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)
“Let me ask you something.” Harper leaned forward, elbows on the desk, and brought out the big guns. “Did his demon ever brand you?” Her tone said that it had sure branded her.
Alethea’s eyes flared and every line of her body tensed.
“Did Knox want you as his mate?” Harper held up a hand when the she-demon went to answer. “There’s really no sense in lying about either of those things. I already know the answers. And those answers tell me all I need to know about what Knox did or didn’t feel for you. They should also tell you all you need to know.”
Her beautiful face scrunched up into something bitter and hateful. “You think you can keep him?” she sneered. “You think this mating is real?”
“You do or you wouldn’t be here trying to stir shit. You know it’s real and you hate it.”
“It’s the way he looks at her, isn’t it?” Devon said to Alethea. “His face softens and his eyes smile… like he’s spent the whole day waiting to see her and his entire system relaxes as soon as he spots her. There’s no way to deny how he feels about her, so it’s sort of silly that you’d try, but whatever.”
Alethea gave Harper a withering look. “The Knox I know would never concern himself with a Wallis, let alone have one in his bed.”
“Then clearly you don’t know him at all,” said Harper. Knox had an alliance with Jolene well before he and Harper met.
“You’re not even his type,” spat Alethea. “For that matter, he’s not your type either. You prefer humans. In fact, Knox is the first demon you ever slept with. Before him, you were with the guy whose family owns the café over there.”
Harper raised her brows. The dolphin had been doing her homework.
Devon looked at Harper. “I’ve always said that a crazy ex can do better research than law enforcement.”
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.