Burn

“Don’t encourage him,” hissed Devon.

Khloë raised her hands. “Fine. Hey Harper, how come Knox didn’t join us for lunch?”

“Just because he’s my anchor doesn’t mean we’re together 24/7.”

“Yeah,” said Khloë, “but you guys have been doing the hunka-chunka.”

Devon’s face scrunched up. “Doing the what?”

“You know…Riding the flagpole. Roasting the broomstick. Going deep into the bush. Pounding the punanni pavement.”

“Stop, stop,” laughed Raini, her hand on her chest.

Khloë rolled her eyes. “Prudes.” She looked at the chuckling hellhound. “Come on, don’t pretend you didn’t know.”

“I knew.” He shrugged at Harper. “You wear his scent.”

Harper wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. “I, what?”

Devon explained, “It happens sometimes when demons are—”

“Playing a little how’s your father,” supplied Khloë.

“—intimate for a while.” Devon threw Khloë a look of exasperation. “But only if the intimacy exists on more than one level. You guys are anchors, so you’re intimate on a psychic level. Having sex means you’re also intimate on a physical level.” She took a sip of her lemonade. “It’ll wear off when you stop sleeping together.”

“If they stop sleeping together,” said Raini.

Khloë frowned. “Why would they stop sleeping together?”

“Knox’s demon gets bored easily.” Harper veiled the dangerous disappointment that knowledge caused her. The brands hadn’t began to fade yet, but they would soon enough. “Speaking of boredom, I’m done shopping, let’s—” She cut herself off as four shadows fell upon them. Looking up, her stomach sank. Her inner demon went from laidback to infuriated in a heartbeat.

Harper knew who they were, but it was the small, nervous she-demon who had most of Harper’s attention. She hadn’t been this up close to Carla since she was a baby, hadn’t realized just how very little they looked alike. Maybe it was petty, but she was grateful for that.

“We just wanted to stop and introduce ourselves,” said the cheery male beside Carla. “I’m Bray, and this is my mate, Carla. It’s a pleasure to meet Knox’s anchor.”

Harper forced a smile. “The pleasure’s all mine.” He doesn’t know, she said to Tanner. Carla hasn’t told him I’m her daughter.

That’s why she looks terrified. She’s afraid you’ll blurt it out right in front of them and ruin the fabric of her little world.

I irritate her enough purely by existing, I don’t need to go to extra measures.

“And these are our sons, Roan and Kellen,” continued Bray.

It was so much harder than she’d thought it would be to look at her half-brothers and pretend she didn’t know who they were. “Good to meet you both.”

Roan, who greatly resembled Carla, nodded. “And you.”

The younger brother looked more like his father. “Yeah, you too,” said Kellen, eyes narrowed. There was a knowledge in his gaze that shouldn’t be there. He knew something. What, she wasn’t sure. How, she wasn’t sure.

“This is Raini, Devon, and Khloë,” said Harper. “And, of course, you know Tanner.”

Carla stiffened at Khloë’s glare. She knew the she-demon was a Wallis, and that seemed to increase the panic she was already feeling.

“We’ll leave you to finish eating your lunch. We just wanted to formally introduce ourselves.” Bray gave Harper one last bright smile and then headed for a table; his family followed, though Kellen was slow in removing his gaze from her. Only then did Harper’s demon relax slightly.

“That kid knows something,” whispered Raini.

Harper sighed. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“I swear, I could disembowel that bitch and not blink an eye about it,” Khloë practically growled. “I don’t know how anyone can just stand there and treat their own daughter like she’s a perfect stranger.”

Harper moved to sit by Khloë and curled an arm around her. Her cousin’s parents were fabulous; worshipped the ground their children walked on. Khloë knew from experience what a real parent was. She genuinely couldn’t understand how Carla could have abandoned Harper. “She’s not important, Khloë.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t visualize ramming a chicken wing up her ass.”

Harper smiled. “No, it doesn’t.”

“How about we get out of here?” proposed Raini.

Devon rose to her feet. “Great idea. I’m done and – stop sniffing me!”

Knox had just finished a phone call with a difficult human business associate when there was a knock at the office door. He hoped it was Harper, since splaying her delectable body on his desk would go a long way to improving his mood. Instead, he found that it was none other than…“Isla.” His inner demon snarled, not at all happy to see her despite their history.

Her smile was pleasant and gracious. “Good afternoon, Knox.”

“Something I can help you with?”

She glanced around his office. “I’ve been at the hotel for almost two days and we’ve spent no time together at all. You always made time for me in the past.”