Home > Fallen (Dark in You #7)(5)

Fallen (Dark in You #7)(5)
Author: Suzanne Wright

“Well either she hasn’t heard about that or just prefers to believe what brings her joy.” Raini shrugged. “Whatever the case, she’s pleased that he doesn’t want to bond with me.”

Devon shook her head. “You know, with any luck, she won’t come back from her upcoming cruise. Maybe the sea will take her.”

“It’s more likely to spit her back out.” Khloë twisted her mouth, her gaze locked on Raini. “I was sure Maddox wouldn’t hold out long; that he’d choose to form the anchor bond at some point. But then you made your little deal with him, so now he’s getting the best of both worlds and has zero motivation to give in. Don’t you know better than to make deals with shady dudes like Maddox Quentin?”

“I wasn’t going to let you die.” Raini raised a hand. “No, don’t start giving me grief again, Wallis. I made a choice, and I don’t regret it. You’d have made the same choice if the situation was reversed. You can’t say you wouldn’t have.”

“Actually, I can, because I don’t know exactly what you promised him,” said Khloë. “Without all the info, I can’t make an educated guess as to whether or not I’d truly have agreed to it in your shoes.”

“I told you the conditions of the agreement.” Mostly.

“No, you told us some of them, not all.”

Raini had held back the final condition. Why? Because they’d be furious that he’d request such a thing when he wouldn’t even bond with her. More, they’d tell Jolene for sure, who’d be equally furious. And when someone was bat-shit crazy right down to the bone and liked to demolish entire buildings when their temper was running high, it was not a good idea for them to be in a fury about anything.

Oh, Jolene would understand Maddox’s reasoning. She just wouldn’t care. And Raini would really rather not be stuck in the middle of a dispute between her anchor and her Prime.

Besides, what would be the point in bemoaning the situation or having anyone take him to task over exploiting her desperation that night? Raini would never try to renege on a deal, so it wasn’t like anything would change.

Khloë sighed. “Look, if you’re keeping the rest from me because you worry I’ll feel bad that you agreed to this deal to save me from dying, then don’t.”

Raini rested a hand on the imp’s shoulder. “If there’s one thing I’ll never do, Khloë, it’s worry that you’ll ‘feel bad’ about, well, anything. Guilt has never quite been your thing.”

“It’s a wasteful emotion.”

Raini’s inner demon happened to agree with that.

Khloë sighed. “I worry about you, that’s all. I felt his power flow through me and … it was just so cold, Raini. Cold, but it burned and prickled. A little like chilblains. And now you … Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be alive, I’m grateful he helped. But he’s mega powerful. Like scary, mega powerful.”

“But,” Harper cut in, “fate wouldn’t have paired Raini with him if it didn’t feel she could handle him.”

Raini inwardly snorted. Maddox wouldn’t be easy to deal with unless he was in the mood to be. Which seemed to be never, from what she’d so far observed.

The bell above the door rang as it swung open. Knox entered with three of his sentinels—Tanner, Keenan, and Levi. Naturally, each of the first three males made a beeline for their prospective mate and delivered a few soft, lingering kisses.

“You ready to go home, kitten?” asked Tanner.

Devon smiled at the hellhound. “Almost, pooch.”

“I’ll just lock the back door,” said Harper, who then headed to the rear of the shop.

“I gotta set my desk to rights,” Khloë told Keenan, who frowned … probably because, to anyone else, the desk looked the epitome of organized.

Watching as Knox and Keenan moved to the side and began talking quietly, Raini felt her mouth tip up. After Khloë almost died, there’d been a short period of time during which the two males hadn’t spoken to each other. Raini hadn’t understood why. Well, not until she overheard Harper and Keenan talking in the sphinx’s office here at Urban Ink a few months ago …

“He could have saved her, Harper,” Keenan insisted. “He could have stopped her from being hit by the death orb, but he didn’t. Aren’t you pissed? She’s your cousin.”

Harper sighed. “Keenan—”

“Hey, I get it, okay. Knox is so good to you and Asher that it can be easy to forget that he’s not good. I know he doesn’t have a basic reflex to help others. I know that you and Asher are his priorities and that he’d never help someone—not even himself—if it negatively affected his mate or son. And exposing to everyone that he could call on the flames of hell would sure as shit not be good for the family you three have built.”

Raini felt her mouth drop open. There’d been rumors that Knox had such an ability, but Raini had hoped they weren’t true, because nothing was impervious to the flames of hell—they could destroy the freaking world.

“I do get all that, Harper,” Keenan went on, “but—”

“But Khloë’s yours, and you love her, and you don’t want her to die,” Harper finished. “You’re wrong in thinking that Knox hesitated that day because he didn’t want to expose his ability—he knew he could erase the incident from people’s minds.”

“Then why did he hesitate?”

“I was speaking to him telepathically just before Jolene’s shield crumbled. He was so angry, Keenan. There we all were—tired and injured from a damn battle during which his own son had been fighting alongside us in his astral form … and all because someone suspected—simply suspected—that Knox possessed the ability to call on the flames.

“Right then, Knox hated and resented that he had it. The last thing he wanted to do was use it, but he would have if he’d known that Jolene’s shield would fall. He couldn’t have known it would. I hadn’t. I hadn’t thought we’d need the flames. I mean, there was a bunch of us against one man. None of us could have known that Jolene’s shield wouldn’t survive the final attack. Her shield had cracked a few times during the battle, but it hadn’t faltered until then. Knox hates now, with the benefit of hindsight, that he hesitated. You and I both know he wouldn’t have held back if he’d thought Khloë would otherwise be hit by that last death orb.”

Keenan said nothing for a few moments. “Why didn’t he say any of this to me when I ripped him another asshole?”

“Because he feels that he let you down, so he’s not looking for you to forgive him or excuse what decisions he made that night.” Harper paused. “Put yourself in his shoes. If it had been me who Enoch wanted to kill, you’d have been worried for me, but your priority would have still been Khloë. The fact that she was unsafe would have been all you could think about. Fearing for the life of a person you love fucks with your head and makes it hard for you to be rational. You wouldn’t have put Khloë’s life before mine, would you?”

Keenan exhaled heavily. “No,” he admitted, the word seeming torn out of him.

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