Alethea’s eyes widened. “Crazy ex?”
Khloë patted the bitch’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up about being a nut job. Facebook’s made stalkers out of us all.”
Upper lip curling, Alethea backed away. “You and Knox won’t last.”
“Maybe you’re right,” said Harper. “Maybe he’ll decide he’s better off alone. Maybe he’ll then have you back in his bed. Maybe he’ll even do something as surreal as take you as his mate. But I’ll still be the first person his demon ever branded. I’ll still be the first female he wanted to take as a mate. And I’ll still be in his life because I’m his anchor. As he once said, he won’t walk away from what’s his. He’ll always be in my life, and I’ll always be in his. So no matter what you do, you can’t get rid of me.”
The front door swung open, and a wave of baking heat proceeded Tanner as he stalked inside. “Everything all right in here?”
Harper didn’t move her eyes from Alethea. “Everything’s fine, Tanner. The dolphin here just wanted to exercise her bitchy muscle. She’s done now.”
“Then it’s high time she left,” Tanner clipped, prowling to the desk.
Shooting glares at both him and Harper, Alethea spun on her heel and marched out of the studio. No one said a word until the bitch’s car disappeared with a screech of tires.
“All day I stay out there and nothing happens,” said Tanner. “The moment I leave to get a drink or something, a problem arises. What was that about?”
It was Ciaran who responded, moving to stand behind Khloë. “That was what Grams would call ‘sizing up your enemy.’”
Harper nodded. “She wasn’t so much trying to make me jealous as getting a feel for how easy I’d be to manipulate.”
“What exactly did she say?” asked Tanner, so Harper told him. And he laughed. “I don’t have to tell you she was talking out of her ass, do I?”
“Nope,” replied Harper, “I worked out that much for myself.”
“Good.” He tugged on one of Devon’s long ringlets, and she hissed. “Settle down, kitten,” he chuckled. With a wave, he returned to the car.
Devon’s hands curled. “Sometimes I just want to claw out his eyes.”
“His eyes,” began Khloë, “or the flesh of his back while your legs are wrapped around him and —”
“Don’t make me hurt you,” Devon snarled.
Innocence personified, Khloë said, “I was just asking. He is seriously hot. And he buys you gifts all the time.”
Devon’s mouth fell open. “You call balls of yarn, toy mice, a plush fishbone, and a catnip plant gifts?”
Khloë shrugged. “It’s the thought that counts. And don’t forget that pretty collar he got you with the little bell that – hey, there’s no call for hissing.”
Devon turned to Ciaran, waving a hand in Khloë’s direction. “Deal with her. I can’t.”
Harper felt kind of sorry for her friend. There was definitely some sexual tension between Devon and Tanner, but nothing good could ever come of them acting on it. The fact was that hellcats and hellhounds had an instinctive aversion to each other. That meant that even if Devon and Tanner ignored it, their inner demons wouldn’t.
A mind slid against hers. Harper, meet me behind the studio.
You really don’t need to come here, she told Knox, guessing Tanner had informed him of what happened. Honestly, the dolphin is long gone and I’m not upset or jealous or anything.
She’s no one to me.
I know. Really, her petty behavior didn’t achieve anything. Apart from increase Harper’s temptation to slice her from groin to sternum, that was.
You’re sure you’re fine?
Positive.
All right, baby. His mind once again slid against hers; this time softly and slowly. Then he was gone.
“I take it you and Knox were having a little chat,” said Khloë. “You get this dazed, ‘Harper is unavailable right now’ expression on your face.”
“Tanner told him what just happened,” said Harper. “He was making sure I was okay.”
Leaning her hip on the desk, Raini smiled. “I like that he takes care of you. You know what I like even better? That you let him.”
“On another note, who keeps moving my stapler?” groused Khloë, as if it was a capital offense.
Harper looked at her cousin. “Sometimes I have to wonder if you have OCD.”
“I do not have OCD. I just value order and precision.”
Really? “When was the first time someone described you as OCD?”
“Eight years, six months, four days, and ninety minutes ago.”
“Yeah,” said Harper dryly. “Totally not OCD.”
As they drove toward the tattoo studio later that day, Levi met Knox’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Tanner told me about Alethea. What was she thinking?”
“I believe Harper’s theory is that Alethea was trying to get a sense of just how simple it would be to manipulate her,” replied Knox. “One day, I am going to briefly run by a female from my past and she is not going to attempt to cause problems for my mate.”
Levi snorted. “I wouldn’t count on that. They see your claim on Harper as a personal insult to them.”
“Personal insult?”