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  “The idea of the party didn’t bother me. It was the idea of you being nervous and uncomfortable when it was supposed to be a joyous event that I didn’t like.”

  “Yet, you have no problem with me being nervous or uncomfortable at this one.”

  Knox steered her to the foot of the bed and tipped her onto her back. “I get to show you off and see you in a dress. What’s not to like?” He loomed over her to kiss and nibble on her mouth. “It’s also a good way to celebrate you becoming co-Prime of our lair.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “It was sneaky of you not to mention I’d be co-Prime before we agreed to take each other as mates.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t want the position.” His mate had no aspirations for power and was too individualistic to have any interests in leading others. It was rare for a demon. “I wasn’t going to let it stand in my way of having you. Not that. Not anything.”

  She snorted. “Whatever.”

  Smiling, he kissed her. “I missed you while I was gone.”

  “You came to see me a few times,” she reminded him.

  Knox had occasionally pyroported home to see her. “That’s not the same as having time with you.” He kissed her again. “Now, about the mugger.”

  Using her elbows, Harper shuffled up the cool, silk sheets. “Don’t start.”

  He followed her, crawling onto the bed and planting a hand either side of her head. “Harper —”

  “I know where this is going. Really, just leave it.”

  “Look at me. You promised me you’d compromise on things. This is important to me. Did you even mention my proposal to your work colleagues?”

  “Yes, I did. Like me, they’re a little wary of relocating the business to the Underground.” She co-owned the tattoo studio with her friend and fellow senior artist, Raini. Another close friend, Devon, was an apprentice who specialized in piercings. Harper’s cousin, Khloë, also worked there as a receptionist. All three females belonged to her grandmother’s lair.

  He’d startled Harper when he’d first proposed relocating the studio, but really she should have seen it coming. He was an interfering bastard, after all. He had been from minute one.

  “It’s not based in a safe area, Harper. You could have been shot, raped, and killed today. Yes, you dealt with the human. Yes, you’re very capable of protecting yourself. But a bullet to the heart could still kill you. He shot at the ground, granted, but he could have as easily aimed that gun right there.” Knox laid a hand over her heart. “Then you’d be gone. Like it or not, you keep me stable – as my anchor and as my mate. If I lose you, if my demon loses you… I don’t have to tell you how things will play out.”

  She slapped her hands over her face and groaned.

  “I wish you didn’t have to carry that weight, but you do.”

  Her hands fell away from her face. “I don’t see it as carrying a weight. I anchor you just as you anchor me – that’s how it’s supposed to work with anchors and mates.”

  “It is a weight. I need you to be safe. Relocating to the Underground would make you safer. It would also benefit your business.”

  “I’d lose business. I have a lot of human clients.”

  “Yes, but you would get a lot of foot traffic to your studio if it was in the Underground. You’d lose human clients, but you would gain demon ones.”

  “Honestly, I’m not lacking in clients. I actually have a waiting list now, since so many demons are eager to say they have a tattoo from the mate of Knox Thorne.”

  “You have a waiting list because you’re very good at what you do,” he corrected. “Think of other ways moving to the Underground would benefit you. It would mean you won’t have the costs that you have now, like rent, for instance. The Underground belongs to you as much as it belongs to me. Everything that’s mine is also yours.”

  She didn’t like thinking of it that way. It was hard to go from having little to having… well, most of Vegas. “I can’t deny that it makes good business sense. It does. I’ll talk to the girls about it when I go to work in the morning. I’ll see what their outlook is on this now that they’ve had time to think about it.”

  Knox nodded, thinking they would agree to relocating if for no other reason than that they thought Harper would be safer that way. “There’s a little building I think would be ideal for you. I hope you’ll at least check it out before refusing.” His brow furrowed. “Why are you smiling?”

  The whole thing was just so typical of him. “You’re such an opportunist. You see me get attacked and think, hey, I can use this to my advantage.”

  “This surprises you?” He’d warned her in advance that he was ruthless and would do whatever it took to get his own way.

  “Not at all. Part of you is gloating that the incident has bitten into my ‘I don’t need to relocate the business’ argument, isn’t it?”

  “The experience just proved what you already knew: it’s not a safe area.”

  “Sure, but I grew up there. I’m a Wallis, Knox. That means that when it comes to crime, I’m not one who can judge.”

  “But you are mated to a demon that many fear and many would like to see dead. Just a few months ago, you were taken from me. I had no idea where you were, and I couldn’t reach you. I don’t want to experience that again. I proposed psychically tagging you so that I’d know where you were at all times, but you were against that. I agreed to drop it, but you agreed we would compromise on things. I’m asking you to compromise here.”

  He knew she found his overprotectiveness stifling, particularly since she also had to deal with his demon’s overprotectiveness. She thought it was mostly Knox’s need for control at work. Admittedly, he did need control. Not just to keep his demon and his abilities in check. He’d spent most of his childhood under the control of a sick, cult-like leader who’d dictated when he woke, what he ate, what he wore, when he slept, and where he slept.

  The leader had insisted on complete submission, disallowing the others to make their own decisions, and punished any form of rebellion. Eventually Knox had joined the outside world, swearing to himself that he would never again be under the control of another. He’d seized all the things he’d previously been denied, including knowledge, independence, and possessions.

  Now Knox took what he wanted when he wanted it. Now he lived by his own rules. Operated on his own schedule. He had a strong sense of self; it was something he’d worked hard for. He enjoyed the level of power, success, luxury, and decadence he had in his life. But nothing had ever been as important to him as Harper. She wasn’t just important. She was necessary to him.

  He’d explained to Harper that his overprotective behavior wasn’t an attempt to control her, but she found it difficult to grasp that she could be indispensable to someone. He supposed that if your parents – the two people that were meant to love and care for you – didn’t consider you essential to their lives, it would never be easy to accept that anybody else could or would. Lucian might care for her in his way, but he’d never put her first.

  “Like I said, I’ll talk to the girls about it.”

  “Fair enough.” Done talking about others, Knox flipped open her towel and took a moment to drink in every inch of her. Satisfaction welled up in his demon at the sight of the possessive brands it had left on her breast and navel. Knox also liked to mark what was his, hence the many small bites on her ivory skin. Neither he nor his demon had been possessive of another being until Harper.

  “It doesn’t seem fair that I’m naked and you’re not,” said Harper. Dark eyes gleaming with a savage possession met hers as he shrugged out of his shirt. She swallowed at the sight of his powerful body. There wasn’t a single ounce of fat; just pure hard, sculpted muscle. But she didn’t have long to admire the view, because he then gave her his body weight. She’d never admit to the dominant fucker that she liked that feeling of being surrounded and trapped.

  Harper slid her hands onto the solid bulk of his shoulders as his mouth consumed hers, feasting an
d dominating. His teeth raked down her throat, and then he was licking and biting her neck. Moaning, she arched into him. That was when one ice-cold, psychic finger slid between her folds. Harper gasped. She still didn’t understand how something so cold could give off pure heat, but the sensation burned her flesh and made her pussy spasm.

  He sucked on her pulse just as he shoved two psychic fingers inside her. Another moan slipped out of her as they expertly stroked, swirled, and thrust. They weren’t just pleasuring her; they were building a need that only Knox could fulfill. If he was to walk away right now she’d stay like this – a sexual mess. No amount of touching herself would get her off. Only he could take away the ache once he put it there.

  His hand shaped and squeezed her breast as those icy fingers continued torturing her. Her pussy no longer burned, it blazed and throbbed. Her thighs were tremoring and sweat beaded on her forehead. “Knox…”

  “I know what you want, but —” Knox grazed his teeth over her pulse “— I haven’t tasted you for two days.” He’d fucked her, but he hadn’t had time to explore and savor her. He kissed and nipped his way down her body, pausing to lick at the “So it goes” tattoo under the breast he hadn’t branded; like her other two tattoos, it was easy to miss as it was white ink and mostly hidden.

  He kissed his way down to the small raven tattoo in the hollow of her hipbone and swirled his tongue around it before heading further south. “I do love this brand,” he said as he traced the triangle of intricate black, thorny swirls at the V of her thighs that looked just like a tattoo. “Spread your legs wide for me.”

  “Knox, I can’t deal with anymore foreplay.” She needed to be fucked. Badly.

  He positioned himself comfortably between her thighs. “You’ll deal with it.”

  She shook her head. He arched a reprimanding brow… and then the psychic fingers dissolved; the sensation fed the fire inside her. “No!”

  He flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue, and she bucked. “Be still.” He swiped his tongue between her slick folds, lapping up the sweet, honeyed taste of her. He groaned as it worked through his system, thickening his already rock-hard cock. “Fucking addictive.”

  Fisting the sheets, Harper shook and moaned as he licked and nipped and drove her insane. Then he was sucking on her folds, growling against her flesh. She cursed him. Threatened him. Demanded more.

  He just chuckled, and then two ice-cold fingers began to pinch, tug, and tweak her nipples. So she cursed him again and tried to shift away from his mouth. But his hands held her thighs in place as his tongue then finally slid inside her. It eased the ache, but not enough. And he damn well knew it.

  “You’re evil,” she fairly growled. “Totally, completely —” Her breath caught in her throat as he rose above her and blew over one cold nipple, making it painfully tight. “See, evil!”

  “You like it.” He sucked her nipple into his hot mouth and grazed it with his teeth. His mate liked a little pain, and he’d learned exactly what line between pain and pleasure she rode. Releasing her nipple with a pop, he traced the brand on her breast with his tongue. Like the one on her navel, it was an intricate swirl of thorns.

  “Knox.” It was almost a sob, to her utter annoyance.

  He brushed his mouth against hers. “You hurting, baby?” he asked softly. She nodded. “Want me to take the hurt away?”

  Harper nodded again, barely holding back a whimper. It almost slipped out when she heard a zip lowering.

  Cupping her ass, he angled her hips. “Soft and slow? Or hard and fast?”

  Harper knew a trick question when she heard one. “Whatever you want.”

  Knox’s mouth curved. “Clever girl.” He slammed home, and her scorching hot pussy clamped around him.

  The breath exploded out of Harper’s lungs as his long, thick cock drove deep; filling her to bursting, stretching her until it stung, and touching parts that had never before him been touched. As always, the psychic fingers had made her pussy so hypersensitive that she was aware of every ridge and vein. She wrapped her legs tight around him and dug her heels into the base of his spine. “Fuck me.”

  Knox powered into her at a merciless pace. Her pussy was so tight and wet that it drove him out of his mind. She drove him out of his mind. Her throaty little moans, the prick of her nails in his back, the scent of her need, the hot clasp of her inner muscles, and the taste of her in his mouth – all of it incited his senses. He thrust harder, faster. “My pussy.”

  As the tension built inside her, Harper clawed at his back. He always reduced her to this needy, restless creature that needed to come so bad she shook with it. “Knox —”

  “Don’t come yet.”

  Oh, the bastard. And to make it that much harder, he moved her legs to the crook of his elbows and angled her so that his cock brushed her clit with every brutal thrust. It was absolute torture. “Why do you hate me?”

  “I don’t hate you, baby. Far from it.”

  “I can’t hold back.”

  “Yes, you can. You will.” He upped his pace, claiming her with every territorial slam of his cock. Her pussy fluttered around him. “Hold it,” he growled. She shook her head, but she didn’t come. “Hold it.” He rammed into her deeper, touching a spot that made her gasp. “Hold it.” She swore at him and scratched his back. He bit her lip. “Come.”

  A blinding pleasure swept over and through Harper in a powerful wave. Her scream got caught in her throat as he brutally drove deep and his spine locked. Then he was growling her name, and she felt every hot splash of his come.

  Shuddering, she blew out a long breath. All she could say was, “Damn, you’re good.”

  He smiled against her neck.

  Since demons could go for days without sleep, they spent a good portion of the night fucking and talking. After that, Knox did some work on his laptop while his mate lay beside him, watching TV. Before Harper, Knox had always preferred silence while he worked. Technically, she should have been a distraction. But there was just something about having his mate right there, where he could touch her whenever he wanted, that made him relax and focus better.

  Of course, it was also a lot to do with the simple fact that his demon was better behaved when she was around. Harper charmed it, amused it, and delighted it. Without its only source of fulfillment close by, the demon became quickly bored and restless.

  When breakfast time came around, the demon turned morose and sullen because it knew she’d be parting from them soon.

  Harper smiled at Meg as the housekeeper placed a plate of food on the dining table in front of her. “Thank you.”

  The Hispanic she-demon nodded with a fond smile.

  Knox arched his brows in surprise. “Toasted bagel with cream cheese for breakfast?” he said as he dug into his own meal of egg white omelet with toast. His mate usually stuck to cereal.

  Harper shrugged one shoulder. “Meg says I don’t have enough variety in my diet… which basically means you think I don’t have enough variety in my diet and you’ve expressed this to her.”

  Yes, that was exactly what it meant, which was why Meg was doing her best to stifle an amused smile as she left the room. As always, his mate’s astuteness made his demon chuckle. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” Harper said, picking up her bagel.

  She looked better. The lines of strain were gone from her face. “Good.” He took a swig of his coffee. “Belinda left me another voicemail. You’ve been dodging her calls again?”

  “She tried calling once,” said Harper, sighing. “I was in the bath.” But Harper hadn’t returned the call because, to be frank, the she-demon in question pissed her off. Knox had hired the event planner to manage the shindig, and she was good at her job. Efficient. Prompt. Incredibly well-organized. But she also looked down on Harper in a major way and felt the need to repeatedly advise her on her relationship with Knox.