As Levi pulled up outside one of Knox’s upscale clubs, Harper spotted Tanner leaning against the building. As her bodyguard and chauffeur, the broad-shouldered tower of muscle often took her to work and accompanied her to the studio before going off to do… whatever sentinels did. Since the entrance to the Underground was beneath this very club, he was obviously waiting to escort her to work.
Knox curled his hand around her jaw. “My day will be pretty hectic, but I’ll meet you in the Underground when your studio’s closing.” He kissed her softly. “Remember to —”
“Stay alert, I got it. You be safe too.”
He kissed her once more, ending it with a nip to her lower lip. “Always am.”
“See you later,” she told him. As Levi opened the rear door, she hopped out of the Bentley. “Watch over him for me, Levi.” The reaper inclined his head.
Pushing away from the wall, Tanner offered her a wan smile as she approached him. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better now that both hunters are dead. Still blaming yourself like a total idiot?”
He ran a hand over his short, dark hair. “I’m your bodyguard —”
“And it was your well-deserved night off.” Hearing a car horn beep, she gave Levi and Knox a quick wave as they drove away. Turning back to Tanner, she added, “Now accept that it wasn’t your fault instead of being a dumbass. I don’t time have for dumbasses. And I already have Knox trying to blame himself – I’m done with this shit.”
Tanner snorted a laugh, his wolf-gold eyes lighting up. “Let’s get you to work.” He accompanied her inside the club and down the flight of stairs to the basement. At the back of the large space, two demons guarded a door. Recognizing her and Tanner, they parted with a respectful greeting and opened the door. She and Tanner then walked through and, after a short elevator ride, arrived at the Underground.
The place was as busy and noisy as always. Pretty much everything could be found there. Bars, restaurants, casinos, clubs, hotels, a shopping mall – the list was endless. There were also other and much wilder things there such as the rodeo, the combat circle where demons fought for money, and the dog racing stadium for hellhounds.
Stepping out of the elevator, she and Tanner walked down the strip, passing plenty of venues and stores – some were open, some were closed until the evening arrived, at which point the entire Underground came alive.
Her studio, Urban Ink, was in an ideal spot. It was close to not only Knox’s office but the best restaurants and even the shopping mall. It was also opposite a hotel wherein she and Knox had a penthouse suite – that meant she could go there to change clothes whenever she and the girls wanted to hit the bars after work.
Ordinarily, Harper met her co-workers in the coffeehouse beside the studio before they opened up, but she was running late so she headed straight to the studio. As she pushed open the glass door, the bell above it chimed. The scents of paint, ink, coffee, and disinfectant hit her, along with the heavenly smell of fresh Danishes that was coming from the coffeehouse.
Rather than leaving, Tanner followed her inside and said, “I’m going to take a quick look around.”
Her cousin and receptionist, Khloë, came from behind the desk. “Grams is stressing about something, and you look like shit warmed up. What happened?”
With a sigh, Raini bumped the small, olive-skinned imp aside and handed Harper a caramel latte. “Jeez, Khloë, did you have to jump down her throat?” Raini was a senior tattooist as well as the co-owner of Urban Ink.
Having hung her jacket on the coat rack, Harper gratefully took the latte. “Thanks.”
Even wearing a plain white vest with plain pants that hid her wicked curves, Raini was a breathing advertisement for sex – it was a succubae thing, and Raini didn’t like it. She could hide her figure, but not her flawless skin or inherent sensuality. And if she’d thought that putting pink highlights in her blonde hair might dull its appeal somehow, it did the opposite.
“Something happened,” insisted Khloë, daring Harper to deny it.
“Yes, something did happen, but I don’t want to have to tell the story more than once so let’s wait for Devon,” said Harper, referring to their apprentice who also specialized in piercings. Harper had already told the story to Jolene on the way to work. Her grandmother had predictably lost her mind, even though she’d already known some of what happened from Knox.
Raini pointed behind her. “Oh, Devon’s in the —”
A loud hissing sound was followed by a grinning Tanner strolling out of the breakroom with a furious Devon marching behind him, her long ultraviolet ringlets bouncing. Hellhounds and hellcats had an instinctive aversion to each other, and the two demons in question were engaged in a weird war that mostly involved pissing each other off for their own entertainment.
Cat-green eyes blazing with anger, Devon slung a pink ball of yarn at Tanner’s head. “You keep buying me this shit, pooch, and I’ll snap your neck!”
“But the color matches the pretty cat collar I bought you and – why do you have to hiss at me?” In the reception area, he sank into the sofa with a happy sigh, switched on the wall-mounted T.V., and put his legs up on the coffee table, almost kicking off the tattoo portfolios.
Devon frowned at him. “What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable.”
Harper groaned. “Please tell me that Knox didn’t tell you to stand guard all day.”
“He wants me to stick by you and make sure you’re safe.”
You asked Tanner to stay with me? Knox, we talked about this. The hellhound was a sentinel – he had better and much more interesting things he could be doing than babysitting her.
I told him to repeatedly check in to make sure you’re fine.
Why would he say you told him to stick by me? But as she watched Devon go a disturbing shade of red, she understood. Knox must have understood too, because Harper felt his amusement as his mind brushed against hers. Harper sighed. One day, she’s going to kill him, you know.
I’ve had the same thought multiple times. His mind touched hers once more, and then he was gone.
“Tanner, quit riling Devon and go do sentinel stuff,” said Harper.
He rose to his feet. “I get it, I get it – she needs space because it’s hard for her to deal with her feelings for me.”
Devon gaped. “The only thing I feel for you is a boundless, blinding, glorious hatred.”
He smiled. “You know you make me hard when you get all mean, kitten.”
Harper pointed at the door. “Out.”
Chuckling to himself, Tanner left.
Khloë patted Devon’s arm, the image of sympathy. “Just so you know… your nipples are hard. Hey! Keep them claws to yourself!”
Harper threw an exasperated look at her shit-stirring cousin. Like all imps, Khloë found an immense delight in fucking with people. “Does anyone want to know what happened yesterday?” Everyone’s attention immediately snapped to her.
Eyes glinting with the typical hellcat curiosity, Devon sidled up to Harper – Tanner forgotten. “Do tell.”
Harper crossed to her tattoo station and settled in her black leather chair. “Quick warning: you’re not gonna like it.”
Once Harper had finished recounting what happened, Raini slumped against the glass checkered partition between their stations, amber eyes dull. “I’m sorry.”
Harper frowned. “For what?”
“I should have waited with you. We could have locked up together.”
“Why would you have waited for me? You never do it any other time. You hold no blame whatsoever for what happened.”
“From now on, we all leave at the same time,” declared Devon. The others nodded.
“There’s no need,” Harper assured them, but the words fell on deaf ears.
Khloë folded her arms. “Who do you think sent the hunters after you?”
Harper let her head fall back and took a moment to admire the tattoo flash on the ceiling. “No idea. Apparently, the hunters didn’t know their identity either.”
Disgusted, Devon shook her head. “I can’t believe there are people out there who actually want to hang people’s wings on their wall. It’s twisted.”
“You’re fully healed now?” asked Raini.
“Yes, so you don’t need to worry or fuss.” But Harper suspected they still would.
The doorbell chimed, and Harper’s first client for the day entered. Just like that, the girls switched into “work” mode and ushered the client over to Harper’s station.
Since they kept the name “Urban Ink” when they relocated the business, they also kept its rock/art/Harley Davidson vibe. In addition, they hung their old metal art on the bright white walls – each of which was an enlarged copy of a tattoo, like the tribal swirls, flock of ravens, and the Chinese dragons. Pretty much everything else, including the lighted tracing tables and vending machine, were new.
She figured she didn’t fit a person’s idea of what someone who co-owned a tattoo studio would look like. She wasn’t covered in tattoos and didn’t have dozens of piercings. One of her nipples were pierced, though, and she did have three tattoos, but all three were in white ink and hidden beneath her clothes. Why? Well, Harper didn’t have tattoos done for the hell of it. She only did it if the tattoo meant something to her and, as a private person, she didn’t want people asking what hers meant.
Later, as Harper was cleaning her equipment after doing a floral tattoo, the door once again opened. Tanner strolled in, bringing with him the scents of freshly baked bread, smoky meat, hot peppers, and mayonnaise.
“I come bearing gifts,” he said, holding up a deli takeout bag. He gave Harper a pointed look. “Knox wants to make sure you eat.”
Raini took the bag from Tanner. “Aw, that’s sweet of him.”
Harper snorted. “He just doesn’t want me leaving the studio to buy food.” Still, she telepathically thanked Knox and received a soft brush of his mind in response.
“Who can blame him?” asked Devon, sweeping the hardwood floor.
Rather than poking at the hellcat, Tanner turned to Harper, his expression somber. “I just saw Carla walking past here. I think she was about to come inside, but then she saw me.”
Great. “Maybe she was coming to say her goodbyes.”
“She’s leaving your lair?” The hope in Khloë’s voice made Tanner smile.
Harper nodded. “It’s probably best for all concerned.” She tipped her chin toward the breakroom. “Let’s go eat, I’m starving.”
After Tanner said his goodbyes and left, Khloë locked the door and flipped the sign to “Closed for Lunch”. With that, they then settled at the table in the breakroom.
Raini handed Harper one of the deli sandwiches. “I take it Kellen’s leaving with Carla and Bray.”
Unwrapping her sandwich, Harper nodded, “Yep.”
Devon put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you hoped to have a real relationship with him.”
“It would have been nice.” But Harper was done letting it get to her.
As she grabbed some bottles of water from the fridge and handed them out, Khloë said, “Kellen might be young and grieving, but it doesn’t give him the right to mess you around.” As if to punctuate that, Khloë bit hard into her sandwich. “You didn’t go looking for him. He came looking for you.”
“I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t like Roan much anyway,” said Devon. “It could be that he’s feeling guilty about it now that Roan’s dead. Still, it’s not an excuse to be a dick.”
Harper was about to say something else, but then the door swung open and several members of her family waltzed in: Jolene, Martina, Beck, and Ciaran. Harper guessed that Ciaran, who was Khloë’s twin, had teleported them all into the studio.
As Harper stood, Jolene forced a smile as she studied her from head to toe. “You’re really okay?”
“I told you I was fine.”
“Yes, but you’re a very good liar – I know, because I taught you well.” She gently pulled Harper into a one-armed hug. Wearing her usual smart getup of blouse, skirt and high heels, Jolene possessed an effortless veneer of elegance that many would envy. Strong, powerful, and fearless, she was the kind of demon who fit the role of Prime perfectly.
She was also the kind of woman you’d find at the center of a riot – a riot that she’d also quite possibly instigated.
Beck, Jolene’s anchor, cast Harper a gentle smile. “Good to see that you’re okay. I knew you would be.”
Pulling back, Jolene stroked Harper’s hair. “It’s really a shame those bastards are dead. Snapping their necks would have made me feel a whole lot better.”
Martina, her aunt, cupped Harper’s cheek. “Tell me Knox made them hurt,” she growled.
“Oh, they hurt,” Harper assured her.
Martina nodded, satisfied. The outgoing, softhearted, entrancingly beautiful imp was a total sweetheart. She also had a bad habit of setting shit on fire.
Ciaran frowned at Harper. “You sure you’re okay? You look like cra —”
Harper held up a hand. “Heard it several times, don’t need to hear it again.”
“Fine, fine.” Ciaran ruffled Khloë’s hair and said, “Hey, bitch.”
“Eat shit, asshole,” Khloë shot back. No one outside their lair would ever suspect the twins were very close, since they persisted in antagonizing each other.
Jolene placed her hands on Harper’s upper arms. “Tell me everything that happened.”
“I called you this morning and told you the story, even though you already knew most of it from Knox.”
“Yes, and both of you were very vague.”
“Of course we were, Grams.” Jolene was like a lioness when it came to her family. She was fierce in her protectiveness and would avenge any slight – no matter how small, no matter what it took. Being that she was batshit crazy, she was also the ultimate wild card and couldn’t be trusted not to overreact. Stripping someone’s home of every valuable they possessed, demolishing entire buildings, and threatening to destroy the Golden Gate bridge were all completely okay in Jolene’s book. She never let anything go.
Jolene began to pace. “You’re my granddaughter – you can’t expect me to ignore that this happened to you.”
“No, I can’t. If you want to look into it, fine. I’d appreciate it. But like I told you on the phone, you can’t be the one to dole out the punishment, Grams. It would make me and Knox look weak as Primes if we didn’t shovel our own shit.”
“Much as I hate it,” said Raini, “she’s right, Jolene. They’re Primes. They can’t have others deal with their problems.”
Khloë nodded. “We can’t be the ones to bring this fucker down, Grams. We can help find who hired the hunters, but then we have to tell Harper and Knox what we know.”
Jolene hissed. “All right.”
“You promise?” asked Harper. Her grandmother was a terrific liar, but she wouldn’t break a promise to someone she cared for.
Exhaling a put-out sigh, Jolene said, “I promise that I won’t overstep by killing the person behind the attack if I find them first.”
Harper smiled. “Thank you.”
“But I won’t hide that I’m looking for them. If I didn’t seek to avenge my own granddaughter, it would make me look weak.”
That was true. “Fine.”
Jolene kissed her cheek. “You take care. And get some sleep. You look like crap.”
“You make me feel so loved, Grams.”
“I do, don’t I?”
As Knox entered the studio later that day, he saw a yawning Harper do a long, languid stretch. His jaw clenched at the sight. He should have insisted on her staying home. Not that it would have achieved anything. His mate did her own thing. It was something he respected, but it also frustrated him at times.
His demon cheered up a little now that she was close. It had pushed Knox all damn day to go to her; check on her; stay with her.
Spotting him, Harper smiled as she put on her jacket. “Hey. How was your day?”
“Boring.” He crossed to her and breezed his thumb along the black smudge beneath her eye. “You’re tired again.”
“A little.”
Tanner snorted at the understatement, and she shot him a narrow-eyed look.
Raini ushered them all toward the door. “I need to lock up.”
After the studio was secure and the girls said their goodbyes and headed off, Harper looked up at Knox. “So, where are we going?”
Since Knox would rather she got some rest, he was about to suggest they go straight home when she spoke again.
“I hope it’s a place with food. I’m hungry.”
“You’re hungry?” Well, that made a nice change. If taking her somewhere meant she’d eat a little, then that was what he’d do. “Where do you want to go?”
“You’re asking me to choose what we do?”
He sifted his hand through her hair. “I like surprising you, but you’re too tired for the surprise I had in mind. You pick what we do.”
“You’re not going to be pleased about it,” she warned.
Knox stilled. “You don’t want to go back to the rodeo, do you?” Because that would be a big no.
She gave a soft chuckle. “Nothing as wild as that. I just really feel like ice cream.”
“Ice cream?”
“Yeah. And you’re more of a ‘Five Star restaurant’ kind of guy than a simple ice cream parlor person.”
“I know a good place to get ice cream.”
Her brow furrowed. “There’s a parlor on the corner.”
“I know somewhere better.”
“Really? Well, I don’t care where we go as long as there’s ice cream. Lead the way.”
Tanner and Levi flanked them as Knox led her down the strip to one of his hotels. While some places were closing, others were being opened and street vendors were setting up. The Underground would only get busier as the hours went on.
When they finally arrived at the luxury hotel and the automatic doors swished open, the cool air conditioning slid over them. As usual, some of the employees rushed to him with questions. Hiding his impatience, Knox answered them quickly and directly without breaking stride. He then guided Harper to the rear of the hotel and through a glass door. The quiet chatter of the lobby was quickly replaced by the sounds of children’s laughter, spoons scraping bowls, and the whir of a blender. “Well, here we are.”
Harper’s eyebrows flew up. It was nothing like your standard ice cream parlor, she thought. It was more like a cute, chic restaurant. The décor was white and gold, and had an almost royal look about it.
There were glass-covered cases with several tubs of different colored – and, according to the sign, award-winning – ice creams. But instead of customers lining up at the counter, they sat comfortably while waiters took their orders.
“I had no idea this was here.” Then again, she’d had no reason to come to these places before meeting Knox.
Harper plucked the menu from the stand. Damn, there were so many choices – so many different flavors, so many different toppings, and so many different syrups. They had everything, from typical flavors like vanilla and chocolate to others such as cotton candy and piña colada.
When the host appeared, she ordered a waffle cone of salted caramel covered in butterscotch syrup and little chunks of honeycomb. When the waiter walked away, she frowned at Knox. “You’re not ordering anything?”
“There’s no point,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I’ll get so distracted watching you eat that my ice cream would end up melting all over my hand.”
Chuckling, she returned the menu to the stand and then rubbed her chilled hands together. It was a lot colder than the hotel lobby, but Harper supposed it had to be or the ice cream would easily melt. It was only right then that she noticed that Levi and Tanner hadn’t followed them inside. “Where are the sentinels?”
Knox gestured to the glass wall behind her. “Waiting for us.” Giving them some private time while also guarding them.
As a yawn crept up on Harper, she did her best to suppress it. She failed.
“You went back to work too early,” he admonished. “You should have taken the day off to fully recover.”
She gave a soft snort. “Says the guy who’s probably never taken a day off in his life.”
“There have been a few.”
“I don’t mean days where you worked from home. I mean days of no work whatsoever – no calls or texts or emails to business associates. Can you honestly say you’ve ever had one of those days?”
No, he couldn’t. “Point taken. But you still should have taken the day off instead of pushing yourself.”
“Those bastards aren’t disrupting my life.”
He sighed. “So stubborn.”
“Proudly.”
Tapping his fingers on the table, he said, “I want to ask you something. It’s probably not fair of me to ask this of you – it’s not a customary thing among demons and is more of a human convention, but I’d like you to do it.”
Dubious, she frowned. “You’re not going to ask me to get married in a church, are you?”
Mouth curving, he took her hand. “No. These rings say we’re bound.” He smoothed his thumb over the black diamond, adding, “I’d like you to take my surname.”
Her brows almost hit her hairline. “Well, that wasn’t something I’d have ever expected you to say. Maybe I should have. Your possessiveness knows no boundaries.”
“I won’t deny that.”
“At least you’re admitting it. Changing my surname doesn’t seem necessary. I mean, it’s not like people are under any doubt that we’re together.”
“It’s important to me.”
“No, it’s important to your possessive streak.”
It was more than that. “I want my mate to share my surname.”
“Keeping my surname doesn’t mean I’m not fully invested in this relationship or that I don’t believe it will last,” she assured him.
“I know that. And I fully admit that I want you branded in as many ways as it’s possible to brand someone.” Knox didn’t even care that that was unhealthy. He’d made his peace with it long ago. “But this isn’t about taking possession of you.”
“Then what is it about?”
“I understand that your family name means something to you – the Wallis imps supported and loved you while your maternal family rejected you.” For that reason, they’d always have his respect and backing. Well, all except for her father anyway. “I don’t have a family to welcome you into. We’ll be making our own family, and I want us to do that with one name.”
Her chest tightened. “Did you really have to put it that way? I don’t know how to argue that.” It was too sweet.
“So don’t.” He leaned forward. “At least think about it.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“Thank you.”
The waiter then reappeared, and Harper took the bumpy waffle cone with a wide smile. “Thank you.” She licked at the piece of art and groaned; the salted caramel ice cream was smooth and cold on her tongue. “You’re totally missing out,” she told Knox.
Eyes on her mouth, he said, “Oh, I assure you, I’m not.” He barely took his eyes off her mouth the entire time she ate. By the end, he was so damn hard he knew it would hurt to walk.
When she was done, she cleaned her sticky fingers with a lemon wipe. “Ready to go?”
He was ready to get her home where he could take her as he’d wanted to since the previous night. He let her see that in his expression, and he had the pleasure of seeing her pupils dilate and her cheeks flush. “I’m ready to go. Are you ready for me?”
“If it involves me coming multiple times, I’m totally ready.”
His cock twitched. “You’ll come as many times as I want you to.”
“I don’t know… maybe I’m still a little too fragile for you.”
He snorted, rising to his feet. “Fragile is never a word I would use to describe you.” He kept possession of her hand as he guided her out of the parlor. Levi and Tanner fell into step with them as they walked down the long hallway, toward the exit.
Up ahead of them, the door to the hotel’s restaurant opened and a bunch of people filed out. Harper recognized three of them: Thatcher, Jonas, and good ole Alethea. The males were both Primes, and Alethea was Jonas’ sister. She also happened to be a pain in Harper’s ass and liked to flirt with Knox – as if shaking the sheets with him in the distant past gave Alethea some rights to him.
For a while, a whole lot of females had flirted with Knox, but the majority had recently stopped. They’d seen the black diamond he gave Harper and had accepted that it meant there was nothing at all temporary about her place in his life. She suspected they’d ceased to be bitches to her as they’d rather not make an enemy of Knox. Smart move on their part.
Alethea… well, she didn’t demonstrate the same wisdom. In fact, at that very moment, she shot him a sultry smile and said, “Evening, Knox.” Her gaze then cut to Harper, and her smile fell. “Sphinx.”
“Dolphin.” Yeah, Harper liked to call her that since, as an encantada, Alethea could shift into the form of a dolphin. It was kind of a random ability for the ultimate sex demon, in Harper’s opinion, but whatever.
“Knox, good to see you,” said Thatcher, bushy eyebrows lifting slightly. It was probably wrong just how badly Harper wanted to pluck them. “How are you?” he asked.
Knox inclined his head. “I’m well, thank you.”
Thatcher nodded at Harper – it wasn’t so much a nod of respect from one Prime to another as it was a simple acknowledgement of her presence, but she let it go. She wondered how long it would take the Primes to realize she just really didn’t give a shit if they accepted her or not. The fact that she was a Wallis would always be held against her to some degree.
Jonas’ smiling eyes danced from Knox to Harper. “It’s a pleasure to see you both. We haven’t spoken since the celebration of the Underground’s anniversary, have we?”
“No, we haven’t,” said Harper. She didn’t mind Jonas. He was an okay guy, and he did his best to control his dumbass sister.
“Did the Showcase agree to sell?” Jonas asked Knox.
As the boys started talking business, Alethea examined Harper from head to toe and smiled smugly. Yeah, Harper was quite aware that she resembled the living dead and she hated that the dolphin was standing there looking the image of perfection. Alethea’s smug smirk only rubbed salt in the wound. And because Harper could be a bitch too, she said, “So, how’s life in the Red Light District?”
Behind her, Tanner snickered.
Alethea’s eyes tightened. “You overstep far too often, sphinx. I have to say, you look rather weary.”
“And you look rather bitter,” said Harper. “Still pissed about the rings, huh?”
Alethea licked her teeth. “I won’t lie, I don’t think you’re the right person for Knox. But my brother is right – Knox is our ally, we should support his choices.”
Like Harper would ever believe that. She smiled. “That’s good to hear, even if it is complete tripe.”
Alethea’s mouth curled. “I said we should support his choices. I never said that I did.”
And that was why Harper still believed that Alethea could be one of the Horsemen. On the one hand, it could be said that surely she wouldn’t draw so much of Knox’s attention to herself if she was secretly conspiring against him. But Alethea was a she-demon scorned, and scorned she-demons were malicious creatures – especially when they had an ego as wide as hers.
“And I’m not the only one who’ll never support his choice to have a Wallis for a mate,” clipped Alethea.
“Ooh, I cared for about a ninth of a second. Then I remembered how stupid and insignificant it is.”
Alethea leaned forward. “Did you know that in the dictionary, your name is under the word ‘bitch’?”
“Not sure why you’re smiling. I’m not the one who had to look up the word.”
Alethea sucked in a breath and went to bark something else, but then the boys ended their little conversation.
Knox put a hand on Harper’s back. “Ready to leave?”
“Totally.” Harper gave Alethea a winning smile. “Well, it’s been great talking to you. You know how much I enjoy these little chats we have.”
Slipping his arm around Harper’s waist, Knox nodded at the other three demons. “Enjoy your evening.” Leading her out of the hotel, he said, “It’s hard not to intervene when she speaks to you that way.”
“I appreciate that you don’t. She needs to understand that I can defend myself just fine. Also, it’s really fun to toy with her.”
Knox’s mouth quirked. “Yes, I’ve noticed you enjoy it. My demon finds it just as amusing. But we’re going to push her and the others out of our minds now.”
“I have no issues with that plan, just so you know.”
My plan also involves you. Naked. In our bed.
Still have no issues with the plan.
Good to know.
Harper smiled. The anticipation crept up on her and taunted her the entire journey home. But when they finally walked into their bedroom, he looked at her just as he had this morning – like he was afraid he’d break her. She frowned. “You’re not going to tuck me into bed, are you?”
“I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” Knox thrust his hands into her hair, growling. “Open for me.” He kissed her, drinking her in. She tasted like Harper and caramel and honeycomb. And he couldn’t get enough. He tilted her head, licking deeper, taking more. Taking everything.
Her hands delved into his hair, nails digging into his scalp. Groaning, he shoved his hand under her shirt and bra and closed it around her breast. It was soft, round, and plump. Perfect. Her hard nipple brushed against his palm; he wanted it in his mouth.
Bunching the bottom of her shirt in his hands, Knox slid it up and over her head and then whipped off her bra. The sight of the tattoo-like brand of thorns circling her breast made masculine satisfaction whip through him. She was his. Every single inch of her belonged to him. Only he could touch her, taste her, drive deep inside her. No other male would ever have her. He’d kill anyone who tried.
Taking a fistful of her hair, Knox pulled hard, arching her back. He latched on tight to her pierced nipple, flicking the ring with his tongue and tugging it with his teeth. He breezed his thumb over the white ink ‘So it goes’ tattoo beneath her breast – her own personal reminder not to dwell on things that were out of her control.
“Undo your jeans,” he rumbled. “I want them off.” He needed to fuck her hard and deep.
Harper’s shaky fingers fumbled as she awkwardly snapped open her fly. He helped her shove down her jeans and panties, and then tossed her on the bed. Breathing hard, she watched as he quickly shed his own clothes, eyes drifting over her with sheer unadulterated possession. Naked, he truly was a sight to behold. Not an ounce of fat there. His body was all solid muscle, controlled strength, and sleek skin that hummed with power. Then there was his long, thick cock that was currently standing to attention.
She was just thinking of rearing up to touch him when psychic hands grabbed her thighs and spread them. She shivered. The hands were so icy cold, yet they somehow gave off pure heat – a heat that snaked up her inner thighs all the way to her centre, making her tingle and burn. He reached out and skimmed the tip of his fingers over her folds. The light touch fired the need already taunting her.
Knox crawled on the bed, eyes on her pussy. He wanted her taste in his mouth when he took her. “I want you to be quiet for me.”
She blinked. “What?”
“You heard me.”
Harper almost gaped. She was noisy and they both knew it. “You can’t be serious.” But his expression said that he was.
“I don’t want you to make a single sound until I tell you that you can.”
“And if I do make a sound?”
“You’ll regret it.”
Oh, she didn’t doubt that. He could be a sadistic fucker when he felt like it. To say that he “liked” control would be an understatement. It was important to him on a fundamental level. She couldn’t hand over complete control to him. Her life was her own. But she could give it to him in the bedroom. Most of the time she did, since it always worked out well for her, but she didn’t do it easily.
“Remember what I told you, Harper.” It was a silkily spoken warning.
“How could I freaking forget?” There was a slight chill in the air as his eyes bled to black. “Can’t you be on my side?” she asked the demon.
Its mouth curved. “I like the noises you make. But I also like to play.” As if to punctuate that, it sank one ice-cold psychic finger inside her. Instantly, her pussy began to heat until it was burning. Knox resurfaced and shot her a cautioning look that promised retribution. “Not a sound.”
Cursing, she grabbed his pillow and put it over her head. Harper bit back a gasp as he danced his tongue over the black, intricate swirl of thorns on the V of her thighs – it was the third brand of ownership that his demon had given her.
As his tongue slid between her folds, she practically melted into the mattress. There were guys who would give a half-hearted attempt at oral and who treated it as a means to an end. Then there were guys who would go down on their partner like it was an Olympic sport, who took their time and enjoyed it. Knox was one of the latter, which made her a lucky bitch.
Every lick and stab of his tongue was almost casual, as if he had no objective and simply wanted to taste her. If it wasn’t for how hard his fingers dug into her tremoring thighs, she wouldn’t know just how badly he wanted to be in her.
“I know you’re hurting, baby,” he said against her folds. “I’ll take it away soon.”
He’d better. That was the thing. The psychic fingers didn’t just work to rev her engines, they sparked an ache inside her that only Knox would fill. No one else would take it away. Just him.
He kept on tasting and torturing her, and her orgasm soon began to build. She knew it would be a big one. There was no way she’d keep quiet. She squirmed, dislodging him. Grunting, he repositioned her and latched onto her clit. At the same time, one psychic finger pushed into her pussy, making it blaze unbearably.
“Come, but be quiet.” It was an order, and her body automatically responded to it.
She bit into the pillow as wave after wave of pleasure crashed into her, wracking her body. The pillow disappeared, and there was Knox. The ice-cold finger dissipated, making her pussy blaze and spasm. Then psychic hands lifted her trembling thighs, angling her hips.
Knox licked along the collar of thorns on her throat. “You’re like a drug.”
“Drugs are bad for you.”
His mouth curved. “Not this drug. It’s new on the street. But only I get to have it.” She laughed. Knox placed the head of his cock near her opening, but he didn’t push inside. He stayed there, let her feel him, let her know what was coming. She squirmed, trying to impale herself on him. He placed a splayed hand on her stomach and shook his head.
Frustrated that he was making her wait, she snapped, “Okay, what do you want?”
“I have everything I want right here, baby. It’s already mine. Now I’m going to take it.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth and slammed home.
She inhaled sharply as his cock filled and stretched her just right, making all kinds of nerve endings spark and flame. It was almost painful, courtesy of the damn psychic fingers that always left her inner walls hypersensitive. She could feel every ridge, every vein, every throb.
“That’s it, don’t make a sound.” Her eyes called him evil. Knox dragged his teeth down her neck and gave her pulse a sharp bite. Her hot, wet pussy tightened around his cock. “Nothing feels better than this.” Then he fucked her. Hard. Deep. Slamming in and out of her, loving the prick of her nails on his back. “I’ve wanted to do this all fucking day.”
Fisting her hair, Knox bit and sucked at her neck, leaving little marks of possession that his demon loved to look at. Feeling her pussy flutter around him, Knox thrust harder. Faster. She sank her teeth around his shoulder as she came, but he didn’t stop. He kept pounding into her, pushing her closer and closer to yet another orgasm. “Now let me hear you.”
“You’re a bastard!” she burst out.
If he wasn’t out of his mind with need, he would have laughed. Instead, he watched her face, savoring her moans, throaty little whimpers, and the hot clasp of her pussy. “Let me feel you come.”
An ice-cold psychic finger flicked her clit, and Harper arched into Knox as her release crashed into her, trapping a scream in her throat. She felt his cock swell as he slammed into her twice, and then his spine locked and she felt every splash of his come. Panting and tremoring, she had to ask… “How are you still hard?”
He sighed. “You always ask me that. Why?”
“You just fucked me into oblivion. You should have no energy.”
He licked at the anchor mark on the hollow beneath her ear. She’d left a similar mark on his, effectively branding him as her anchor. “I can’t be inside you and not be hard.”
He rolled them both onto their sides, keeping her close. Feeling him stroke her back, Harper knew he was searching for any slices that hadn’t yet completely healed. “They’re gone,” she assured him.
Though he was pretty sure that was in fact the case, Knox needed to see that for himself. He gently turned her onto her stomach and swept his hand down her sleek back. No wounds, no blemishes, no trace that she’d ever been hurt – there was only the tattoo-like marks of her wings.
Relieved, Knox pressed a kiss between her shoulder blades, silently promising not to allow anyone to take the wings from her. And when he found the person who sent those hunters her way, he’d make what the hunters went through seem like a fucking pleasure cruise.