Ashes (Dark in You 3)

His eyes flicked to the other demon, who was still sobbing in the corner, but his gaze quickly snapped back to the male in his psychic grip. Knox halted in front of him and cocked his head. “Your little friend over there can answer my questions,” he rumbled. “Which is a very good thing because there isn’t the slightest chance that I could let you live even a moment longer.”

Knox’s eyes bled to black and the room temperature plummeted as his demon rose to the surface. Harper tensed. It would never harm her, she knew that. But it would be dumb to ever let herself forget how cold, menacing, and old the entity was. It could destroy them all so very easily. And it wasn’t particularly interested in the right or wrong of wreaking havoc when it was in a rage. Right then, it was incalculably pissed.

The demon glared at its captive. “You hurt what’s mine,” it said in a chilling, disembodied voice. “Cut her. Made her bleed. Caused her pain.” It leaned forward slightly. “Now I will do the same to you.”

Straightening, the demon held up its hand. The male’s body arched toward it; legs kicking, arms flailing, eyes bulging. His face was red and contorted with an agony that he’d undoubtedly cry out with if his larynx wasn’t being crushed. His body violently bucked, and there was a nauseating crack as his ribs broke and his chest somehow burst open. His heart flew into the demon’s open hand, still beating.

Harper didn’t know whether to be impressed or revolted. Her bloodthirsty demon was most certainly impressed, grinning with a wicked satisfaction.

The corpse dropped to the floor like a sack of spuds. Hellfire erupted out of the demon’s hand, devouring the organ it held until even the blood was completely gone.

Harper’s brows rose. Now that was definitely impressive. Her inner demon wholeheartedly agreed.

The entity turned to face Harper, and its black eyes raked over her. Then those eyes changed, and she was once more looking at Knox. But then they bled to black again, and she realized that he and his demon were battling for dominance. She stayed rigid as she waited to see who would win.

Finally, the entity seemed to have agreed to retreat, and suddenly Knox’s dark eyes were focused solely on her. Despite that danger clung to him, that his demon was so pitiless and cruel, and that he was every inch the most lethal predator she’d ever met, Harper felt nothing but safe when he stalked to her and cradled her face with his hands.

“Ah, baby, what did they do to you?” Even though his voice vibrated with a rage that was thickening the air, there was a gentle note to it that almost undid her.

“They tried to saw off my wings,” she told him, struggling to ease the tremble in her limbs. Now that the adrenaline rush was fading, the pain was like nothing she’d ever felt and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay conscious.

Knox viciously swore. “Let me see.”

Holding herself stiffly, she turned. “How bad is it?” He didn’t answer, but fury blasted the air, sending shockwaves sweeping outwards. The walls and ceiling shook slightly. She slowly turned back to face him. His expression was now blank, and he looked the image of composure even as his anger seemed to clog up the room. “How bad?” she asked again, panicking now.

Knox cupped his mate’s jaw, wanting to pull her close and hold her tight against him, but he was scared he’d hurt her. She was in enough pain as it was. “The bastards didn’t get very far. The saw didn’t even make it halfway through the stems.” But he knew that every drag of the serrated blade must have been absolutely agonizing. He clenched his jaw, hating the very thought of her in such excruciating pain.

She wasn’t bleeding badly, but the cuts on her back were ugly. The saw had sliced into her flesh several times, as if she’d repeatedly jerked and the blade had accidentally nicked her each time.

The front door burst open just moments before Levi came skidding into the office. His gun-metal gray eyes took in Harper, the dead demon, his whimpering friend, and the bloody saw. “Fuck,” he bit out.

Knox wasn’t surprised to see his sentinel. They’d been in the middle of a conversation when Knox had heard Harper’s telepathic scream, whispered her name, and then abruptly pyroported from his office to the studio. Levi had no doubt panicked.

“They tried to steal Harper’s wings,” Knox told him. “I believe they’re hunters.”

Levi cursed again. “How successful were they?” he growled, examining the dead body.

“Not very,” said Harper. “I’ll be okay.”

Knox framed her face again, fighting to keep his touch gentle when he was feeling anything but. “You should have called me immediately. I know you want to protect me just as I do you, but why wait until you’re so badly hurt?”

“I did call you. You didn’t come.”

He frowned. “I came as soon as I heard you.”

She shook her head. “I called you over and over. You didn’t come.” She’d started to think that he wasn’t going to come at all. “I thought something might have happened to you.”

Knox slid a possessive hand around her nape and gave it a comforting squeeze. “I only heard you once, baby. It was like an echo of a scream.” And it had pierced a heart he hadn’t thought he had until he met Harper. “One of the hunters must be a blocker.”

“A what?”

“Someone who can block telepathic calls. If you weren’t so strong, I probably wouldn’t have heard you at all.” And then they’d have taken her wings, he thought. They might have even killed her to protect their identities. He could have arrived here, spare set of keys in hand, only to find her dead. His breath caught in his throat at just the very idea, and his demon bared its teeth, wanting vengeance on the other male who’d dared to harm its mate.

Knox stroked his thumb along her jaw. “We need to get you home.” Where she’d be safe, where he could get her cleaned up, where she could heal. Vengeance would come later.

“Are we taking that little fucker with us?” Levi clipped.

Knox cut his gaze to the hunter that was huddled against the wall, shaking and whimpering as what Knox suspected was soul-deep pain reverberated through him. That wasn’t good enough for Knox or his demon. No amount of pain would be enough. They wanted to see the bastard bleed, wanted to hear him scream in the sheer agony that he and the other hunter had put Harper through. Neither Knox nor his demon would settle for anything less.

“He’s definitely coming with us,” Knox replied as he prowled to the hunter. The smell of the male’s fear pleased his demon, who tried to resurface again, but Knox pushed it down. Now wasn’t the time to play with their prey. Getting Harper to safety where she could heal was his priority.

Knox squatted in front of him. “You and I will talk very soon. You’re going to tell me everything I want to know. Everything.”

And then he was going to die.

CHAPTER TWO

Stretched out beside his mate as she lay on her stomach, Knox stroked a hand over her long, sleek, dark hair and played with the gold ends. Although her cuts had faded to pink lines and the tears in the stems of her wings had partially reknitted, anger still blazed inside him. He took a deep, controlled breath, inhaling her warm, honeyed scent. She was alive. Safe. Healing. But rage was still a living, breathing, clawing thing inside him.

His demon’s anger didn’t show any signs of abating either. How could it? Their mate had been attacked, for fuck’s sake. Attacked in her own studio, a place where she should have been safe. He’d been the one to convince her that she would be safe there. She’d relocated her studio at his request, believing he was right, and he’d been far fucking from it.

His eyes fell closed as he remembered the moment he’d heard her telepathic scream. The panicked, pain-filled sound kept replaying in his mind like a broken record, and he knew he’d never forget it. Similarly, he’d never forget the sight of her there in her office; eyes clouded with pain, limbs trembling, and her skin glistening with a fine sheen of sweat.

His demon had almost lost it; had wanted nothing more than to rise and wreak havoc, but Knox had only given it dominance for a short time. He’d needed to check on Harper, had reminded the demon that she was more important than their revenge – something it luckily agreed with. The entity was selfish and merciless, but it would always put Harper first.