Ashes

  Levi dashed into the room. “Knox, you need to get her in a cold bath fast.”

  Knox’s muscles went rigid. “Why? What is it?”

  “She’s been hexed.”

  A shocked silence hit the room, and everyone froze. The word “hex” could instill fear in just about any demon, because there was no way to counteract it. Knox knew that a hex was no small, simple, common thing. It was nothing like in books or movies. Hexes were rarely used and extremely serious, which was why Knox shook his head. “She can’t have been hexed.”

  “Want to bet her life on it? Because that’s what you could be doing if you ignore this.” Levi turned to Meg. “Could you run her a bath?”

  With a nod, the housekeeper hurried away.

  “You spoke to Mia,” Knox guessed. She was Levi’s friend and an incantor.

  “Yes,” said Levi, a manic glint in his eyes. “I’ll tell you everything she said once we get Harper in the bath, I swear. Mia said you need to do it now… unless of course you are willing to bet Harper’s life on it.”

  He wasn’t. Knox wasted no time in scooping Harper up and carrying her through the house and into their bathroom upstairs. Knox held a limp Harper in his arms as, with Meg’s help, he whipped off her shirt, jeans, and socks before lowering her into the shallow bath. Her eyes snapped open and she tried literally throwing herself out of the tub, splashing cold water everywhere. It took Knox, Meg, and Tanner to hold her there.

  Knox kissed her, hoping to soothe her. “No, baby, you have to stay in the bath. We need to cool your skin.”

  Breathing hard and fast, she struggled to be free, tears in her eyes. “It’s hot!” she said through chattering teeth.

  Guilt tightened his chest. “It’s not hot, it just feels that way to you because you feel cold.” Knox swiped her tears away with his thumbs. “Ah, baby, you’re breaking my heart here.”

  “I need to get out,” she sobbed, still struggling against their hold. “It’s burning!”

  “I swear to you, it’s not. If I could let you out, I would.” It was literally killing Knox to keep her there, knowing she was hurting. The plea in her teary eyes made his stomach churn. “As soon as —” He cut off as she abruptly hunched over, pressing down on her stomach as if it were cramping.

  Tanner glared at Levi. “What did Mia say? Tell us what’s happening.”

  “According to Mia,” began Levi, “this kind of fever is a sign that a body is fighting a hex. She’s sweating it out. Mia said she may have cramps or vomit. We need to cool her down and keep her hydrated, and she needs sleep.”

  “Sleep?” Keenan echoed, incredulous. “How the hell is she supposed to sleep through that?”

  Levi thrust a hand into his hair. “I’ve no idea. I’m just telling you what Mia told me.”

  “What hex exactly is this supposed to be?” demanded Knox.

  Levi shrugged. “All I know is that the worse it hurts for Harper to fight it, the worse the hex was meant to be.”

  Knox watched her shaking, sobbing, and clutching her stomach while Meg whispered reassurances. “Could it have been a death hex?”

  “Possibly.” Levi shrugged again. “There’s just no way of knowing unless she fails to fight it off.”

  “She won’t fail,” Knox clipped.

  Tanner’s jaw hardened. “No, she won’t.”

  “Mia is sure that she’s been hexed?” Keenan asked. “Absolutely sure? Because from what I understand, cursing someone isn’t whatsoever easy and it can’t be done by just anyone.”

  “You’re right,” Levi confirmed. “It’s not a petty case of burning someone’s photo with a black candle and whispering some bitchy chant. Only incantors and practitioners can cast hexes. To successfully hex someone, they need to do four things: one, go without food and water for three days. Two, feed a few drops of their blood to their victim. Three, take something that belongs to their victim and burn it into ashes. And four, sprinkle those ashes around their altar before performing the hex, which can take hours and very easily rebound back on the incantor or practitioner. That’s why demons rarely take the risk of trying to perform one.”

  Tanner rubbed his nape. “I can’t imagine Harper drinking someone’s blood.”

  “It could have been put in her drink at work,” said Levi.

  Keenan clicked his fingers. “One of Harper’s jackets went missing from the studio last week. She thought Khloë had taken it. Maybe an incantor or practitioner got their hands on it, or maybe someone nabbed it for them.”

  Which would mean the motherfucker or one of their minions might have been in her studio. Knox ground his teeth at the thought, and his demon let out another roar. “Could a hex harm the baby too?”

  “I asked Mia that,” said Levi. “She said no. The hex is directed at Harper – it will only harm her. But, obviously, if it is a death hex and it manages to kill her, the baby won’t survive.”

  Knox looked at Rodgers, who was pale and looked completely out of his element. “She’s in pain and has a fever. Will that harm the baby?”

  Rodgers hesitated to answer. “It’s more serious in human pregnancies. If you keep Harper hydrated and get her fever down soon, the baby should be fine.” He didn’t say there were no guarantees, but Knox could hear it in his voice. And it spooked the shit out of him.

  “She’ll be okay, Knox,” said Keenan. “She’s a fighter.”

  Harper again tried to get out of the bath. “Let me the fuck out! It’s too hot!”

  Again, Knox held her down. He hated to force her to stay there, hated the accusatory glitter in her eyes. “I’m sorry, baby.” His head whipped around to look at Levi. “How long do we have to keep her in cool water?”

  “Mia didn’t say. I’ll ask.” Digging his cell out of his pocket, Levi left the room to make the call.

  Harper grabbed Knox’s arm. “Something’s happening to the baby, isn’t it?” Her shoulders shook, eyes tearing. “I’m losing it, aren’t I?”

  “No, no, no,” Knox quickly assured her. “Someone tried to hurt you with magick. Your system is fighting it. That’s a good thing.”

  She grimaced. “It doesn’t feel like a good thing.” She sucked in a breath and then hunched over again.

  Knox rubbed her nape. “If I could do something, if I could help, I would.” But despite how powerful he was, he couldn’t do a damn thing to take away her pain. He was built to destroy, not to heal. And for once in its very long existence, his demon regretted that.

  Levi re-entered the bathroom. “Once her skin cools, you can take her out of the bath, but you need to keep her covered with a towel or blanket. Basically, we just have to wait it out.”

  It took half an hour for her fever to break so that they could take her out of the water, but the cramps lasted for over an hour. It was a further forty-five fucking minutes before her blood no longer felt hot. Then, wrapped in her snug terry robe and huddled under the bed coverlet, she finally fell asleep.

  Stood over the bed, Knox scrubbed a hand down his face. His jaw ached from how hard he’d clenched it as he’d fought to keep his demon from rising. The entity was a little calmer now that she no longer suffered, but it demanded vengeance.

  “Thatcher,” Knox spat. “It fucking has to have been him.”

  “Maybe, but we can’t just go to his house and grab him, Knox,” said Levi. “He’s a powerful Prime. His lair is almost as large as ours.”

  “I don’t fucking care. Look at her, Levi. He’s an incantor; she was hexed. Are you not seeing the correlation here?”

  “I’m seeing it. But I’m also seeing the consequences of you killing him without proof. You remember what happened to the last demon when he killed another Prime without evidence of wrongdoing, don’t you?”

  Yes. Most of the other Primes had united against the demon and killed him. “You don’t think it’s Thatcher,” Knox sensed.

  Levi sighed. “You said yourself that he’s too smart to do anything that would cast suspicion on himself. Think pas
t your anger, Knox. I know it’s fucking hard, but try. For Harper.”

  Knox inhaled deeply, rolling back his shoulders. Before Harper, he’d never let emotions get in the way of his decisions – mostly because he hadn’t felt many. He called on that practical side of himself as he paced, thinking it through. “The person who sent the emails was very careful to conceal their identity. Hexing her would not be a careful move for Thatcher; it would be damn stupid. He’s not a stupid person. And, yes, it would be odd for someone who’s been so cautious to then repeatedly act in ways that led back to them – I know all this. But what do you want me to do? Sit back and wait for whoever it is to make another move? If it is Thatcher, he’s notorious for being like a dog with a bone. When he has an issue with someone, he doesn’t let it go. He won’t just stop.”

  Larkin, who’d arrived half an hour earlier, raised her index finger. “Um… about people with issues.”

  Knox turned to her. “Did you find a direct link between Thatcher and Harper?”

  “Not one, so I checked to see if he’d had any problems with Jolene. I wondered if maybe he had beef with her and he was using Harper and Heidi to hurt her or something like that. Thatcher’s never had any major issues with Jolene, from what I can tell. But Jonas has.”

  Keenan’s brows snapped together. “Jonas?”

  Larkin nodded. “And it was very recent. It’s not clear what happened. Just that he wanted something from Jolene and she refused him, so he threatened to make her pay for it – something along those lines. I’m not saying this is related to everything that’s gone on lately, but I thought it was worth mentioning.”

  Tanner’s eyes narrowed. “Jonas may have planned to hurt Jolene by taking Heidi and by hiring hunters to steal Harper’s wings.”

  Larkin shrugged. “Possibly.”

  “Fuck.” Knox pulled out his phone, dialed Jolene’s number, and stalked out of the room. He was in the hallway when she answered. He got straight to the point. “Why didn’t you tell me you had problems with Jonas?”

  There was a silence of sheer surprise. “Why would I? That’s my business, not yours.”

  “It is my business if he has something to do with your granddaughters being targeted, since one of them is my mate.”

  Jolene sighed. “Knox, I’ve had problems with many Primes. It’s the curse of having a small lair. What’s this about? You really think Jonas is responsible?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. But I’m not willing to rule out any possibilities. I need to know what problem you two had.”

  “Jonas saw me and members of my lair talking with Lou at the anniversary shindig you threw at the Underground.”

  Knox ground his teeth. “It wasn’t a shindig.”

  “In any case, he later came to me with a rather surprising request.”

  As Jolene repeated her conversation with the Prime, Knox’s jaw hardened until it ached. “How long ago did he approach you with this?”

  “A few weeks before the hunters went after Harper.”

  “And you didn’t think the two things could be linked?”

  “No. I assumed it was the Horsemen, given that they’d already targeted both of you twice before.”

  Knox couldn’t even fault her for that, considering he’d done the same damn thing. “It was a reasonable assumption for you to make,” he allowed. “Jonas was no doubt counting on people to blame the Horsemen.”

  “Can we be sure he’s our boy? We have to be completely certain before we take action, Knox.”

  Halting, Knox inhaled deeply. “At the moment, no, we can’t be sure. I’ll be calling for all the Primes to meet with me tomorrow. I need to look him and Thatcher in the eye. I need to see how they react to me and what I have to say.” While the practical side of him believed that Thatcher wasn’t at fault, Knox’s emotional side wouldn’t allow him to take chances.

  “I’ll be there. Now, why don’t you tell me what this has to do with Thatcher and why you sound as though you’d like to see someone drowning in a pool of their own blood?”

  And here was where Jolene would lose her mind.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A steady, rhythmic beat woke her. A heartbeat, Harper quickly realized. She didn’t need to open her throbbing eyes to know that the arms wrapped around her, keeping her cradled against a warm solid body, belonged to Knox. She’d know the feel and scent of him anywhere.

  Swallowing, Harper winced. It felt like someone had rubbed at the back of her throat with sandpaper. Her mouth was dry as a bone. Forcing her eyes open, she realized they were in their room and Knox was sitting upright against the headboard. “Why do I feel hungover?” she mumbled.

  Knox kissed her hair and tightened his arms around her, so fucking glad she was awake. He’d known that she was fine, but he’d needed to hear her voice and look into her eyes before he could relax. At the moment, the eyes squinting up at him were a pretty amethyst shade. “Hungover has got to be better than fevered.”

  Memories of the previous evening flickered through Harper’s mind. She tensed, sure she’d dreamed half of it, because it was simply too surreal. “Did someone really try to hurt me using magick?”

  “Yes, you were hexed,” Knox confirmed, curling her hair around her ear. His mouth twitched as she let out a string of inventive curses that would have made even a sailor blink in shock. “We don’t know what type of hex it was. There’s no way of knowing because you fought it off before it could work.”

  Sitting upright, Harper studied him closely. “But you think it was a death hex, don’t you?”

  Knox shifted her to straddle him. “I don’t know. The hunter said that the person who hired him was very adamant that you weren’t to be killed. It could be that they simply wanted to weaken you, but the hex was so intense and you were in so much pain… I’m more inclined to think that they’re no longer so concerned about whether you’re alive or dead. Maybe because they’re pissed that their previous plans were foiled – I can only speculate.” His jaw hardened. “You should know that it’s possible that you were in close contact with whoever cast the hex – or, at least, with someone who worked for them.”

  “Seriously?”

  “They needed to possess something of yours and to have fed you a little of their blood – it could have been in your drink; you wouldn’t have known.”

  Harper grimaced. “Their blood? Really?”

  “Really.”

  Both she and her demon shuddered. The entity was more uptight than usual, which was pretty understandable in Harper’s opinion. She put a hand to her stomach as she voiced the question she’d dreaded asking for fear of the answer. “The baby’s fine, right?”

  Hearing the slight tremor in her voice, Knox cupped her face. “The baby is fine, I promise you.” He’d spent much of the night with his hand on her stomach, feeling the baby move and kick, letting it calm his demon. “Other than a little hungover, how do you feel?”

  “Not bad, considering. I don’t feel weak or anything.”

  “Good, because I want to take you somewhere.”

  She arched a brow. “Oh yeah? Where?”

  One corner of his mouth lifted at the dubious note in her tone. “It’s a surprise.”

  A snort popped out of her. “It’s you wanting to whisk me away from here – that’s what it is,” she corrected.

  “You can’t tell me you’re not feeling a little anxious. You’ve been attacked, hexed, and you’re pregnant. A little downtime will do you good. And, yes, I want to whisk you to someplace safe. Somewhere where you can relax.”

  “For how long?”

  “For as long as it takes for you to get better and emotionally recover.” And for his demon to calm the hell down. “Be honest – your fever might be broken and the pain might have gone, but it’s left you weak and weary. It’s also spooked you a little and left you shaken.”

  Unable to deny any of that, Harper puffed out a breath and said, “Okay, you can whisk me away somewhere, but I’d like to see Jolene be
fore I go. She’ll be worried.”

  Knox nodded. “About Jolene… you should know that she destroyed a number of derelict buildings last night.”

  Harper winced. “You told her I’d been hexed? Damn, Knox, I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “She would have found out from someone. It was better that she heard it from me.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Did you know that she’d had trouble with Jonas?”

  “Jonas?” Harper echoed, surprised. She listened intently as he relayed the things he’d heard from Larkin and Jolene. “If we were talking about anyone other than Jonas, I’d understand why you might link him with what’s happened to me and Heidi. But Jonas likes you,” she pointed out, absentmindedly tracing the brand her demon left on his nape. “He wouldn’t go after your mate.”