As Levi stopped the car at a red light, Knox glanced around, taking note of where they were and how many humans were walking along the drab street. Not many. There was an elderly woman struggling with an umbrella, a vagrant pushing a cart, a woman with a stroller, and a trio of teens that had just strode out of an alley. Still, he’d prefer to battle somewhere more secluded. If there were humans around, it would limit how Knox could retaliate against an attack.

“We need to lead the incorporeal into a more derelict area,” said Knox.

“I got a place in mind.” Tapping his fingers impatiently on the wheel, Levi sighed and tipped his chin toward the pedestrian crossing the street. “There’s always a slow old lady when you’re in a rush. Seriously, she’s moving, like, an inch at a time.”

If he wasn’t so focused on the matter of the incorporeal, Knox might have smiled. Instead, he was running through battle plans in his head. His heart was pounding, and adrenalin was pumping through him. Preparing him. Invigorating him.

Like his demon, he relished the thought of fighting the demon that had dared to not only attempt to possess his son, but who had made his mate bleed. The delicious anticipation of it had his demon practically licking its lips.

Glancing at the traffic light, Knox rolled back his shoulders. It would go green any moment now, surely. Every second that ticked by seemed like minutes, winding him that much tighter with tension.

Amber.

Green.

“Fucking finally,” Levi burst out, shifting the gear and exerting pressure on the pedal.

“Don’t drive fast or try to lose it,” said Knox. “We don’t want it to know we’ve made it.”

Further up the street, the woman with the stroller halted at the curb. As they neared, she looked their way. Smirked cruelly. And then shoved the stroller right into the road.

Levi slammed his foot on the pedal and sharply swerved the steering wheel, making the car skid until it was sideways. Tires screeched and the reaper swore a blue streak. His quick reflexes might not have been enough if Knox hadn’t reached out with his psychic hands to yank the stroller to a standstill.

That was when a powerful gust of gale-force wind swept up the Bentley and tossed it in the air like it was no more than a leaf.

Even as the car flipped over and glacial air thrust into the open windows to freeze him, Knox grabbed Levi and pyroported them directly behind the woman, witnesses be fucking damned.

Just as the crackling flames eased away from him and Knox snapped a psychic hand around her throat, she went limp. He saw it leave her—saw the vaporous swirl that dissipated so fast, he could almost think it had never been there at all.

Shaking with rage and frustration, Knox sent hellfire blasting out of his hand like it was a flamethrower; aiming for what he could no longer see, even as he knew it would do no real damage anyway.

His heartbeat was pounding so loud in his ears that it took a moment to realize the woman in his psychic grip was screaming and struggling to get free, wanting to get to her baby. Knox released her so fast she stumbled, but he was too consumed by fury to feel bad for her. Just the same, he couldn’t find it in him to feel any sympathy for the truck driver, who’d hopped out of the vehicle, looking equally baffled.

Spinning to face Knox, Levi hissed out a breath. “That mother-fucking motherfucker.”

Silently cursing himself, Knox flexed his fingers so hard his joints cracked. “I was so busy concentrating on what was happening behind me that I didn’t think to focus on what was going on right in front of us.”

“The incorporeal must have realized we’d made it, abandoned the driver, and then possessed the woman in the hope of catching us off-guard with a frontal attack.”

“It was a good plan,” Knox ground out. “And now it could be anywhere.” In a person, a bird, a rat—anyone. He scanned his surroundings slowly, but nothing set off his alarms.

“We have to get out of here before more people appear,” said Levi, casting a meaningful look at the trio of teens that had gathered around the woman and her baby—one of the teens was snapping pictures. “You’re going to have to plant a false memory in the minds of those witnesses over there. I’ll take care of deleting the photos.”

Muscles quivering, Knox forced himself to think past the anger clouding his thoughts. Levi was right; they needed to do damage control. Knox drew in a breath. “Let’s get that done so we can send the humans on their way.”

Although it was easy enough for Knox to thrust his mind into that of another, manipulating memories was a little more challenging. But he’d done it often enough over the years to cover their asses that it didn’t take long to have the humans all believing that the woman had accidentally lost control of the stroller and that Knox and Levi had got out of the car to help.

As the truck driver’s last memory was of driving along the freeway—at which point the incorporeal had either instantly possessed him or had taken control of his body after lingering inside him for a while—Knox planted false memories of the driver taking a series of wrong turns.

Once they were alone, Knox and Levi then headed to the Bentley. It lay on its side on the opposite side of the street, where it had knocked down a lamppost. All things considered, it should have been a wreck. But there were no dents, no smashed windows, and no smoke hissing out of the hood, thanks to its preternatural protection.

After Levi telekinetically righted the Bentley, they both hopped inside and quickly returned their personal objects to their rightful places.

Switching on the ignition, Levi said, “It came after you. It could have done a similar attack on Tanner’s car to get to Harper and Asher. It didn’t. It went directly after you. I didn’t expect that.”

As the impact of Levi’s words hit him, they stole Knox’s breath. If the same had happened to the Audi, Harper wouldn’t have been able to pyroport her and Asher out of the flipping car as he’d done for Levi. No, his mate and son would have been tossed from side to side, thumped by loose objects flying around the car, and potentially been badly injured.

The Bentley rattled with the anger seeping out of him.

“I guess that wasn’t the smartest thing for me to say.” Levi gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m making the point that the incorporeal may well have abandoned the idea of trying to possess Asher. Either that or it’s happy to keep us guessing about what it intends to do next. If it’s the latter, it’s working.”

Knox nodded. “I didn’t expect such a direct, public attack on me.”

“But even though you’re pissed, you’re also relieved it targeted you,” Levi sensed.

Of course he was. Knox shrugged. “Better it’s me than my mate and son.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

It was no surprise to Knox that Harper didn’t share his relief that the incorporeal had targeted him. Naturally, she’d be glad that she and Asher weren’t victims of yet another attack, but he could sense that she was nonetheless silently seething—not just with the incorporeal for making a move on Knox, but with Knox himself because she saw his relief.

At that moment, she was sitting on the sofa, arms folded, one leg crossed over the other. She was also crazily twirling one ankle and tapping her nails like they were claws. Every now and then she would shoot him a scowl that only deepened the lines of stress that seemed carved into her beautiful face. Knox couldn’t—wouldn’t—apologize for not putting as much value on his own life as he did on hers and Asher’s.

Thankfully, Asher was currently taking a nap upstairs. Knox suspected that the amount of psychic strength he’d used to create the cuffs—both of which had now faded—had left him feeling drained and sleepy.