Knox rubbed his nose against hers. “Love you, baby.” Like that, she lost the stiffness in her spine. Probably because he didn’t say the words often. It wasn’t just because they didn’t come easy to him, it was also because they felt wrong. Weak. Soft. Unlike the love he’d sensed in others, there was nothing soppy or tender about what he felt for Harper. No, it was a dark, intense, hissing, spitting emotion that consumed and clawed at him.
She went pliant against him. “Love you.”
It amazed Knox that she did, given the darkness that stained his soul. And, he suddenly remembered, it similarly amazed a certain male hellcat. “Tell me about Drew.”
She blinked at the abrupt change of subject. “He’s Devon’s older brother. He lives in Cuba, but he came home for a visit.” She tilted her head. “Why was your demon in his head?”
Knox’s feet moved soundlessly along the light pine flooring as he walked to the small bar. “Drew’s shields are very weak. I picked up some of his thoughts. I didn’t like what I heard.” He gestured at the bottles. “Drink?”
Shaking her head, she folded her arms. “What thoughts did you hear?”
“Like your father, he has a lot of distaste for me due to the rumors he’s heard over the years about my versions of punishment. Such as the time I subjected a vampire to horrific torture, confined her to a solid brass coffin, and then set a fire beneath said coffin. Of course, she’d kidnapped and caused much harm to one of my demons, but people tend to leave out that part.”
Pausing, Knox poured himself a gin and tonic. “He thinks I’m bad for you. Too dangerous. Too cold. He believes I couldn’t possibly care for you the way I should, so he has absolutely no idea why you have committed yourself to me. Although … he does wonder if you feel comfortable with me because I’m like Lucian.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “What? You’re nothing like my father.”
“I know that. But to Drew, I’m as emotionally unavailable as Lucian. Therefore, Drew wonders if it’s a case of you having daddy issues.” Knox took a swig from his tumbler. “Baby, he just wants there to be a reason you’re with me that doesn’t mean you care for me. He’s jealous that I have you, and he despises me for tying you to me.”
“Jealous?” Harper’s arms slipped to her sides. She shook her head, unconvinced. “I’m sure he finds it surprising that I’m mated and have a kid, considering the last time he saw me I was still intent on not getting involved with a demon—”
“A rule you broke for him one night,” Knox reminded her, voice carefully controlled. “He projected his memories quite loud.”
Harper felt her cheeks heat, though she wasn’t sure why she was embarrassed. His voice hadn’t raised even a single octave, but cold menace was stamped into every line of his perfectly sculpted face. “I was hammered.”
“Yes, you were so hammered, in fact, that he got to … what’s the term? Third base.”
The taunt there made Harper narrow her eyes. She had a vague memory of Drew making her come with his fingers in her old apartment. She remembered pushing him away after that. He hadn’t pressured her for more. He’d just kissed her forehead and left.
Knox took another swig of his drink. “As you can imagine, I don’t like having all that in my head. My demon was kind enough to share some of its own memories of you with the hellcat. Memories that would drive home exactly who you belong to. If the hellcat has any sense, he will stay away from you.”
“Knox, I really don’t think Drew has any designs on me. Even if he did, he’s hardly going to think he has a chance with me. You and I don’t just live together, we exchanged rings, we have a son, and I took your surname. If all that doesn’t scream ‘commitment’ I don’t know what will. Even the skanks from your past have given up trying their luck with you.” And, really, she just didn’t believe that Drew cared enough to bother.
Crossing to her, Knox curved his hand around her chin. “Harper, do you really think that if you’d been in a relationship with someone when I met you, it would have stopped me from pursuing you? I’ve told you before, I would have taken you from them—no matter what it took. Not even the sight of a black diamond on your finger would have discouraged me.”
“Yeah, well, Drew never cared for me the way you do. That fumble in my old apartment wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t both been smashed.”
“I doubt that he’s never cared for you. He’s certainly possessive of you. I felt it.” Knox knocked back the last of his drink and then placed the glass on the table. “In any case, I don’t want him near you, whispering words in your ear that might make you doubt me.”
“Even if he does think you’re bad for me, he wouldn’t try to cause problems if for no other reason than we have Asher. Drew isn’t a bad person. He wouldn’t try to break up a family.”
“I’m not so sure of that.” Knox combed his fingers through her dark hair and then rubbed the silky gold ends between the pads of his fingers. “I don’t like that he’s known you longer than I have. I don’t like that he knows what you taste like.” Knox cupped her pussy. “Or that he knows what it feels like to have this, hot and slick, rippling around his fingers. It’s mine.”
Gripping his arms, Harper swallowed. “He’s known me longer, but he doesn’t know me better than you do. Nobody does.”
“No, they don’t,” Knox agreed. He breezed his thumb over the tattoo-like brand his demon had left on the V between her thighs. It was an intricate swirl of thorns that he often made a point of tracing with his tongue. “Just like nobody knows me better than you do. Which means you know exactly what I’m capable of. You know just how dangerous I can be and just how far I’d go to keep and protect you. It would be better for Clarke if he never has to learn that.”
Knox kissed her. Hard. Deep. Wet. Punctuating his words. Taking everything because it was his to take. She was essential to him. Indispensable. Something he needed. He’d never let her go. Never. Not even if she begged him.
He could admit that he’d railroaded her the entire time they’d been together, and he didn’t feel the least bit guilty about that. He was as ruthless and calculated as he was rumored to be. He did what it took to get what he wanted—lied, hurt, manipulated, exploited, destroyed. What he’d wanted most was Harper, and he’d done whatever he had to do to have her. He had no limits when it came to her.
He’d pushed her to give herself to him and form the anchor bond, and it still amused him that while he’d spent time using various manipulation tactics to lure her to him, he’d been unknowingly falling for her. In a short time, he’d pushed for more. Pushed her to accept him as her mate, to move in with him, to wear his rings, and to take his surname.
He’d been elated to hear she was pregnant, and a darkly possessive part of him had thought … Now she’s tied even further to me.
She bit his lip and pulled back. “Ease up, you made your point.” She pushed his hand away from her pussy, not liking when he used his sexuality against her that way. “Wait a minute, your demon didn’t share the memory of branding me down there, did it?” Because she’d never be able to look Drew in the eye ever again.
Knox raised a brow. “Would it bother you if it had?”