Burn

by Suzanne Wright

  “If they stop sleeping together,” said Raini.

  Khloë frowned. “Why would they stop sleeping together?”

  “Knox’s demon gets bored easily.” Harper veiled the dangerous disappointment that knowledge caused her. The brands hadn’t began to fade yet, but they would soon enough. “Speaking of boredom, I’m done shopping, let’s—” She cut herself off as four shadows fell upon them. Looking up, her stomach sank. Her inner demon went from laidback to infuriated in a heartbeat.

  Harper knew who they were, but it was the small, nervous she-demon who had most of Harper’s attention. She hadn’t been this up close to Carla since she was a baby, hadn’t realized just how very little they looked alike. Maybe it was petty, but she was grateful for that.

  “We just wanted to stop and introduce ourselves,” said the cheery male beside Carla. “I’m Bray, and this is my mate, Carla. It’s a pleasure to meet Knox’s anchor.”

  Harper forced a smile. “The pleasure’s all mine.” He doesn’t know, she said to Tanner. Carla hasn’t told him I’m her daughter.

  That’s why she looks terrified. She’s afraid you’ll blurt it out right in front of them and ruin the fabric of her little world.

  I irritate her enough purely by existing, I don’t need to go to extra measures.

  “And these are our sons, Roan and Kellen,” continued Bray.

  It was so much harder than she’d thought it would be to look at her half-brothers and pretend she didn’t know who they were. “Good to meet you both.”

  Roan, who greatly resembled Carla, nodded. “And you.”

  The younger brother looked more like his father. “Yeah, you too,” said Kellen, eyes narrowed. There was a knowledge in his gaze that shouldn’t be there. He knew something. What, she wasn’t sure. How, she wasn’t sure.

  “This is Raini, Devon, and Khloë,” said Harper. “And, of course, you know Tanner.”

  Carla stiffened at Khloë’s glare. She knew the she-demon was a Wallis, and that seemed to increase the panic she was already feeling.

  “We’ll leave you to finish eating your lunch. We just wanted to formally introduce ourselves.” Bray gave Harper one last bright smile and then headed for a table; his family followed, though Kellen was slow in removing his gaze from her. Only then did Harper’s demon relax slightly.

  “That kid knows something,” whispered Raini.

  Harper sighed. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “I swear, I could disembowel that bitch and not blink an eye about it,” Khloë practically growled. “I don’t know how anyone can just stand there and treat their own daughter like she’s a perfect stranger.”

  Harper moved to sit by Khloë and curled an arm around her. Her cousin’s parents were fabulous; worshipped the ground their children walked on. Khloë knew from experience what a real parent was. She genuinely couldn’t understand how Carla could have abandoned Harper. “She’s not important, Khloë.”

  “That doesn’t mean I can’t visualize ramming a chicken wing up her ass.”

  Harper smiled. “No, it doesn’t.”

  “How about we get out of here?” proposed Raini.

  Devon rose to her feet. “Great idea. I’m done and – stop sniffing me!”

  Knox had just finished a phone call with a difficult human business associate when there was a knock at the office door. He hoped it was Harper, since splaying her delectable body on his desk would go a long way to improving his mood. Instead, he found that it was none other than…“Isla.” His inner demon snarled, not at all happy to see her despite their history.

  Her smile was pleasant and gracious. “Good afternoon, Knox.”

  “Something I can help you with?”

  She glanced around his office. “I’ve been at the hotel for almost two days and we’ve spent no time together at all. You always made time for me in the past.”

  Yes, he had. Whenever he’d looked at her, he’d remembered the child who had been dumped at the children’s sanctuary, bruised and bleeding; it was almost a month before she’d spoken a single word. Whenever he looked at her now, however, he remembered finding Harper in an alley with two dark practitioners.

  Isla took a step toward his desk. “How about we go get a drink? You can tell me what I’ve missed since we last spoke in New York.”

  “I don’t have time for that.” The words came out harsher than he’d intended.

  “Why the cold shoulder?”

  Why? Because Knox didn’t trust her. She was quite possibly the person responsible for what happened to Harper. “I’m not what anyone would call ‘warm.’”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is this because of the tiny confrontation I had with your imp?” Her tone insinuated that such an explanation would be dramatic.

  “It certainly didn’t win you any points.”

  “You’ve known her two weeks. You’ve known me—”

  “How do you know how long I’ve known her?” No response. “Shall I tell you what I think, Isla? I think you heard about Harper before the New York conference. I think you sent Silas—”

  Her brow furrowed. “Silas?”

  “—to test me. And I think there’s a very good chance that you’re the one who sent dark practitioners after Harper.”

  Isla appeared suitably offended. “I may not have any regard for the imp, but I wouldn’t betray you by targeting someone in your life. And if you truly believed I had betrayed you in some way, you would have tried to kill me by now. I say ‘tried’ because, let’s be honest here, you couldn’t have killed me. You couldn’t have brought yourself to do it.”

  “Is that what you think? You believe you can fuck with me and I won’t retaliate?” His demon released a dark laugh at the idea. “I’m a lot of things, Isla – merciful isn’t one of them.”

  She cocked her head. “You are quite fond of your little imp, aren’t you? It’s a shame for you that your demon won’t form that same attachment. It means you’ll have to give her up soon enough. So sad.” Her voice hardened as she added, “If I wanted to hurt the imp, I wouldn’t have ‘sent’ anyone. I would have gone after her myself. I don’t use minions, and you know that.”

  “Yes, I do…and that would make you an unlikely suspect, wouldn’t it? Maybe that’s exactly what you’re counting on.” His next words came out in a dark rumble. “Hear me when I say this, Isla: If I do discover that you targeted my anchor, I’ll destroy you.”

  “You truly believe she’s your anchor?”

  “I’m positive that she is. So do the wise thing and let this go, concentrate on the election.” Her confidence crumbled, and she suddenly looked lost, reminding him of the terrified, injured child she’d once been. “Has it occurred to you that just maybe you convinced yourself I was your anchor back then because, at the time, you felt you needed one? That you felt you needed the assurance that someone would always be there for you, always protect you?”

  Affronted, she argued, “I need no one to protect me.”

  “Not now. But back then, you weren’t as strong.”

  She spoke in a low voice. “You always protected me in that place.”

  “I did. But not because I ever believed you’re my anchor.”

  She was silent for a few minutes. “If you’re so very certain the imp is your anchor, I will accept that. I obviously confused your protective behavior for being something more. It was my mistake. I apologize.” She studied his face. “You don’t believe me.”

  “You’re a very accomplished liar, Isla.”

  She smiled. “That is true. You will just have to trust me.”

  “That’s the thing: I don’t.”

  Her smile widened. “You always were smart. Be assured, however, that your imp is safe from me.” With those words, she strolled out of his office.

  It was really no surprise that Levi, who had been guarding the door, waltzed inside. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying a word of what she just said.”

  Knox sighed, sinking into his ch
air. “I can’t say I’m all that convinced either.”

  “You know, I’ve always wondered…”

  “What?”

  “When we were in the sanctuary, Isla used to talk about going to live on a farm, surround herself with animals. You remember?”

  “Yes.”

  “Instead, when she left us because she was pissed that you wouldn’t accept her as your anchor, she joined a lair. She later became Prime of that lair, she took over human businesses, she enlarged her lair, she sought more and more power – even going as far as to have a vampire attempt to convert her in the hope that it would make her more powerful. Which it has.”

  “I know all this. What’s your point?”

  Levi folded his arms across his chest. “If Harper had denied being your anchor, would you have believed her?”

  “No. I know she’s my anchor.” He knew it with every fiber of his being.

  “And Isla believes you’re her anchor. Let’s say Harper had walked away from you instead of forming the bond.”

  “I wouldn’t have let her walk away. I would have made her face the truth and accept reality.”

  “Reality…That can be different things to different people. For a very long time, Isla’s ‘reality’ has been that you’re her anchor but you just wouldn’t accept it. I saw her face the day she left all those years ago. There was a lot of rage there. Rage, resentment, and spite. To her, you were rejecting her. ‘Are you saying I’m not good enough for you?’ she asked. Remember?”

  Knox drummed his fingers on the desk as he thought back on that day. “I remember.”

  “I can’t help but wonder if Isla became a Prime, took over all those businesses, enlarged her lair, and made herself into something unique all in an effort to be your equal. I think she thought that being your equal would make you want her as an anchor. Only it hasn’t, has it?”

  Knox considered that for a minute. “It’s possible that was her plan. But if that’s true, I think she long ago abandoned that plan. She does the things she does now because she’s become obsessed with gaining power. Anyone can see that.”

  “Yes, because power corrupts. The more power Isla got, the more she got a taste for it. But I don’t think she wants to be Monarch of the U.S. out of greed. I think she wants to have control over you. Either to force you to accept the anchor bond or to punish you for not accepting it. She may not know why, but she knows that the one thing you can’t tolerate is anyone controlling you. This would hit you where it really fucking hurts, just like you hit her where it really fucking hurts.”

  It made some sense, but…“I don’t know, Levi. There are a lot simpler ways to let someone know you’re pissed at them.”

  “Demons hold grudges, Knox – especially she-demons. Isla’s got a big one. Not only did you deny her, you then declared another she-demon is your anchor. That would have sent Isla into a rage.” Levi shrugged. “I could be wrong. Isla could be telling the truth. But I still believe her motivation behind becoming a Monarch is to punish you for turning your back on her. After all, wasn’t that what her mother did when she killed herself? We know how much hatred she harbors for her mother.”

  Knox thought on how Harper had been abandoned by both parents, yet she wasn’t filled with hate and bitterness. Oh, there was some righteous anger in her system, thanks to what she called with a roll of her eyes ‘textbook abandonment issues,’ but nothing corrosive. She still had the inner strength to bond with him and trust that he wouldn’t do what her parents had done. Hell, she was stronger than most people he knew. And he wouldn’t let her down. “Then it looks like Isla’s our prime suspect, doesn’t it?”

  As he exploded inside Harper, Knox sank his teeth so hard into her nape it was a wonder he didn’t taste blood. She slumped on the bed beneath him, tremoring with little aftershocks. She’d just gotten out of the shower when he entered the hotel suite, and he hadn’t been able to resist bending her over the bed and fucking her into oblivion.

  Knox licked over the fresh bite. His demon wasn’t the only one who liked to mark what was his. It had been two weeks since the first time he’d had Harper in his bed, and boredom hadn’t even begun to set in for either him or his demon. How could Knox possibly get bored of her? He liked her company. Liked having someone who was capable of surprising him, who didn’t fear speaking their mind to him, and who wouldn’t obey his every order.

  When she’d dressed in Jolene’s suite the previous night instead of coming straight to him on arriving at the hotel, it technically should have pissed him off a little. Instead, although he hadn’t liked that she hadn’t come to him, he’d found himself smiling. Even his demon found it amusing. Their little sphinx had her own mind and no one – not even him, except for maybe in bed – would ever control her. The frustration she caused him actually invigorated him.

  “Now I’ll have to get another shower,” she grumbled.

  Slipping out of her, he stood upright. “You can shower with me.”

  “If I do that, we’ll end up fucking again.”

  “Of course we will.”

  “Which means we’ll be late for dinner.”

  “Not if we get dressed quickly.” He spanked her ass, making her shoot to her feet and whirl on him. “Shower. Now.”

  “Bastard.”

  His gaze roamed over her naked body, and his demon rumbled its satisfaction at the sight of the brands. “You’ll still let me fuck you.”

  She snorted as she strode past him, chin up. “Don’t be so sure.” But she did, in fact, let him take her again.

  Half an hour later, they were both ready to leave. And the sapphire strapless dress that had a slit which ran from knee to mid-thigh made all sorts of fantasies swirl around his head. “I’m not sure what I want most – to flip up the dress or to whip it off altogether while I fuck you fast and deep.”

  “Well, I might let you do one of those things. Later.”

  “Before we leave…” He dipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out a square, velvet jewelry box that made her tense.

  Harper’s eyes widened when he opened it, revealing a white gold necklace that had diamonds hanging from it like raindrops. She’d never seen anything that beautiful. “Holy fuck. Are those real diamonds?” His expression said ‘Don’t insult me.’ She blew out a breath. “I can’t accept his.”

  “Of course you can.”

  “I told you I didn’t want you buying me expensive things.”

  “Yes, you did. But I didn’t tell you that I’d listen. If I want to buy you things or spoil you, I will.” It was almost cute how awkward she looked. He got the feeling no one had ever spoiled her. “Turn around.”

  She grimaced, twisting her fingers. “What if I lose it or break it?”

  “You won’t,” he chuckled. “Turn around.” He chuckled again when she stiffened her shoulders like she was going into battle. Slowly, she turned and he put on the necklace before trailing his finger down her spine. With a shudder, she turned to face him again. “Beautiful.” He cupped her hips and pulled her flush against him. “You’ll leave it on later when I have you again. Maybe just wear that and the heels.”

  She laughed. “Let’s go get this dinner over with.”

  He sucked on her earlobe. “Tanner said you saw Carla today.”

  “Only for a few seconds.”

  “What did she say to you?”

  “Not a single word.” His eyes flashed demon. “Don’t get mad. It doesn’t matter.”

  It did fucking matter, but Knox wasn’t interested in darkening her mood. Clutching one breast, he plumped it up to get another glimpse of the brand.

  “Do you know how hard it’s been to find dresses that don’t flash this brand?”

  Knox licked over it. “People would just think it’s a tattoo.”

  “Right,” she drawled. “It has thorns on it. Anybody who saw it would have known what it was. Then they would have wondered if just maybe Isla’s little rumor about me being your new bed-buddy is true.”
r />   “Anchors sometimes have sexual relationships.”

  When he pressed a kiss to her neck and followed it with a nip to her pulse, she moaned. “Come on, we’ve got to get to this dinner thing.”

  “I’d rather eat you.”

  “You can’t say stuff like that when we have to leave,” she whined.

  “Nothing tastes better than you do,” he rumbled in her ear, his hand proprietary as it splayed over her breast.

  “You’re doing this on purpose.”

  “And nothing smells better than you do.”

  “Tanner said I smell of you.”

  He arched a brow, tightening his hold on her breast. “That a problem?”

  “I kind of thought it might bother you.”

  “It doesn’t.”

  As his hand snaked under her dress and cupped her, she gasped. “Don’t even—”

  “Be still.” He slipped one finger inside her panties and thrust it inside her. “Nice and slick for me.” Withdrawing his finger, he sucked it clean. “Now I feel better.”

  She shook her head at his crooked smile. “You’re such a bastard.” But she didn’t pull away when he closed his hand around her wrist and led her out of the suite. With Levi and Tanner as guards, they made their way to the restaurant. It wasn’t until Knox took his seat that the food was served. They sat at the same table as the previous evening; once again, they were joined by her family, Raul, and Tanya.

  “Nice necklace,” commented Jolene, eyes narrowed.

  Harper cleared her throat, feeling awkward again. “Thanks.”

  “I take it Knox bought it for you.”

  “Yep.”

  Don’t think I don’t know something’s going on between you two.

  Harper had known this was coming. Grams, leave it alone. It’s no big deal.

  It is, sweetheart. Jolene’s telepathic tone was soft, understanding. In the early days before I met your grandfather, Beck and I were…close. It didn’t last long and it wasn’t serious, but it made things complicated when we both met other people. He was jealous of your grandfather for a long time. I’m not telling you to break things off with Knox. That’s your business. But I want you to be prepared for how hard things will be for a while. It passes with time, but it’s still hard. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that it’s ‘no big deal.’ That’s all I ask.