Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
It wasn’t only the twins who were with him. He was deep in conversation with a tall, dark, so very fine male who was none other than Knox Thorne. At Knox’s back was his broad and equally tall personal guard and sentinel, Levi—a reaper who was also a good friend of Ella’s.
For a crime boss, Luka had a surprising amount of allies who you might expect to avoid someone with so little respect for law and order. But she supposed it wasn’t too shocking that he’d be friendly with Knox—they had the whole ‘merciless’ thing in common.
Her attention went to her left, where Thorne’s mate and anchor stood alongside another of their lair’s sentinels. Rather than interrupt whatever conversation was taking place between Knox and Luka, she headed over to Harper and her guard.
Harper smiled. “Hey, Ella.” No one would question how the petite sphinx had snared the attention of her supremely hot mate. She was beautiful, though not in a classical way. Harper made an impact with all that dark hair tipped with a gold that matched the color of her eyes—eyes that were reflective and glassy, like those of a cat. At any time the color of her irises could swirl like liquid and become a completely different color.
Honestly, Ella’s demon was a little jealous of the latter.
Ella felt her lips curve as she looked from the sphinx to Tanner. “Hi, guys, good to see you. How’re things?”
“Fine, thanks,” replied Harper brightly.
Tanner merely grunted, though it wasn’t an expression of rudeness. He was just busy keeping an eye out, protective of his female co-Prime. The hellhound’s wolf-gold gaze repeatedly scanned their surroundings, slow and thorough.
Harper tilted her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look kind of tired.”
Ella shrugged. “Story of my life lately. How’s little Asher?”
A glowing smile split Harper’s mouth at the mention of her son. “Still the embodiment of trouble.”
Ella could believe it, given that his personality was very imp-like. An unsurprising fact, since most of his maternal relatives were imps.
It was claimed that, like his mother, Asher was a sphinx. But Ella had been near him a few times, and he didn’t feel like a sphinx. He was something else. Something powerful. She just didn’t know what. Her inner demon very much agreed with Ella’s suspicion.
“I’m hoping you’re not here to ask Luka to have mercy on some of your imp-relatives or something,” said Ella. “He didn’t hurt any, did he?”
“No, nothing like that,” Harper assured her with a flick of a hand.
Well, that was good. Because the majority of those imp relatives belonged to a lair that was run by Harper’s grandmother, Jolene Wallis—a shrewd, batshit, unpredictable she-demon who made a bad enemy.
“He and Knox are having a quick meeting,” Harper explained. “I don’t actually know what it’s about, only that it’s nothing bad. I came with him because I’ve heard so much about Infernal and wanted to check it out.”
“Your mate sure has a lot of contacts.” Ella angled her body ever so slightly as she subtly slid a look at the Black Saints. “Case in point.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting Knox to consent to them having access to the Underground. But he seems to like Viper. So does Maddox, and he generally isn’t a fan of people outside his lair.”
Maddox Quentin’s breed of demon generally kept to themselves. He was a descendant, part of a race who came into being after some of the first fallen angels mated with demons. Those offspring then mated with demons as well, and so on and so on until descendants became a species in their own right. Still, they were often thought of as mutts.
Maddox did mingle a little outside his lair now that he was mated to Harper’s friend and business partner, Raini. He was also, if the rumors were true, allied with Viper.
“Ah, it appears the meeting is finished,” said Harper, pulling Ella from her thoughts.
She glanced over her shoulder to see both Knox and Levi approaching.
“Ella,” Knox politely greeted with an incline of his head.
His aura of power unnerved her demon slightly, so it watched him warily. “Your mate was just kindly keeping me company while I waited for you and Luka to round up your conversation.” She looked at her friend. “Hi, Levi, how are you?”
Gunmetal gray eyes landed on her, and his lips tipped up. “Good, what about you?” His brows dipped. “You look tired.”
She was getting a little fed up of hearing that. “I’m fine. How’s Piper?”
His smile widened and took on a proud tilt, just as it always did when he spoke of his mate. He was so gone for her it was cute. “She’s fine, she—”
“Why are you all hogging my anchor?” complained Luka as he came up behind them.
Mirth lighting his gaze, Knox said, “I wouldn’t call it hogging, but be assured we’re leaving now so you can have her all to yourself.” He gave her a quick nod, amusement still dancing in his eyes, and then ushered his mate away.