She lifted one shoulder. “The shindig isn’t so bad.”
“Remember that next time I want to organize an event.”
Not likely. “Hm.”
“After this, we’ll make the announcement.” What would have been a simple speech would now be something else. “Then I’m taking you to the penthouse, where I plan to do very wicked things to you.”
A flush creeped up her neck and face. “Stop. You’re making me all tingly.” Her rhythm faltered as an icy fingertip flicked her clit. “Don’t, I’m already horny as hell.”
He brushed his mouth over hers just as he slid a psychic finger between her folds. “Exactly how I want you.” But he let the finger dissipate, knowing the sensation would make her burn even more.
Harper bit down on her lip, shooting him a look that swore revenge. “That was cruel.” The music faded away and, smiling, he led her toward the podium… only to find Dario, Malden, Jonas, and the dolphin. Harper’s demon grinned.
As Knox lifted their linked hands just enough to flash their rings, Malden blinked and said, “Black diamonds.” He whistled. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” He raised his glass in silent congratulations.
“Really?” said Harper. With the exception of Jolene, he was the only person to have claimed they weren’t surprised.
“Knox is the kind of person who goes after what he wants and does whatever it takes to keep it,” Malden rightly pointed out. Dario, not looking all that surprised by the rings, nodded in agreement. Harper wondered if his dear old grandmother had foreseen the exchange of rings.
“A little soon, isn’t it?” Alethea said to Knox, voice like a whip.
“Soon?” Knox echoed.
“You hardly know her.” Alethea’s upper lip curled. “Declaring her as your mate was a rash move. This… this is beyond foolhardy.”
“Foolhardy?” Harper frowned. “Who uses that word anymore?”
Knox returned Alethea’s glare. “At what point did you get the impression that your approval means anything to me?”
“We’ve known each other a long time,” she said. “This isn’t you.”
“Giving a black diamond to my mate, marking her as mine in no uncertain terms, is exactly who I am.” He wanted Harper and the rest of the world to know who she belonged to.
Alethea gave a fast shake of the head. “You were never possessive.”
“Not of you,” he said, and she barely hid her wince. When her eyes cut to Harper and narrowed, Knox’s demon rushed to the surface and growled at Alethea, “Don’t even look at her.”
Harper almost shivered as the temperature lowered by a few degrees. The others in the group froze, sensing the danger and not wanting to catch the entity’s attention.
Alethea’s eyelids flickered. “I just —”
“I never liked you,” it told her. “Too easy to seduce. Too eager to please.”
It was Harper’s turn to wince. If the demon was aiming to embarrass the dolphin, it was succeeding.
“Do not ever again think to censure what we do or don’t do,” added the demon. It retreated then. “If you’ll excuse me,” began Knox, “I have a speech to make.”
Pale and shaky, the dolphin stormed away without another word. Wise move.
Jonas cleared his throat. “I apologize on my sister’s behalf, Knox. And to you also, Harper.”
He didn’t make excuses for her, and Harper respected him for that. “Apology accepted, though it wasn’t yours to make.”
Knox led her forward, causing the others to part and let them through. On the podium, Knox took a microphone from a demon hovering there and cleared his throat. Silence immediately fell and everyone turned to face the podium. “I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming,” said Knox, voice amplified by the sound system. “And thank you to Belinda Thacker and her team for organizing the event and making it special.”
A quiet, dignified applause rang across the dome.
He linked his fingers with Harper. “This event was not only to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Underground’s opening, but also my mating to Harper Wallis. I have every confidence that she’ll make an excellent Prime and…”
Harper kind of shut off at that point, far too uncomfortable with the sort of praise he liked to lavish on her. She had no wish to stand there, flushing the same red as her dress. Looking around, she caught side of Belinda and the dolphin muttering to each other, looking equally pissed. Hmm. Harper wondered how they knew each other, but she supposed it was quite possible that Belinda had organized an event for Alethea’s lair in the past. She’d have to look into that at a later point. For now, she’d do what her demon was doing and delight in their misery over the rings.
“Before we step down from the podium, we have an announcement to make,” said Knox, which snapped her out of her musings.
Harper was pretty sure half, if not most, people were expecting him to announce that she was pregnant.
“Earlier tonight, Lawrence Crow was captured and killed.” Knox paused as people gasped. “We would have liked to help him, but he was beyond that. He was far too entrenched in his delusion, which is a sad thing. But he could in fact have been helped… had his mental state not been manipulated by another demon – a demon who convinced him that his pills were poisoning him and told him that he had a mission to complete.”