Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Given what Knox had told her about changelings, Harper had expected him to be so low down on the power spectrum that he could pass for human. No demon would ever mistake this boy for human – he was by no means weak.
Knox spoke first. “Hello, McCauley. I’m Knox. This is Harper.”
The boy’s eyes bled to black as his demon surfaced, making its presence known and sizing them up. It retreated after only a few moments.
Knox tilted his head. “It fears me, doesn’t it? The entity inside you. The one that drives you. I have my own, just as Harper, Wyatt, and Linda do.”
McCauley didn’t react.
Harper caught sight of the drawing on the coffee table. It was a standard family drawing, really – two adults, one boy, one girl, and a dog that looked like a golden retriever. But his pen control and attention to detail were impressive. “You’re good. Is that you?”
He nodded.
She pointed to the little girl. “Who’s that?”
He shrugged.
“Your mother has been arrested,” Knox told him.
“Teri wasn’t my mother.” It was said with no emotion whatsoever. It didn’t even seem like he was suppressing emotion. He genuinely didn’t seem affected by the matter, one way or the other.
“No, she wasn’t,” Knox agreed. “Do you know who is?”
The little cambion shook his head. He didn’t look particularly bothered by that either.
“I intend to find the answer to that question. In the meantime, you’ll stay here with Wyatt and Linda. All right?” A nod. “Good.”
“Do you need anything?” Harper asked him.
“No, thank you.” Such a well-mannered phrase, yet there was no real “thanks” there. No gratitude. No anything.
“We’ll see you again soon,” Knox told him.
The kid’s demon rose to the surface again; there was a challenge there this time. Knox’s own demon surfaced and glared down at the boy, intimidating his demon into submission.
When both entities retreated, Knox warned, “Don’t let it borrow trouble, McCauley.” Taking Harper’s hand, Knox led her to the front door. Before opening it, he turned to Wyatt. “You sure you want to keep him here?”
It was Linda who answered. “Positive.”
Knox raised a questioning brow at Wyatt, who gave a simple nod. “All right,” said Knox.
“Was there another child?” Harper asked, remembering the picture he’d drawn.
“The only people who lived in that house were him and the human female who’d raised him,” said Wyatt. “Her husband left and remarried long ago. He has a daughter with his second wife, but he has no contact whatsoever with McCauley.”
Harper thought it likely that McCauley had drawn a picture of himself immersed in that family… or maybe he’d drawn the family he’d wished he had. “Don’t hesitate to call us if you have any problems with him.” The couple smiled, but Wyatt’s smile was weak.
Once they were back in the Bentley, Knox gave Levi a rundown of what had been said.
“I like kids, I really do,” said Harper. “But that kid was creepy. And he’s not low down on the power scale.”
Knox took her hand. “He’s fairly powerful for a cambion.”
“And pretty robotic. There’s nothing, well, child-like about him. No crazy energy, no humming or fidgeting.” There didn’t appear to be any wasted movements with him at all. “He feels… cold.”
Knox toyed with her hair. “Sometimes I think that demons forfeit emotion for power. I’m an example of that.”
Her brows snapped together. “You’re not emotionless.”
“No, but I don’t feel the range of emotions that you do. I’m not capable of many of them.”
“You feel love, right?”
The tiny tremor in her voice made his chest tighten. “Baby, one day you’re going to be utterly secure in the knowledge that you’re a loveable person. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I don’t doubt that you love me.”
Knox knew that was true. Giving her a black diamond had crushed any doubts she might have had, but he suspected that it would take a long time to ease the insecurities that had been born when both parents abandoned her as a baby. Her subconscious didn’t seem ready to heal. “Good. Never doubt it, because it will never change.”
“If you can feel this emotion so strongly, if you believe it isn’t something that will ever fade, then we don’t forfeit emotion for power.”
“That might be a good point, except that I only feel it for you. So maybe it’s just that you’re my miracle.”
She smiled. “I’ve been called a lot of things. Never a miracle. My family would be so disappointed that I’m not living up to my purpose to annoy all those who cross my path.”
Knox’s mouth curved. “Oh, you’re still expertly good at irritating people. I just get a free pass. For the most part, anyway.”
“Very true.” She smiled against his mouth when he kissed her. “Back to what we were talking about before, what do we do about McCauley?”
“I’ll have Keenan find out how many women from our lair were pregnant back then. We’ll find out who she is.”