll finally see the baby soon. You’ll finally know if it’s a girl or a boy – I know that’s been driving you crazy.” Her mouth quirked, and just the sight lightened the guilt weighing on his shoulders. He might be pissed at himself, but she wasn’t pissed at him.
“It’s been driving you insane too, admit —” Harper cut off with a moan as a contraction seemed to slam into her womb. She hadn’t thought the pain could get any worse. She’d been wrong.
“Once the baby’s in your arms, you’ll forget all about the pain,” Sharon promised. “Now get ready. We’re going to need you to start pushing in a few moments.” As soon as the next contraction began, Sharon said, “Okay, push.”
Harper pushed. Nothing happened. As time went on and the pushing achieved jack shit, she clung to Knox’s hand, so fucking glad he was there and so fucking surprised she hadn’t crushed any of the bones in his hand. Even at home, away from danger, she felt completely out of her element. Utterly out of control.
His touch was strong and reassuring; his words were encouraging and supportive; and his presence was calming and made her feel safe. She needed that right then. Needed the way he squeezed her hand, rubbed her back, whispered in her ear, and didn’t complain when she dug her nails into his skin.
Drained, she sagged against him. “I can’t do this anymore, I just can’t.” She’d pushed and pushed, but nothing was happening.
He kissed her temple. “You are doing it, baby. I’m watching you do it and I’m proud of you.” He smoothed her hair away from her face. “I know you’re tired, but you’re doing great.” Turning to Sharon, Knox scowled. “Should she really be in this much pain? And should it really be taking so long?”
Sharon gave him a pitying look. “Sweetie, it ain’t called ‘labor’ for nothing.”
Rodgers smiled at Harper. “Just visualize your cervix opening like a flower —”
“Stop, just stop,” Harper snapped. He’d done nothing but make dumb and often wildly inappropriate comments until he’d lost all credibility to her. It was just her luck that she’d end up with a doctor who used humor to get himself through tricky situations.
Another contraction came, and she dug her fingers into Knox’s arm.
“Okay, Harper, time to push again,” Sharon declared.
Harper pushed. There was a loud farting sound. Her mouth dropped open in mortification, but then Rodgers gave her a sheepish look and said, “Sorry about that. I had chicken korma before I came.”
Unable to deal with him right then, Harper held up her hand. “You are not here. You’re just not.”
Sharon chuckled. “Ignore him, honey, I do it all the time.”
Harper did exactly that, concentrating on pushing and breathing while Knox whispered encouragements in her ear and told her he loved her. And when Rodgers announced that one more push would do it, Harper’s heart skipped a beat. Still, she pushed. Hard. With what even she could admit was a bloodcurdling scream, the baby’s head was out. It took just one more push for the rest of the baby to come out. And there it was.
Rodgers grinned. “You have a baby boy, congratulations.”
Awe and wonder crept over Harper, and her throat seemed to close over. Still, she somehow managed to ask, “Why isn’t he crying?”
“Oh, he will,” said Sharon. “Don’t doubt it.”
After the cord was cut, Rodgers took the baby aside, checked him over and then, yep, the baby started bawling.
As Sharon covered Harper up, Rodgers gently rested the baby on her chest with a little blanket and said, “He’s fine. Ten fingers, ten toes, and he has a big set of lungs on him. Good luck with that.”
Harper’s heart stuttered and her chest clenched. To others, he probably looked like a prune. To her, he was the most beautiful, perfect thing she’d ever seen. She spoke in a low, soothing voice. “Hey there. You’re here,” she marveled. “And you’re a boy.” He was familiar in the strangest way. She smiled at Knox. “Can you believe we made this little person?”
Knox gently pressed a kiss on the baby’s head, and then pressed another on Harper’s temple. Looking at them, an overwhelming sense of pride flooded him. There was also a deep sense of relief. Harper was fine. The baby was fine. “You’re both amazing,” he said a little gruffly.
“You okay?”
Okay? He was… overwhelmed. Had no words. It all seemed to have happened so fast that it was surreal for Knox. It was hard to absorb the reality that the baby was finally here. But he didn’t need to tell her that; she knew him well enough to understand and gave him a knowing smile.
“I get it,” said Harper. The way she was feeling right then… it was hard to describe, hard to even process. She had a lot of emotional chaos going on in her mind. Even her demon was a little off-balance, though it was also proud as punch. Gently, she shifted the baby towards him. “Have a hold.”
Knox tensed. Very few things had ever made him feel nervous. But holding a baby? Yeah, that did it.
She smiled. “You’re a badass. You can manage.” She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Knox scooped up and cradled the baby as effortlessly as he did everything else – no awkwardness or fiddling. He was the most competent person she’d ever known. The baby immediately stopping fussing, to her amusement, and looked up at Knox, seeming fascinated by him… which meant she and the baby already had something in common. Awesome.
“He’s so small,” said Knox. Tiny. Vulnerable. His demon settled inside him, content now that the only people that it considered important to it were fine.
“He is small,” Harper agreed. “Like a little doll.” The baby’s tiny fingers clasped one of his, and every line in Knox’s face smoothed out… and Harper was pretty sure she’d just watched Knox Thorne fall instantly in love.