“Don’t come until I say.”
Harper hissed in annoyance, which earned her thigh a sharp slap. “Ow!”
“Then behave.” He ground his cock against her ass each time he thrust his icy fingers deep and hard, knowing the strange heat emanating from them would make her pussy spasm and blaze unbearably. He also knew she liked that he had her completely pinned. Liked that she couldn’t move. Liked that she couldn’t think about anything other than the release that was tumbling toward her.
Her pussy superheated around his fingers, and Knox knew she was close. He shoved a third psychic finger inside her and curved it just right. “Come, Harper, let me feel—Good girl.” Her back arched as she came with a choked moan that was like a fist around his cock. “Now you get fucked.”
Releasing her hands, Knox whipped off her shirt and bra and then tossed them aside. “Hands on the wall,” he ordered. “That’s it, just like that.” Gripping her hips, he backed up a little, taking her with him, and then snapped open his fly. His cock sprang out, hot and hard and aching like a bitch. “Fuck, baby, this is gonna be rough.” And fast.
“Rough is good.”
Closing his hand around her breast, he nipped at her neck. “Yeah, rough is good.” He sank his teeth in her shoulder and slammed his cock into her tight pussy, going balls-deep in one thrust. He groaned as her walls, hot and slick, contracted around him. “You can come when you’re ready.”
Harper’s nails scraped the wall as he fucked in and out of her pussy, his balls slapping her with every savage thrust. He’d warned her that it would be rough, and he hadn’t been kidding. But she loved it. Loved his grunts and groans and bite of his fingers on her hips. One little touch to her clit would set her off.
Almost as if he heard the thought, he used his psychic fingers to part her folds. But he didn’t touch her clit. He let her feel the cool air, made her wait until it hurt. Fuck this. She went to take care of it herself, but a psychic hand slapped hers away. Oh, the hell no.
Knox tensed as the air chilled. Harper’s head turned his way, but it wasn’t her who glanced back at him. It was her demon. And then its hand reached back and grabbed his forearm. He hissed as the flesh beneath its grip began to burn. He’d felt that burn before. Knew the demon was branding him.
Fuck. Knox furiously powered into her. Brutal. Merciless. Out of control. Unable to hold on any longer, he bit out, “Come.” Her pussy clamped around him as her head fell back and a scream tore out of her throat. Knox locked his teeth on her shoulder as he rammed his cock deep and exploded, shooting jet after jet of come inside her. Every ounce of strength seemed to then leave her, and she went limp in his arms.
Harper was in an awesome, post-orgasmic daze as he carried her to the bed. But she wasn’t so dazed that she didn’t watch and enjoy the show as he stripped off his clothes. And yeah, okay, she was a little nervous as he studied the new brand on his forearm. Like the others, it was all tribal solid lines and thick curves.
Turning, he asked, “Does it link to the brands on my nape and back?”
“Actually, yes, it does,” she realized.
Facing her again, he arched an amused brow. “So, is your demon’s plan to eventually have me wearing a full-body brand? Is it putting the brand together, little by little?”
She smiled. “Possibly.”
Sliding into bed, Knox pulled her close. “I guess it’s a good thing I like being marked by your demon.” Splaying his hand around her throat, he kissed her, licking into her mouth. Pulling back, he watched the sea-blue shade of her eyes swirl and darken into an emerald green. Knox knew that he’d never get bored of watching her eyes do that. “Did you have a good time tonight?”
“I got to watch Lou climb a huge mermaid fountain while singing ‘Under the Sea’ in a very bad Caribbean accent. What’s not to like?”
Knox grimaced. “It was hard to watch. Even harder than when Khloë sang ‘Bed of Roses’ into a non-existent microphone as she literally leaped into a rose bush.”
Harper winced. “Yeah, that had to hurt. But she carried on singing. Didn’t miss a note.”
The imp also hadn’t missed the tension between Keenan and Teague. Khloë’s anchor had quickly sensed that Keenan had an interest in her and—as protective and meddling as anchors were prone to be—Teague had sent the incubus lots of back off looks. And, in typical Khloë fashion, the female imp dealt with it by saying to Teague, “If you guys are going to have a dick measuring contest, I think you just might lose because Keenan’s is a monster.”
“Do you think you can let go of it yet?”
She blinked at Knox’s question. “Let go of what?”
He curled her hair behind her ear. “The tension that’s been your best friend since we discovered the Horsemen existed.”
She sighed. “I really thought I’d be able to just relax now that they’re no longer a threat. I’m relieved that it’s all over, but I don’t know if I properly believe it yet. It’s weird not having danger hovering over our heads.”
“There’ll always be danger lurking, but I don’t think it’ll come too close to us. Not when I have a mate who can be absolutely terrifying when she chooses to be.”
Harper’s mouth curved. “So you fear me now. Good.”
He hesitated. “I’m not saying I fear you. But I’m conceding that you can be scary.”
She frowned, incredulous. “You still don’t fear me?”
“Of course not.”
“I sliced off that woman’s toes with a flaming stiletto blade, one by one … and you don’t find me scary?”
Fighting a smile, Knox rolled onto his back and draped her over him. “It’s hard to fear someone who once told me they loved me while bent over the toilet with vomit in their hair.”
Harper cringed. “Stop. You fear me. You do. Accept it.”
He skimmed his fingers through her hair, lips twitching. “You know, when you first told me you loved me, you shocked the absolute shit out of me.”
The memory made her smile. “I know. Back then, I hadn’t thought you’d ever feel the same, mostly because I hadn’t thought that ‘love’ was anywhere on your emotional scale.”
“It was on my scale a long, long time ago. But then that scale shrunk.” He’d become someone hard. Cold. He couldn’t say he was now either warm or cuddly, but he was no longer at risk of losing himself. And that was all because of the very person sprawled on top of him.
Knox caught her face between his hands. “I love you, baby. Always will.”
She kissed him. “I love you right back, so I’d say all is good.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You love me, I love you, our son is safe, and you finally fear me. So all is definitely good.”
“I wouldn’t say that I f—”
“Just go with it, Thorne. Just go with it.”
Acknowledgements
I have to start by saying a huge thank you to my husband for his ongoing support and patience, and for listening to me rant about characters who won’t do as they’re told.
Thanks so much to my kids—my ever-happy and even-tempered son, and my cheerful and incredibly mischievous daughter—because your combined natures helped create baby Asher.
Thanks to everyone at Piatkus for your support and insight, especially my very patient editor, Anna Boatman, and the greatest cover designer that ever existed, Ellen Rockell.
I also have to say a major thanks to my assistant, Melissa Rice, for being so amazing and for making sure I don’t spend too long in the writing cave.
Last but certainly not least, thanks to every person who has taken the time to read the book. I hope you enjoyed Harper and Knox’s story. Now onto the secondary characters …