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Raini felt her mouth drop open. There’d been rumors that Knox had such an ability, but Raini had hoped they weren’t true, because nothing was impervious to the flames of hell—they could destroy the freaking world.
“I do get all that, Harper,” Keenan went on, “but—”
“But Khloë’s yours, and you love her, and you don’t want her to die,” Harper finished. “You’re wrong in thinking that Knox hesitated that day because he didn’t want to expose his ability—he knew he could erase the incident from people’s minds.”
“Then why did he hesitate?”
“I was speaking to him telepathically just before Jolene’s shield crumbled. He was so angry, Keenan. There we all were—tired and injured from a damn battle during which his own son had been fighting alongside us in his astral form … and all because someone suspected—simply suspected—that Knox possessed the ability to call on the flames.
“Right then, Knox hated and resented that he had it. The last thing he wanted to do was use it, but he would have if he’d known that Jolene’s shield would fall. He couldn’t have known it would. I hadn’t. I hadn’t thought we’d need the flames. I mean, there was a bunch of us against one man. None of us could have known that Jolene’s shield wouldn’t survive the final attack. Her shield had cracked a few times during the battle, but it hadn’t faltered until then. Knox hates now, with the benefit of hindsight, that he hesitated. You and I both know he wouldn’t have held back if he’d thought Khloë would otherwise be hit by that last death orb.”
Keenan said nothing for a few moments. “Why didn’t he say any of this to me when I ripped him another asshole?”
“Because he feels that he let you down, so he’s not looking for you to forgive him or excuse what decisions he made that night.” Harper paused. “Put yourself in his shoes. If it had been me who Enoch wanted to kill, you’d have been worried for me, but your priority would have still been Khloë. The fact that she was unsafe would have been all you could think about. Fearing for the life of a person you love fucks with your head and makes it hard for you to be rational. You wouldn’t have put Khloë’s life before mine, would you?”
Keenan exhaled heavily. “No,” he admitted, the word seeming torn out of him.
“So you can understand why he didn’t put her before me?”
Another heavy exhale from the incubus. “Yeah. And I get why his head was all kinds of messed up after seeing Asher there. I don’t think I could have thought straight either, in his shoes.”
“So then maybe you could stop hating him.”
Keenan softly snorted. “I don’t hate Knox. You can’t hate someone you walked through fire with for years to come out the other side. He’s saved my life more than once.”
“And mine. He’s almost lost me several times. It plays on his mind that there’ll be a ‘next time’ and I won’t survive it.”
Keenan sucked in a long breath. “I’ll talk to him. I can’t say things will get back to normal fast, but I’ll talk to him.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”
Raini had walked away after that, so she wasn’t sure what else had been said. The conversation between Knox and Keenan must have gone somewhere good, because they’d begun speaking again shortly after Harper spoke with the incubus. Things had seemed a little awkward at first, but not so much now.
She hadn’t told anyone what she’d overheard, and she never would. If it was well-known that Knox could truly destroy the world so easily, many demons would band together to kill him. She doubted it would get them anywhere, but they’d still try it. Others would get hurt and potentially die.
Some secrets just couldn’t be shared. Raini knew that better than anyone.
Ready to leave, she crossed to the coatrack near the vending machine and slipped on her jacket. “Hey, Levi,” she greeted the reaper.
The guy possessed that elusive badass quality that was all kinds of hot. There’d never been any chemistry between him and Raini, though.
He didn’t seem affected by her succubae allure, which was part of why she felt comfortable around him. She suspected he was good at treating it as background noise because one of his closest friends was also a sex demon.
He tipped his chin in greeting, his steely eyes sweeping the space. “Where’s your bodyguard?”
Raini flicked her hair out from under her collar. “You always ask me that, and you always seem so disappointed in me when I can’t give you the answer.”
“I’m not disappointed in you. I’m disappointed in Maddox. Why put a guard on you if they’re not going to do their job?”
“She watches from afar. Kind of like a guardian angel as opposed to personal security. Only she’s not an angel. She’s a demon. And I don’t think she likes me much. When I do see her, she’s always frowning at me.”
