Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Harper called them?” asked Levi.
Apparently so. And just how the fuck did that happen?
Later. He’d work that out later. Now, he needed to get to her. They rushed toward the fire, only stopping when the blistering heat emanating from it became too much for the sentinels to bear. He urged the flames to ease away, but they flickered only slightly. Frowning, he tried again. They still didn’t calm. Instead, they leapt, danced, swayed, and consumed whatever they touched.
Levi raised a hand to shield his reddening face from the searing heat. “Make them die down.”
“I can’t,” clipped Knox. “They won’t answer to me.”
Larkin’s brow pulled together. “Why?”
“Because they’re answering to Harper.” She was the one who’d somehow managed to conjure them and her emotions were, literally, feeding the fire. By the way the fire was raging, so was she.
It hissed. Popped. Spat. Crackled. Sizzled. Snapped. Heat waves shimmered in the air – air that now seemed heavy and thick. Thick with power.
“I have to get to her,” said Knox. He was the only one who could walk through the flames.
“The fire’s starting to spread,” warned Tanner, pulling on his clothes now that he’d shifted once more.
The sentinel was right. The ragged line of the flames moved slowly but steadily closer to them. Metal creaked and glass shattered. Vehicles toppled and crashed onto others. The scent of hot metal and burned rubber filled the air. Hell, the heat itself was melting the cars. It was a good thing the flames of hell didn’t operate like normal fire or there’d be several explosions going on around them, given how much gas was in the yard.
He tensed at what could have been the sound of a male crying out in pain, but Knox couldn’t be sure he’d truly heard it while the fire roared so loudly around them. “I’m going in,” said Knox.
Levi grabbed his arm. “Bury your anger, Knox. Those flames are wild and furious, which means she is too. A demon that out of control can be an extremely dangerous thing. Harper needs you to be calm right now.”
Well aware of that, Knox nodded. He had no chance of easing Harper’s anger if he wasn’t calm himself. And if he didn’t manage to calm her, the flames would keep on blazing and consuming whatever they touched. No pressure. “I’ll bring her back.”
Taking a deep breath, he walked through the shimmering waves of hot air and right into the vivid, glowing tri-colored flames. A scorching, prickling heat engulfed him as the flames lashed and whipped at his skin, but they didn’t scald him; they couldn’t.
The ground itself was so hot, he could feel the baking heat through the soles of his shoes as he walked deeper into the fire, searching for any sign of his mate. All he could see were melting cars and tires being swallowed by the fire. He stepped over a partially consumed forklift, glancing around while his demon frantically urged him to hurry and find her.
A male scream.
Knox whirled toward the sound, tracking it through the flames. He heard the very familiar sound of his mate’s voice, but it was her demon speaking.
“If it’s death you seek you may have it.”
Another male scream, this one closer, rang through the air.
Knox hastened his steps, edging his way toward the —
And there she was. Standing with her back to him on a fire-free patch of metal that was covered with a dirty carpet – all that was left of the trailer. Her wings were blazing and surrounded by a strange kind of faint magma aura.
He stepped out of the fire and up onto the carpet, making the metal base creak and rock slightly. “Harper?”
She slowly turned her head to glance over her shoulder, and pure black eyes bore into his. He went absolutely still. Her demon was in control, and that wasn’t good; not if the demon was as furious as the fire. A need for vengeance could be riding it hard, even if the threats were now nothing but ashes. And a demon in that state was almost as bad as a rogue.
It didn’t react to his presence. Didn’t say anything. Just stared at him through chillingly cold eyes, its expression completely blank. He wasn’t sure if it even recognized him. That would be bad, since he didn’t want to end up having to defend himself against his own mate. “Do you know who I am?”
The demon slowly turned to face him, and he sucked in a sharp breath. There was a shiny silver and black bruise on one side of her face, as if something big and hard had smashed into it. Blood was dripping from a thin, deep slash on her temple. The skin of her upper chest was raw, blistered, and peeling. There was a clump of blood so dark it was almost black crusted around her earlobe. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, blood was dripping from a slice just above her blood-soaked boy shorts. Son of a bitch.