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“Who was attacked—you or Asher?” Tanner asked, muscles rigid.
“Me, but it was Asher they wanted,” said Harper, grim. “I was just about to call Knox. Thanks for bringing them here, Ciaran.”
Her cousin nodded. “No problem. Good luck dealing with your mate.”
Yeah, she was pretty sure she’d need it.
“The only reason I didn’t call out to Knox was because I figured you already had,” said Keenan when Ciaran was gone.
“Same here,” Tanner told her. “I couldn’t see anything through the frost. I thought he was already in there with you.”
Harper shoved a hand through her hair. “I was too busy panicking about Asher to think of anything or anyone other than him.” But now it was time to reach out to Knox.
She took a deep breath. Knox? She tried to sound casual and failed by a long, long mile. Her telepathic voice fairly shook with the fear that still clogged her lungs so that it hurt to breathe.
His mind touched hers, vibrating with concern. Harper, what’s wrong?
I’m at home. Could you please—
Fire erupted out of the ground in front of her, snapping and crackling. The flames died away, revealing a tall, solid, imposing figure in a tailored Armani suit. Shimmering pools of black roamed over her, taking in everything.
“What is it, Harper?” Brows drawn, Knox stalked toward her with an animal grace that usually made her stomach flip. Right then, her stomach was rock hard. “Baby, you’re shaking. What is it?”
She licked her lips. “Someone tried to take him. Someone tried to take Asher.”
For a moment, Knox simply stared at her. Then his face tightened into a mask of savage fury and flames flickered from his fingertips. His rage crashed into her as it swept through the room like a tidal wave. The furniture shook, the ceiling spotlights buzzed, and tremors rattled the walls. Then it stopped, but she wasn’t mistaking that for the danger passing.
“Where is he?” clipped Knox, body unnaturally still.
“Upstairs with Meg. He’s fine, Knox,” she assured him, even though she suspected he’d already touched Asher’s mind to see that much for himself. “Really, he’s okay.”
Knox’s eyes bled to black as his demon rose to the fore, and the room temperature dropped so low she shivered. “He wasn’t harmed?” asked the demon in a flat, chilling, disembodied voice.
She swallowed. “No. They didn’t even touch him. They couldn’t; he’d raised his shield.”
“I want to know everything.” The demon prowled toward her, every inch the lethal predator. “I want—” It cut off, nostrils flaring, and its obsidian eyes glittered with renewed fury. “I smell your blood.”
Shit. The air suddenly turned muggy and oppressive, like just before a storm. The demon’s rage was so live and electric, it was almost tangible. Meeting its unblinking stare, Harper forced herself not to tense. It didn’t matter that she knew the demon wouldn’t harm her. Only a total idiot wouldn’t find something that old, dangerous, and pitiless to be unnerving.
Neither she nor Knox had expected his demon to form such a powerful attachment to her that it wanted to claim her as its own. Knox would have been forced to give her up if things had turned out differently, because a person couldn’t take someone as their mate unless their inner demon accepted them too.
Even though joining their psyches had made Harper more powerful, Knox and his demon were still just as overprotective as ever. It didn’t even matter that, thanks to his power flooding her mind, she could also call on the flames of hell—Knox still wished he could tuck her away somewhere safe.
Now that she had Asher, Harper finally understood why. She worried for Knox just as he worried about her, sure, but she had the comfort of knowing that he was a supreme badass. Knox, however, didn’t have that same comfort, because she was nowhere near as powerful as he was. To Knox, she was vulnerable in ways he would never be. Likewise, Asher—though powerful—was vulnerable to harm in ways that neither she nor Knox were. It made her want to hide him away, where no one could ever touch him. And maybe that was exactly what she should have done.
Feeling like an utter failure, Harper licked her lips. “Please don’t go postal. I need Knox. I can’t do this by myself.”
*
It was the shake in her voice that reached the demon through the red hazing its vision. Its mate was strong. Brave. Resilient. Incredibly self-reliant. To admit to needing anyone, to being unable to bear the situation alone, meant she was in genuine distress. The demon’s fury receded slightly. “I don’t like the taint of fear in your scent, little sphinx.” When Knox fiercely reached for the surface, wanting to reassure their mate, the demon retreated.
In control once more, Knox cricked his neck. His chest expanded with a full breath that he slowly blew out. Anger simmered low in his core—an anger that had moments ago inflated inside his chest until there was no way to breathe without tasting red-hot rage. It had flooded his body, poured into his extremities, and made his blood boil and smolder like lava. His demon had gone into a volcanic rage, roaring so loudly it had made Knox’s head throb.
Only one thing had stopped both him and the entity from losing control—on touching Asher’s mind, they’d sensed no anguish or fear in him. Only calm and contentment.
Focusing on his mate, Knox saw just how terribly shaken she was. He knew Harper. Knew she’d be blaming herself. Knew that she’d be hurting right down to the deepest part of her soul. He also sensed that she was keeping a chokehold on her anger so that she didn’t exacerbate his own. He could do no less for her. She needed comfort. Support. Reassurance. Not the rage sitting in his gut like lead.
Locking down the dark emotions threatening to send him into a frenzy, Knox crossed to her. “Come here, baby.” He curved his hand around her nape and pulled her close. At first, she remained stiff and unresponsive, as if she thought she deserved no comfort. He smoothed his hand up and down her back until the stiffness leached out of her. “Tell me everything.”
