Burn

by Suzanne Wright

  “You will soon.”

  A little while later, Harper was gaping through the protective glass of a VIP box in a hound racing stadium in the Underground. And Knox’s words made sense. She spun to face him. “Please tell me Tanner isn’t going to race here.”

  Knox arched a brow. “You didn’t know hellhounds liked to race?”

  Well, yes, she’d known about it. The tracks were located near the casinos, and as Harper wasn’t much into gambling, she hadn’t visited them. It looked like any normal dog racing stadium. There was a spectator area, grandstands, and private boxes that all gave a perfect view of the oval track. “I’ve heard it can be pretty brutal.”

  “It can be,” he confirmed. “Almost as brutal as the hellhorses.”

  That was bad, Harper knew. Normal horses could be sweet and placid. Hellhorses? Not so much. They were not only as predatory as every other demon, they were fucking wild. You didn’t ride a hellhorse unless you were crazy. “How often does Tanner do this?”

  “Pretty often. Just as Levi likes the combat circle, Tanner likes the track.”

  She was about to ask what Larkin and Keenan liked to do when a bell rang and eight hellhounds slowly prowled onto the track. The crowd cheered, their excitement evident. She was a little too nervous for Tanner’s demon to share in their excitement. Yes, it was most likely ironic that she was protective of the demon who protected her.

  She recognized Tanner’s hound by the scar on its muzzle. It was more powerfully built than the others, but she was worried all that bulkiness would slow it down. Each of the hellhounds got into position, growling and snarling at each other…and then things turned fucking weird. Oily pits, small fires, and puddles of bubbling, boiling water abruptly appeared in random places on the track. “Well, fuck.”

  Knox chuckled. “Don’t be so nervous. He’ll be fine.”

  A bell rang a second time, and the hellhounds bolted – Tanner’s hound instantly fell into sixth place. Damn, they were fast as they leaped over the obstacles. Tanner’s hound was totally focused, and its pace was steady and swift, but she had the feeling it was holding back a little.

  It was no shock to discover that the hounds had no problem with cheating. They liked biting, clawing, and body slamming their competitors in an effort to take the lead. One locked its jaws around the back leg of another hound and spun it off the track – a move that lost it time as other hounds raced ahead of it. One howled as it was knocked into a puddle of boiling water by another hound.

  Within fifty seconds, Tanner’s demon was in third place. A competitor bit it into its flank – bad decision. Tanner’s hound slammed it into a pit; the oil kept the hound stuck in place.

  The crowd was going crazy – yelling names, words of encouragement, and also some threats. Every time a hound was taken out of the equation, people who’d clearly bet on them began stamping and cursing and even turned on their friends.

  Tanner’s hound soon shot into second place. All was looking good until…“Someone just shot him with a fucking orb of hellfire!”

  Knox locked his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck. “The spectators are allowed to do that in the last section of the track.”

  “What?”

  “That’s why the race is pretty much anyone’s race. It doesn’t matter how fast a hound is, they can be hurt and slowed down in the last section if they’re hit too many times.”

  “Tanner’s hound must be pissed.” She worried her lower lip as another hound came close. “Come on, faster!” Hearing Knox chuckle again, she glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’m aware that it can’t hear me. That doesn’t mean I can’t offer moral support.”

  “Of course it doesn’t.”

  “Shit, it’s slowing down…and that fucker just raced ahead of it.” She cursed. “And now it’s been hit again.” This time on the leg. “Oh God, they’re nearly at the finish line. Well, third place is pretty—” She gasped as Tanner’s hound put on an impressive burst of speed. It shot straight into first place and right over the finish line. She found herself bouncing up and down in Knox’s arms. “Tanner’s hound won!”

  “I see that.”

  “Okay, it’s a little exciting,” she allowed. “And I might have enjoyed it. Can we eat now? I’m starving.”

  “Not yet.” Knox bit her earlobe before sucking on it. “Put your hands on the glass.”

  She stilled at the dominance and authority that rung in his voice. She knew exactly what that tone meant. Her body knew what it meant, began to melt and ready itself for him. Harper’s knees buckled as an ice-cold finger slid through her folds right as Knox snaked his hand beneath her shirt to cup one breast. “Shit. Tell me no one can see me.”

  “No one can see you…unless I flick that switch on the wall over there.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Why? Don’t you want them to see me taking you? Don’t you want them to know you’re mine, that every inch of you belongs to me?” He whipped off her t-shirt and bra. “Shoes.”

  She kicked them off while he quickly unbuttoned her fly and shoved down her jeans. Her panties went with a snap just as two icy fingers drove into her. The first cold thrust was always a shock, but the heat emanating from the fingers made her pussy blaze and spasm.

  At his urging, she stepped out of her jeans. That was when his psychic fingers began pumping into her, making her body melt against him. Anticipation sent a tremor down her spine as she heard his zip slowly lowering. The bastard was dragging it out on purpose. The psychic fingers dissolved, leaving behind a flaming ache that was all too familiar.

  “Hands on the glass, Harper. That’s my good girl.” Knox grabbed her hips, angled them just right, and slammed home. Her hot, slick pussy squeezed his cock almost to the point of pain. Too. Fucking. Good. Clutching the breast his demon had branded, Knox powered into her. “This is what I need.”

  Harper’s back arched like a bow as he pounded into her, his fingers digging so hard into her breast and hip that she knew she’d have bruises. She caught his reflection in the glass. Eyes hooded, mouth set in a harsh line, there was savage need stamped into his features.

  Hand bunched in her hair, Knox yanked her head back so he could suckle and bite her neck. Her taste and scent assaulted his senses, making his cock swell even further. Nothing felt better than her tight muscles greedily clamping around him, as if trying to hold him deep in her body. He growled low in her ear. “Do you know how hot it is to see the reflection of the brand on your pussy?” It stroked the possessive streak in him that came violently alive around Harper. “Every time you see it, do you remember how it felt when my demon put it there? Do you remember that it means I own you?”

  She gasped as his fist tugged her hair hard, bringing her face to his. He didn’t kiss her mouth. He devastated it. Biting on it, licking at it, and softly sucking on her tongue. The kiss repeatedly alternated between hard and rough to teasing and sensual. She felt off balance, couldn’t think. She only knew she needed to come so bad it hurt.

  Feeling her pussy begin to tighten around him, Knox knew her orgasm was close. “You know you can’t come until I tell you, baby.”

  “I can’t help it,” she hissed.

  “Yes, you can. You will.” Releasing her hair, he collared her throat as he hammered into her at a feverish pace that dared her to defy him. She didn’t, just like he knew she wouldn’t. “Beg me to let you come.”

  Motherfucking asshole. Knowing better than to curse him out loud and risk him stopping – he’d done it a few times before – she begrudgingly ground out, “Please.”

  “Good girl.” He slid his other hand down to tug on her clit. “Come, Harper.” A scream tore from her throat as her pussy quaked and squeezed his cock. Biting out a harsh curse, he exploded in her, his hand tightening around her throat. Forcing himself to loosen the hold, he stroked her neck as she slowly came down from her high.

  “How can you still be hard?”

  Knox ever so slowly withdrew, causing he
r pussy to close around his cock and try to suck him back in. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m not done yet.” He drove deep with a grunt. “This time, scream my name for me.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  After a long, boring conference call, Knox left his office and sought out Harper. He found her in the living area, legs crossed yoga-style on the sofa…and doing something he never would have expected. She had a box at her side that contained a collection of gems, crystals, sequins, rhinestones, beads, lace, sash, and other appliques. And she was sowing and gluing some on her collection of jeans. Designer jeans.

  “Hey.” She only spared him the briefest glance, preoccupied with sporadically attaching tiny, silver skeleton heads to a pair of black jeans.

  Most of the other pairs that were folded on the sofa had already been ‘decorated.’ She’d even slashed at some with a razor, sown white flowery lace on the back pockets of others, and…“What happened to them?” One particular pair of blue jeans were now a whitish blue from mid-calf downwards.

  “Oh, I dipped them in bleach,” she said, her tone absent.

  “You dipped them in bleach? I buy designer clothes, and you—”

  She did look up then. “I told you, they’re from thrift shops.”

  He couldn’t stifle a smile. “Thrift shops. Right.” He poured himself a gin and tonic, and then settled beside her, admiring her steady hand. “Do you do this a lot?”

  “I like personalizing things. When I lived with Lucian, I traveled pretty light. We couldn’t always afford to buy new clothes, so I’d revamp the ones I had.” She gave him an impish smile. “Whenever he pissed me off, I’d glue pink sequins to his pants.”

  Knox tapped her bottom lip. “Cruel.”

  “I thought so.” She sounded pleased by that.

  “And here I thought Meg bought a new coat. You put rhinestones and crystals on it, didn’t you?”

  “She made me muffins in exchange. I thought it was a good deal.”

  As something occurred to him, he narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t sown or glued anything to any of my clothes, have you?”

  Her smile widened – it was a taunt. “Not yet.”

  Knox returned the smile. He couldn’t recall many people ever teasing him. People were generally wary of offending him. Harper didn’t hold back, and it was yet another thing that showed that she was comfortable around him. This back and forth they did…It was intimate. And he liked it.

  He put his glass on the table. “Come here.” Knox slipped a hand around her throat and sipped at the mouth he was obsessed with. Then he kissed her hard, dancing his tongue along hers. The taste of her burst through his system, making him groan. He knew he’d always crave it, always crave her. “Later, I’m going to fuck this mouth.” A hint of defiance sparked in her presently ice-blue eyes. Knox flexed his grip on her throat. “I’ll have it, Harper. It’s mine. Mine to taste, mine to use any way I want.”

  And he had used it any way he wanted. He knew he was dominant and rough in the bedroom, that she wasn’t used to being led or pushed to her limits. She probably had no idea what a turn on it was to teach her what he liked, to show her how it could be between demons. She was used to humans, so she’d had no idea just how intense and satisfying sex was with her own kind. “So let’s try this again. Later, I’m going to fuck this mouth.”

  As the hand collaring her throat slid into her hair and gripped just hard enough to make her scalp prickle, Harper hissed. He did that sometimes, let her feel the bite of pain to warn her not to resist. But he never hurt her, never did anything he thought she wouldn’t like or couldn’t take. In doing that, he’d earned her trust in the bedroom. However, that didn’t mean she’d ever be totally compliant. “You can fuck it,” she began, shrugging, “if you can catch it.” His sensual mouth curved into his panty-dropping smile.

  “So defiant.”

  “But you like that, because having everyone obey you 24/7 has gotten old, hasn’t it? And…you like to punish me.” Those punishments usually went in the form of sensual assaults, prolonging foreplay, making her wait what felt like hours to come, or simply shackling her with psychic hands so she couldn’t touch him.

  He spoke against her lips. “I do like to punish you. I especially like seeing you shaking with the need to come…and cursing me in several languages for not allowing you to.”

  Harper laughed. “Well that’s—” She stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching. All four sentinels then strolled into the room, and all looked grim; Keenan more so than the others.

  Larkin’s expression brightened a little when she saw Harper’s handiwork. Blinking, she said, “Wow. You did all this?”

  As Knox released her hair, Harper nodded at the female sentinel, who then sat opposite her. “Revamping stuff is always fun. And I’ll tell you all about it after Keenan explains why he seems ready to burn shit down.”

  Keenan hesitated, glancing at Knox. The incubus wasn’t yet used to including anyone other than Knox or the other sentinels in conversations concerning their lair.

  “You can always speak freely in front of Harper,” Knox told him. “So unless this is something very personal to you or someone else that can’t be shared, explain now.”

  “It relates to me,” Harper said with total surety. She could tell by the odd look that Keenan kept shooting her. Still, he hesitated. And that just pissed her off. “Keenan, do you like your clothes? Because I have a needle, thread, glue, and sequins – and I ain’t afraid to use them. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Keenan sighed. “You’re right, it relates to you. It’s just weird discussing lair business with outsiders.”

  “She’s my mate, which makes it her business,” Knox stated. “It also makes her part of this lair as well as her own.”

  Inclining his head, the incubus sat next to Larkin. “I called the other sentinels here, because I thought we all needed to discuss this.”

  Levi, who was leaning against the wall, asked, “Discuss what?”

  “It’s about Kendra,” said Keenan.

  Harper put aside the jeans she was working on. “Yeah, what about her?”

  Keenan pulled a flask out of his jacket. “I got a call from the demons we’ve had watching her – she’s missing. She slipped her guard again.”

  Knox twined a lock of Harper’s hair around his finger absentmindedly. “It’s possible that she’s gone searching for Lucian using the information she was given by the imp she met with.”

  “I thought it was likely after what I heard in the boathouse,” said Keenan. “So I went to Kendra’s apartment to see if any of her stuff was missing – that would have told me if she’d taken a little trip. Nothing seems to have gone, and I couldn’t help but notice there was nothing personal there at all. Not a damn thing. It bugged me. I can’t explain why, it just did. Anyway, I went looking for her, and I asked people if they’ve seen her. No one has. I wondered if she’d gone to visit the mother she cares so much for that she feels obliged to avenge, so I paid her a visit.” Keenan took a long swig from the flask. “Imagine my surprise when the young woman who invited me inside introduced herself as Kendra.”

  “Kendra?” echoed Tanner, who was lounging on Harper’s left.

  Keenan nodded. “Yep. I spoke to her, I spoke to the mother – Beatrice – and I can tell you that Kendra never left Alabama to come here. I don’t know who the she-demon is who’s been staying in our lair, but she’s not Kendra Watson.” He dropped the news like a bomb.

  A short silence reigned before people began to curse.

  “You’re certain of this?” Levi asked Keenan.

  “Absofuckinglutely certain. What I don’t understand is why that bitch has been posing as Kendra.”

  Knox didn’t have the answer to that, but he’d find it. “Did you tell Beatrice and Kendra that someone had been passing herself off as her?”

  “No,” responded Keenan. “That’s lair business. I made up some bullshit reason for turning up and then I left.”

 
“Did the real Kendra look anything like the fake one?” asked Tanner.

  “A little. Same hairstyle. Same height. Same weight. Same eye color. But I don’t think they’re related. More like someone’s been using Kendra’s identity because they conveniently look alike.”

  Larkin folded her arms across her chest. “Why would someone join our lair, posing as someone they’re not?”

  “She could be a plant,” said Knox, anger beginning to thrum through him. “There are plenty of demons who’d like to know our lair’s personal business.”

  “That’s true,” agreed Levi, moving away from the wall. “She made an effort to get to you. She could have been sent here to seduce you, to find out your secrets.” Levi snorted at the ridiculousness of it.

  Keenan took another drink from his flask. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Isla sent her.”

  “Why would…whoever she really is…be looking for Lucian if her job was to spy on you?” Larkin asked Knox.

  “You have a point,” conceded Knox. “‘Kendra’ went to the meeting in North Las Vegas. Jolene confirmed she met with an imp there, asking about Lucian.”

  Levi shrugged. “It could have been a cover, a story to give you in case someone saw her near Harper’s apartment that night.”

  “You know,” interrupted Harper, “it’s possible she’s not hiring dark practitioners at all; that they are hiring her.” When no one spoke, she added, “There are plenty of demons for hire out there – they’ll work for the enemy for a price.”

  Tanner frowned, pensive. “You could be right. Practitioners probably see you as a way to get to Knox, to weaken him.”

  “She really does hate me, though,” insisted Harper. “I felt it in the restrooms.”

  “Maybe she just has an issue with your family or with imps in general,” suggested Keenan. “And bear in mind that she’s a real good actress, Harper. In the boathouse, she had me completely fooled about her hatred for Lucian and her distress over her mother.”

  “So we can agree that ‘Kendra’ is a plant,” said Knox. “We’re just not so sure who sent her.”