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Levi crossed to her, his shoulders tense. “Why didn’t you tell us about this yesterday?”
“I couldn’t talk about it. My demon was in a major snit. Even hearing his name would have sent the entity into a violent fucking tailspin. I couldn’t trust that it wouldn’t take over and go track him.” Her demon was extremely fond of torture, and it had all sorts of plans for Holt—it had been dreaming up ways to make him suffer for years. “It’s a little calmer now. Its anger isn’t wild and unrestrained; it’s cold and controlled.”
“Good.” Knox paused. “This is why you were a little tense yesterday at dinner. You were not only wound up over Holt’s reappearance, you were striving to keep your demon from losing it.”
For the most part, yes. There was also the little titbit that she’d been uncomfortably horny, courtesy of Teague’s roaming hands and kinky telepathic images. But she felt no need to share that with her brothers. “Teague deliberately did a good job of distracting me.”
Tanner tipped his head to the side. “You told him about Holt?”
“No,” replied Larkin. “He just sensed that something was wrong and set out to divert my attention.”
Knox let out a thoughtful hum. “You should tell him. If Holt intends to linger, he’ll see you with Teague. Holt might even approach him. You don’t want Teague to be caught off-guard like that, do you?”
She hadn’t considered that might happen. And no, she didn’t want the hellhorse to be sucker-punched with the situation. “I’ll tell him later.”
Keenan reached back and palmed his nape. “Holt might not stick around. He might have returned to Canada by now.”
Larkin rubbed at her breastbone. “I did a little research.” A little hacking, to be precise. “He’s staying at The Charon Hotel. He hasn’t checked out yet. His room is booked for three weeks.”
“Three?” echoed Levi, his brows hitching up. He muttered a curse of annoyance.
Knox pursed his lips. “Then it would seem he came here with every intention of doing as he said and spending time earning your trust.”
Like three weeks would have been enough even if she had been interested in letting him into her life.
Keenan turned to the Prime. “But now that he knows she isn’t interested in giving him a shot, he might respect her wishes and leave.”
“I don’t know,” said Larkin, doubtful. “This is Holt we’re talking about. When has he ever respected my wishes?”
“Never,” Keenan allowed. “That said, he might—for once—choose to back off.”
She sighed. “I guess. Stranger things have happened. And I did make it abundantly clear that he has no hope of convincing me to form the bond. Plus, he’s a Prime now. He can’t afford to be away from his lair for long.”
Knox rubbed at his jaw. “I could pay him a visit and strongly suggest he leave.”
Larkin thought about it for a moment. “It may come to that. But first, I’d like to see if he returns home of his own accord. It could be his intention. But if you turn up at his hotel room and pressure him to get on a plane, he could choose to stay merely to make a point that he owes you no compliance.”
Levi looked at Knox. “She’s right. You wouldn’t react well to another Prime laying down the law, however civilly they did it.”
Knox stiffly tilted his head, reluctantly conceding that. “I’ll give him a chance to make the right choice.” He slid his eyes back to Larkin. “But if he doesn’t, if he becomes a problem, I will deal with it—both as your family and your Prime.”
Swallowing, she nodded.
Levi sidled up to her and curled his arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry that you have such a fuckhead for an anchor.”
She exhaled heavily. “Yeah, me too.”
CHAPTER SIX
I really don’t see the problem, said Khloë, her mind brushing his.
Leaning his body just right to make a sharp turn on his bike, Teague agreed, It is a little unfair to you.
I know, right? It’s not like I asked for a kidney or something.
Disregarding the speed limit, he carefully weaved his bike between a car and a bus, smiling when horns subsequently beeped at him in complaint.
I only want to take Anaïs to get her ears pierced, Khloë added.
Quality time with your kind-of-niece.
Yes! Tanner was all like ‘you are not mutilating my daughter’. As if I was gonna start hacking off body parts.
People were weird sometimes. Total overreaction.
Amen. Why can’t more people be on our wavelength, Teague? The world would truly be a better place. Not saying that parts of it wouldn’t be on fire or pure wasteland, but it would still be better.
Approaching an amber light, Teague upped his speed, managing to pass through the traffic lights a mere second before they turned red. Maybe we should look into global domination again.
