Harper’s mouth curled. “Then let’s go see our boy.”

Knox’s fury still festered inside him like an open, infected wound. But the anger was no longer hot and blinding. It was cold and calculating. More importantly, it was contained and wouldn’t leak out onto Asher.

Locking his arms around Harper, Knox pyroported them to the nursery. He loved the room. Bright and airy with lemon walls, smooth pine furnishings, and woodland murals decorating walls and closet doors, it had a warm and serene atmosphere that invited a person inside.

As the flames died down, there was a heart-lifting giggle of excitement. Asher’s face lit up. “Da!” He dropped his truck on the plush carpet and raised his arms, flexing his little fists.

Knox scooped him up and pressed a light kiss to his cheek. “Just how crazy have you driven Meg?”

Asher blew bubbles at him.

“Thought so,” said Knox.

Harper smiled at the cute sight her guys made. If people had expected Knox to soften now that he was a father, they had thought wrong. If anything, having a child to protect had made him even more intense than before. Harper figured it was partly because his own parents had failed him—he was determined to do better by his son.

Lounging in the rocking chair, Meg gave Harper a stern look. “This is where you tell me what happened.”

Standing beside the chair, their butler, Dan, said, “Meg’s mind has been running away with itself.”

While Knox held Asher up high so the kid’s little finger could trace the white tree mural that spanned from floor to ceiling, Harper relayed the incident to Meg and Dan. “She didn’t fool him, though,” Harper said, looking at Asher. “No, she went to him in the form of someone he trusted, but he didn’t fall for it. The other kids didn’t sense that she wasn’t me, but he did.”

“Asher knows you by scent as well as by sight. She might have looked like you, but she won’t have had your scent,” Meg pointed out.

“She didn’t have any scent. Plus, she was saying, ‘Come to Mama. Time to go home.’ He doesn’t call me that.” Harper rubbed her nape. “He wasn’t scared. When his mind brushed mine to call for me, there was no alarm there. No impression of him needing help. It was more like a, ‘Hey, Mom, check this out.’ The same kind of touch as when he sees something he finds intriguing.”

Knox cast him a smile that glinted with pride. “He knew you’d protect him; that’s why he wasn’t scared.”

Harper snorted. “Or he’s a cocksure little bugger who was certain he was safe right inside that shield.”

Dan’s mouth quirked. “It was probably a bit of both.”

A flutter of wings was followed by a hoarse, grating “caw”.

Asher’s face split into a huge grin as he noticed the crow perched on a tree branch near his closed window. He even waved at the damn thing.

In an almost haughty movement, Dan flicked his hand. There was a slight push of power in the air, and the crow flew away.

“You can control animals?” Harper asked him.

“No, but I can communicate with them,” said Dan. “I merely told it to leave.”

“I need to go back to the hotel so I can be seen leaving it with Levi.” Knox handed Asher to Harper and then kissed her temple. “When I’m back, I’ll check over your wounds again.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think we can safely say that they’ll be fully healed soon.”

“I still want to check them out.” He wouldn’t be satisfied until they were completely gone. Knox ruffled Asher’s hair. “Be good for your mom.” Again, Asher blew raspberries at him. With a chuckle, Knox pyroported to his office within the hotel he’d earlier held his meeting.

Gun-metal eyes hard, Levi pushed out of the leather chair, brow cocked in question.

“Asher’s fine,” Knox assured the reaper. “The only person who was physically hurt was Harper, and her wounds were healing nicely last time I checked. We’re not sure who tried to take Asher, but we know that they’re not dead.”

Levi nodded, rolling back his wide shoulders. “Tanner filled me in on everything. It’s odd that the she-demon left no scent behind. Everyone has a scent.”

“Everyone bleeds, too, but there was no blood on Harper’s knife.”

Levi twisted his mouth. “What that she-demon did today was cocky. It’s likely that she followed Harper to Jolene’s house. She somehow kept a close eye on what was happening, ensured there was a distraction that would keep people occupied, and then pounced on what she felt was the right moment to enter the house. That kind of thing takes patience, smarts, and balls. That means we’re not dealing with a near-rogue, which is always good news.” He folded his arms across his broad chest. “Any theories on what kind of demon she could be?”

With a sigh, Knox scraped his hand over his jaw. “No. Although I suppose we should consider that it wasn’t necessarily a ‘she’. They took on Harper’s form in order to get close to Asher, but that doesn’t make them female. They could just as easily be male.”

Levi swore. “Never thought of that. So we can’t even be sure what gender they are, let alone what breed of demon they could be?”

“No, we can’t,” confirmed Knox. “But we know one thing for sure.”

“What?”

“They may not bleed—or, at least, they may not leave behind any blood—but they can feel pain.” Knox’s tone deepened. Darkened. “That brings me a lot of comfort, because I intend to put them through a world of endless, unendurable, soul-destroying torment. I’ll revel in every cry and scream and plea for mercy. Lap up their fear and terror and hopelessness.”

“And when it’s over?”

“It’ll never be over.” Even before she’d gotten pregnant, Knox and Harper both vowed that if anyone dared to come after their child, they would subject that fucker to an unimaginable suffering and relay a strong message that targeting their child would be a grave mistake.

Levi’s grin was somewhat bloodthirsty. “It’s been a while since we really partied like that. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll bring the popcorn. And the chainsaw. The rusty one with the duller blade. The fucker won’t be needing their limbs for what we have in mind.”

Knox returned his grin. “Just don’t forget the hot iron so we can cauterize the stumps. You always forget the hot iron.”

“I know. Who forgets to bring a hot iron to a party, for God’s sake?”

CHAPTER FOUR

A few days later, Knox looked up from the computer monitors within his home office when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” he called out. As Levi strode inside wearing a sober expression, Knox’s muscles went rigid. “What is it?”

The sentinel let out a long breath. “There’s something you need to see.” He held up his iPhone. “This footage was aired on YouTube last night, but it took a while for anyone to really notice it.”

Knox took the cell phone and tapped “play” with his thumb. The camera provided a close-up view of a woman bound to a chair with thick rope, her lips and chin trembling. The only light in the dark room seemed to be the one above her head, and that light illuminated the sheer terror in her familiar eyes. Fuck.

“Smile for the camera, Alethea,” a voice in the background said. Oddly, that voice belonged to Alethea herself.

Another figure appeared then and moved to stand behind her. It was impossible to be sure of their height, since only a slight portion of their body was visible.

“As you can tell,” the voice went on, “I’ve stolen Alethea’s voice for a little while. Can’t have her shouting anything incriminating, can I?”

Alethea mouthed something, but no words came out.

“I think most of you will know who I am,” the person behind her continued. “Well, maybe not who I am exactly. But you’ll know what I am. You’ll know you’re looking at the fourth Horseman.”