“Shh, I know it hurts.” Because there was nothing soothing about the power inside him, even as it healed her.
“Burns,” she bit out.
“I’m almost done.” The blisters were shrinking, the blood was clotting, and the skin was knitting back together. He briefly glanced at Carmen. “What happened?” he asked, a hard bite to his voice.
“I didn’t see everything,” replied the sentinel. “I had to wait for the Underground’s elevator to come back down and take me up to the basement—she’d gone ahead of me with her crew. When I got up there, she was on her knees on the floor with a dagger buried in her stomach. It was weird. Glowed white. Her friends had surrounded her, their backs to her. She yanked out the blade just as I teleported to her side. I brought her straight to you.”
His demon roared inside his head. Maddox was not what anyone would call emotional. Not much moved him one way or the other. But when triggered, his anger could be a feral thing. It could pound inside him like a heartbeat, driving him to hurt; avenge; kill. Right then, it did exactly that. And his demon encouraged him to act on it.
Grinding his teeth as he fought to keep a lid on his rage, he examined Raini’s wound. Seeing that she was fully healed, he released her hand and scooped her up. “Did you get a good look at the person who threw the dagger?” he asked Carmen.
“Yes, his astral self was popping in and out of view. I didn’t recognize him.”
His demon hissed again, still pressing Maddox to go search for the fucker who’d hurt their anchor. But there was no way Maddox could leave her right then.
As he carefully laid her on the sofa, she looked up at him, her eyes hooded. “It stripped my power from me.”
“What did?”
“The dagger. It took my power from me. Like a magnet.”
His inner entity froze. The last thing any demon needed to be was vulnerable. Right now, Raini was as good as human. “There’ll be a way we can return it to you.”
She weakly shook her head. “I already took it back.”
Maddox blinked. “You took your power back?”
“It was mine.” Her eyes fluttered closed. “Brace yourself. My Prime, my girls, and their guys will be here soon. Good luck with that.” And then she was out.
“She’s right,” said Hector, “they’ll come.”
Carmen nodded. “And they won’t be happy that I took her.”
Maddox looked from one sentinel to the other. “Wait for them outside. Bring them up here when they arrive.”
Carmen hesitated to leave. “I apologize for failing you. Failing her.”
“You didn’t fail anyone,” said Maddox. “You did exactly as I told you to do. You saw she was in danger, and you brought her to me.”
Carmen swallowed and then followed Hector into the elevator. The metal doors slid closed, and Maddox found himself alone with his anchor.
He sat beside her on the sofa and lifted her head to rest it on his thigh. She didn’t stir or make a sound. He wasn’t surprised. If she’d fought whatever power was in that dagger, she’d have expended a whole lot of psychic energy—that was always draining.
Seeing her this way only increased his demon’s fury. It wanted blood. Wanted vengeance. It would get it at some point, but not right then.
Maddox sank his hand into her soft hair and glided his fingertips along her scalp. He allowed himself to touch her occasionally, wanting her to get used to his touch. But he hadn’t tried to take it further, because he wanted her to feel comfortable around him; wanted her to trust him. More, he wanted her to realize that his wish to have her in his life wasn’t about sex.
He’d done his homework on Raini. Very in-depth homework. He knew a lot about her, including that she didn’t particularly like being a succubus. More to the point, she didn’t like that so many of the men who pursued her only did so because they were caught up in the succubae spell.
Many coveted her like one would a shiny, expensive car. They sought to claim her. Possess her. Own her. Some had even been so deeply ensnared that they’d become obsessed with her.
If Maddox had guessed correctly, she worried that he only wanted her around because he was caught up in the sexual, compelling allure she radiated. She worried that he didn’t truly care about her safety or well-being; that he was simply subconsciously driven to have her in his life, like many others were before him.
He got that. He could understand it. Little did she know, but he was resistant to compulsions—including that of succubae, no matter how powerful they were. That didn’t mean he didn’t want her in his bed.
A man would have to be dead not to want Raini Campbell. She was beyond beautiful. Bedroom eyes. Long, thick lashes. Plush mouth. Perfectly symmetrical face. Flawless skin. Full, round breasts. Shapely legs. Curves that made a man think of sex and sin.
Maddox would make his move eventually, but not until she trusted that he wasn’t under the influence of the allure she radiated.
Hearing the whir of machinery, he lifted his head. Soon enough, Hector stepped out of the elevator. Behind him were Raini’s coworkers, Knox Thorne, and three of Knox’s sentinels. Their eyes went straight to the woman sleeping on the sofa, her head still resting on Maddox’s thigh.
Harper eyed him. “Your sentinel said her wound is healed.”
“It is,” Maddox confirmed, again stroking his fingertips along Raini’s scalp.
“Was it necessary for your demon to take her?”
“She needed healing, so yes. I won’t apologize for putting her before what you would have wanted.”
“You can’t only be her anchor when it suits you.”
He didn’t credit that statement with a response. He wasn’t going to justify himself to Harper Thorne or anyone else.
Devon crossed to the sofa and gave him a small smile. “Thank you for healing her. She’s very important to us, you see, so we’re a little on edge after seeing her be hurt.”
The hellcat settled on the other end of the couch and placed Raini’s feet on her lap. Harper perched herself on the armrest while Khloë sat on the floor and put her hand on Raini’s leg.
Noting how disapproving the males looked at the sight of the women so close to Maddox, he almost snorted. They were safe from him purely because they meant something to Raini.
He looked at Knox. “I don’t suppose you managed to kill the demon who attacked, considering he was astral projecting.”
The Prime shook his head. “But we have the dagger.” He stepped closer to Maddox and held up the blade. There were no smears of blood, so Knox must have wiped it clean. There were, however, strange runes carved into the steel—some of which Maddox had seen before.
“An incantor either made that dagger or simply inscribed the runes onto it,” said Maddox. “That blade wields magick, which explains why Raini said it stripped her power from her.”
Devon gasped. “Stripped her power?”
“She took it back, which is probably why she passed out.” Maddox noted that none of the women looked surprised to hear that Raini had been strong enough to wrench it back. Knox and his sentinels, however, exchanged a look.
The elevator whirred to life again. Moments later, Carmen walked into the office swiftly followed by Jolene Wallis and two of her sentinels.