Burn

by Suzanne Wright

  “Yes, actually.” Her eyes sharpened. “In fact, you look tenser than I was. I guess it’s always a shitty thing to have to interrogate a member of your own lair. What?” He had the oddest look on his face.

  “You referred to the lair as mine.”

  She gave him a pitying smile. “It is yours, sweetie. Did you hit your head?”

  He ignored the tease. “But you’re my mate, which means you’re part of it now.”

  Shit, she really hadn’t considered that. And it presented her with a problem, since…“Knox, I don’t want to leave my lair.”

  “I know that you don’t. And I know that trying to demand it of you would gain me nothing but frustration. So we’ll compromise and say you’re part of both lairs.”

  “Wow.” She’d expected an argument. “You’re good at this whole compromising thing.”

  He brushed his mouth against hers. “I’m someone who chooses his battles wisely.”

  “You sound like a parent who’s letting their child win the little battles so the poor thing has the illusion of control and independence.” But she couldn’t be annoyed, because he flashed her that lopsided smile that made her stomach clench.

  Knox glanced at the closet. “Have you picked anything to wear yet?”

  “Do you realize there are three times more clothing in here than there are in my wardrobe? Of course, there’s a chance that most of the stuff in my wardrobe has been destroyed by the snakes,” she added glumly. Sure, they were only clothes. But a lot of them were from various places around the world, they carried good memories.

  “We can go to your apartment to check the damage after Dario’s speech, if you want.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to see what survived the spell.” Casting another frown at the full closet, she asked, “Can’t you just pyroport us straight to the hotel suite where my dress is?”

  “No. I was seen leaving, so I need to be seen returning.”

  “Ah, you like to keep people guessing about what abilities you have.”

  He shrugged. “They don’t need to know.”

  “Fine.” She grabbed underwear, socks, a pair of blue jeans, and a white shirt. “Notice that I am snapping off the tags without checking the prices. I will just pretend they aren’t designer clothing and you got them from thrift shops.”

  He smiled. “If that makes you feel better…”

  Knox? called Levi. We need to talk.

  Now?

  Yes. It’s important, he added with an urgency in his voice that made Knox tense.

  I’ll be at my office in the hotel in ten minutes, said Knox. Meet me there.

  Don’t bring Harper. I’ll explain when we meet.

  “Now you’re even tenser than you were before,” commented Harper as she pulled on the jeans.

  She was too observant for her own good. “Levi has something he wishes to speak to me about. In private.” She regarded him with a blank expression, and Knox expected her to bristle. Instead, she shrugged.

  “Fair enough.”

  Knox arched a brow. “Fair enough?”

  “I’m not a sentinel, so I get that there are things I won’t always hear about unless you okay it first. I don’t expect to be told everything – unless it’s related to me, in which case it’s totally my business.”

  That truly was fair enough, but he had to meet her halfway here. “I won’t keep secrets from you unless they’re not mine to tell.”

  Buttoning her shirt, she gave an approving nod. “I can work with that.”

  On arriving at the Underground hotel, Knox sent Harper and Tanner upstairs to their suite while he headed for his office. Levi was already waiting near the door, jaw clenched and eyes hard. It wasn’t until they were both inside the office, door closed, that Knox spoke. “Tell me.”

  “The incantor came to Harper’s apartment and unraveled the spell. Ella said it was quite an advanced one. The practitioners that we’re looking for would have been expensive to hire.”

  That information helped, but…“You didn’t need to speak with me privately about that, so I’m guessing there’s more.”

  Levi toed the chair in front of the desk around and straddled it. “Carla was leaving when Ella arrived. Ella recognized her, said she’d never forget the face of ‘that heartless bitch.’ She knew Carla from a long time ago – a time when Carla had once been pregnant.”

  Knox stiffened, instinctively knowing he really wasn’t going to like this. “Go on.”

  “Apparently, Carla wasn’t just angry back then that Lucian left her while she was pregnant. She was angry that he got her pregnant. She tried to abort Harper.”

  Knox cursed as anger rose sharply within him. His demon snarled, just as enraged.

  “But it didn’t work, obviously. So Carla went to an incantor and asked for a spell that would kill the baby.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me,” he growled, the anger of both him and his demon spiking.

  Levi shook his head. “I shit you not. She told the incantor, Dawn, that she didn’t want any part of Lucian inside her – that she was looking forward to telling him and his family that his child was dead. Dawn didn’t want any part in killing a baby, and she doesn’t believe that magick should be used for such a thing. Making it worse, Carla had even asked if there was any way of trapping the baby’s soul in a container, so that she could taunt Lucian that his child would never have peace.”

  This time, his demon roared its anger. It took every single ounce of Knox’s control to keep the entity from reaching for dominance and exacting that anger on its surroundings. He knew his eyes had briefly flashed demon when Levi stilled. “I’m fine,” Knox told him. “Tell me the rest. I need to know.”

  “As I said, Dawn didn’t want any part in it, but she knew others would do it for a price. So she placed a protective spell on the baby instead. Then she went to Jolene and told her everything.”

  Shock froze Knox’s thoughts for a moment. “Jolene knows about this?”

  “Jolene paid Carla to carry the baby to term and then hand it over. And that’s exactly what Carla did.” Levi’s gaze turned speculative. “So I’m guessing you’d really like to rip Carla Hayden apart, limb from limb.”

  Knox’s demon thought it was a fucking fantastic idea, but in Knox’s opinion…“That would be too lenient.” His voice had come out guttural. If Carla’s plans had been successful, his mate would never have lived.

  “I agree. I don’t judge people who seek abortions, although I don’t like the idea of them. But I do fucking judge someone who wants to trap a child’s soul.” Levi crossed his arms over the top of the chair. “Are you going to publically announce that Harper’s your mate?”

  Knox sensed that Levi was trying to calm him by changing the subject, so he went with it. “I won’t make an official announcement, I’ll simply let the news spread.” He’d only need to mention it to one person for it to reach everyone. “I want the demon population to know she’s taken. And there’s a chance that just maybe it will shift the anger of who’s targeting her to me.”

  “You think so?”

  “Whoever’s after Harper is carrying a lot of rage, but they didn’t act on it until I made it public that she was my anchor. There could be two reasons for that. One, they don’t want good things happening in her life, maybe even resent it; if that’s the case, hearing she has a mate will infuriate them. Or two, the fact that I’m her anchor set them off; if so, they really will be pissed to hear I’m now also her mate. In both cases, it’s the fact that I’ve entered her life which has changed things. That might redirect their anger onto me.”

  “You do realize Harper will know what you’re doing, don’t you? She won’t like you setting yourself up as a target.”

  “Tough,” Knox snapped, “she’ll just have to fucking deal with it. Why are you smiling?”

  “I like that you’re not so divorced from your feelings when it comes to her. She makes you happy. Nothing’s ever made you happy. Things have pleased and pleasure
d you, but that’s all.” Levi cocked his head. “What’s it like? Having a weakness, I mean.”

  “She’s not a weakness.”

  “Of course she is. It’s not a bad thing. Before, you kept yourself alive purely because of self-preservation. Now you live for her. There’s no better reason to live than for your mate. But we both know that you and your demon would lose all control if you ever lose her – it’s the one thing that could truly hurt you. That makes her a weakness as well as a strength.”

  Knox knew that Levi was right. He could remember the rage he’d felt when he found her in the alley with the dark practitioners; could remember almost losing the control that kept him and his demon in check. Would Knox care about the damage his rage caused everything around him if he lost Harper? No.

  “But hey, maybe we don’t need to worry so much. Let’s face it, if you lose her and lose your control, you could destroy the fucking world. Only someone who wants to die, start a war, is a rogue, has a tiny IQ, or who is simply completely insane would harm her when they learn she’s your mate.”

  Since insanity wasn’t exactly rare among their kind and there were plenty of rogue demons out there, Harper still had threats to her safety.

  “Have you told her what you are yet?”

  “Not yet.” His hesitation was clear in his tone.

  “Harper doesn’t scare easily.”

  “No, she doesn’t. But my kind aren’t supposed to walk the Earth. You know what they say – what’s born in hell should stay in hell.” Contrary to what humans believed, there were much worse things in hell than Lucifer.

  “You’ll have to tell her soon. You’ll also have to tell her the truth about Carla. I wish she didn’t have to hear this shit, I really do. But it’s better if she’s on her guard around Carla, if she doesn’t buy the ‘please let me talk with you’ routine.”

  “I can’t talk to Harper about it until I’ve spoken to Jolene and I have all the facts. But I will tell her.” He could never keep a secret like that from her, especially after his assurance that he wouldn’t withhold anything from her that concerned her.

  “How do you think Harper will take it?”

  “That I don’t know. She always manages to surprise me.”

  Figuring that it was likely that Jolene was in her suite, getting ready for the dinner that would start in an hour’s time, Knox and Levi headed straight there.

  Jolene, already dressed in a lilac suit, looked surprised to see him. “I was expecting Beck and Martina. Come in.” She peered around him. “No Harper?”

  “No,” replied Knox as he closed the door, leaving Levi outside to guard the suite. “I thought it was best that she wasn’t present for this conversation.”

  One of Jolene’s brows slid up, making him think of Harper. “Oh? She won’t like you deciding what’s ‘best’ for her.”

  “She won’t like learning you’ve lied to her all her life either.”

  Jolene narrowed her eyes. Realization appeared to dawn on her quickly, so she obviously knew this could only be about one thing. “I really don’t believe this is any of your business.”

  “Harper’s my—”

  “Anchor, but that doesn’t entitle you to know everything.”

  “It does when I’m her mate.”

  Jolene sighed. “I suppose I should have expected that.” Taking a seat on the sofa, Jolene crossed one leg over the other. “She’s one of a kind, isn’t she? Special.”

  Yes, she was.

  “It’s hard to imagine that this might have been a world without her in it. Suck some of that rage back in before your demon takes control.”

  “Why the lies, Jolene?”

  “How did you find out?”

  “A friend of Dawn recognized Carla and mentioned it to Levi,” replied Knox. “Why didn’t you tell Harper the truth? Or, if you were so set on lying, couldn’t you have told her a kinder one?”

  “You think I should have told Harper that her mother sought magick that would end her life and trap her soul just to have vengeance on her father?” Jolene sniffed. “That would be hard for anyone to handle, and it could have made her reject both parents. Yes, I could have told her a kinder lie. But that would have risked Harper one day making the decision to seek out Carla. And at least this way if Harper ever discovered the truth, it wouldn’t be too much of a shock. She already knows Carla’s selfish and cruel.”

  “You know another thing I don’t understand? Why you gave Harper to Lucian. You could have raised her yourself. She deserved better than what she got.”

  “Do you think I wanted to give her to him? I cried for days. But it wasn’t easy for her being the only Wallis who wasn’t an imp – it made it worse that her parents weren’t around. I needed her to realize that the problem wasn’t her, it was them. If that meant she lived with Lucian to find that out for herself, so be it. And it worked. You can’t deny that.”

  No, he couldn’t. It didn’t mean he had to like it.

  “Are you going to tell her the truth about Carla?”

  “We’re both going to tell her.” Knox opened the door and swept out a hand. Jolene didn’t move. “If it doesn’t come from both of us, the truth will hurt her even more. I won’t have that.” After a long silence, Jolene grabbed her purse and followed him out of the suite.

  Once in the elevator, Knox told her, “Tonight, someone put a death spell on Harper’s apartment.”

  Jolene’s face hardened and the elevator began to slightly rattle. Quick enough, the rattling stopped. “She’s fine.” It was a ‘she’d better be fine’ statement.

  “Of course,” he said. “Shit would be burning down if she wasn’t. That’s twice now that dark practitioners have targeted Harper. So it would seem that the culprit likes to use magick to get what they want, especially when what they want is vengeance. A little like Carla.”

  “You think she could have sent the practitioners?”

  “You don’t?”

  Jolene’s expression turned pensive. “She tried to kill Harper once before. I guess it wouldn’t be a shocker if she tried it again.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Jolene. You’re an astute, shrewd woman. I don’t believe for one second that you haven’t already considered it might be Carla.”

  “I have her watched, much like you. But she’ll be expecting that, so she’s not going to do anything incriminating. She’ll be very careful about who she’s seen to associate with. But you don’t have to see someone in person to associate with them, do you?”

  “You’re monitoring her calls and emails, aren’t you?”

  “Of course. But she’ll be expecting that too. She’s telepathic, so it’s possible that she’s communicating with unsavory people that way.” Jolene pointed a finger. “Don’t let this blind you to the fact that it’s equally possible that Kendra or Isla is the mastermind.”

  Reaching the top floor, they exited the elevator and headed for Knox’s suite. “Kendra went to North Las Vegas last night.”

  “Yes, she’s looking for information on Lucian’s whereabouts.”

  He smiled. “Her informant works for you, doesn’t he?”

  “Imps are liars and cheaters by nature. But we don’t betray our own. He’ll send her on a wild goose chase, which will hopefully get her away from Harper.”

  Tanner, who was guarding the door, frowned at Knox. “Everything okay? You have some serious anger radiating from you.”

  Of course he did. “Levi will fill you in on the details. I need to talk to Harper.” With that, he left his sentinels outside and led Jolene into the suite. They found Harper in the living area, talking on her cell phone. Knox picked up Raini’s voice, but he didn’t hear the words. He was a little distracted by how stunning Harper looked in a pastel blue dress.

  Looking up, she smiled. “Hey, Grams. Raini, I’ll call you later.” Glancing from Jolene to Knox, she said, “All right, what’s going on?”

  Jolene sat on the sofa opposite Harper. “I won’t begin this by saying
‘there’s something you should know,’ because honestly, sweetheart, I don’t think you need to know this. It will only hurt you. But Knox insists that you should have the truth. So if that’s what you want, you can have it.”

  Harper again looked from Jolene to Knox, who was now sitting beside her. “The truth about what?”

  When Jolene didn’t respond, Knox spoke. “Carla.”

  Harper twisted her mouth. “Let’s hear it.”

  Jolene flicked her hair away from her face. “She didn’t dump you on my doorstep. I’ve had you in my care since the day you were born. I was actually at the birth.” She paused. “I paid her to carry you to term and hand you over.”

  “You paid her?” Harper easily read between the lines. “She wanted to abort me.” Her grandmother nodded. While that didn’t exactly make her feel warm inside…“I could have handled that, Grams. Why not just tell me?” But there was only one reason Jolene would have kept it to herself. “It gets worse, doesn’t it?”

  “Carla sought out an incantor’s help when the abortion didn’t work. She didn’t just want you dead, she wanted to trap your soul.”

  Nice. Her inner demon curled her upper lip, ready to hunt down the bitch.

  “It wasn’t to hurt you,” Jolene quickly added. “I don’t think she even saw you as a person. She’s so self-centered that she couldn’t see past her own desperate need for vengeance.”

  “I was a pawn she was hoping to use to hurt Lucian.”

  “It wasn’t a story I wanted you to hear as a child. But I had to give you a story that was close to the truth – close enough that you would never wish Carla was in your life, that you knew you were better off without her.”

  “You could have told me everything when I grew up.”

  “You’d been hurt enough. I didn’t think telling you the rest would serve any purpose other than to hurt you more.”

  While a part of Harper was pissed that Jolene had withheld the truth, she understood. She also understood something else. “I was wrong.”

  “About what?” Knox asked, waiting for Harper to start ranting. She seemed too calm.