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)
“If that’s true, she’s a lot more dangerous than we thought.” Larkin crossed one leg over the other. “She’ll have many connections to many of our enemies.”
“The way I see it, we have two options.” Tanner leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs. “We can put a bounty on her head or we can act like she’s still fooling us.”
Knox thought about it for a few moments. “We’ll try the latter, see if it brings her home. If she doesn’t appear in a couple of days, we resort to the first option. In the meantime, find out who the goddamn bitch really is.”
Once the sentinels left, Knox turned to Harper, twisting fully in his seat to face her. “You okay?”
She exhaled heavily. “It’s a relief to know that I haven’t been warring with my half-sister. But I don’t exactly like the alternative – dealing with dark practitioners isn’t fun, and they seem to want me dead.”
Knox tugged her closer. “They’re trying to get to me…which means Kendra – or whoever the hell she is – is actually right; you’re being targeted because of me.”
“I’m being targeted because they’re thick as pig shit and probably have a crazy idea that if they can weaken you enough, they can contain you and then use you to fuel their spells,” she corrected.
Maybe. They wouldn’t be the first to assume they could capture and use Knox for something.
“You didn’t start shit with them. They came at you.”
“And they’re using you to come at me, which isn’t at all acceptable to me.” They thought that hurting her would hurt him. It would. He wasn’t sure when she’d become so important to him, but she was so deep under his skin there was no getting her out. When a demon fell, it was quick and hard and intense. He’d never thought to experience it. Hadn’t imagined it was possible for another person to be so vital to him. He didn’t fear it, though. He welcomed it. Knew he’d forever want this little sphinx with him.
He’d always thought that to need someone would make him vulnerable. Now Knox knew differently. Yes, Harper had power over him, but he knew she’d never abuse that power. He could trust her with it, just as she trusted him with the same power he had over her. He’d tried to lure her to him using various manipulation tactics, and all the while he’d been unknowingly falling for this she-demon. “Levi’s right; you’re my weakness.”
Harper frowned, confused but knowing one thing: “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Control is essential to me, Harper. Essential for many reasons. If anything happened to you, if you were taken from me, that control would be gone. What I did to Riordan and his followers…that would be nothing compared to what I’d do if someone took your life.”
If he thought he was scaring her, he was wrong. “You think I wouldn’t seek vengeance if anything happened to you?” Harper fisted her hand in his shirt. “I’d make sure the bastards got whatever they deserved.”
He cocked his head. “You would, wouldn’t you?”
“Duh.” How could that surprise him?
“That’s the thing, though, baby. You’d track down and punish the person or people responsible, and you’d give them what they deserved. But you’d stop there. Even with your demon riding you hard, you’d hold back.”
“You have enough control to hold back your demon.”
He smiled wanly, refusing to lie to her. “Baby, I wouldn’t want to. I’d make them all pay. But I wouldn’t stop there. It wouldn’t be enough. Not for me, not for my demon. So many would die, so much would be destroyed.” It had to be a hard weight for her to carry. “You need to live.”
As his gaze held hers, Harper sensed that – maybe only subconsciously – he expected some level of rejection here. Maybe he thought his admission would spook or repel her. Hell, maybe it should have. But although it left her a little off-balance to know she was so important to someone, it also thrilled her. He said she’d given him one thing no one else ever had: total acceptance. Well, he’d given her something no one else ever had: the feeling of being indispensable to someone.
When Harper straddled him, curled her arms around his neck, and melted into his chest, Knox tucked her head under his chin. She fit right there, like it was exactly where she belonged. He smoothed his hands up and down her back, sensing she was offering the reassurance that she still accepted him and his demon just as they were.
He was a dark breed that had no right to walk the Earth. But he didn’t hate what he was. Quite the opposite, Knox liked the power, the rush, and the added strength. He liked the control that it allowed him to maintain. Liked that he never felt vulnerable. He accepted the creature inside him that had protected and saved him when no one else would. Knox hadn’t expected that anyone else would ever accept the entity, though. He’d never thought they should. He hadn’t asked it of Harper, but she’d done it anyway. She’d also accepted Knox, brutal bastard though he was. She was a total wonder to him.