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)
If Jonas had been there, he probably would have defended Thatcher against the whispers. Harper had been present when Knox called the encantado early that morning to remind him of the meeting. Jonas had reiterated that he had no interest in attending.
“Shame Asher couldn’t be here,” said Jolene, beside her. “He’d have melted all this tension easily.”
Sitting on Jolene’s left, Martina nodded. “He’d have had them laughing.”
Just thinking of Asher made her tense. Intellectually, she knew he’d be fine with Keenan and Larkin, but that didn’t stop her from worrying. Although Harper hadn’t wanted to leave Asher, there was no way she’d take him to a meeting where Thatcher and Dario were present. In her mind, one of them was most likely to be the Horseman.
She’d wanted Tanner to stay with Asher too, but the hellhound had just stared at her patiently. As her bodyguard, he went where she went … which was why he was currently stood behind her chair just as Levi was stood behind Knox’s. Both were on guard, much like Jolene’s anchor, Beck, who stood on Tanner’s other side.
“I had to sneak out in case Asher accidentally cuffed me to him again,” Harper told her grandmother and Martina.
Jolene cackled. “That will tickle me for a long time.” That’s a very distinct mark on your neck.
Harper resisted the urge to touch the bite. Knox had been rough with her in the shower that morning. It was part of that whole “you’re mine and don’t forget it” message he felt the need to drum into her brain on a daily basis. Basically, his possessive nature was live and electric due to Drew’s behavior, and she was seeing the ass-end of it.
I’m assuming Knox told you about Drew’s tattoo, Jolene added.
Harper shifted awkwardly in her seat. Her demon’s upper lip curled at the reminder of the tattoo. Yep, Knox told me. I keep thinking that maybe Levi didn’t see the tattoo clearly on the picture.
Oh, he saw it clearly. I had Drew show it to me. She sighed. The boy always was reckless.
Mouth quirking, Harper said, That boy is in his late thirties.
He won’t live to see his forties if he doesn’t do as I ordered.
Grabbing the pitcher, Harper poured some iced water into a glass. What did you order?
For him to allow Raini to remove the stupid tattoo and for him to return to Cuba earlier than he’d planned.
I spoke to Devon and told her about it all. She’s sad to think that he could be hurting, but she also thinks he and I weren’t “meant to be”. She said she’ll talk to him.
Jolene gave a curt nod of approval. He listens to Devon.
Beneath the table, Knox gently squeezed Harper’s thigh. Who are you talking to? As her anchor, he could feel the echoes of her telepathic conversations but couldn’t understand the words. The same applied to her when the situation was reversed.
Grams, Harper replied simply before sipping at her water. Are you kicking this meeting off or what?
Yes, I’d say it’s time. Knox’s demon wanted it over and done with. Despite that the others in the room held plenty of power, it had little respect for them. Mostly because of how they’d treated Harper. In their eyes, she was somewhat beneath them in that she wasn’t from a powerful lair, didn’t have a high-ranking or well-paid job, was an imp for all intents and purposes, and was part of a family that was notoriously criminal.
Knox agreed with Levi that people didn’t truly look down on imps. Instead, they were wary of them. Daring, sly, wild, and uncontrollable, imps were wild cards, especially Wallis imps. They always retaliated, and they were never subtle about it. In any case, other breeds of demon tended to look upon imps as inferior. Not that it bothered them—imps took delight in irritating people.
For a while, the other Primes hadn’t taken Knox and Harper’s mating seriously, finding it much too difficult to comprehend that Knox would bind himself to a Wallis. Also, it was rare for Primes to mate, particularly since demons didn’t like to share power, so they’d been shocked by the mating.
Knox had come to believe that the Primes also hadn’t wanted to take the mating seriously, since a ruling pair—particularly a pair as strong as Harper and Knox—was far more powerful than a single Prime. He was enough of a threat as it was.
Keep a careful watch on Thatcher and Dario, Knox told his sentinels. Breaking the connection with them, he loudly cleared his throat. All eyes moved to Knox, and the low voices fell silent. The only noise in the room was the steady hum of the air conditioning. The tension was palpable, and he knew it wouldn’t take much for an argument to ensue. He’d picked up enough thoughts filtering through weak shields to know that many suspected either Thatcher or Dario was the remaining Horseman.