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)
Keenan sighed. “You’re right, it relates to you. It’s just weird discussing lair business with outsiders.”
“She’s my mate, which makes it her business,” Knox stated. “It also makes her part of this lair as well as her own.”
Inclining his head, the incubus sat next to Larkin. “I called the other sentinels here, because I thought we all needed to discuss this.”
Levi, who was leaning against the wall, asked, “Discuss what?”
“It’s about Kendra,” said Keenan.
Harper put aside the jeans she was working on. “Yeah, what about her?”
Keenan pulled a flask out of his jacket. “I got a call from the demons we’ve had watching her – she’s missing. She slipped her guard again.”
Knox twined a lock of Harper’s hair around his finger absentmindedly. “It’s possible that she’s gone searching for Lucian using the information she was given by the imp she met with.”
“I thought it was likely after what I heard in the boathouse,” said Keenan. “So I went to Kendra’s apartment to see if any of her stuff was missing – that would have told me if she’d taken a little trip. Nothing seems to have gone, and I couldn’t help but notice there was nothing personal there at all. Not a damn thing. It bugged me. I can’t explain why, it just did. Anyway, I went looking for her, and I asked people if they’ve seen her. No one has. I wondered if she’d gone to visit the mother she cares so much for that she feels obliged to avenge, so I paid her a visit.” Keenan took a long swig from the flask. “Imagine my surprise when the young woman who invited me inside introduced herself as Kendra.”
“Kendra?” echoed Tanner, who was lounging on Harper’s left.
Keenan nodded. “Yep. I spoke to her, I spoke to the mother – Beatrice – and I can tell you that Kendra never left Alabama to come here. I don’t know who the she-demon is who’s been staying in our lair, but she’s not Kendra Watson.” He dropped the news like a bomb.
A short silence reigned before people began to curse.
“You’re certain of this?” Levi asked Keenan.
“Absofuckinglutely certain. What I don’t understand is why that bitch has been posing as Kendra.”
Knox didn’t have the answer to that, but he’d find it. “Did you tell Beatrice and Kendra that someone had been passing herself off as her?”
“No,” responded Keenan. “That’s lair business. I made up some bullshit reason for turning up and then I left.”
“Did the real Kendra look anything like the fake one?” asked Tanner.
“A little. Same hairstyle. Same height. Same weight. Same eye color. But I don’t think they’re related. More like someone’s been using Kendra’s identity because they conveniently look alike.”
Larkin folded her arms across her chest. “Why would someone join our lair, posing as someone they’re not?”
“She could be a plant,” said Knox, anger beginning to thrum through him. “There are plenty of demons who’d like to know our lair’s personal business.”
“That’s true,” agreed Levi, moving away from the wall. “She made an effort to get to you. She could have been sent here to seduce you, to find out your secrets.” Levi snorted at the ridiculousness of it.
Keenan took another drink from his flask. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Isla sent her.”
“Why would…whoever she really is…be looking for Lucian if her job was to spy on you?” Larkin asked Knox.
“You have a point,” conceded Knox. “‘Kendra’ went to the meeting in North Las Vegas. Jolene confirmed she met with an imp there, asking about Lucian.”
Levi shrugged. “It could have been a cover, a story to give you in case someone saw her near Harper’s apartment that night.”
“You know,” interrupted Harper, “it’s possible she’s not hiring dark practitioners at all; that they are hiring her.” When no one spoke, she added, “There are plenty of demons for hire out there – they’ll work for the enemy for a price.”
Tanner frowned, pensive. “You could be right. Practitioners probably see you as a way to get to Knox, to weaken him.”
“She really does hate me, though,” insisted Harper. “I felt it in the restrooms.”
“Maybe she just has an issue with your family or with imps in general,” suggested Keenan. “And bear in mind that she’s a real good actress, Harper. In the boathouse, she had me completely fooled about her hatred for Lucian and her distress over her mother.”
“So we can agree that ‘Kendra’ is a plant,” said Knox. “We’re just not so sure who sent her.”
“I’d say it’s Isla,” declared Keenan. “She always seems to know too much about what’s going on. She could have put a plant in every lair, not just ours.”
“It could just as easily be one of the other Primes doing a little spying,” said Larkin. “Knowledge is power.”
“Maybe,” said Levi, “but I think Harper’s right. I think dark practitioners hired her. It really would explain a lot.”