Ashes

  Ironically, part of what made it feel so safe for Harper was that it was a constant hub of activity. Her relatives were always coming and going, and it had always made Harper feel protected and secure. It wasn’t something she could explain – it just was.

  Jolene studied her closely. “You seem better today.”

  “I feel it.” She was still tired, but not weary. If the headache would just fuck off, she’d feel even better.

  “Stress has a powerful impact on the body.”

  “I’m not stressed.”

  “I would be in your shoes,” said Martina, who was beside Jolene with her legs curled under her. “You’ve been surrounded by danger since Knox walked into your life.”

  “You blame him?”

  “Not at all,” said Martina. “He’s not at fault for the actions of others. You know better than to think I’d judge him like that.”

  Smiling, Harper teased, “You mean because you, the wondrous firestarter, isn’t in a position to judge anyone for anything?”

  Martina grinned. “Maybe.”

  “Did you find out anything that may help us work out who hired the hunters?” asked Tanner, who was sprawled on the recliner.

  “No, none of the people we know who work on the black market seem to have any idea of who it could be,” said Jolene. “But you can be sure that no others will come for you, Harper. The word has been spread among the black market that you survived the attack and that Knox killed both hunters.”

  Many imps obtained and sold things on the black market, so her family had some contacts there. The imps didn’t sell people or wings or anything like that, but they sold rare objects and antiques. Mostly, they sold information. Imps were great at acquiring information.

  “Where is Knox anyway?” asked Jolene.

  “On his way back from paying Dion Boughton a visit,” said Harper. She’d already told Jolene about his meeting with Francisco and that Knox had written to Dion. “He received a letter from Dion yesterday with an invite to his island.”

  Martina picked up her cup of coffee. “Dion’s the one with the museum inside his home, right?”

  “That’s right. He likes to collect the unique – objects, people, animals.”

  “You’re unique in many ways,” said Martina. “That makes him a likely suspect.”

  “And a convenient person to pin the blame on,” Jolene pointed out.

  Martina nodded. “That too.” She looked about to say something else, but then the front door burst open and a group of kids entered.

  “Hi, Grams!” they shouted in unison. They ran down the hallway and into the kitchen. Moments later, they were dashing back down the hallway with cookies in hand, shouting, “Bye, Grams!”

  Martina chuckled at their antics and then turned back to Harper, smile fading. “I heard that Carla caused a fuss at the coffeehouse.”

  Harper shrugged, going for blasé. “Doesn’t matter. She’ll be gone soon.”

  “It does fucking matter,” insisted Tanner. “The sooner she leaves, the better.”

  Jolene made an “I’ll second that” humph. “Harper, you should know that Lucian’s coming to visit next month.”

  Harper carefully placed her mug on a square coaster. “Yeah, he told me.”

  “Have you told Knox?” asked Jolene.

  “No. I’m not looking forward to them being in the same room again.” To say that there was tension between Knox and Lucian would be the understatement of the century. Knox despised Lucian for not being a real father to her, and Lucian wanted “that psychopathic bastard” completely gone from her life. “Maybe one day they’ll —” Harper cut off as the front door once again burst open.

  Robbie came dashing into the living room with a spooked-looking Heidi in his arms. He was breathing hard, his eyes wild. Like that, everyone was on their feet.

  “What happened?” Jolene demanded.

  Robbie growled, “Some creep just tried to snatch Heidi.”

  Harper gaped. “You are shitting me.”

  “I wish I was.”

  Martina took Heidi into her arms and cuddled her. “It’s okay, sweetie.”

  Jolene clenched her fists. “Who?” The word was like a whip. “Who tried to take her?”

  Shrugging, Robbie shook his head. “I don’t know, Grams, I wasn’t watching her properly. I’m sorry.” He looked miserably at his sister. “Sorry, H.”

  Martina sighed. “Your mom and dad are gonna freak, especially your dad.”

  Yep, thought Harper, Richie would indeed lose his shit. Harper stroked a hand over Heidi’s hair. “Did the man say anything to you?”

  “He said that you told him about me,” she said in her tinkle-like voice.

  Bastard. Harper kept her tone soft and calm. “Yeah? What else did he say?”

  “That he was Knox’s new sentinel, and that he was supposed to bring me here because hunters had tried to hurt you again.”

  The hairs on Harper’s nape rose as a menacing growl rattled out of Tanner. “Did he say anything else?”

  “He tried to get me to go with him, but I didn’t want to.” Heidi looked at Jolene. “I screamed at him, and I shouted all those things you told me to shout if any stranger tried to hurt me, like ‘gun’ and ‘fire’ because you said it makes people listen. But he still grabbed me, so I… I used the scream. I know I’m not supposed to, and I didn’t mean to scare the other kids, but —”

  “It’s okay, sweetheart.” Jolene kissed her forehead. “You did what you had to do. You did exactly what you should have done.”

  Harper nodded. “Nobody is upset with you, Heidi. We’re all very proud of you.”

  “You definitely deserve some cookies.” Martina carried Heidi into the kitchen, talking softly to her.

  Harper shoved a hand through her hair. “I can’t fucking believe this,” she hissed quietly.

  Seeing Robbie stick a finger in his ear, Jolene asked, “Does it hurt?”

  “I can still hear the ringing a little,” said Robbie. “But it’s not bad. She screamed right at the guy, so it only hurt him. Don’t get me wrong, it was still loud, but it was directed at him so no one else was hurt.”

  Well, that was good. Hearing a knock on the front door, Harper said, “That’ll be Knox.” And, shit, she had to tell him before he came inside or his anger would spook Heidi. “Don’t shout for him to come straight in, Grams. I need a minute to talk with him.”

  “Good idea,” said Tanner.

  Harper walked out of the room and down the hallway with Tanner close behind. She opened the front door, and they both stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind them. At Knox’s frown, she held up her hands. “I need you to stay calm.”

  Knox stilled. “I hate it when you start a conversation with that sentence.”

  “Me, too. It’s about Heidi.” She told him and Levi everything that Heidi and Robbie had said.

  Knox’s face turned into a mask of savage fury. “Someone tried to take a five-year-old child, posing as my sentinel?”

  She slowly smoothed her hands up and down his chest. “I need you to stay completely calm, Knox. Calmer than you’ve ever been. She’s a little shaken. You don’t want to make it worse, so please suck your rage in.”

  He inhaled deeply, adopting that unnatural calm that she’d never be able to perfect. If she hadn’t been able to feel his anger brushing against the edges of her consciousness, she’d have thought he truly had his shit together.

  “Let me in,” he said. “I need to talk to her a little. Not interrogate or upset her, just talk to her.”

  Harper nodded, trusting that he wouldn’t do anything to frighten Heidi. She opened the door and led the way to the kitchen, where the four imps had gathered.

  Knox smiled at Heidi, who was sitting on the countertop, munching on a cookie. “I heard you had a bit of an adventure today. You must have been very scary to make a bad person run away.”

  “My scream hurt his ears.”

  Sensing Knox’s confu
sion, Harper said, She has a sonic scream.

  Ah, I see. “From what Harper tells me, you were very brave. I will find the person who did this, okay? They’ll never bother you again. I just need you to tell me whatever you remember about him so that I can find him.”

  Heidi’s little button nose wrinkled. “Well —”

  “What did he look like?” Martina interrupted. “Tall? Short?”

  “He was tall,” said Robbie. “He had broad shoulders.”

  Heidi nodded. “He —”

  “What about his hair?” said Martina. “Blond? Red? Brown? Black?”

  Heidi opened her mouth to answer, but Robbie beat her to it. “He had a buzzcut.”

  “Did he tell you his name?” Knox asked Heidi.

  “Yes,” she replied. “He said it was —”

  “He won’t have given her his real name,” Robbie scoffed. “He could be anyone. I’ve never seen him before.”

  Heidi did a cute little growl. “Will someone please let me talk? Jeez.”

  Harper bit her lip, stifling a smile. “They don’t mean to talk over you, Heidi-ho, they’re just anxious. Now what is it you’d like to say?”

  “He said his name was Dean. I don’t know if it’s true. Check.” She pulled a brown leather wallet out of her pocket and handed it to Knox.

  Jolene framed her face with her hands, smiling. “You fabulous little girl!”

  Levi grinned and tugged on one of her ringlets. “You told him he was really tall in that shaky voice to make him bend down so you could rob him, didn’t you?”

  She grinned back at him. “Uh-huh.”

  Harper kissed her cheek. “Clever girl.”

  She smiled brightly at Jolene. “Can I get a puppy now?”

  Harper looked at Knox, who’d opened the wallet. What’s his name?

  Dean Bannon.

  Huh, so he had used his real name. Never heard of him.

  I have. He’s a stray demon for hire. His address is right here on his driver’s license. Levi, grab him and take him to the boathouse. Knox rattled off the demon’s address, and the sentinel nodded and strode out of the house.

  Jolene walked over to Knox, eyes hard. “I want that bastard.”

  “I have questions for him,” said Knox.

  “So do I – this son of a bitch is mine.”

  Harper put a hand on her shoulder. “Levi will get him, Grams. Once Knox is done with his questions, you can have him, okay?”

  Jolene’s shoulders lost some of their stiffness. “All right. He’d better be alive when you hand him over, Thorne.”

  Knox couldn’t give her any guarantees, since it would really all depend on exactly what the fucker said. “I’ll do my best not to kill him.”

  Jolene snorted. “I suppose that’s the best I can hope for.”

  It didn’t take long for Levi to retrieve Dean. In fact, they were already at the boathouse when Tanner drove Harper and Knox back to the mansion. She wasn’t surprised that Knox tried to talk her into going inside and leaving the interrogation to him, but she was having none of that shit. Heidi was her cousin and that motherfucker had tried to snatch her. Harper wanted to look into his eyes. She needed to do it.

  He was tied to a chair, mostly naked, when Knox and Harper strolled into the boathouse with Tanner in tow. The hellhound went to stand beside Levi near the wall while Harper and Knox halted in front of their captive. He didn’t look like a criminal, she thought. He looked more like a doctor or a teacher – someone harmless and nonthreatening. She supposed that was his “weapon”, so to speak.

  No one said anything. The tense silence stretched out until the anticipation had to be almost excruciating for good ole Dean. He spared Harper only a brief glance; his attention was on the predator glaring down at him. He was wise not to look away from anything that dangerous, in Harper’s opinion. Knox might look cool and composed, but they could all sense that he and his demon were far from it.

  Her own demon was just as infuriated. The entity liked Heidi a lot and was very protective of her. The fact that this male had frightened her, manhandled her, and tried to take her… yeah, that was definitely enough for her demon to want him dead and buried. Jolene would most certainly take care of that, and his death would not be an easy or quick one.

  “Mr. Bannon, isn’t it?” Knox held up the wallet. “You should have thought twice before trying to kidnap a pickpocket.”

  Dean swore, shaking his head, clearly disgusted with himself.

  Harper’s smile was all teeth. “Howdy.” She tilted her head. “How’re your ears?”

  “A little better.”

  “Too bad.” She bent forward a little. “How does it feel to be brought down by a five-year-old?” His eyes flared, and she straightened. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought.”

  Knox took an aggressive step toward him. “I don’t make deals, but I’ll make an exception in this case because I need answers. If you answer my questions honestly, I won’t kill you.”

  Hope briefly flickered in Dean’s eyes, but then he shot Knox a skeptical look. “I find that hard to believe.”

  Knox shrugged. “Then what do you have to lose?” Dean said nothing, but Knox saw capitulation in his eyes. “Now I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you were hired by someone to take Heidi Wallis. Why did they want her?” Knox raised a hand. “Don’t try telling me you acted independently. We both know you’d be lying. Not that it will bother me all that much if it becomes necessary to… persuade you to tell me what I want to know. My demon will definitely enjoy it. Just as it enjoyed killing the two hunters that attacked Harper.”

  Dean swallowed. “I don’t know why they wanted the kid. I don’t even know who they are. I didn’t ask any questions. It’s none of my business.”

  “She’s five,” Harper spat. “It doesn’t bother you that you could have been hired by a pervert? Maybe you were hoping they’d share her with you.”

  He jerked back. “What? Hell, no. I was hired to do a job – that’s it.”

  “A job for who?” asked Knox.

  “I don’t know. I got an anonymous email. It was encrypted. Whoever sent it was smart. It self-deleted a few minutes after I opened it.”

  Knox exchanged a knowing look with Harper. “How are you supposed to contact this person?”

  “I’m not,” said Dean. “I was hired to take her and drop her unconscious at a specific place, where the money would be waiting. The old quarry near the landfill. Then I was supposed to leave straight after – no hanging around, and no trying to make contact with anyone.”

  Knox thought on that for a moment. Whoever was behind the attacks was taking many precautions to ensure they couldn’t be identified, which meant they weren’t underestimating Knox’s ability to find them. Yet, they obviously considered themselves smart enough to avoid capture or they would never have fucked with Harper in the first place. “What did they want with Heidi?”

  “They didn’t say. I didn’t ask. I’m normally contacted by people who demand ransoms, so I’m guessing that’s what this is about.”

  Harper cast him an exasperated look. “She’s a Wallis. We’re not exactly billionaires.”

  “No,” agreed Dean. “But he is,” he added, tipping his chin at Knox.

  Knox narrowed his eyes. “You think they were hoping to extort money from me?” It didn’t seem likely to him.

  Dean shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it wasn’t money that they wanted from you – I don’t know. That’s really all I can tell you.”

  Sensing that was the truth, Knox drawled, “All right.” He licked his teeth. “You’ve been very helpful, Mr. Bannon. Cooperative.” Which thoroughly disappointed Knox’s demon. “If you’re lucky, your death might be a quick one.”

  “Not exactly surprised you’re reneging on your deal,” clipped Dean.

  “I’m not going to kill you. I just needed to question you. No, it’s the Wallis imps that are going to kill you. Considering you tried to kidnap
one of their own, I’d say they have the right to give you what you’ve got coming.”

  Harper nodded. Grams, he’s ready for you.

  Mere moments later, Ciaran, Jolene, and Richie appeared a few feet away. “Thank you, Knox,” said Jolene, eyes hard on Dean. “Mind if we take the chair?”

  Knox swept out a hand in invitation. “Not at all.”

  “Grab him,” she told the other imps.

  “Wait,” Dean said to the imps. “I told him what you need to know!”