Page 64 of Deal with the Devil

Knox’s spell held strong for hours. Several. Hours. While he circled, teased, kissed, even ate her. Knox eventually tossed her back against the seat of the couch, kissing and licking her into a frenzy before pulling away before the spell could even counterher orgasm. He’d forgotten once or twice, his cock thrusting into her rapidly, chasing his own orgasm. She was on the edge, ready to fall off the edge of the world with him, and then something cold and electric zapped her orgasm and erased it from history. She cried out and pleaded for him to let her come.

Amelia begged. Tears streaking her cheeks, she clawed at the back of his shirt, desperate for him to give in. It was several hours later, as he slipped his drained cock out of her, that something else slipped out of her.

“You can come now, pet.”

He didn’t even have to touch her. Her walls fluttered, clit sighing with relief, and Amelia wept. Relief washed down her body and she sagged into the couch. When he kissed her, she draped limp arms around his shoulders. It was sloppy and slow and sweaty.

“Are you ready for bed now, pet?”

She nodded sluggishly.

“Let’s go to bed,” he purred, scooping her damp corpse in his arms. “And when we wake in the morning, you can misbehave again.”

Amelia didn’t have the bones, let alone the muscles, to snicker to herself. She dropped into the abyss of sleep.

Chapter Twenty-five:

Knox

Knox sat up inhis bed, stroking Amelia’s back as he flipped through his crystalpad. Maevin sent him some more reports, images, files, etc. about what he’d collected from the traitors. Zavros and Hellen took the truth potion to the casino, called an employee meeting for every shift, made everyone take a sip and answer a question. Thankfully, only four others were forced into the basement. He was going to head into the casino once Amelia woke up.

Last night, she was distraught. There was something shattered and hollow about her that he could tell was changing her mood. The blank stare from her at the table plus the needy kiss, he knew better than to leave her to her thoughts. Because he didn’t want to be left alone with his.

And so, he took away her control and let her just relax.

The look of relief on her face when she put on that collar was all he needed. Knox glanced at the slumbering woman, watching her shoulders raise and fall. Her blueberry hair splayed across the pillow. Knox’s fingers brushed across her tendrils, tucking them behind her ears.

No one is allowed to take her from me.

Declan might have the upper hand at the moment, having the vampiric power and knowledge of the rats, but the one thing he never had was Knox’s tenacity. Declan was always too narcissistic to see things clearly. And Declan would burn.

Knox saw the light on his phone as a call rang on silent. He slipped from the bed begrudgingly, cancelling the call. Stepping out into the hall, the sound of Denver’s voice and hooves told him that he was leading someone into Knox’s office.

He toed around the hallway quietly, taking inventory of the morning. The hazy light, the cool air brushing across his shoulders as he climbed down the steps in only slacks. His toes pressed against the hard wood and sent a sharp, frosty bite up through his bones. Denver stepped outside of his office and bowed his head to Knox. “The Lord Commander is making a house call, shall I have him wait for you to dress, sir?”

Knox contemplated going back up the stairs before shaking his head, “He’s the one who intruded early in the morning. He’s lucky he’s getting me in pants.”

Denver smirked, bowing a second time. “Of course, sir, I’ll have clothes set out for you and Ms. Armstrong for when you’re done with the Lord Commander. Shall I have breakfast made for the road?”

“Yes, thank you.” Knox passed Denver into the doorway of his office. A massive dark cloud loomed over his fireplace. Sharp talons clicked impatiently against the floor, a wing arched against the wall. Aravis Blightwood stared into the fire.

“Mr. Zrazduel,” Aravis spoke before Knox could say something first. It put a scowl on the fiend’s lips, watching the tall, brooding gentleman twist toward him.

“Lord Commander, and what do I owe this monumentous honor?” Knox raised a testy brow, arms crossed over his chest.

“You owe me answers, Zrazduel, and honest ones. You’re going to be truthful with me, and I’ll consider not throwing you and Ms. Armstrong in the same cell as Richard Calhoon.” Aravis stalked across the room toward Knox.

“Not a very good start, I must say Blightwood. If you want any hospitality and honesty from me, which I know for a fact you need as your investigation is coming up dry, you’ll need to rethink your threats. Try again—” Knox was ripped off his feet by massive, inky claws wrapped around his throat. The cheekiest of shit eating grins filled his face as Aravis glared at him. “Harder.”

Aravis dropped him with a snarl, “Tell me why I shouldn’t just arrest you for the murder of Sandra Bullnost? Why I shouldn’t try my luck for your business as well? Why I shouldn’t march into that building and put everyone in cuffs?”

“Well, for starters, there aren’t enough cuffs in the realm, Blightwood. I employee far more people than you have jail cells for. And second, my business is clean. You can look all you want, you won’t find a single crumb in which to arrest me for. Even my kitchen is above board and standard.” Knox clambered to his feet before motioning toward the couch. “Come, have a seat. I did tell you I’d give you answers, so why don’t youtell mewhat you know, and I’ll fill in the blanks, huh?”

Knox settled onto the plush couch, back against the arm rest, and a leg folded over the other. Aravis glared but sat across from him. Taking up most of the couch with his bulky wings and talons, his sharp eyes narrowed on Knox. The fiend grinned. This was going far better than he expected it might.

“Richard Calhoon is an alias, not sure how many he has, but he’s got a bunch. He’s a part of a small crew of thieves; they’ve run a few scams here and there but it seems here in King’s Fall they were in it for the long con. He marries Penny Armstrong, now Penny Calhoon, and racks up quite the debt with you. One fateful night, he gets into an argument with Sandra Bullnostfor his outburst in the casino, where he punches her and steals her identity. At some point you must have realized he’d done more than cheat you of some gold, and had him snatched from your casino floor. From there, till an anonymous tip from an employer I still can’t source, Richard is missing. I’m assuming, that is your doing?” Aravis folded his claws in his lap.

“Very good, Lord Commander. So, what you’re missing is Rick purposely came back to my casino as a distraction. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was racking up money in attempt to rile me up, Sandra was spying on me and mine, and they wanted me to catch Rick. I had him brought to the woods, where he told me his wife was a bank manager and could clean some money for me. Unfortunately, when we collected Amelia and Penny, they were very distraught at Rick. A fight ensued where Rick did not make it out, or so I thought, alive. Amelia and I struck a deal and I thought that was that. Until it turns out, Rick is able to put himself back together again, and that Sandy was selling the information she was gathering on me to a man named Declan.” He left out the part where Amelia stabbed Rick in the neck. Best to keep that part vague, especially given Rick was still very much alive.

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