Just as she and Khloë moved to pass, Kendra gripped Harper’s arm tight and hissed, “You can’t possibly—”
“You should let go of me, Kendra.” The bitch really, really should…because her behavior had triggered a primal reaction in Harper that could mean very bad things for Kendra. Her familiar dark power had rushed to her hands, ready to protect and defend Harper. In addition, her demon was on high alert, raring to take control. Harper urged it to remain calm, assured it that she’d take care of this. “I’d like to say that I don’t want to hurt you, but I do. You make it really hard to like you.” She put her face close to Kendra’s. “So don’t tempt me.”
“What are you going to do, imp?”
Khloë grinned. “I love it when this happens.”
“I’ll probably just poke you in the forehead, which I’m fairly sure is pretty empty.”
Eyes glittering with malice, Kendra tightened her hold. Warmth shot up Harper’s arm and filled every part of her. But that was pretty much all that happened. Judging from Kendra’s dumbfounded expression, more should have happened. Whatever she’d tried to do hadn’t worked.
Harper sniffed. “That all you got?” Then she did exactly as she’d threatened: she poked Kendra’s forehead, and the power prickling the pad of her index finger forced its way inside Kendra; past skin and bone, attacking the soul within. Having a dualism to her soul meant that not only did it hurt Kendra, it hurt her demon.
Her eyes widened as she tangled her hands in her hair and cried out, dropping to her knees. Then, sobbing and moaning, she scrambled into the corner, eyeing Harper like she was Lucifer himself. Yeah, that wasn’t an uncommon reaction.
“We’ll be going now.” Taking a gleeful Khloë by the arm, Harper led her out of the restrooms…and slammed into a solid, familiar body that made her inner demon go from pissed to happy in a nanosecond. She frowned at Knox. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you all right?” he demanded. Levi, Devon, and Raini were behind him.
“Knox came and asked where you were,” explained Raini. “We were a little worried that you guys were taking a while.”
“Who’s crying?” Knox asked.
“I’m surprised you need to ask,” said Khloë, “since you’ve probably made her cry out a few times yourself. In bed, I mean.”
Knox pushed his way into the restrooms, causing Harper and Khloë to back up. That was when he saw Kendra huddled into a ball in the corner, whimpering and clearly in pain. It was easy enough to guess why, but it wasn’t clear what Kendra had done to provoke Harper. He arched a brow at his anchor. “What happened?”
She shrugged. “Kendra was just saying hello.”
Face hardening, he repeated, “What happened?”
Harper sighed. “It’s been dealt with.”
Knowing his anchor was so stubborn she could keep that up all night long, Knox turned to the she-demons from his lair that were standing off to the side. He didn’t even need to ask them what happened; the entire story spilled out of them in a rush. Hearing the things Kendra had said and done, it was really no wonder that Harper retaliated.
“Levi, get Kendra out of here.” Knox turned to his anchor. “You come with me.” Amber eyes glared at him for that order.
“Look, I get that you want to talk about this, but I’m here with my cousin and my friends – I don’t ditch people.”
He looked at the three she-demons lingering in the doorway. “Follow us to the VIP section. It’s where you should have been anyway, Harper.” Little squeals of delight came from her companions but, of course, his anchor didn’t look all that impressed.
Harper found it strange walking through a busy bar with Knox Thorne holding her wrist. He didn’t need to push through a crowd, it parted for him. Respect, fear, awe, and – in the case of some females – desire was in the eyes of many. The respect mostly extended to Harper but, unsurprisingly, the ogling females didn’t like her much.
When they reached the VIP section with its comfier furniture, and its separate bar and waiters, Knox gestured for Harper’s companions to sit in a booth before he then pulled her into a corner.
She raised a hand. “Before you say anything, let’s just be clear that you can’t be pissed at me for this. All I did was defend myself, and I’ll do it again.”
Knox shook his head. “I’m not pissed because you defended yourself. I’m pissed because you were put in a position where you had to defend yourself. It never should have happened. Kendra knows better.”
“I dealt with it.”
“You think it will end there because you fought back? I’m responsible for policing every single one of my demons. If they cross a line, they’re punished – it’s as simple as that.”
“Don’t kill her, Knox.” Harper could see that he wanted to. “Demons are known for crossing lines. We do it all the time. Kendra behaved stupidly, yes, but whatever she tried to do didn’t work and I dealt with it my way. You need to respect that and you need to be seen to respect it. Because if you don’t respect me and my ability to protect myself, neither will anyone else.”
He couldn’t deny that was true…which only served to piss him off even more.
“Besides, she didn’t try to kill me, she tried to hurt me. She was just picking a fight because she’s jealous.”