I studied at him silently, frowning as I chewed my lip. “Now?”
“You’ll lose the essence if you wait.”
“Okay,” I stated quickly, standing up and righting the nightgown I wore as he watched me.
“The fuck is that?”
“It’s a nightgown?” I replied, watching him.
“It’s ugly.”
“Good, wasn’t trying to impress you, anyway.”
He snorted, pushing off the walls as he moved toward me. I frowned, watching as he lifted his hand, ripping the nightgown from my body before smirking coldly. Knox lifted his hands, holding me against him as his mouth crushed against mine. I tasted blood on his tongue and pulled back, but he didn’t allow it.
His hands wrapped around my throat, sealing off my airway as I struggled to bring air into my lungs. The moment he released my neck, I inhaled and felt something slithering down my throat with the air I sucked in greedily.
“What a waste of pretty lips, Aria.” He chuckled against my mouth before something pushed into my throat, diving deeper and deeper until I felt it searching within me, tasting me from the inside as if devouring me.
I screamed and screamed until something shook me. I attacked, punching and moving to claw out his eyes.
“What the fuck, woman,” Brander screamed, backing up to stare down at me where my nightgown was ripped, and blood dripped from my face. “Fuck!” He scooped down, lifting me up and ran with me in his arms. “Lore, clear the fucking table, and grab a witch.”
“What the hell happened to her?” Lore asked, pushing platinum hair away from his face as his amber eyes stared down at me.
“Dream demon,” Brander hissed, nodding at Regina, who stepped from the shadows with crystals in her hands. “My guess, someone planted ears in the house.”
One man entered the room with sweat dripping down his face. “That explains the shadows that just tried to lock me in the gym.” He was shirtless, with thick black tribal tattoos covering the sides of his waist up to just beneath his arms. Obsidian-colored hair dripped water down his chest, while midnight-blue eyes sparkled with the light of a thousand stars in their depths.
“Send word to Knox, now, Fade. They probably slipped into the house the moment he left tonight, and just waited for us to let our guard down. You,” he said to me. “Lay the fuck back because this will hurt.”
“What was it?”
“Pretty sure he placed something inside of you, and I’m about to get it out.”
I stared at him and then tilted my head. “It was a demon named Knox.”
“Nah, he just showed up in the skin you wanted him to appear in, probably slipped into your mind through the water in the shower. That’s what the slimy pricks do.”
“What exactly is it they plant, Brander?” I asked carefully.
“You don’t want to know.”
“What the fuck is inside of me?”
“Larva, it takes control of the body and the mind of the creature who houses it.”
I gagged violently.
“She’s going to throw up,” Lore stated, stepping back.
I did, violently. My body twitched, and I leaned over, gagging even more than before as I tried to expel whatever had been planted inside of me. Something inside of me wasn’t having it, and I cried as I forced it up. I threw up water until something substantial exploded from my mouth and got stuck.
“Fucking hell, that’s nasty.”
I reached up, ripping it out of my throat and throwing up even more the moment it hit the floor, screeching and wailing while they tried to stomp on whatever the hell the alien-looking squid was. It was the shit of nightmares, flailing squid-like arms as it tried to find a place to hide.
The room ignited with power, and Knox materialized from thin air, stomping the creature beneath his thick boots. He turned, staring at me as I held my hand over my mouth while tears slid from my eyes.
A squid had violated me!
I gagged again, holding my hand against my stomach.
Knox wore a crown that looked like bones. His eyes were turbulent, as if a hurricane played in his ocean depths. He had on armor, like honest-to-God armor that was covered in ravens. He turned away from me, staring at the few men inside the room. He took a step forward, and the armor clinked. I peered down, looking at the metal that covered his boots and the knight spurs that were attached to his heels as if he’d just returned from riding a warhorse. His mantle was black, and yet it shimmered with his movement. Everything about the man screamed God of War.
“How the fuck did it get to her?” he snarled, but his voice echoed through the room, like it wasn’t big enough to contain him like this.
“I’m guessing it showed up the moment you left tonight.”
“I had Regina add wards and war runes. Pretty hag, did you get jealous because I refused to fuck you?” he snapped, but there was none of his usual tone; it was cold, lifeless. “If I find out you did, you’re done here. You will never see your home again, Regina. You know I will find out who altered the wards, I always do.”
“You were replacing me! You wouldn’t fuck me because that little whore has your mind under her control! You ate her cunt, and ever since, you have not looked at or used any of us again. You gave that stupid bitch gifts!”
“Take Regina away now.” He turned, staring at me. “Sleep, Aria.”
Chapter 30
The next morning was rough. Nightmares of the thing that had been inside of me had made sleep elusive. However, through the night, I’d felt Knox close to me, and it had comforted me, disturbingly enough. I would have assumed it would have made sleeping more difficult, but it hadn’t. I woke up redressed in a soft blue nightgown, my hair damp from sweat and nightmares. Knox sat beside the bed in a chair, watching me as I sat up slowly, touching my mouth as nausea pushed at the back of my throat. He’d promised that nothing would reach me, but he’d failed in that department. I’d been attacked in my sleep by a fucking demon!
“Demons like the one who planted the larva inside of you; they’re slippery fuckers, Aria.” His tone was cold, but the heat in his gaze said otherwise, letting it drift down the sheer material of the gown. “It came through the plumbing, and it was searching for you. Something powerful is hunting you. It’s reaching for you inside my house, so if you have any idea what or who it is, I need to know now.”
“I told you, I don’t know what is happening. I have no enemies that I know of. I don’t see why a demon would want me, or who would even have enough power to send one after me.”
“Let me make this as clear as I can for you, little witch. Had it planted within you and taken root, you’d have been in the backseat while it drove your body. You would have done whatever it wanted, with whoever it wanted. If it had wanted you to stand in front of a bus going down the interstate, you would have. You’d have watched it happen and then dealt with whatever backlash it had left you with. I can’t protect you if you don’t talk to me.”
“I don’t have enemies, and you’ve even used your strange tone of voice to ask this question before, Knox. I told you everything. I’m nobody. I’m definitely not worth the effort this person or creature is going through to reach me—and were you wearing a crown last night?” I asked offhandedly as my mind replayed the image of him, which was hot as fuck.