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“As was your coming all the way to Vegas. Larkin doesn’t need you, Holt. She’s perfectly happy as she is. You should have just left well alone.”
There were more creaks of leather, and she got the sense that both males had risen from their seats.
“Now,” began Knox, “I suggest that you, your bodyguard, and any other demons you may have brought with you go book yourselves a flight home. And by suggest, I mean insist.”
“I can’t oblige you in that,” Holt stated, a defiant edge to his tone.
“Oh yes, you can,” her Prime insisted. “And you will. Because you wouldn’t want to face the consequences.”
A pause. “You’re threatening me?” The words came out soft and low but were laced with anger.
“I would have thought the answer to that was clear. I didn’t butter it up, did I?”
Another pause. “It’s a mistake for you to be so confident that you’ll walk away the victor if you and I come to blows. You’re not the only demon who wields a lot of power.”
“Oh, there are others,” Knox allowed. “You’re not one of them. A duel between us would end badly for you, and that show of weakness on your part would lead to you being usurped. You made a lot of sacrifices to become Prime. It would be stupid of you to throw your position away. But, by all means, do exactly that. Making you suffer will be most cathartic, and I’m sure Larkin’s demon will enjoy assisting me in that.”
Long moments of silence went by. If she had to guess, she’d say that Holt was struggling to admit to himself that, yes, Knox was right. The cambion was no match for him.
“Go back to Canada, Holt. Forget about Larkin. Focus on yourself. It shouldn’t be too difficult. You’ve been doing it for years.”
Larkin smiled at that.
There were two sets of footfalls, the opening of a door, the mutters of voices, and then the door once more closed.
“You can come out now,” Levi called.
Larkin exited the bathroom, her gaze immediately seeking out Knox. “Well, that was unpleasant. Do you think he heard you? That he’ll heed you?”
Her Prime twisted his mouth. “I got through to him. That I’m certain of. But it’s difficult to say if he’ll heed my warning or not.”
Levi scraped a hand over his jaw. “Did anyone else find it weird that Holt—a Prime who would never willingly look weak—basically threw himself on the sacrificial altar?”
She nodded. “Oh, it was definitely weird. He’s proud and arrogant. He’d want Knox to view him as an equal. But he came in here, admitted all his failings, and asked for help with a personal matter. That’s not very Holt-like, or Prime-like.”
“It’s possible that he isn’t pursuing the anchor bond for the reason he claims,” Knox mused. “He’s an incredibly ambitious demon. We all know that. We know he uses people. We know he plays power games.”
Larkin narrowed her eyes. “Why do you suspect he’s truly here? What do you think this is really about?”
Knox dragged his teeth over his lower lip. “Politics. I learned yesterday that he’s been having some difficulties with other lairs. Bigger lairs who seek to overtake his. He has alliances with Primes, but not many. He knows he’d never get an alliance from me, even if you two were bonded. I would never trust him. But I think he believes that him being bound to you would at least make the other lairs back off.”
Having a total ‘aha’ moment, Larkin nodded. “They’d think that you wouldn’t like anyone screwing with my anchor; that you’d defend Holt. And the idiot probably figures he could also be sure that you’d never act against him if he was psychically linked to me.”
“Unless the situation was extremely dire, I would never harm your anchor if you were bound to him,” said Knox. “Because to do that would be to harm you emotionally. I would want to preserve our familial relationship even if you switched to his lair. He will know that.”
Feeling her lips press into a tight line, she folded her arms. “This is why he’s acting so reasonable and self-flagellant and offering to make all the sacrifices. He’s in a real hurry to get me to cooperate. He won’t be prepared to lose his seat of power—he spent too long striving to get it.”
Levi rubbed at his nape. “As much as I hate to say it, yeah, I think Holt is mostly here for political reasons. That’s not to say I think you don’t matter to him, Lark. I believe you do on some level. It’s just that—as it was before all those years ago—his ambitions matter more.”
Maybe it should have hurt Larkin to realize that her anchor yet again sought to use and manipulate her for his own gain. Her demon was outraged but, honestly, Larkin only felt tired. She was just so done with his bullshit.
