Her demon lunged to the fore. “Release me.”

He sucked in more psi-energy, startling her demon into retreating. “Do it.”

“Fuck. You.” Harper’s voice was now as unsteady as her legs. Lethargy swept over her, leaving her feeling weak. No, she wasn’t going to go out like this. Harper sharply twisted one wrist and freed her hand.

“No —”

She slammed her palm on his forehead. And as the power poured out of her and into him, she fell to her knees. The darkness gathering around her vision was closing in on her, but she forced her eyes to stay open; watching as Crow shook and howled.

Tanner! The strain of the telepathic cry made her collapse onto her stomach. Darkness beckoned. She fought it hard.

Tanner burst into the room just as Crow conjured a gun. The first shot went wide, but the second made Tanner stagger back with a grunt.

She tried to crawl toward him, but her body went limp and she felt herself fading away. Using the last bit of psi-energy she could muster, she called out, Knox… my old office. Then it all went dark.

It was pain that woke her. A draining, excruciating, white-hot pain lancing through her head. God, it felt like someone was using a sword to carve her skull in two. Nauseous, she clamped her lips shut, afraid she’d balk.

Harper knew she wasn’t alone. She could smell Knox. Could feel his eyes on her. She could also feel his rage brushing the edges of her consciousness. The same rage was thickening the air and weighing on her chest. It made her demon stiffen, wary.

Harper forced her eyes open, wincing as the light stung her eyes and sent more pain knifing through her head. She gritted her teeth against the urge to cry out. At that moment, pain was the least of her worries. Over six feet of raw power was standing over the bed, hands casually stuffed in his pockets… and exuding a soul-gripping fury that made her hackles rise.

His face was blank, but his dark eyes were diamond hard and sparked with anger. A frisson of fear scuttled down her spine. It always spooked her when he was so unnaturally composed. Mate or not, she never allowed herself to forget that she was dealing with the ultimate predator; an archdemon, a creature born to cause havoc and destruction.

Clearing her throat, she sat upright, distantly noting that her wings had melted into her back. “Is Tanner okay?”

For a moment, Knox was silent. “He’s healing.” His tone was even, but she wasn’t mistaking that for calmness.

“And Crow?”

“We’ve detained him.” Knox’s eyes narrowed. “This is the second time you failed to call me while you were in danger.” The words were as lethal as any blade.

“I did call you… eventually.”

“Yes, but by then Tanner had already called me.”

Refusing to back down in the face of his anger or power, she lifted her chin. “Look —”

“You promised me that if you ever needed my help, you would call.”

“You’re right, I did.”

“But you didn’t do it.”

Nope, and she didn’t regret it. “Crow wasn’t interested in hurting me. He wanted to hurt you. It was a trap.”

His nostrils flared. “You think I don’t know that?”

She frowned. “If you know that, why are you mad at me?”

“He. Could. Have. Killed. You.”

She almost shivered at the silken menace in those softly spoken words. “He didn’t want me dead, he wanted you dead.”

“But he’d have had no problem killing you.”

“Not until I’d served my purpose, which was to call you. By not doing that, I saved us both.” The air cooled as his eyes bled to black. And she saw that the demon was exponentially pissed.

“You were drained to the point of unconsciousness,” said the demon, its tone cold and detached as always. Still, she could sense its rage. “How is that saving yourself?” it challenged.

“Drained, but not dead,” she pointed out.

“Drained, dead – neither is acceptable to me.” The demon then retreated, and Knox was glaring at her yet again. “Nor are they acceptable to me.”

“Well, your death isn’t acceptable to me.” He wasn’t the only one in their relationship who got to be protective. “He didn’t want me dead, he only wanted you dead.”

“And yet, he shot Tanner… and he shot to kill. Or did you forget that?”

“Tell me, if I’d done as he asked, what do you think would have happened? Huh? Do you think you would have just destroyed him on the spot and we’d have walked away with a carefree whistle? He had hold of me. That alone would have made you hesitate to act – something he was counting on and had planned for. That hesitation would have gotten you killed.”

“It might not have happened that way.”

“I wasn’t going to risk it.”

“Which almost got you killed.”

She shoved a hand through her hair. He just wasn’t hearing her at all. “What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? That I’ll never do it again?”

He scoffed. “Why would I ask you to promise me you’ll never do it again? Apparently you don’t keep your word.”

She shot to her feet so fast she swayed. “You motherfucking son of a bitch.”

“Sit down before you fall down.”

Ignoring that, she scowled. “You’re honestly saying that bullshit to me?” He would actually question her sense of integrity?