“I’m taken,” she stage-whispered, “and my mate is crazy possessive.”

Cupping her hips, Knox pulled her flush against him. “So he should be.”

“He definitely won’t like you touching me.”

Knox kissed her neck, inhaling her honeyed scent. “If he lets another male get this close to you, he doesn’t deserve to keep you.”

Harper smoothed her hands over his shoulders. “He deserves me just fine.”

Smiling, he nipped at the fleshy part of her lower lip. “Are you sure you want to go out tonight? It would be normal to want a little time to assimilate what happened.”

“It probably would be normal to need time to process and stuff,” she agreed, “but I’m not normal. We both know that.”

Knox splayed his hand over her breast, wishing he could tug at the nipple ring he could feel against his palm through her dress. “You’re not weird.” She simply didn’t like to dwell or stew. She moved on from things fairly quickly. He admired that. “You’re positive you want to go? I have absolutely no issue with spending the night fucking you while that dress is hiked around your waist.”

The latter sounded rather tempting, but Harper was happy for that to come later. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you didn’t want me to go out.”

“Maybe my protective streak is on hyper-drive and I’d like to keep you here where I know you’re safe,” he admitted.

He could be so cute sometimes. “But that would be letting those assholes win, wouldn’t it? It would be giving them the power over us that they want. I’m not down with that.”

His mouth curved. “All right, let’s go.”

Harper grabbed her purse and linked her arm through his. “Lead the way.”

As they walked down the staircase, he said, “If someone would have told me just yesterday that you’d be smiling as we left for the event, I would never have believed them.”

She was actually looking forward to the shindig. Okay, she was looking forward to flashing her rings at Alethea. “I like surprising you. It keeps you on your toes.”

“It does,” Knox allowed. He led her down the hallway and into the foyer, where the sentinels were waiting.

Harper smiled at them. “Well, don’t you all look pretty.” The guys were all in tuxedos, and Larkin was wearing a seriously cute black dress.

Keenan grinned, but it was slightly forced. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” He flinched when she punched his arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You’re still blaming yourself for not checking the driver’s seat. It’s not your fault that I was taken. I’ve been meaning to ask, did you deliver the news to Carla and Bray?” she asked Larkin.

The harpy nodded. “We did it a few hours ago.”

Harper bit her lip. “Just how badly did they take it?”

“About as badly as any parent would take the death of their child,” replied Larkin. “I did worry they might come to the shindig —”

Knox sighed. “It’s not a shindig.”

“— to kick up a fuss and lash out at you in anger, but they seem to just want to be left alone. In any case, I have people keeping watch over them.”

Harper wasn’t looking forward to finally coming face to face with Carla and Bray again. If Carla truly hadn’t hated Harper before, she would sure do now that her oldest son had died at Harper’s hands. Well, at her demon’s hands – there wasn’t much difference.

Turning to Knox, Harper asked, “Do you think we made the right decision in not telling them ourselves?”

“Yes, it was the best thing for all concerned.” As their Primes, Knox and Harper should have been the ones to break the news to Carla and Bray. But since Harper’s demon had been the one to end their son’s life, she thought it would be a little insensitive for her to deliver the news personally. Knox could have visited them alone, but he wasn’t going to leave Harper’s side until he could finally breathe without tasting fear and remembering how it had felt to hear she’d been taken. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight for a while.

“Do you think Kellen will hate me for it?” Harper asked.

“No,” replied Knox. “He saw Roan for what he was.” But if the kid froze her out again, Knox would ensure Kellen didn’t walk back into her life. She wasn’t a toy he could put down when he felt like. She was a person. A good person who didn’t deserve to be messed around. “You sure you don’t want to spend the night at home?”

Harper straightened her shoulders. “I’m sure. Let’s do this.”

The Underground’s dome looked nothing at all like it usually did. With the artistic flower arrangements, ice sculptures, the soft music from the live brand, and the scent of citruses and lavender, you could easily forget the space was usually a combat zone. Harper was impressed. Bitch or not, Belinda was good at what she did.

Chatter, laughter, and the clinking of glasses filled the air. Waiters circulated, serving drinks and easy-to-eat appetizers to the mingling crowd – most of which was Primes. Some demons were swirling along the man-made dance floor. Martina was working the crowd, no doubt doing some pickpocketing. As long as she didn’t set anything on fire, Harper was good with that.

Knox took two glasses of champagne from a waiter and handed one to Harper. “Hold this with your left hand.”