Embers

by Suzanne Wright

  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 …