Tanner gestured outside with his thumb. “I’ll drive the car back.”
“I’ll come with you,” Keenan said to the other sentinel.
Knox turned to Jolene. “I doubt that the she-demon will return here, but if she does, call me.” The female Prime didn’t respond. He arched a brow. “I know you’re angry, Jolene, but this she-demon made my mate bleed and tried to take our son. It happened in your house, true, but Harper and Asher are my family and part of my lair. As Primes, Harper and I deal with anyone who threatens it.”
“I can’t promise I won’t kill her if she returns here,” said Jolene. “I don’t have that kind of restraint. Won’t it be enough for you to know she’s dead?”
“I don’t want her dead. I intend to find out who she is. I will seize and detain her, but I won’t kill her. I will mentally destroy her. Completely. Utterly. I will break her. Crush her spirit. Torture her until there’s no fight left in her. And she will live in fear that I’ll return to her prison to do it again and again. And I will.”
Jolene looked at him for a few moments. “I can get behind that.”
With an amused snort, Devon squeezed Harper’s hand. “Take care.”
“And give Asher a kiss for us,” added Khloë.
Knox curled his arm around Harper’s shoulders, who leaned into him and slipped an arm around his waist. Just like that, more of Clarke’s thoughts split the air like gunshots. No one else heard them, of course. Only Knox. This time, it wasn’t just thoughts that leaked through Clarke’s shields. It was memories. Memories of Harper. Her taste spiced with mojitos. The softness of her skin. The weight of her breasts. The feel of her pussy, hot and tight, around his fingers. The raspy sigh she let out when she came.
Knox’s rage mingled with that of his demon, who lunged for the surface, making the room temperature plummet. It spoke to the hellcat mind-to-mind, effectively crashing into the male’s thoughts. I could steal those memories from you so very, very easily.
Drew’s eyes widened.
Perhaps I should share some of my own with you. The demon thrust past Drew’s weak shields, forcing its own memories to replay in the hellcat’s brain. Harper screaming as she came. Her telling Knox she loved him. His flesh burning as her demon branded him. Her face all soft and warm as she slid his rings on her finger. Her laughing as they both played with Asher, happy and relaxed.
Clenching his fists, Drew scowled. “Get out of my head.”
Harper belongs to me. Belongs with me. If you wish to challenge my claim on her, do so now. I will enjoy watching you die. When Drew remained quiet instead of disputing its claim to Harper, the demon r
etreated.
“What going on?” asked Harper, wary, as she fisted the back of his shirt.
Knox stroked his thumb over Harper’s jaw. “Nothing, baby. Ciaran?”
With a nod, the imp teleported them back to the living area of the mansion.
CHAPTER THREE
As soon as Ciaran left, Knox gently pulled Harper flush against him and kissed her forehead. That gentle side of him hadn’t shown itself until she came along. Or maybe it hadn’t developed until then. “Stop feeling like you failed Asher.” Her shame was so strong that it brushed the edges of his consciousness. Even if their psyches weren’t joined, the emotion would have been easy enough to sense just by the look on her face.
Harper closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t have left his side.”
“It’s not as if you left him in a room all by himself. Others were with him. And you weren’t gone for long, were you? No. Because you thought he was safe. He should have been safe. No one could have predicted that someone would be so bold as to try to get to Asher while he was in a house full of people. The important thing is that he’s fine, which he is.”
Intellectually, Harper knew he was right. Knew she’d had every reason to believe that Asher would be safe at her grandmother’s house. Especially since Jolene was a strong Prime who was well-known for retaliating hard. But that had obviously been what the mystery she-demon had counted on, hadn’t it? And Harper couldn’t help feeling like she should have been prepared for that, just as she couldn’t help feeling like she should have seen even halfway through Nora’s act.
Harper hadn’t suspected her half-brother, Roan, or Knox’s ex-bed buddy, Isla, of being part of some fucked-up group intending to see the fall of the Primes, but she had been repelled by both of them. Not Nora, though. No, Harper had actually liked the woman.
Stroking a hand down her hair, Knox pulled back to meet her eyes. So much torment there, he thought. It caused a twinge in his chest. “What are you thinking that makes you look like you want to slap yourself?”
“I’m thinking that it’s not even the first time I let Asher down. Yes, I know it’s illogical to feel guilty for not suspecting Nora of being a Horseman, but the guilt’s there all the same.”
“I can’t help feeling guilty that I didn’t escort you to the restroom the day she took you. If I had, you wouldn’t have been forced into early labor and you wouldn’t have gone through so much of it alone.”
Harper’s face scrunched up. “Why would you have escorted me to the restroom?”
“Why would you have suspected Nora?” he shot back. “If I’m not to blame, you’re not to blame.” But Knox understood why she struggled with the guilt. He knew it wasn’t his fault that he hadn’t been at her side during every second of the labor, but that didn’t stop the guilt from creeping in. There was a truck load of anger there, too. It gutted him that he hadn’t been able to live up to his promise to be with her every step of the way; that he hadn’t experienced every single moment of the labor right along with her.
She absently rubbed at her upper arm. “I just can’t help feeling like I neglected Asher by leaving him with Ciaran.”