Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
His demon was fighting Knox for control. It wanted to be free to do what it did best. To hurt. To maim. To rage and destroy those who would dare take its mate from it.
Honestly, it was tempting. So fucking tempting to surrender control to his demon and let it demolish whatever stood between them and their mate. He didn’t care that this could be a trap or that someone could be trying to goad his demon into surfacing – he just wanted Harper. But what Knox didn’t want was for Crow to know they were there, and his inner demon wouldn’t be even the slightest bit discreet.
“Tanner, release your demon,” clipped Knox, voice guttural. “Find her.”
The moment they had the Audi’s location, Knox had pyroported there with Levi and Larkin – collecting his other two sentinels on the way. He needed the help of Tanner’s hellhound to track Harper, since the GPS signal could only give them the car’s general location. There were no better hunters than hellhounds.
As Tanner stripped and handed each piece of clothing to Keenan, Levi turned to Knox and said, “I don’t think Crow means to kill her. If that was what he wanted, he’d have done it by now.”
True, but if that was supposed to comfort Knox, it didn’t. Not even a little bit. “She’s still not responding to my calls,” Knox said between his teeth. His jaw ached from how hard he clenched it.
“Which suggests she could be unconscious or that he’s done to her what he did to Carla so that she can’t use telepathy,” said Levi. “But we know Harper is alive. Hang on to that.”
He was. It was the only thing keeping him and his demon stable. Or, at least, as stable as they could ever be in a situation like this.
“We also know from prior experience that you can’t keep a Wallis anywhere that they don’t want to be,” said Keenan, voice grim. He was still beating himself up about not checking that Tanner was in the driver’s seat, despite being assured by the other sentinels that they wouldn’t have thought to check either. But Knox wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with Keenan’s turmoil. His focus was purely on finding Harper.
Fully naked, Tanner asked, “Ready?” At Knox’s nod, the sentinel released his demon. Bones cracked and popped as he shifted shape. Hellhounds were much bigger and more muscular than normal wolves with coal-black fur and blood-red eyes. They were also fast, strong, vicious, and smelled of burning brimstone.
The hellhound shook its head and snorted, probably agitated by the strong scents of motor oil, dirt, grease, and rusted metal. It raked the ground with the claws of its front paw, making Knox think of a bull scraping its hooves on the floor.
“Find Harper,” Knox ordered, urgency in every syllable.
The hellhound snorted again and got moving. They stalked after the hound as it prowled along the dusty road that weaved through rows of cars, cabs, buses, and trucks. Even through the thickening shadows, Knox could see that most of the vehicles were rusted and dented. Some had shattered windshields while others were missing doors or had been stripped of the seats and front wheel.
Knox strained to hear voices, but the only sounds were that of glass crunching beneath their feet and the whistling breeze rattling open doors or raised hoods. “Where are they?” he growled, stepping over a stray sparkplug. “She’s got to be here fucking somewhere.” But all he could see ahead of him were more vehicles, stacks of tires, and a rusted forklift.
They kept on walking for what quickly began to feel like hours. With every moment that passed, his panic grew and his control started to fray around the edges. The longer she was with Crow, the more likely it was that Knox wouldn’t get to her before Crow could kill her. He could be hurting her right now. Chest squeezing at the idea, Knox closed his eyes. The bastard would pay for whatever he did. And he’d pay in blood.
The hellhound came to an abrupt halt. Growled. And then headed east at a fast pace. Adrenalin shot through Knox as they trailed after the hellhound, ready to —
In the distance, a loud, banshee-like screech of fury split the air. Instinct sent Knox charging toward the sound, even as the ground began to shake beneath him, causing the debris at his feet to rattle. Then flames seemed to explode out of the ground bordering a trailer far ahead, making him and the sentinels jerk to a halt. They were high, ferocious, blinding… and all too familiar to Knox.
“The flames of hell,” Levi said in utter shock.
Keenan stumbled backwards, almost tripping over the hellhound. “Holy fuck.”
Larkin gaped. “Knox, what… I mean, did you —”
“I didn’t call them,” Knox told her, breath coming fast.