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)
Her demon hadn’t simply killed him. She’d coldly toyed with him before tossing him into the flames of hell – flames she’d somehow been able to conjure since they had, for lack of a better word, “birthed” her wings.
Forced to simply watch as her demon raged and destroyed, high on that power… Harper would never forget how that felt. The demon had wanted to avenge Harper. It had wanted to make Roan and his co-conspirator feel as helpless as they’d made her feel. What her demon hadn’t realized was that its actions had left her feeling utterly powerless too.
She wasn’t upset with her demon. The entity didn’t think the way she did, didn’t “feel” as she did. There was absolutely no point in expecting it to account for any emotional hurt its actions might have caused.
To the demon, it was all very simple: Roan had intended to kill her, therefore he had to die.
Harper understood that, but it still wasn’t easy to accept that she was partly at fault for her half-brother’s death because, dammit, she wasn’t made of stone. So, yeah, maybe she hadn’t slept so well for a while and maybe her appetite had suffered. But that was partly because… “I don’t feel guilty about his death. I feel guilty that I don’t actually regret what me and my demon did that night. It was him or me – I value my life more than I did his. Still, he was my half-brother.” She should feel bad about it.
“Only in a biological sense. He was never once a brother to you, Harper. He never had a kind word to say about you, he repeatedly did things to hurt you, and then he fucking tried to kill you. The imps are your family. He was never a part of it.”
Her demon fully agreed. Harper sighed. “You’re right.”
“I’m always right, baby. You’re just taking a while to realize that.”
She chuckled. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Now finish your breakfast.” He turned up the volume on the T.V., hoping it might distract her from her thoughts. He was about to grab his laptop and finish answering his emails, but the news reporter’s words snatched his attention.
“… when police arrested her this morning after the fire, she told them she’d put her son in the oven because he was a changeling. She allegedly believes that her own child was taken by fairies who left her their child in exchange. Neighbors described Lipton as pleasant and helpful, but they also claimed she was very cold towards her son. Thankfully, the boy was able to escape the house and was relatively unharmed.”
Harper scowled. “She tried burning her son in the oven? That’s sick.”
“Parents claiming their children were changelings was once a common thing,” Knox told her. “Mostly, it was a claim made by people whose children had disorders or developmental disabilities. It was said that in order to identify a changeling and undo the switch, you had to do things such as hit, whip, or burn the child in the oven. Some parents used it as an excuse for murdering their own child.”
Harper gaped. “And they got away with it?”
“Shockingly, yes.” He grabbed his cell from the nightstand and dialed a familiar number. When the demon answered after the second ring, Knox asked, “I saw the news. Anything I need to know?” He wasn’t entirely surprised by the response. “All right. I’ll be at your home in an hour.” Ending the call, he said to Harper, “That was Wyatt Sanders.”
“The detective?”
“Yes.” Wyatt was also one of the demons in their lair. “It would seem that the little boy is a demon.”
Her mouth fell open again. “You mean to tell me that there’s truly such a thing as changelings?”
“There was once upon a time,” he said, rising from the bed. “They were the days before DNA tests could be done.”
Putting the tray aside, she followed him into the walk-in closet. “Seriously?”
Selecting a fresh suit, Knox began to unbutton his shirt. “It didn’t happen very often. When it did, it mostly happened with cambions. As they’re half-human, their inner demons can sometimes lie dormant, making them more or less human. It was considered a kindness to let them be raised in the human world, where they would be fairly normal, than in the brutal world of demons, where they would be considered weak.”
Her response faded into the back of her mind as she watched his muscles fluidly bunching and rippling beneath all that sleek skin. No one had the right to look that good. Seriously. There was no fat whatsoever on that body. He was power and strength and exuded an alpha energy that gave her goosebumps. She just wanted to trace those abs with her tongue —
A low growl rumbled out of him. “You can’t look at me like that, baby. If I thought you could deal with just how hard I need to fuck you, I’d be in you right now.” Knox couldn’t give her soft and slow right then. Not when her fear-filled scream still haunted his mind and a fierce need still beat at him. “But later, when you’ve had time to properly recuperate, I’ll have you.”