She leaned into the male demon at her side, stroking his arm as she smirked at Knox. “Have you met Brandt?”
“I haven’t. Have you met Harper?” Seeing that Brandt was raking an appreciative gaze over her, Knox possessively flexed his grip on her hip.
Kendra’s smirk was quickly replaced by a sneer of distaste as she studied Harper’s appearance. “No, I haven’t had that pleasure. I expect that’s because she clearly doesn’t travel in our social circle.”
“This is Harper Wallis, my anchor.”
Kendra froze for a moment. Then jealousy briefly flashed across her face, and Harper understood why. A demon would often be jealous of their partner’s closeness to their anchor. Kendra clearly didn’t want anyone having any kind of claim on Knox.
“I see,” drawled Kendra. “Did you say she’s a Wallis?” Kendra chuckled, but the sound was forced. She was still too jealous to be truly amused. “You drew the short straw, Knox. Poor you.”
Used to the prejudice, Harper just smiled. “It’s good to see you’re not bitter.”
“Enjoy your evening,” Knox told Kendra and Brandt. Shackling Harper’s wrist, he then guided her through the exit, out of the hotel, and into a waiting car. “We’re taking Harper home,” he told Levi, who immediately pulled away from the curb. “I take it Tanner’s still dealing with some issues in the hotel.” Levi merely nodded in confirmation.
“What did you do to that woman to piss her off so much?” Harper asked Knox.
“My demon loses interest in its sexual partners very quickly.” It was probably better that his little sphinx knew that upfront. “Females tend to be offended by that.”
“Is this a warning?”
Knox shrugged. “It’s simply better that you know.”
“Since I’ve no intention of hopping into your bed, it’s not something I need to know.”
He pinned her gaze with his as he spoke only loud enough for her to hear. “I will have you, Harper. I don’t give up until I catch my prey.”
“I’m nobody’s prey.”
“We’ll see.”
No sooner had Harper stepped into her apartment than her cell phone rang. It was Khloë. “Hey,” answered Harper, locking the door.
“Why am I only hearing now that Knox Thorne is your anchor?”
Harper frowned. “Who told you about that?”
“I heard Jolene and Beck talking about it.” Beck was Jolene’s anchor.
“Eavesdropping again?”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You knew that night in the Underground, but you didn’t say anything.” Khloë sounded genuinely hurt.
“I was kind of in shock. It’s a big thing, and I didn’t really know how I felt about it. We both know what your reaction would have been.”
“If you’re insinuating that I would have interfered in any way, shape, or form—”
“You would have hounded me until I gave in and bonded with him, and if that failed you would have concocted some sort of plan with the rest of our family to make it happen – and we both know it. This has to be my decision, and mine alone.”
“But you told Raini and Devon,” she whined.
“Because although they’re full of opinions, they don’t believe it’s their right to mess with my life. That’s a Wallis thing.”
Khloë huffed. “Fine. You can at least tell me if you’ve bonded with him yet.”
“I haven’t.”
“You didn’t say ‘yet’, which means you’re considering refusing to do it. Look, I know you find it hard to trust and let people in. But you have the comfort of knowing that Knox can’t possibly be any less reliable than either of your primary blood relations.” Primary blood relations being Carla and Lucian. Khloë simply refused to refer to them as ‘parents.’
“That’s true,” Harper allowed with a sigh.
“You sound really glum. How about we go back to the Underground this weekend? Sunday night’s the best. It’s too hectic on Fridays and Saturdays.” As demons could go for days and days without sleep, they didn’t need to worry about staying up late on work nights.
“Sure. But no more duels.”
“We’ll see.”
It occurred to Harper as she ended the call that those were the last words Knox had said to her. If it turned out that Knox was just as mentally resilient as Khloë, then Harper would definitely have a problem getting him to do anything she wanted him to do – including walking away from her. Not great.
CHAPTER FOUR
Come to me, Harper.
With a gasp, Harper bolted upright in bed. And cursed. That rumbly, velvet voice called to her day and night; tempting her and teasing her with a promise of sexual satisfaction. Worse, the words snaked over her skin like demanding hands, making raw need inflate inside her – an overwhelming pressure that had nowhere to go. Her whole body felt hypersensitive, edgy, and tingly.
Cursing him to hell and back, she clambered out of bed and headed for the kitchen area, where she switched on the coffee machine. She had seen him twice during the past week; on both occasions he had collected her from the studio and taken her to dinner. It had been a different restaurant each time. He was clearly trying to ensure as many demons as possible saw them together.
As she’d watched people rush to aid, serve, or talk to him wherever they went, it had quickly become clear that he welded a shit load of social power. That fear of him was always present, though. Even humans sensed that there was something dangerous about him.