She’d wanted Tanner to stay with Asher too, but the hellhound had just stared at her patiently. As her bodyguard, he went where she went … which was why he was currently stood behind her chair just as Levi was stood behind Knox’s. Both were on guard, much like Jolene’s anchor, Beck, who stood on Tanner’s other side.

“I had to sneak out in case Asher accidentally cuffed me to him again,” Harper told her grandmother and Martina.

Jolene cackled. “That will tickle me for a long time.” That’s a very distinct mark on your neck.

Harper resisted the urge to touch the bite. Knox had been rough with her in the shower that morning. It was part of that whole “you’re mine and don’t forget it” message he felt the need to drum into her brain on a daily basis. Basically, his possessive nature was live and electric due to Drew’s behavior, and she was seeing the ass-end of it.

I’m assuming Knox told you about Drew’s tattoo, Jolene added.

Harper shifted awkwardly in her seat. Her demon’s upper lip curled at the reminder of the tattoo. Yep, Knox told me. I keep thinking that maybe Levi didn’t see the tattoo clearly on the picture.

Oh, he saw it clearly. I had Drew show it to me. She sighed. The boy always was reckless.

Mouth quirking, Harper said, That boy is in his late thirties.

He won’t live to see his forties if he doesn’t do as I ordered.

Grabbing the pitcher, Harper poured some iced water into a glass. What did you order?

For him to allow Raini to remove the stupid tattoo and for him to return to Cuba earlier than he’d planned.

I spoke to Devon and told her about it all. She’s sad to think that he could be hurting, but she also thinks he and I weren’t “meant to be”. She said she’ll talk to him.

Jolene gave a curt nod of approval. He listens to Devon.

Beneath the table, Knox gently squeezed Harper’s thigh. Who are you talking to? As her anchor, he could feel the echoes of her telepathic conversations but couldn’t understand the words. The same applied to her when the situation was reversed.

Grams, Harper replied simply before sipping at her water. Are you kicking this meeting off or what?

Yes, I’d say it’s time. Knox’s demon wanted it over and done with. Despite that the others in the room held plenty of power, it had little respect for them. Mostly because of how they’d treated Harper. In their eyes, she was somewhat beneath them in that she wasn’t from a powerful lair, didn’t have a high-ranking or well-paid job, was an imp for all intents and purposes, and was part of a family that was notoriously criminal.

Knox agreed with Levi that people didn’t truly look down on imps. Instead, they were wary of them. Daring, sly, wild, and uncontrollable, imps were wild cards, especially Wallis imps. They always retaliated, and they were never subtle about it. In any case, other breeds of demon tended to look upon imps as inferior. Not that it bothered them—imps took delight in irritating people.

For a while, the other Primes hadn’t taken Knox and Harper’s mating seriously, finding it much too difficult to comprehend that Knox would bind himself to a Wallis. Also, it was rare for Primes to mate, particularly since demons didn’t like to share power, so they’d been shocked by the mating.

Knox had come to believe that the Primes also hadn’t wanted to take the mating seriously, since a ruling pair—particularly a pair as strong as Harper and Knox—was far more powerful than a single Prime. He was enough of a threat as it was.

Keep a careful watch on Thatcher and Dario, Knox told his sentinels. Breaking the connection with them, he loudly cleared his throat. All eyes moved to Knox, and the low voices fell silent. The only noise in the room was the steady hum of the air conditioning. The tension was palpable, and he knew it wouldn’t take much for an argument to ensue. He’d picked up enough thoughts filtering through weak shields to know that many suspected either Thatcher or Dario was the remaining Horseman.

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock,” began Knox, “I’m sure you’ve guessed what prompted me to call for this meeting. Jonas is too mired in grief to attend, which is probably for the best since his gifts won’t be very stable while he’s grieving. Would I be right in presuming that you all saw the YouTube clip?”

“The whole world saw it,” said Mila. “Including humans.”

“Luckily, most of the human population sneers at the possibility of anything preternatural,” said Jolene. “Plenty of comments were left about the clip, most of which went along the lines of ‘terrible special effects’ and ‘bad acting’.”

“But some names were mentioned—particularly those of the other Horsemen,” Mila pointed out. “Alethea’s killer also mentioned you, Knox.”

“Only by surname,” he said. “As such, I doubt it will be linked to me. Even if it was, the human authorities will hardly believe there’s a death to investigate—people don’t set others on fire and melt their corpse, do they? Not in the human world.”

Pausing, Knox ran his gaze over each of the Primes. “If anyone here wishes to do as the Horseman asked and step down from their position, say so now.” When no one spoke, Knox gave a satisfied nod.

Malden sighed. “Although I’d investigated the matter of the Horsemen, I’d held out hope that they didn’t exist. Just the idea that demons might band together with plans to overthrow the Primes is bad enough. That such demons would also think to take you on means they’re either powerful, delusional, or utterly stupid.”

“Alethea’s killer was powerful,” said Mila.

Thatcher sighed. “I suppose I’m a suspect, just as I was a suspect during our last meeting.”

Knox’s eyes slammed on him. “At this point, Thatcher, everyone’s a suspect.”

“I watched that YouTube video several times before it was taken down,” said Dario. “It seems obvious to me that Alethea knew her killer.”

Knox nodded, watching the other Prime carefully. “He broadcasted her murder to create fear and panic and anger. But it was a mistake on his part, because he also gave us clues about his identity. For instance, we now know he’s able to steal or replicate a person’s voice. We know he’s male. Caucasian. Well-built. We know he somehow knew Alethea—he said she was in his way.”

Eyes narrowed in thought, Raul rubbed at his chin. “She may well have figured out that he was the last of the Horsemen. That seems the likeliest scenario.”

“Alethea disappeared months before her death,” said another Prime. “Do you think he held her captive all that time? If so, why? And why not kill her right away?”

“I don’t believe she was his prisoner,” said Jolene. “She looked rumpled, but not dirty or malnourished or beaten. Her make-up was close to perfect. Wherever she was all that time, it wasn’t a prison of any sort.” There were murmurs of agreement.

“I spoke at length with Jonas,” said Knox. “Alethea was acting quite secretive before she went missing. Wouldn’t even tell him who she was associating with at the time.”

“I thought she was with Thatcher,” a voice piped up from the opposite end of the table.

“Only for a short time,” Thatcher told him. “It was nothing serious. Just a bit of fun.”

“Maybe you didn’t want that fun to end and so you punished her,” that same Prime accused.

Thatcher sniffed at him. “If you’re going to insist on playing Devil’s advocate, at least offer more interesting theories. If you must know, it was I who ended the relationship. It was obvious that she was seeing someone else. I don’t demand commitment from my sexual partners, but I do demand exclusivity.” His eyes scanned the room. “Perhaps you’ve all forgotten that I aided Knox in reaching his mate before Nora could kill her. If I were one of the Horsemen, surely I wouldn’t have helped him. I notice none of you are pointing fingers at Dario, even though he’s a likely suspect.”