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)
“Come here.” A growl of contentment rumbled up his chest as she slipped under the covers and fit her body snug against his. She was such a little thing, yet she’d robbed him of his infamous control. But she’d also given it back to him when he’d been bloated with power and overtaken by rage.
Harper’s eyes fell closed as his hand roamed over her, both possessive and reverent. As if he just had to touch her. “I take it Isla’s dead.”
“She ate an orb of hellfire.” His inner demon smiled at the memory. “I got to the practitioners’ house just as you stabbed ‘Kendra’ through the neck.”
Harper opened her eyes. “Her real name is Jeanna. She’s very much dead.” As something occurred to Harper, she clicked her fingers. “Oh shit, the demon that took me, I think his name is Jacques, was waiting—”
“In the woods. Tanner killed him.”
“Good.” As he traced a half-healed stab wound, she assured Knox, “I’m okay, really.” Most of her injuries had already fully healed.
“But you might not have been. The practitioners could have killed you before I even knew you were gone, if that had been their goal.”
“But they didn’t kill me. And I’m not easy to kill.”
Slipping his hand under her tank top, Knox closed it around her breast. “It would be better if you were much harder to kill.”
She arched into his proprietary grip as he cupped and shaped her breast almost idly. “It would.” When his hand slid to her back and traced the markings there, she smiled. “Even if I do say so myself…my wings are seriously cool.” They had sort of melted back into her skin about twenty minutes after they’d returned home. She’d have to get some advice from her relatives on how to control them.
“They are,” he agreed. It hadn’t escaped his notice that they were the same colors as the flames of hell. What that meant, he didn’t know. Maybe it was just a mere reflection of his power. Maybe it was nothing to be concerned about. But while his fear for her was still fresh, he couldn’t relax.
“I’m safe now,” she soothed when she heard his teeth grinding.
He touched his forehead to hers. “When I realized you were gone, I almost lost my fucking mind.” Intellectually, he’d known that he’d lose control if she was ever taken from him, but he hadn’t been prepared for the blind fear and sheer panic that tormented him. “I haven’t felt fear in a very long time.”
Harper pressed a kiss to his mouth. “I thought you handled it pretty well, all things considered,” she quipped. His mouth curved in amusement, just as she’d hoped.
“Yeah, I only called on the flames of hell.”
Chuckling, she kissed him again. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Of course I came for you. Tanner believes I love you. Love? I don’t know if you could call it that. What I feel isn’t romantic. It isn’t soppy or gentle. It’s dark and consuming and intense – far more intense than any supposed ‘love’ I’ve sensed in another person.” He skimmed his fingers down her arm and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her palm. “Whatever the hell it is, it’s strong enough to mean my soul is right there.”
She gave him a watery smile. He was better with pretty words than he thought. “That’s only fair, since you have mine.”
Knox kissed her hard, pouring that undefinable emotion into it, letting her feel it for herself. Levi had once said that Knox lived for her now. The reaper was right. Knox had been alive a very long time, knew exactly how it would feel to go through a lifetime without her. He couldn’t go back to that numbness. His demon had no intention of doing so.
Tangling his hand in her silky hair, Knox kissed her again, indulging in a thorough tasting of his mate as he rolled her onto her back. Knox suckled her bottom lip. “This mouth is every man’s fantasy. But it’s mine. Only I can have it. Only I can taste it and fuck it.” To punctuate that, he thrust his tongue back inside to stroke hers; dominating and exploring with an urgency that was fed by the fury still fizzling inside him. He needed to take her, claim her, and own her so completely that she’d never be free of him, just like he’d never be free of her.
Shoving his hand up her tank top, Knox possessively splayed it over her breast and squeezed. Her soft moan made his cock twitch – already he was long and full, desperate to be in her. “I want you wet.” With a pinch to her nipple, he smoothed his hand down her flat stomach and into her panties, cupping her. There would be no psychic fingers tonight, just his skin and hers.