Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Houston had even tried it with Knox’s demons. Loyal to the bone, they’d come to Knox about it. He’d warned Houston that if he attempted such a thing again, Knox would put him through a world of pain. Houston hadn’t bothered him after that.
“The Primes that targeted your father didn’t do so merely because his lair was small,” said Knox. “They did it because he was trying to turn their own demons against them. He’d even succeeded with some and ordered them to kill certain members of the lairs—often the anchors of the Primes or sentinels. Such a thing would never go ignored. I’m not sure who led you to believe he was good and honorable, but that isn’t the truth.”
“Then why would Nora and Rhea have stood at his side?” Alethea challenged, red-faced, eyes blazing.
“He had strong alliances with them. The rest of the Primes, including me, suspected that Nora and Rhea had agreed to band with him to form an army, but we couldn’t be sure, so no action was taken against them. Your father brought that devastation upon himself. His family, however, didn’t deserve to suffer for it. It’s regretful that you did—”
“Regretful?” Alethea sneered. “Don’t pretend to feel compassion. It’s not an emotion you’re capable of. What you are very capable of doing is manipulating others, and that’s exactly what you’re trying to do to us right now. You’re feeding us lies, hoping to shake our faith in our father. It won’t work.”
Yeah, Knox could see clearly enough that they wouldn’t believe him. “No one knew Cordell was abusing children. Not until after he’d turned rogue.”
“Probably not,” said Jonas, face hard. “But I strongly doubt they would have intervened even if they had known. Nora and Rhea would have, but no one else would have given a damn.”
They were wrong. Generally, Primes didn’t interfere in the business of other lairs unless their actions attracted human attention, but Knox would never have overlooked children being abused. Still, he didn’t say as much. The siblings would only think he was trying to placate them.
“And now I’m done talking.” Jonas turned to Charles. “Get your iPhone out and be ready to start recording.”
Knox, if you plan to do something, you need to—
The shuck dipped, coiled to spring, and growled long and low in its throat. The noise made everybody stiffen. Except for Asher. Knox’s heart would have skipped a beat in panic, but it didn’t for the exact same reason that Jonas, Alethea, and Charles exchanged confused looks. The shuck wasn’t growling at Asher; it was growling at them.
“Grant, stop pissing around,” Jonas snapped.
The shuck barked and snapped its teeth so hard Knox was surprised they didn’t crack. The hellcat rounded Asher and sidled up to the shuck with a hiss of warning at Jonas, as if it also planned to protect Asher.
It was the perfect moment for Knox to pyroport to his son and get him to safety, but his demon ushered him to remain still. To watch. To have faith in Asher and his own demon. Fuck if Knox would stay right where he was while his son was in danger, but then he froze as his demon did the unexpected. It finally told him what breed of demon Asher was.
Not a sphinx. Not an archdemon. Not a hybrid. But a breed that had qualities of the two.
Knox, do something, Harper urged.
Knox met her eyes and echoed words he’d heard her earlier say to Alethea. I won’t have to.
Just then, Asher’s face blanked and his eyes bled to black as his demon surfaced. It opened the palm of its little hand. Narrowed its eyes. And then the shuck—lightning-fucking-fast—lunged at the practitioner with a roar. It knocked him flat and ravaged him with teeth and claws. Charles screamed in agony, but it wasn’t just the shuck causing that pain. No, the practitioner was blurring around the edges. Like he was splitting. And then he did. His body sagged to the floor, eyes wide open, and his soul whooshed over to Asher and seemed to sink into his open palm.
Looking at his mate’s face, Knox watched as shock, dread, and realization slammed into her. There was only one breed of demon that could call to souls that way. A rare breed. A feared breed. One that tended to remain in the abyss of hell.
Jonas shook his head. “No. No, he’s a sphinx. Sphinxes cannot harvest and deliver souls to hell.”
Anubis. The soft whisper came from Harper.
Yes, he’s an Anubis, said Knox. It fit. Like sphinxes, they were of Egyptian descent. But instead of walking the Earth, they dwelled in the depths of hell and served it faithfully … just as archdemons did. Asher had a mother who could touch souls and a father who could kill as easily as he could breathe. Anubis demons could call to souls and deliver them to hell just as effortlessly as they could call to objects around them. They could also kill a person without even touching them, much like Knox could.