Blaze

by Suzanne Wright

  Well, don’t they sound like a freaking treasure? said Harper.

  Nora pointed at her. “Be warned that you and your demon will face a trial. You do not like to accept help, but you will need your mate’s aid when the time comes. Accept it, because nobody else will be able to help you.”

  Cold invaded Harper’s limbs. It wasn’t so much what Nora said as the way she said it; that ominous tone was spooky. Okay, this woman is kind of scary.

  “There’s nothing else you can tell us about the Horsemen?” Knox asked Nora, who shook her head.

  Harper turned to Dario. “Will you tell the other Primes about the premonition and the Horsemen?”

  Dario lifted a single brow. “If I was to tell them that four demons were plotting to see the fall of the Primes, how do you think they would react?”

  “They’d think you were deluded and paranoid, and that the rumors are true,” said Harper. All right, point taken.

  “Yes. I am hoping none of you will speak of this to the other Primes,” Dario added.

  For a moment, Knox said nothing. “It would be best if they knew not to take all the rumors seriously. They have a right to know where they’re originating from and that they’re being played. But you’re right. Your words would be mistaken for paranoia. We will not repeat what you’ve told us.” For now, at least.

  Dario’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “I appreciate that.”

  Knox inclined his head. “We’ll leave now.”

  After they said their goodbyes to Nora, Dario led them out of the garden, through the courtyard, and to the bridge. “Thank you for accepting my invitation,” Dario said, graciously. “It was good to see you again. Be sure to take care.”

  Nodding, Knox urged Harper forward as Levi and Tanner stayed behind them. No one spoke a single word until they were fully across the bridge.

  “Of all the things I expected to hear,” said Tanner, “it wasn’t that.”

  He wasn’t alone in his shock. Harper still hadn’t quite processed it all yet. “I feel really bad for the guy. Losing his partner of fifty years had to be a seriously hard hit.” She wasn’t sure she’d emotionally survive a loss like that.

  Knox nodded, draping an arm around her shoulders. “He did the right thing to isolate himself while his control was weak. It protected him and his lair. And he has every right to take the time to heal in peace.” Or to heal as much as anyone in his position could be expected to heal.

  “Now that we know about the Horsemen, Isla’s push for a US Monarch makes a lot more sense,” said Levi, moving to Knox’s side. “If she’d been Monarch, she’d have had the power to crush the other Primes and to give the other Horsemen whatever power they wanted. That must have been their plan ‘A’. It failed, so now they’ve moved onto plan ‘B’ – sic the Primes on each other.”

  “Anyone have any suspicions as to who the other three Horsemen could be?” asked Tanner as he sidled up to Harper.

  “We should probably bear in mind that Malden also pushed to be the US Monarch,” said Knox. He could have had the same motivation as Isla. “But then, so did Dario.”

  “Can we be sure Dario isn’t one of them?” asked Levi.

  “If he was, surely he wouldn’t have shared all that information with us,” said Tanner.

  “Unless none of it is true and we’re all being set up somehow,” said Knox. It was possible that Dario was playing a very intricate, dangerous game, but Knox’s gut told him that wasn’t the case.

  “Just because Isla was a Prime doesn’t mean the other Horsemen are,” said Harper. “Nora told us that the person who sent Crow on his ‘mission’ wasn’t a Prime. That might mean the others aren’t one either.”

  Knox nodded. “Which means they could be anyone.” He looked at Harper. “It stands to reason that if they sent Crow after you and it hasn’t worked, they would try to target you in other ways.”

  Harper twisted her mouth. “Alethea, Belinda, and Roan seem to have made it their mission to piss me off. None of them are Primes.”

  “Crow said that Delia was poisoning him,” said Tanner. “Can we be sure she wasn’t somehow involved in trying to pull his strings?”

  “We can’t be sure of anything,” replied Knox. “But people heard Delia and Crow arguing. If Delia is involved, I don’t see what reason she’d have for staging a fight. And if we’re operating on the theory that this person wants to cause Harper upset, telling Crow to kidnap Carla makes no sense. Everyone knows Harper doesn’t have a relationship with her.”

  Tanner tipped his head to the side, conceding that Knox had a valid point. “Then our most likely suspects are Alethea, Belinda, and Roan.”

  “We’ll have some members of the Force watch them,” said Levi. “But we can’t spare many, what with Crow being on the loose.”

  In Harper’s opinion, the person they should be watching was Alethea. Belinda was an annoyance, but she didn’t come across as someone ambitious enough to seek control of the US. Roan was a prick most of the time, but he was also a momma’s boy. He would surely kill Crow for harming Carla.

  Soon enough, they reached the jet. Once inside, Levi and Tanner headed to the front cabin as per usual, giving Knox and Harper privacy in the rear cabin. The stewardess served them both drinks before disappearing to the front of the craft.

  Harper clicked on her seatbelt. “You know, I never thought of having kids until Delia told us about Crow’s vision. I know most women wonder about it at some point – even if only when they’re kids themselves – but I never did.” Which was probably weird, but she was weird, so she shouldn’t really expect anything else of herself.

  Opposite her, his legs bracketing hers, Knox rested one hand on the armrest and balanced his glass on his thigh with the other. “You don’t want kids, baby?”

  “It’s not that.” Though she’d never asked herself that question before. “I guess I just worry that I wouldn’t make a good parent.”

  He frowned at the ridiculous idea. “Of course you would.”

  Harper blinked, surprised at the surety in his statement. “Knox, I don’t know anything about parenthood. And although Lucian has plenty of other offspring and Carla has Roan and Kellen, I never grew up with any of them. I never had to be responsible for anyone.”

  “Sure you did,” said Knox, taking a swig of his gin and tonic. “You took care of Lucian. He didn’t raise you, Harper. He relied on you. Like you’ve often said in his defense, he can’t meet his own needs. One conversation with him was enough for me to see that he’s a grown spoilt, self-centered child. You were the parent in that relationship. And you somehow coped with him.”

  She could admit that her father hadn’t been… well, a father. And she could admit she’d taken care of him in a lot of ways, but Knox was missing something. “That’s not the same as taking care of a baby. As raising it and teaching it right from wrong and all that stuff.”

  His grip tightened on the armrest as the craft started to move. “I have every confidence that you would make a great mother.”

  She cocked her head. “Why?”

  “You’re protective. Responsible. Caring. You have your priorities in the right order, and you’re good at whatever you put your mind to.” He nudged her leg with his. “Don’t worry so much, baby. I never had siblings either. I’ll be just as out of my element as you’ll be. But we’re two very capable people. I’m sure we can manage.”

  She had to smile. It had to be great to be so utterly confident. She envied him that. “Do you ever doubt yourself in any situation?” she asked, curious.

  “To do that would be to hold me back in life. I don’t see the sense in doing that. Self-belief is a powerful thing.”

  He had a point there, she thought.

  “Nora said there would be a child one day. She didn’t sound as if she meant someday soon,” Knox pointed out. “Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  Harper sipped at her Coke. “What bothers me most of all was that Nora also said peo
ple would come for the baby.” She stilled as his eyes very briefly bled to black. That idea clearly riled his demon.

  Knox spoke, menace in every syllable. “If we ever have a child and someone comes for it, they’ll suffer so horribly they’ll beg for death.” Only that reprieve wouldn’t come until Knox was ready to give it to them, which could very well be never. His parents hadn’t protected him when he’d needed it. He’d be damned if he failed his child the way they failed him.

  “Can I watch you torture them?”

  His mouth curved. “Bloodthirsty little thing.”

  “Surely this is not new information to you.”

  His smile widened. “No, it’s not. And I like that you’re bloodthirsty.” She was a good person, but not innocent. “Innocent” would never be able to handle him or accept him. “Now stop worrying about things that haven’t even happened, get over here, and give me your mouth.”

  She sniffed, though she did unclip her seatbelt. “Bossy.”

  “Surely this is not new information to you.”

  Straddling him, Harper laughed. “No, not new at all.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Harper looked up from her sketchpad as the door swung open and Raini strolled inside their office with a Deli takeout bag. The scent of fresh bread, mayonnaise, smoky meat, and hot peppers wafted over Harper, making her stomach rumble.

  “Time for lunch,” said Raini.

  “Good, I’m starving.” Standing, Harper did a long, languid stretch.

  Raini leaned over the desk to take a closer look at one of the sketches of an owl tattoo. “That’s cool.”

  “The client doesn’t like it.”

  The succubus frowned. “Really? Why not?”

  “She has lots of grand ideas, but she doesn’t know how she wants the tattoo to look. So we sat down and discussed it in length. I did a few rough sketches of different styles, and she agreed that something like this would be great. However, every time she came back to look at what should be the final design, there was something minor that she didn’t like about it. The one you’re looking at is the initial design.” Harper held up another sketch. “This is the seventh revision. I’m hoping that she’s happy with this one.”

  Harper understood the need to be completely sure about the design; a tattoo was permanent and, in many cases, had sentimental value. The client should be totally happy with it. But there was being cautious and there was being a nit-picker. This particular client was the latter, though not in a bitchy way… just in a very time-consuming way that plucked at Harper’s impatient nature.

  “You have another client coming after lunch and then we’re closing early today so we can go to the BBQ,” Raini reminded her. A family from Jolene’s lair was throwing the BBQ to celebrate someone’s birthday.

  “I know. I told the client she’d have to either make another appointment or come back on our walk-in day.” Harper rounded the desk as she added, “I just hope the next one isn’t as chatty as the others.” They’d all peppered her with questions.

  Was she excited about the upcoming event?

  Did she have a nice outfit?

  Would it be delayed until Crow was found?

  A few had actually been ballsy enough to ask what she thought about Crow’s vision, though she’d sensed fear behind the question. It was a rational fear, to be fair.

  Each time, she’d simply snorted and said, “Why is it that all rogues believe the end of the world is coming? Why don’t they ever think anything nice will happen?”

  Praise the Lord that it was Friday. They could all use the weekend to unwind after how hectic things had been of late.

  Knox, the sentinels, and the Force had invested a lot of time, energy, and emotion into finding Crow over the past week – so much, in fact, that Knox spent many nights in his office making calls, checking camera feeds for signs of Crow, and also catching up on the amount of work he’d had to put on hold. And, yes, he’d done a lot of brooding.

  They hadn’t had much quality time together lately, but she got why and she let him be. Feeding his frustration was that Crow was doing an extremely good job of hiding. He hadn’t once tried to get to Knox. Hadn’t appeared at any of the hotels or showed up on any security cameras anywhere. He was either lying low or Levi’s theory was right and it was quite possible that Crow was dead. The “not knowing” bugged them all.

  Harper agreed with Knox that it would be a mistake to assume he was dead and drop their guard, particularly since that could be what Crow wanted. Knox had become more hyper-protective than usual, making her demon feel stifled and exasperated. Harper was a little more understanding, though it sometimes grated on her nerves too.

  They still had no way of even guessing the identities of the Horsemen. It had made Harper a little paranoid, really. After all, they could literally be anyone – even someone she knew and liked.

  “Did your new shoes for the shindig arrive?” Raini asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

  “Yep. They fit fine.” And they matched her dress perfectly.

  “I still say we should have gone shoe-shopping.”

  “Of course you do.” Harper preferred shopping online, where there were no crowds. As she reached the door, the phone in her pocket vibrated. Retrieving it, she frowned at the unfamiliar number. “Hello?”

  “Hey, baby girl,” drawled a familiar deep voice.

  “Lucian, hi,” said Harper.

  Raini’s mouth set into a flat line.

  He spoke again, but Harper couldn’t hear him over the music blaring in the background. “I can’t hear you. Where exactly are you?”

  “Thailand,” he replied loudly – so loud that Raini was able to hear him and mouthed, “Thailand?”

  “I found myself a nice little bar where I can drown my sorrows,” he added, glum.

  Sorrows? “What’s wrong?”

  “He died,” said Lucian, a hitch in his voice.

  Her frown deepened. “What? Who?” There was a slurping sound that told her he’d just downed a good deal of whatever he was drinking.

  “Elvis.”

  She scratched the back of her head. “Um, Lucian, Elvis Presley died a long time ago.”

  “Not him,” he said, impatient. “My Elvis. My emu.”

  Raini crossed her eyes, but Harper said, “I’m sorry to hear that. What happened to him?”

  A sniffle. “I can’t talk about it, baby girl. It hurts too bad.”

  “Of course. I understand.” She considered telling him about the Crow situation, but she didn’t for the exact same reason that she didn’t tell him about the shindig. Lucian would probably turn up, and having him and Knox in close proximity was not a good idea. Especially when Knox’s current basic emotional setting recently was “irritated.”

  “So… have you broken up with that psychopathic bastard yet?” he asked.

  Harper placed a hand on her hip. “He’s not a psychopath.”

  “That’s what you think, but they’re good at blending. They show you what they want you to see and tell you what you want to hear. Then they carve you up and bury you under the patio.”

  She closed her eyes. “Lucian, I can’t have this conversation. I just can’t.”