Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
As they came to a halt with her straddling him, Harper distantly registered that she might have broken a few ribs and maybe even cracked her skull, but her concentration was on getting the flaming figure beneath her to hear her. “Knox, pull back!” He didn’t respond, and the fire continued to rage. “Pull back!” Just when she was about to pummel the shit out of him with her fists, the flames seemed to peel away from him, starting from his head and making their way down his body. “Thank fuck.”
Eyes of pure black met hers. “Mine,” stated the demon, as if that was all it recognized her as right then.
“Well, yeah, but that’s not important right now. Knox! Seriously, answer me!”
The demon blinked, and then it was Knox looking back at her, brows drawn together. “Harper.” Her name was a guttural growl.
“Knox, pull back the flames. Now.” She wasn’t sure whether it was as effortless for him as it looked to be, but a single sweep of his gaze at the fire seemed to have it instantly beginning to calm. It wasn’t just calming, it was shrinking and thinning out.
An emotional mess, she dropped her forehead to his chest, panting hard. “For a minute there, I didn’t think you were coming back from that.”
Sitting them upright, Knox pressed a kiss to her temple. “I almost didn’t.” He’d had one goal in mind: To get to Harper. He’d been willing to destroy everything that stood in his way. His anger had blurred his thoughts, given him tunnel vision until he hadn’t spared a thought for anyone but her. Not even for his sentinels.
It had been Harper’s touch, scent, and voice that pulled Knox out of that state. But even with her safe in his arms, his demon hadn’t wanted to retreat – too caught up in its rage and too drunk on the power it was using. The demon had been born to destroy, and it had continued to do exactly that. Being anchored by Harper in more ways than one had given Knox the strength to reach for supremacy and regain his control.
As the flames finally disappeared, Harper’s stomach dropped, and her heart slammed against her ribs. There was no building. No Larkin. No Tanner. Not even a single body. Only black and red ashes. No, no, no, no—
“You both look like shit.”
Harper tracked Knox’s gaze and saw that Larkin and Tanner, no longer in his hellhound form, were staggering toward them. Relieved to see them alive, Harper wanted to smile. Instead, she heard herself growling, “I thought you were fucking dead!”
“When the flames eased off, I flew us out of there,” the harpy explained.
“You’re okay?”
Tanner waved a dismissive hand at Harper’s concern. “It’s not like it’s the first time he almost killed us.”
Harper really didn’t know what to do with that comment.
“Wings, huh?” Knox whispered his fingers over them. “Soft. Hot.” His memories were blurred a little by the rage that had consumed him, but…“I remember you cracking through the shield. My power spilled through into your mind.” And gave her wings whatever push they had needed to finally surface.
“That was a really stupid but ballsy move, Harper,” berated Tanner.
Harper rubbed her nose against Knox’s. “The flames can’t hurt me – not inside, not outside. Can we go home now?”
Knox kissed her forehead. “Whatever you want.”
Lying on his side on the bed, Knox watched his mate putter around in just panties and a tank top as she spoke to Jolene on her cell. Maybe another person might have wanted a little private time to assimilate the fact that their life had been threatened and they’d just watched their mate almost destroy everything around them. Not Harper. She’d stayed close to him since they returned to the mansion; had even insisted he join her in the bath. Maybe it was her way of reassuring him that he still didn’t scare her – or, at least, not enough to make her leave.
“Grams, I’m fine, I promise. Of course I got out of the house by myself, don’t insult me. There’s nothing left standing for you to reduce to rubble. According to Levi and Keenan, Isla’s demons have left, and the mayhem in the hotel is over.” She let out a heavy, put-out sigh. “Fine, put him on.” A long pause. “Hello, Lucian. I’m fine. Knox came for me. He’s not a deranged psychopath.”
She crossed her eyes, making Knox smile.
“I will come see you tomorrow, okay? Then you can see for yourself that I’m fine. Right now, I’m tired and I need sleep – so do you, if the rumors I heard about you and Raini’s aunt are true. La, la, la, I didn’t say I wanted to know if it was true. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” Puffing out a long breath, she placed her cell on the drawers.