Page 29

29

HARPER

Harper hurried to the car idling at the curb. The license plate matched his booking on the app, so he threw open the back door and slid inside.

The driver pulled away as soon as the door shut. Harper quickly buckled his seatbelt.

“Thanks.” Harper twisted around, glancing out the back window and trying to catch a glimpse of Ash. Where were they?

Oh. Duh, they’d have an illusion making them invisible. Obviously. But the way Harper’s pulse pounded, his whole body vibrating with adrenaline, it was no wonder he wasn’t at his sharpest.

Harper squirmed in his seat, facing forward but unable to stop moving. His gaze darted around the clean car. At least the ride would be short. Lucifer hadn’t taken him far.

“I really should be thanking you ,” said the driver.

Harper’s body locked up. That voice . His heart beat at double speed and dread turned his stomach. No, it couldn’t be. He looked at the driver, his face in profile as he watched the road. Recognition cut Harper in two. Fuck. No. He blinked, but there was no erasing what was right there .

His father’s eyes met his in the rearview mirror.

Harper reached for the door handle. He’d throw himself from the moving car. His hand clasped the plastic, and searing pain scorched his palm, burning like a hot iron. With a cry, he yanked his hand away, his palm scorched red.

“No, no. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” His father hardly glanced at the road as he drove, beady eyes fixed on Harper in the mirror. “Don’t try anything, or I’ll set the whole damn seat on fire.”

As if to prove his point, heat flared along the seatbelt, singing Harper’s shirt and burning his chest. He screamed. The heat was gone a second later.

“H-how did you find me?” Harper willed himself not to cry. Showing emotion would make this worse. It only egged his father on.

There was no time for fear. He had to escape.

“You stopped suppressing your magic. I was ready the moment you let your guard down. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Ha. It was lucky I was at the port trying to figure out what you did to my men. From there, tracking you was easy.”

Harper hadn’t stopped suppressing his magic. He’d never skipped his potion. Whatever Lucifer had done to strip him of Ash’s tracking spell must have broken his suppression spell too.

Fuck, he was such a fool to think he was safe just because Ash found him.

“But the car?” It still didn’t add up. His father didn’t do rideshares, and he’d booked this through an app. He’d checked the plate.

“I stole the car.” Arthur shrugged, eyes back on the road. “I knew you were inside the warehouse, so I took a gamble that you were about to get in when the car pulled up. It was the only one around. The human is slumped in the gutter, where he belongs. ”

Damnation. Hopefully, the driver wasn’t dead. It would be all Harper’s fault.

Harper shook with rage, and okay, fear too. He was ice cold. He had to escape. So what if he burned his palm off.

Harper eyed the door handle, placing his hand on the seatbelt clip, ready to unclick it as soon as he opened the door.

The plastic handle melted down the door, gone in a split second. Fuck! Harper’s seat burned, pain along his back and ass flaring, and he screamed.

He’d be cooked alive.

“Do as you’re told and stay still,” his father growled, slamming on the brakes and twisting around in his seat.

The burning stopped abruptly, but the pain didn’t. Harper’s breaths came in harsh, rapid pants, yet no air seemed to reach his lungs. He needed to move. Get out of here, but his back seized. Could he even walk?

It hurt, fuck, it hurt.

His father began chanting, and magic swirled around Harper. No, not a spell. He hated his father’s spells.

“ Please ,” Harper begged. He didn’t want to, but he hurt too much already.

Every muscle in Harper’s body was locked in place.

He couldn’t move. He really couldn’t move . His eyes were frozen open. He couldn’t blink. What the ever-loving fuck? Even his eyeballs were locked in a forward-facing position.

Harper wanted to scream and couldn’t. His mouth was sealed shut, breaths coming in and out of his nose of their own accord. He couldn’t even suck in more air or hold his breath.

His body wasn’t his.

No .

Harper was trapped. Helpless. He had no control. No choice. He couldn’t even cry. Couldn’t react. Fuck, it was like he didn’t even exist .

Hatred burned in Arthur Nightingale’s eyes. Had his father ever had another emotion toward him, or had he been hated since he was born?

“You’re coming home with me, son, and things will be different this time. Forget marrying Miss Thornfield. You ruined that alliance. You’re useless, so you might as well be nothing. I mean, you couldn’t even find the Hounds. What have you ever accomplished in your life?” Arthur paused as if waiting for Harper to answer.

He tutted disapprovingly, gaze shining bright, promising violence. “You better get used to this feeling, Harper, because you’ll never have control of your body again. Once we’re back at the compound, I’m hooking you up to a bunch of new toys. We have a new coven member, a doctor who promises he can keep you alive while brain-dead. That way, I can finally take your blood without having to deal with you.”

No . No, no, no-no-no-no . The world seemed to drop out from under Harper, his stomach swooping as he went into freefall. The car and his father disappeared. His vision blacked out. There was no sound.

No.

His eyes burned and the car rushed back into focus, moving once again. He was still here. Still trapped. Not even terror could take him away from this. He couldn’t even faint. No, no, no, no! He screamed inside his head, ears ringing, his head spinning as his insides ripped themselves to shreds.

He should have asked Ash to kill his father. Regret almost swallowed him whole. Why couldn’t he go back in time and do this all over?

This couldn’t be his destiny. He was Ash’s mate.

Ash! Ash, please! Harper called for his mate inside his mind, the impulse overriding all logic. Please, Ash! Ash! But Ash couldn’t hear him, his call as silent as the dead .

Ash, please come find me! Track me! But Ash wouldn’t be looking. Not when he thought Harper was safely on his way home.

Where was his father taking him? How were they getting back to the compound? Would he hurt Harper before they left the city? Harper’s soul screamed with the agony of his confinement.

How long until Ash realized something was wrong? Too long.

No. Ash! Please, I need you. I don’t want to lose you. Come find me. Don’t let him do this to me. Ash!

Even if his father got him out of the city, there was no way he’d get Harper all the way back to Colorado and to that evil doctor before Ash caught up with them. Right? But what if his father didn’t wait? He could render Harper brain-dead now.

Lifeless and left to molder in a bed while his blood drained.

Pain vibrated deep within Harper, eating him from the inside out. This wasn’t meant to be his fate. But what if Ash never found him? What if Arthur worse than killed him in this car?

Harper saw no end but his own.

Ash!

A blur fell from the sky and crashed onto the car’s hood. The windshield exploded, glass spraying everywhere. Metal screeched and crumpled, and Harper jolted forward as the car came to an abrupt halt.

Ash crouched on the smashed hood, wings towering behind him, his eyes glowing. He bared his fangs with an ear-splitting snarl.

The savage sound soothed Harper more than sweet words ever had. He melted, relief so intense it would have sent him to the floor if he had control of his body.

Something crashed onto the car’s roof, denting it, and Harper’ s pounding heart skipped. Arthur Nightingale spluttered behind the wheel. He glanced wildly around, and the spell holding Harper captive broke, snapping like a taut rubber band.

A scream tore from Harper’s lips, the pleas from inside his head finally breaking free. “Ash, please. Help me!”

Ash was at his door in a flash. He ripped it clean off the car and pulled Harper out, tearing the seatbelt in the process.

“I’ve got you,” Ash rumbled, strong arms enveloping him.

Harper clung to Ash, face pressed into Ash’s bare chest. Tears streamed down his cheeks like a river. He shook so hard his teeth chattered. He wanted to crawl inside Ash and never come out, but he made himself meet Ash’s glowing orange gaze. “My father…my…he’s…the driver…going to put me in a coma…drain me.”

An inhuman roar erupted from Ash. Dante echoed it from the top of the car, a limp Lucifer at his feet.

Arthur slowly emerged from the driver’s seat. Harper would give his father this: the man seemed to have no fear. He turned to face Ash and Dante, an agreeable smile pulling at his lips. “Do my eyes deceive me, or am I in the presence of the great Hounds of Hell?”

“Do not dare speak to us,” Dante growled, tone icy enough to burn.

Arthur’s gaze zeroed in on Harper, seeming to register he was in Ash’s protective embrace, and his eyes widened, lip curling in disgust.

Ash must have noticed Arthur’s reaction. He snarled, the sound reverberating through Harper.

Arthur smoothed his face, but it was too late to hide his hate.

Movement on top of the car tore Harper’s attention from his father. Lucifer stirred, eyes spinning around wildly until they landed on Harper. The Devil’s hand shot out, grabbing Harper’ s face. He growled, hitting Dante in the back of the knees with one of his wings, sending Dante to the ground.

“Fuck,” Dante grunted, scrambling to his feet.

Ash tore Lucifer’s hand away from Harper, twisting Lucifer’s wrist until the bones cracked. Harper winced, but Lucifer barely reacted.

Lucifer got to his feet and surveyed the scene. “Seems like I missed some of the fun. Dante, you’re going to pay for that little trick.”

Dante closed his hands around Lucifer’s throat and squeezed, a static boom cutting through the air as he shocked Lucifer with lightning.

Lucifer twitched, momentarily frozen.

“I don’t have any more potion,” Dante warned before blasting Lucifer with lightning again.

Arthur slowly made his way around the car. “Is this…?” His eyes fixed on the red-winged demon, reverence lighting his face. “Lucifer?”

Luc glared down at Arthur as he was shot with a third lightning bolt.

Arthur’s face hardened. He raised his hands, chanting in a language Harper didn’t recognize.

Ash swayed against Harper, and Harper steadied him. What the hell? Did his father have some secret spell to work on the demons? Was this what he’d planned to do when Harper found them?

Dante faltered, stumbling back from Lucifer. The Devil stood, his stopped heart healed. He spun and punched Dante square in the chest, sending Dante flying down the street.

Oh shit.

Ash reached for Arthur, but his coordination was off, and he missed. Would Ash even be standing if Harper wasn’ t holding him up? Harper strained under Ash’s weight. If only he could use magic against his father and stop this.

“Lucifer,” Arthur called, his awestruck gaze fixed on the Devil. “I am your most loyal servant and have been working to bring your dogs back to you.”

Lucifer threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t want you to serve me, witch. Crawl back into whatever hole you slunk out of.”

Hurt flashed across Arthur’s face, giving Harper a sick satisfaction. Harper hated Lucifer for what he’d done to Ash and the others, but he hated his father more and loved seeing him realize he’d devoted his life to a Devil who didn’t give a shit about him.

“I’m on your side,” Arthur explained, a pleading note bleeding into his usually hard tone. “I’ve incapacitated your dogs so you can take them back. Everything I do is for you.”

“What do you know about what I want with my demons?” Luc snarled, baring his fangs, his cheeks burning red with anger. “I can’t stand witches like you. When you get to Hell, there will be no special place for you. You’ll be the same as every other wretched soul there. A nobody.”

Arthur stumbled back like he’d been slapped, and Harper grinned.

Ash’s weight lifted from Harper. He straightened and stepped forward, no longer incapacitated. Whether Arthur let his spell fail, too hurt by Lucifer’s rejection, or he’d lost concentration, it didn’t matter.

In a flash of motion, Ash grabbed Arthur by the back of the neck and slammed him face-first into the car. There was a sickening crack. Blood splattered. Ash released the witch as if he was tossing away something putrid, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

Arthur Nightingale slumped to the ground, body unmoving. Blood poured from his nose, forehead, and mouth .

Harper looked away, only one thought echoing in his mind: good .

Maybe he wasn’t a good person for thinking that, and that was okay. Harper had no loyalty to his father. No affection for him. Family meant nothing if they didn’t treat you right. Being Arthur’s son was just an unfortunate roll of the dice.

Blood wasn’t thicker than water, and Harper liked seeing Arthur’s spill for once.

“Ash, get Luc!” Dante shouted.

Harper whirled around. Dante ran full speed toward them, nothing but a blur, but he was still more than a block away.

“Thanks, Ash. I appreciate that.” Lucifer peered down at Arthur from on top of the ruined car, seemingly amused by the bloody witch, his eyes bright like he wanted to laugh. “But I’m not going to stick around. I don’t fancy getting put to sleep again.”

Ash launched onto the car, wings spread and arms outstretched, but just as he was about to close in on Lucifer, the Devil disappeared.

Ash whirled around, eyes wide.

“Shit!” Dante skidded to a stop next to him. “That’s a new trick.”

Ash bared his teeth. “Did he just leave this Realm? Fuck, we’re not chasing him down in Hell.”

“He t-teleported? To Hell?” A giggle rose from the depths of Harper’s hollow chest. It didn’t sound right. He sucked in a deep breath, prompting another harsh laugh to escape, his whole body shaking.

Ash wrapped an arm around him. “Harper, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I never should have left you.”

Harper choked on another laugh, managing to stop the strange sounds at last. “You got to me in time. That’s all that matters. ”

“No, it isn’t. You never should have had to see this man again.” He nudged the unconscious Arthur with his foot.

Harper didn’t look at his father. Exhaustion swept over him and he gripped Ash for support. “Then take him away and make sure I don’t see him again.”

Ash nodded, his gaze serious but not uncaring. “Let’s get you home first.”

“I hate to interrupt, but we need to deal with that.” Dante pointed across the street where a small crowd of humans had gathered.

“Dammit,” Ash grumbled.

The street was mostly deserted, but it looked like some of the buildings were full of workers, who were now out on the sidewalk staring, along with the drivers of several stopped cars. Every single one was filming.

Dante strode over to the crowd and gathered phones from everyone.

“They just handed them over?” Harper blinked slowly, like his eyelids weren’t working properly. He leaned harder against Ash. Who’d give away video footage of winged men? That could be worth something.

“Just like your potion brewing powers come from us, vampires’ illusion and hypnosis powers do too,” Ash said, keeping Harper pressed close and, most importantly, upright. “Dante, Onyx, and I don’t use mind control lightly, but we can’t have word of demons being real spreading among humans, and we don’t need the magical community in the city aware of our presence. Dante will wipe the crowd’s memories and delete anything from their phones.”

Harper nodded. “Given my dad’s reaction to you, I can imagine there are other witches you don’t want knocking on your door.”

“No.” Ash squeezed Harper, nuzzling his cheek .

They watched Dante deal with the crowd, who all meekly returned to work or drove off like nothing had happened.

“I’ll drag this away and cast an illusion over it.” Dante gestured to the ruined vehicle beside them. “We can get rid of it later.”

Once that was done, Dante picked up the limp Arthur.

“Let’s get you home, sweet.” Ash hoisted Harper into his arms.

Harper wrapped his arms around Ash’s neck and pressed their foreheads together. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Ash rubbed his nose against Harper’s, his spiced scent soothing. Harper closed his eyes and Ash launched into the air.

They flew to the apartment building. Dante hovered above the building, holding Arthur, as Ash landed. He was likely trying to give them some privacy.

“How did you know I was in trouble?” Harper asked as Ash carried him inside and down the stairs.

“The mating bond.” Ash opened Harper’s front door and slipped inside. “Dante and I suspect it’s started forming, even though we haven’t fully mated. I knew you were hurt when we found you with Luc. Feeding you my blood to heal you must have strengthened the connection even further.”

Ash set Harper down on the couch, an agonized look bringing countless worry lines to his face. “I could feel you calling for me.” Ash’s voice broke, and he stroked Harper’s cheek like it was the most delicate thing in the world.

“I was so scared.” Harper shivered as an echo of fear washed over him. “Logically, I knew you’d find me before we got back to Colorado, but he might not have waited to hurt me. What he was going to do to me was…” Harper couldn’t finish.

Ash let out a strangled whine. “What he was planning was evil. I’m so sorry, Harper. No one deserves that, especially from their father. ”

Harper clenched a fist. “I don’t care that he’s my father. I just want him gone.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Ash said without judgment. “He won’t ever bother you again. Will you be okay here while I dispose of him?”

Relief swept over Harper. “I don’t know. Are we sure Lucifer can’t get into the building?” Harper didn’t want to go with Ash while he dealt with his father, but separating wasn’t easy after what had just happened.

“Yes, I’m sure. Now that Luc’s illusion is broken, he won’t be able to get in without penetrating my defenses, and he can’t do that stealthily or quickly. The only place safer than this building is Dante’s house, but I’ll get the other two to strengthen the protections here so both will be equally guarded from now on.”

Harper clenched his hands. “Okay, good.”

Ash sat on the couch and took Harper’s hand. “I can stay. Dante will take care of your father if I ask. He won’t mind.”

Harper rubbed his thumb over Ash’s knuckles. “Will you be gone long if you go?”

“No. I want this over and done with.” Ash’s gaze hardened. The look might have terrified anyone other than Harper, but Ash would never turn his power against him.

Harper was safe and cared for. An unexpected calm settled over him.

“You should go. I want you to ensure it’s taken care of, but come right back.” Harper gave Ash a small smile. “I think Ollie will be home soon. So maybe don’t come in with your wings out.”

Ash chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.” He rose from the couch. “Be back soon.”

Harper couldn’t quite put into words why Ash had to be the one to finish his father. He just needed it to be this way. Maybe he couldn’t bring himself to ask Dante for something like this, no matter how much the demon might willingly do for him. Dante cared. There was no doubt about it.

Harper’s heart clenched.

Hopefully, Dante found his mate. Harper was so lucky to be Ash’s fated love, especially when being a mate gave him so much more than a partner. With so many years ahead of him, Harper was sure he’d love Dante like a brother one day. Onyx too. They deserved a future where they all had their mates. That way, they could be one big family.

A real family. The kind Harper had always longed for.