BURN (25 page)

“Not many, because he and his helpers punished any form of subordination. Riordan did whatever he had to do to keep his power.” Manipulated. Intimidated. Exploited. Oppressed.

As usual, Knox’s exterior was calm and his tone was even. But she’d come to know him so well that she could sense his buried rage. And she just knew that the answer to her next question would be bad, but she had to ask, “What did they do to you?”

He leaned toward her. “Maybe your question should be…what did I do to them?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The menace that had slithered into Knox’s voice made even her inner demon freeze as Harper watched him warily. He’d spoken so softly, so steadily. But the danger was there, sending a trickle of trepidation through her system. It was an instinctive reaction that she couldn’t escape, despite trusting that he wouldn’t exact that menace on her. He was the ultimate predator, and she could never overlook that.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” It was a dare that carried a taunt.

She swallowed, veiling her apprehension. “Not until you answer my question.”

“He punished anyone who wouldn’t give him the unquestioning devotion and submission that he demanded.”

Harper didn’t need to ask if Knox had rebelled. “Punished how?”

“Lots of ways.” Knox tangled a hand in her hair, watching as her jade green eyes swirled and changed into an entrancing cobalt blue. “He liked to keep people locked in a closet for a week or so. In that time, he wouldn’t let them eat, he wouldn’t let them sleep, and he’d beat them frequently.” His demon snarled at the memories. “Many of his followers helped. They got a taste for it, and they enjoyed it.”

Her apprehension was swiftly replaced by fury. “Then the bastards deserved whatever they got.”

“How can you be so sure when you don’t know what they got?”

“They hurt you, so I really don’t care.”

Her response warmed him and settled his demon. “I never said they hurt me. I said they punished people who refused to submit.”

“You refused.”

She was right. Knox and his demon had resisted Riordan’s control, refused to submit, no matter what he or his followers did. But the rage hadn’t really hit Knox until he left and got his freedom; that was when he’d realized what the outside world – one he’d been brought up to believe was bad and dangerous – was truly like, and he’d understood exactly what the bastards had stolen from him.

It had been difficult to adjust, but he’d worked hard to properly develop the sense of self that the bastards had tried to break down and take from him. In the sanctuary, he’d soaked up knowledge of every kind. When he left, he’d used that knowledge to gain all the things he’d been deprived of. And he’d vowed that he’d never again let anyone have any form of control over him.

“Didn’t your parents ever help you, ever try to stop him?”

“Not until the people who questioned or defied Riordan developed a habit of disappearing. That made them wary and suspicious. So when I was twelve, they tried to leave and take me with them.”

“He killed them,” she guessed. “You tried to protect them.”

“No, baby,” he said softly. “I avenged them.” Riordan had forced him to watch as he slit his parents’ throats. Knox had struck back, taken his vengeance out on everything around him. “You’ve seen what destruction I can cause. You can guess what I did. I warned the innocent ones to run, but most of them wouldn’t leave Riordan – they’d become too dependent on him, were utterly brainwashed. So they died with him. But I didn’t care. I was too eager to see him suffer.”

“Stop trying to scare me.”

“Scare you?” Knox cupped her chin and breezed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Baby, I’d never do that. But you have to understand that the answers you want to the many questions in your pretty little head will very often not be what you want to hear. They might shock you, they might disgust you, and they might even frighten you. I don’t want to scare you, but I won’t lie to you. Don’t ask for the truth unless you can deal with it.”

She
could
deal with it. So she asked the one question that might just have the potential to terrify her. “What are you?”

“You’re not ready for that answer yet.” And Knox wasn’t willing to tell her until he’d managed to make her so attached to him that she wouldn’t want to leave him, no matter what. It was ruthless, yes, but he was too determined to keep her to care about that.

Harper bristled. “I get to decide what I’m ready for.”

“No, you don’t.” He fisted his hand in the back of her hair, angled her head how he wanted it, and brought his mouth down on hers. Loving the taste of her, he plundered her mouth with his tongue, just as he wanted to plunder her body with his cock. He bit down hard on her lip, and she snapped her teeth at him.

“You think the answer will scare me so much I’ll leave,” Harper sensed.

Too. Damn. Astute. “I won’t let you leave.”

“If I wanted to go, I
totally
could.”

His demon chuckled, always entertained by the fire in her – its temperament went from grim to relaxed in an instant. Only she seemed able to do that. Knox was just as amused by her ‘spunk,’ as Tanner often referred to it.

“You’re not supposed to smile at me like I’m a little kitten that stupidly thinks it’s a jungle cat.” Secretly, she was happy she’d lifted his mood.

Knox pulled her onto his lap to straddle him. “How can I not be a little entertained? You’re in the den of the big, bad wolf – caught and claimed – but you think you can take him on.”

“Hey, you might be a powerful bad ass, but I’m not helpless here. I could still hurt you if I wanted to. Why are you still smiling?
You’re supposed to fear my mighty wrath.”

His shoulders shook with silent laughter. “In case you can’t tell, I’m petrified.”

“You will be if my mighty wrath is ever unleashed. Stop laughing!”

As the door of the studio closed behind Harper’s client, Raini made an exasperated sound. “If I have to hear another demon talking about how ‘cool’ Malden’s proposal is, I might just hurt them.”

Harper began tidying her station. “I had hoped they’d realize his promise of a voice is just bullshit.”

“A lot of people like Isla’s proposal,” Khloë told them, spinning in her chair. “Mostly because she promised to create a Force that would fight dark practitioners; that kind of thing would avenge demons who had died at the bastards’ hands.”

“According to Knox,” began Harper, “Dario’s proposal has appealed mostly to Primes, though the majority of them are still against having a Monarch.”

Raini leaned against the wall by Harper’s station. “When is Knox back from his business trip?”

“Tomorrow.” It had been a little weird being in the mansion without him for four days, but he’d occasionally pyroported there to see her – and fuck her like a guy possessed. But she didn’t tell her friends that, respecting his wish to remain mysterious about what abilities he had.

Khloë stilled her chair. “What’s he like to live with?”

“A lot easier than I expected. Although he’s very dominant and can be bossy at times, he’s not a dictatorial ‘I’m man of the house and you’ll live by my rules’ kind of guy. He gives me space when I need it, doesn’t treat me like a lodger. To him, it’s my home and I have free rein to do whatever I want to it or in it.” That had to be hard for any demon, since they were territorial creatures.

Raini smiled. “He makes you happy.”

“I guess he does.”

The door swung open, and Devon came waltzing in with four Starbucks coffees. Her cheeks were flushed with irritation. “Harper, you need to do something about that bodyguard of yours, because he’s getting on my goddamn last nerve.”

Glimpsing out of the window, Harper saw that Tanner’s arm was hanging out of the front window of the Bentley…and there was a cat collar dangling from his hand. It was pink and had a little bell. “At least it’s pretty.”

“My demon wants to claw his face off. Can’t you ask Knox to assign someone else?”

“Devon, don’t expect me to feel sorry for you – you’re just as bad as he is. For God’s sake, you brought him a bag of dog biscuits yesterday.”

Devon chuckled to herself. “Yeah, that was fun. Anyway, what are we talking about?”

Raini accepted the coffee cup that Devon handed her. “The fact that Knox makes Harper happy.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t see that placating Lucian when he finds out Knox is your mate,” said Devon, who took her own cup.

Harper sighed. “Me neither. He’ll go nuclear.”

Khloë frowned, crossing the room to grab her coffee. “Fuck Lucian. That negligent bastard doesn’t get to have a say in this.”

“Maybe he’ll fear Knox enough not to aggravate him,” suggested Raini, though she didn’t appear convinced.

“Lucian’s not smart enough to experience fear,” scoffed Khloë. Pausing, she took a swig of her coffee. “So…just how scary a breed is Knox? I’m not asking
what
he is, just how scary it is.”

Harper cleared her throat. “Well, um…”

Her cousin easily saw the truth. “He hasn’t told you what breed he is? Seriously?” She shook her head, perplexed. “Why aren’t you pissed? Doesn’t it bother you that you don’t know what
your own mate
is?”

“It bothers me, yes, but I get that it has to be hard for him to part with such a big secret.”

“That’s my point, though,” said Khloë. “There
shouldn’t
be secrets that big between mates.” Raini and Devon nodded in agreement.

“I’m sure he’ll tell me when he’s ready. I can wait. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Khloë stepped closer. “Want to know what I think?”

“No. I want you to answer the phone like you’re paid to do.”

Khloë waved a dismissive hand at the chiming phone. “I think the reason you’re not riled by him holding back something so important is that deep inside – maybe so deep you don’t even sense it – you’re not taking this relationship seriously, because you’re expecting him to leave you. Not because you don’t trust him or because you’re insecure. But because you’re used to people coming and going.”

“I don’t think he’ll leave.” Harper truly didn’t.

“But what we think and what we feel deep inside – not always the same. Life has conditioned you to believe that people don’t stick around. It’s sort of emotionally reflexive for you to subconsciously expect them to leave at some point.”

Devon and Raini nodded, as if it made perfect sense.

Harper snorted. “That’s just a load of psychological bullshit.”

Khloë straightened, affronted. “Well that’s not very nice.”

“Answer the damn phone.”

With an exasperated sigh, Khloë headed to the reception desk.

“Khloë has a point,” said Raini. “You do automatically assume everyone you meet will be a fleeting presence in your life. It makes you hold back from people.”

“I don’t hold back from Knox. Hell, I moved into his goddamn house.”

“Yes, but let’s be fair, moving into a new house is something you’ve done a million times throughout your life,” Raini pointed out. “On an emotional level, it’s not a huge thing for you. It doesn’t scream ‘permanence’ to someone with a past like yours. Be honest, did it
feel
huge?”

“No,” Harper confessed. “But I took him as my mate; that’s huge.”

“Sure it is. And it tells me that you really care about him. But if you – a person who doesn’t take bullshit from anyone – aren’t seriously hurt and pissed that your mate is holding back something so significant, it’s because you’re not expecting this to last. In your head, you’re still in a ‘we’ll see how it goes’ phase. You haven’t quite accepted that it’s permanent yet.”

“Psychological bullshit,” Harper repeated.

Devon patted her hand. “We’re not trying to needle you, we just want you to be aware of this, so you can deal with it in your head.”

The sound of the door opening was quickly followed by Khloë’s voice. “Sorry, kid, you’re too young.”

“I’m not here for a tattoo. I want to talk to her.”

Harper had only heard that voice once before, but she easily recognized it. Pivoting on the spot, she forced a smile for the teenager who also happened to be her half-brother. He was casting nervous glances at the other three she-demons, who were all staring at him. They obviously also recognized him. “If you’re looking for Knox…”

Kellen gave a fast shake of the head. “No, I…Can we talk in private?”

Harper faked nonchalance. “Is there a problem?”

“Maybe.” His eyes held a knowledge that could turn everything to shit.

Great, just fucking great. She gestured at the diner across the street. “Let’s talk over there. I won’t be long,” she told the girls before escorting him out. After informing Tanner – whose eyes sharpened at the sight of Kellen – that she’d be in the diner, she hurried over there. Only once the waitress had poured them each a coffee did Harper ask, “So…want to tell me what this is about?”

“I know who you are.” His expression was mutinous, daring her to deny the truth. What she didn’t know was just how much of the truth he knew.

She ripped open two packets of sugar, sprinkled the contents into her coffee, and stirred it with a spoon. “And who would that be?”

He didn’t appear to like her aloof act at all. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid and delusional.”

She sighed at the determined glint in his eyes – he wasn’t going to let this go. “It’s Kellen, right? Kellen, there are some stories that are best not to hear.”