Harper arched a brow. “What, pray tell, about me is so embarrassing?”
“Yeah, tell us,” said Devon, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Belinda straightened her shirt. “I just mean that you want to look like you’ve made an effort.”
Khloë smiled. “Ooh, good save.”
“I thought so,” said Raini a little drowsily, head leaning on her folded arms.
Eyes gleaming with exasperation, Belinda said to Harper, “The other guests will be elegantly groomed.”
“Not all of them.”
“You’ll stand out like a wet lemon,” said Belinda. “If you see people tittering at your appearance, how will it make you feel?”
Was that a trick question? Harper puffed out a breath and answered honestly, “I can’t say I’ll care.” That seemed to really piss off Belinda.
Devon’s massage therapist chuckled and looked Belinda up and down. “You don’t know anything about the Wallis family, do you?”
“They’re not people pleasers,” said Raini.
Belinda’s mouth tightened. “Harper, I really must insist that you reconsider —”
Harper sighed. “You might be the sort of person who’ll change for a guy and show him only what you think he wants to see, but I’m not. I’m just me. People can like it or they can lump it, but they won’t change me. I will not go to that event looking like someone I’m not. I will not act soft and genteel. I will be me. You don’t have to approve of that. It isn’t your job to care. Now, how about you walk on out of here and take your clipboard with you.”
The cambion jutted out her chin. “I have a job to do and I will —”
“Do you really want to take me the fuck on, Belinda? I honestly hope you do. I have a lot of tension to work off. Smacking the shit out of you would really help with that.” Harper truly wasn’t kidding.
Hugging her clipboard to her chest, Belinda cleared her throat and backed away. “I’ll leave you to your massage.” She stomped off, but the carpet was so plush that it kind of ruined the effect.
As the door closed behind her, Devon muttered, “She needs a good bitch slap.”
Yeah, she damn well did. It was at times like this when Harper wondered if just maybe she was wrong and it was Belinda who was one of the Horsemen. But, honestly, she couldn’t see that uptight bitch who truly had a major thing for Knox wanting any part in trying to expose him for what he was. Belinda was just too much of a goody-goody.
“Hey, you and Knox are in a magazine again. A reporter took a picture of you together getting out of the Bentley, and they’ve added another photo that zoomed in on your rings.” Khloë angled the magazine so that Harper could see it. “They say ‘sources told them’ that you and Knox got married in a Vegas chapel.”
Harper had figured that the human reporters would come to that conclusion. She and Knox were only hot news because in the past he was so rarely seen with the same woman more than a handful of times.
“I’ll bet Knox will be happy to know that humans think you’re married and unavailable,” said Devon.
Harper nodded. After all, he’d said as much when he gave her the rings.
“Call me evil,” began Khloë, “but I like how much this is eating Belinda alive.” That made the therapists chuckle.
Raini lifted her head. “Ladies, we’re supposed to be relaxing. Belinda is not a relaxing subject, so let’s move on from that.”
Harper did her best to clear her mind and enjoy what was left of the massage. After that, each of them had both a manicure and a pedicure before finally leaving the spa. Keenan was waiting outside, ready to escort her out of the Underground and to the car. As the girls were off to the mall, Harper said her goodbyes to them and then left with Keenan. He radiated menace as they walked, on high alert for any signs of Crow.
Fortunately, there were none.
Exiting the club that doubled as the entrance to the Underground, Keenan walked her to the car and opened the rear door. “See you later, sphinx.”
“Sure thing,” she said, reading the message on her phone from Martina. She slid into the car, and Keenan shut the door. “Hey, Tanner,” she greeted.
It wasn’t until he pulled away from the curb that he spoke. “Not Tanner.”
Harper’s head snapped up from the cell phone… and she met manic blue eyes in the rear-view mirror. Fuck. Stunned, she froze for a short moment. Then panic set in and she went to lunge at Crow. That was when his hand whipped back and grabbed her leg – there was no tug inside her chest this time; there was a sharp and incredibly painful yank that stole her breath and, with it, so much psi-energy that white-hot pain blasted through her skull. It was a struggle to stay conscious. A struggle she was losing.
Frantic, she telepathically reached out to Knox. More pain tore through her skull, and her agonized cry seemed to echo in her mind. And now she could feel herself fading. Her vision dimmed and blurred.
“I know it hurts, but it was necessary,” said Crow, sounding very far away. “Just sleep. Everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
Then the lights went out.
Pulling his chiming cell phone out of his pocket, Knox sighed at the name on the screen. He sorely regretted promising Harper he wouldn’t involve himself in her little problem with Belinda, because he sure would love to fire her right that very second. He’d gathered with Levi and Larkin in his home office to discuss the security measures for the event; he didn’t have time for this shit.
“Yes?” Knox clipped on answering the call, hand clenching around his pen.
“Oh, um, Mr Thorne,” she said, spluttering, “sorry if this is a bad time.”
It was always a bad time. “What is it?”
“I, well, I thought you should know that Harper is refusing the help of a professional beauty team.”
If that surprised Belinda, she’d clearly learned nothing about his mate. “Is that so?”
“Yes. I have explained that this will make her stand out compared to others —”
“Harper will always stand out, Miss Thacker. And always in a good way.” It was the truth. “Now, if there’s nothing else, I’m a busy man.”
“Of course,” she said, tone curt. “I apologize for disturbing you.”
Ending the call, Knox turned back to his sentinels with a sigh.
Levi seemed to be fighting a smile. “Belinda telling tales again?”
Knox placed his cell on the desk. “Yes.”
“After all the stuff she’s done and said, I’m surprised you haven’t fired her,” said Larkin.
“I promised Harper I would let her deal with the matter herself. I won’t lie, I’ve come close to breaking that promise many times. But if I do, she’ll never confide in me like that again because she won’t trust me not to interfere.” And it was possible that she would sow sequins on more of his clothes. “Now let’s get back to —”
Knox. The pain in Tanner’s tone brought Knox up short and made everything in him tense.
What is it? demanded Knox.
Fucking Crow got the drop on me. He took the car. I’ve tried to call Harper, but she’s not answering me.
The pen in his hand snapped and his heart slammed against his ribcage. Knox broke his connection with his sentinel and reached out to his mate. Harper? Harper?
Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a brush of her mind against his.
Harper, baby, you need to answer me right now and tell me you’re safe.
But she didn’t. Panic ripped through him and his demon, sending his pulse racing. Breaths coming hard and fast, he asked Keenan, Did you walk Harper to the car?
Of course, Keenan instantly replied. I watched her get in.
Fuck. How long ago was that?
Around half an hour ago, why?
So, Crow had had her for thirty minutes. Thirty fucking minutes. Harper, talk to me. Nothing. Not a damn thing.
A red haze fell over Knox’s vision, heat rushed to his head, and a strange roaring sound filled his ear
s. He shook his head, jaw clenched. Not again. Not. Fucking. Again. This just couldn’t be happening again. But it was. Someone had taken Harper from him.
Panic. Dread. Fear. Ice-cold fury. It all exploded inside his gut, stealing his breath, and flared through every part of him from his head to his toes. His demon rose up sharp and fast with an animalistic snarl, seething and raring to destroy. “He. Took. Her,” rumbled the demon.
Levi stiffened. “Crow?”
Digging deep for control, Knox shoved his demon back down. His sentinels were eying him warily, and he realized his body was so tense he looked on the verge of springing. He took a long breath to center himself, to think. He needed to plan, but it was hard to do that when everything in him roared, fumed, and ached. “Crow has Harper,” he told them, throat thick.
Levi swore and shot to his feet.
Anxiety bloomed in Larkin’s eyes, but that anxiety was quickly replaced by a fierce determination as she stood. “We’ll find her.”
Yes, they would, because Knox wasn’t fucking losing her. “He’s had her for approximately thirty minutes.” Knox didn’t want to think what the bastard might have done to her in that time.
“The anchor bond still intact?” asked Larkin.
“Yes, which means she’s alive.” And Knox clung tight to that, using it to keep his focus. “He made a mistake; he took the Audi. Unless he knows it has several GPS trackers and has managed to remove them all, he’ll lead us right to him and Harper. Find the Audi.” And then Knox would find them and rain fresh hell on the bastard who dared to take his mate.
I’m coming for you, baby. Just hold on for me. Hold on.
She wasn’t sure if it was the splitting headache, the nausea, or the voice in her head calling to her that woke her. She was cold. Stiff. Worse, she found it hard to breathe while there was a tight, constricting weight on her chest – a weight that was also around her lower legs.
Harper forced her heavy eyelids open, wincing at the brightness of the bulb directly above her. Following the sounds of muttering, she saw Crow near a black countertop of what seemed to be a kitchenette, messing with something she couldn’t quite see. His beard was as scraggly and dirty as his clothes.
Glancing around, she realized she was in a trailer that was set up as an office. It stank of grease and oil, and there were toolboxes, car radios, and other vehicle parts lying around.
She also realized she was bound to a desk. Well, this was familiar.
Unlike when the dark practitioners took her, however, Harper’s arms were pinned to her sides as opposed to pinned above her head. That posed a problem, since it meant she couldn’t twist her hands to infuse hellfire into the thick, heavy ropes.
She’d also been stripped of her jeans, socks, and boots, leaving her in only her bra, T-shirt, and boy shorts.
Harper, baby, you need to answer me.
Knox’s panic brushed at her consciousness. She recalled Nora’s warning: “You and your demon will face a trial. You do not like to accept help, but you will need your mate’s aid when the time comes. Accept it, because nobody else will be able to help you.”
The old woman hadn’t been fucking kidding. And while part of Harper loathed the idea of calling him here, she truly needed his help. Nobody else would be able to find her so fast, so she would have to do what she hadn’t done the last time that Crow came for her: she’d have to trust that Knox could protect them both.
Harper? Harper, answer me.
She reached out to him and —
Pain sliced through her head, and a moan slipped out before she could stop it.
“Telepathy will be a problem for a while.” The voice lacked any compassion.
Crow turned away from the counter, eyes glinting with something that was far from rational. He was wearing an apron and trying to fit a surgical mask over the lower half of his face.
Her gaze slid to the tray of surgical instruments on the counter, and she knew then exactly what he intended to do. Dread shot through her. “No.”
“I have no other choice.” He ripped open a packet and pulled out a clean syringe. “Even if you could call out to Knox, you wouldn’t. I can’t get to him.” He rubbed the back of his hand against his forehead in what seemed to be a restless, irritable movement. “A hysterectomy will stop him from having the child with you.”
No motherfucking way was he performing any fucked-up surgery on her. “You want to let me go,” she told him, but her compulsion was weak while she was low on psi-energy. Nonetheless, she tried again. “You don’t want to hurt me.”
He shook his head, shaking off the compulsion with ease. “This has to happen —”
A cell phone rang, and he bit out a curse. Placing the syringe on the tray, he stalked through the trailer to a coat he’d slung on a filing cabinet. Fishing a phone out of his pocket, he tugged down his face mask and gruffly answered, “What?” A pause. “Yeah, well, I’ve been busy.”
Harper figured it was the person pulling his strings, but just in case she shouted, “I’ve been kidnapped! Tell Knox Thorne —” She cut off when Crow rolled his eyes at her. Damn.
“Yes, I took her,” snapped Crow. “I had to act quickly. The security will be too tight for me to touch them at the event.” His back went ramrod straight. “No. No.” He shook his head so fast she was surprised it didn’t make him dizzy. “Killing her is not part of my mission.”
Harper strained to hear what was being said on the other end of the phone, but she couldn’t even make out a voice. She flicked her gaze to the rusted door. Out. She needed to get out, out, out.
She struggled against her bindings, ignoring the burn of the rope as it chafed the bare flesh of her chilled legs. But even with adrenalin rushing through her system, enhancing her strength, her struggles came to nothing. A knot of fear lodged in her throat and left a jittery sensation in her stomach.
Crow started jabbing his closed fist against his temple. “No. If I kill her, it frees him to find another she-demon and have a baby with her. He won’t cheat on Harp —” Crow growled. “Forgetting about the baby would mean abandoning my mission! I won’t do that!” He ended the call.
“Who’s trying to use you like a puppet?” she asked when he returned to her.
“I’m no one’s puppet.”
“They think you are. They’re trying to use you, trying to divert you from your true path,” she added, wondering if playing along with his little fantasy might buy her some time. Knox obviously knew she was missing. He’d find her. Somehow. Right? “Who is it?”
A muscle below his eye ticked. “They don’t matter.”
“Tell me why I’m strapped to this table. I need to understand.” She didn’t need to understand. She needed her blade. But it was no doubt wherever her jeans and boots were, dammit. She scanned her surroundings in search of something, anything, that could help —
A gun. It was on the far end of the counter. If she could just get to that… which, of course, she couldn’t do since she could barely move at all.
“I told you about my vision, I gave you the chance to call him to me so I could destroy him. You should have listened to me, you should have helped me, but you didn’t.” His tone said that she only had herself to blame for what he was about to do.