Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“Physically? I don’t believe so.”
“She’ll get a shock if she does. He’s got abilities that freak even me out. And I have eyes that frequently change color – there aren’t much stuff weirder than that.”
Knox looked into eyes that were presently mercury. “Do you get that from Lucian?”
“Nope. I don’t know if it’s a trait that’s in the genes somewhere or just a real freaky defect.”
Knox nipped at her bottom lip. “They’re not freaky or a defect. They’re unique, just like you.” He smiled at her mumbled ‘Whatever.’ “Feeling better?”
“Yes, actually.” Her eyes sharpened. “In fact, you look tenser than I was. I guess it’s always a shitty thing to have to interrogate a member of your own lair. What?” He had the oddest look on his face.
“You referred to the lair as mine.”
She gave him a pitying smile. “It is yours, sweetie. Did you hit your head?”
He ignored the tease. “But you’re my mate, which means you’re part of it now.”
Shit, she really hadn’t considered that. And it presented her with a problem, since…“Knox, I don’t want to leave my lair.”
“I know that you don’t. And I know that trying to demand it of you would gain me nothing but frustration. So we’ll compromise and say you’re part of both lairs.”
“Wow.” She’d expected an argument. “You’re good at this whole compromising thing.”
He brushed his mouth against hers. “I’m someone who chooses his battles wisely.”
“You sound like a parent who’s letting their child win the little battles so the poor thing has the illusion of control and independence.” But she couldn’t be annoyed, because he flashed her that lopsided smile that made her stomach clench.
Knox glanced at the closet. “Have you picked anything to wear yet?”
“Do you realize there are three times more clothing in here than there are in my wardrobe? Of course, there’s a chance that most of the stuff in my wardrobe has been destroyed by the snakes,” she added glumly. Sure, they were only clothes. But a lot of them were from various places around the world, they carried good memories.
“We can go to your apartment to check the damage after Dario’s speech, if you want.”
“Yeah, I’d like to see what survived the spell.” Casting another frown at the full closet, she asked, “Can’t you just pyroport us straight to the hotel suite where my dress is?”
“No. I was seen leaving, so I need to be seen returning.”
“Ah, you like to keep people guessing about what abilities you have.”
He shrugged. “They don’t need to know.”
“Fine.” She grabbed underwear, socks, a pair of blue jeans, and a white shirt. “Notice that I am snapping off the tags without checking the prices. I will just pretend they aren’t designer clothing and you got them from thrift shops.”
He smiled. “If that makes you feel better…”
Knox? called Levi. We need to talk.
Now?
Yes. It’s important, he added with an urgency in his voice that made Knox tense.
I’ll be at my office in the hotel in ten minutes, said Knox. Meet me there.
Don’t bring Harper. I’ll explain when we meet.
“Now you’re even tenser than you were before,” commented Harper as she pulled on the jeans.
She was too observant for her own good. “Levi has something he wishes to speak to me about. In private.” She regarded him with a blank expression, and Knox expected her to bristle. Instead, she shrugged.
“Fair enough.”
Knox arched a brow. “Fair enough?”
“I’m not a sentinel, so I get that there are things I won’t always hear about unless you okay it first. I don’t expect to be told everything – unless it’s related to me, in which case it’s totally my business.”
That truly was fair enough, but he had to meet her halfway here. “I won’t keep secrets from you unless they’re not mine to tell.”
Buttoning her shirt, she gave an approving nod. “I can work with that.”
On arriving at the Underground hotel, Knox sent Harper and Tanner upstairs to their suite while he headed for his office. Levi was already waiting near the door, jaw clenched and eyes hard. It wasn’t until they were both inside the office, door closed, that Knox spoke. “Tell me.”
“The incantor came to Harper’s apartment and unraveled the spell. Ella said it was quite an advanced one. The practitioners that we’re looking for would have been expensive to hire.”
That information helped, but…“You didn’t need to speak with me privately about that, so I’m guessing there’s more.”
Levi toed the chair in front of the desk around and straddled it. “Carla was leaving when Ella arrived. Ella recognized her, said she’d never forget the face of ‘that heartless bitch.’ She knew Carla from a long time ago – a time when Carla had once been pregnant.”
Knox stiffened, instinctively knowing he really wasn’t going to like this. “Go on.”
“Apparently, Carla wasn’t just angry back then that Lucian left her while she was pregnant. She was angry that he got her pregnant. She tried to abort Harper.”