Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
“Can’t I feed him?” begged Devon.
Looking rather fierce, Meg shook her head and waved her hands at the others, urging them out of the room. “Time to leave.”
Smiling at Harper, Khloë jerked her thumb toward Meg. “Does she know she’s an employee?”
Harper chuckled. “I wouldn’t mess with her if I were you.”
“Come on, out, they need rest,” Meg insisted. “You can come back tomorrow.”
Ignoring her, Lou spoke to Harper, “Wait, you haven’t told me what happened with the Horse-person yet.”
Jolene took his arm. “I’ll tell you all about it. Meg’s right, they need rest.”
He shrugged her off. “I told you, I’m still not talking to you.”
Saying their goodbyes, everyone filed out. Apart from Knox, of course. Meg gave him a pointed look.
“Sorry, Meg, you’re not kicking me out,” he told her, sinking into the rocking chair. “I’m staying with my family.”
The latter comment seemed to melt the woman. Smiling, Meg nodded and left the room, softly closing the door behind her.
“He latched on with no problems this time,” Harper told Knox, watching the baby drink the formula.
Knox leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the mattress. “That’s good.” Ignoring the sound of his cell chiming, he added, “We need him to grow and get stronger.”
“Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”
“It’ll probably just be another of the Primes. We’ve had dozens of congratulatory calls and emails from them.”
Harper tipped her chin toward the phone that had been placed on the bedside cabinet. “Any texts sent to my cell?”
Knox checked. “A lot. There’s one from Kellen,” he added, barely able to hide his annoyance.
“Saying?”
Knox opened the message. “It says, ‘Congratulations. I know you’ll be a better mom than ours is’.” Relaxing slightly, Knox cupped her face and breezed his thumb along her lower lip. “He’s right. You will be.”
“You wouldn’t let me be anything else.”
Knox lightly skimmed his hand over the baby’s hat-covered head. “There are no messages from Lucian, so I’m guessing he doesn’t yet know that Asher’s been born.”
“I’ll speak to him later.”
“Just be aware that if he calls our child the spawn of evil again I will hurt him.” It would be the perfect excuse to finally get his hands on the son of a bitch.
“I think you’ll be surprised by his reaction.”
“How so?”
“He wasn’t happy that I was pregnant, but now that Asher’s actually a person – someone who he can see and touch – Lucian won’t be such an ass. He likes babies. He just doesn’t like caring for them because he’s no good at it.”
“I’m very aware of that,” Knox rumbled, thinking of her upbringing. “I didn’t understand his behavior before, and I especially don’t understand it now that I have Asher. I know I could never abandon him. I know I could never do anything to harm him.”
“Do you really want to talk about Lucian?”
“No.” Knox touched Asher’s little fist. “I’m more interested in knowing if you’re going to give me what I asked for.”
“Knox —”
“I want to give you my name, baby. I want us all to share the same one.”
Her mouth slowly curved. “So do I; you don’t have to try to persuade me.”
Satisfaction coursed through him, and he kissed her palm again. “Thank you, Harper Thorne.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to.” She looked at Asher. “So is being a parent. I still can’t believe we made this little person.”
Knox smiled. “He’s perfect. Amazing. Just like his mom.”
“Just like his dad,” Harper corrected. Seeing that he’d drank half his bottle, Harper gently pulled it from his mouth and handed it to Knox. She then sat Asher upright, gently curving her hand around the front of his neck to hold him up while she rubbed his back.
“I can’t get over how tiny he is,” said Knox. The baby’s eyes opened, and his blue eyes bled to black. The demon stared out at him, and Knox’s own demon rose to the surface for just a moment before both entities retreated. They had done it once before, shortly after Asher was born. Both times, Knox’s demon chuckled – it was a sound that held a secret. “I still think there’s something my demon isn’t telling us.”
“Probably, because this kid’s as powerful as people expected he would be.” That unnerved her in ways she didn’t want to think about. “Do we hide that he’s powerful so no one sees him as a threat?”
“We can only hide that for as long as we keep him here, where he can’t be reached or seen. It’s easy to sense all that power. I’m good with keeping him here for a little while.”