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Synopsis
Enter an addictive world of sizzlingly hot paranormal romance . . .
'Lots of action, great plot . . . Suzanne is a master at hot, steamy sexy times'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader review
..................
Falling in love can be a nightmare. . .
Piper's always been aware of Levi. He's the kind of man who it's impossible to ignore. With his broad, muscular frame and gunmetal grey gaze he makes a statement without saying a word. But it's not until her psyche brushes his in an unguarded moment that they both realise: they are anchors.
It's a shock. Neither Piper nor Levi are used to needing anyone, the crackling attraction between them is making both their demons crazy and to make matters worse, Piper's narcissistic stepsister is Levi's ex - and she's not ok with this situation. The whole thing is like a bad dream - and Piper knows all about them since she's a Nightmare, a demon with the ability to trap people in their worst memories forever.
Then an old terror appears from Levi's past - a serial killer everyone had believed was dead. They are cold, ruthless and will stop at nothing to achieve their twisted ends. Time is running out - will Piper, used to putting everyone else first, learn to fight for what - and who - she wants?
What readers are saying about Suzanne Wright:
'The chemistry sizzles off the page' Netgalley review
'Hot as hell . . . explosive' Netgalley review
'It's been two minutes since my last fix and I need Suzanne Wright to give me more' Edgy Reviews
'No words to describe how much I ADORE this extraordinary and magical read!!!' Gi's Spot Reviews on Burn
'Sarcastic banter, a sexy alpha demon and his smart-mouthed heroine, an intense, highly passionate romance . . . I devoured this book from start to finish!' The Escapist Book Blog on Burn
'Unique, original and very entertaining' Ramblings from this Chick
If you love this book, make sure you check out the rest of The Dark In You series - discover how this sizzling hot story began . . .
BURN
BLAZE
ASHES
EMBERS
SHADOWS
OMENS
FALLEN
REAPER
HUNTED
Release date: July 7, 2022
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Print pages: 80000
* BingeBooks earns revenue from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate as well as from other retail partners.
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Reaper
Suzanne Wright
Someone really needed to remind this guy that it was universally considered rude to stare.
Piper Winslow didn’t judge those who gave social etiquette the cold shoulder. She’d been known to snub it herself on occasion. Life was more interesting that way. But there was an essential difference between ignoring social customs and point-blank failing to exercise common decency.
She was pretty sure that this particular reaper was very aware that it was downright disrespectful to oh so blatantly stare at people. And yet, the big bold bastard—who hadn’t said so much as a brief hello to Piper—kept his gaze fixed firmly on her like it was his right. And her middle finger was beginning to twitch.
Flexing her hand around the handles of her shopping bags, Piper did her best to appear unaffected. She strived to instead focus on the other three demons in front of her and drown out the sounds echoing throughout the mall—the mish-mash of voices, the slapping of shoes on tile, the ringing of cell phones, the music playing low.
But an internal voice just kept whispering … he’s still staring at you.
What, did she have something on her face? It didn’t seem likely. Levi’s companions weren’t slanting her weird glances as they chatted with her. Plus, this wasn’t the first time she’d caught him watching her so intently. He’d done it a few times, actually.
If he meant to simply rattle her he was wasting his time. Few things made Piper nervous. Namely wasps, her mother’s driving skills, and sticking a foot out of her bedcovers at night since she’d be irrationally tormented by the thought of Annabelle grabbing it.
Piper might have wondered if she was on the receiving end of an eye-fuck. She knew better, though. Knew for a fact that Levi Cutler wasn’t remotely attracted to her. Piper wasn’t his type—his words, not hers. Words he’d spoken to her stepsister back when he and Celeste had dated six years ago.
It was the first time Piper had ever begrudged the woman anything. Levi … he was a man who made an impact on every level, and he’d for sure made an impact on Piper back then. It really had sucked large to have a thing for her stepsister’s boyfriend, of all people. But Piper couldn’t be faulted for that—she was just an innocent bystander. Mother Nature was to blame for shaping him the way she had.
Tall and unabashedly male, Levi had the powerful build of an MMA fighter. Broad, solid shoulders. Superbly toned arms. A hard, defined chest. Just so much lean muscle that her poor hormones didn’t know what to do with themselves. Every part of him was a weapon, and it showed.
Normally, the whole ‘dangerous and dominant’ thing didn’t really do it for her. Hell, ‘dominant’ seemed too tame a word for Levi. He was an alpha to the core—it came across in everything about him. His unflinching gaze. His self-assuredness. His coolly calm, in-command air. The menacing, animal grace with which he walked. How he stood like a sentry—his head up, his back straight, his feet wide apart.
His voice was a lure all on its own—deep, smoky, compelling. His short hair was a rich dark espresso brown, and those steely gunmetal gray eyes … well, they were still locked on her.
An itch built between her shoulder blades. If they’d been alone, she would have demanded to know what the hell his problem was. But speak to him that way in front of the Primes of their lair? Nah, that wasn’t an option.
Levi was not only a sentinel, he was the personal bodyguard of the male Prime. Knox Thorne expected the demons of his lair to respect all four of his sentinels. The merciless Prime didn’t tolerate any bullshit so, yeah, she’d swerve pissing him off. Even her inner demon—a psychopathic entity that didn’t find fear unpleasant enough to heed it—wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.
Her demon nonetheless would have surfaced to warn off Levi if it felt that he meant to make Piper feel threatened. But it never got that sense from him whenever he watched her this way. Neither did she but, ugh, she didn’t know.
“I heard you quit your job recently,” said Harper, Knox’s mate and anchor. All demons had predestined psychic mates to whom they formed a bond that prevented them from turning rogue. Anchors looked out for each other and could be incredibly possessive, so sometimes the line between friend and lover blurred, but not all became mates.
Piper nodded and said, “Last week.” Which was why she was here at the mall indulging in some retail therapy. Well, it was good for the soul. And stuff.
Absentmindedly toying with the gold tips of her dark hair, Harper twisted her mouth. “Tell me to butt out of your business if you want, but I was wondering why you quit.”
Well it really came down to the fact that the man who was both Piper’s ex-boss and ex-boyfriend was something of a dick. But she didn’t want to get into all that. “I felt like a change,” she fudged. When Harper lifted a ‘please expand’ brow, Piper sighed and added, “I don’t like to badmouth previous employers.”
Harper’s lips quirked. “I like that response.” The pale blue color of her eyes swirled like liquid, their shade deepening as they became the color of warm honey—her eyes routinely changed in such a way, and there was no predicting what shade they’d be next. “I’m only asking because I’m looking to hire another tattoo artist. I know you’re good. I’ve seen your work. So if you’re interested, give me a call and we’ll set up an interview.”
Piper blinked, perking up. “I’d definitely be interested.”
Urban Ink was a highly popular tattoo studio here at the Underground—aptly named due to the massive demonic paradise being located below ground. It was kind of like the Las Vegas Strip, only way more eccentric with its combat ring, hellhound racetracks, and all manner of shit you simply would not expect to see. Demons were easily bored and liked cheap thrills, so it was a busy place.
“Good,” said Harper, handing her a business card. “My number’s on here. Be sure to call me.” Her polite smile dimmed. “On another—and seriously dreary—note, we should probably let you know that Sefton’s free.” She was referring to a member of their lair who, in Piper’s humble opinion, needed a lobotomy.
“We released him yesterday,” Knox added, his ebony eyes sharp. The dude was hot as hell—tall and dark and confident. “He was … appropriately punished.”
Piper would bet that was something of an understatement. Sefton had been held in the lair’s prison for the past two months, and she didn’t doubt that he’d been taken to Knox’s Chamber, where lots of delightful forms of torture allegedly took place.
Well, that was what happened when you put a pregnant woman asleep and trapped her in her worst nightmare, forcing her to re-experience it over and over—which, in this particular woman’s case, had been delivering a stillborn baby. To her, it had felt very real every time.
As a breed of demon known as a nightmare, Sefton could do that shit to people.
As a fellow nightmare, so could Piper.
She could also bring people out of such unnatural sleeps. So she’d woken the woman, who’d then fingered Sefton—a rejected suitor—as the culprit. Apparently, he’d cried his innocence when detained and had insisted that Piper convinced the pregnant woman to lyingly accuse him. No one other than his family, who now harbored a massive grudge against Piper, actually believed him.
“I highly doubt he will give you any trouble,” Knox continued. “But if he does, be sure to report it.”
“Is Sefton’s brother still bothering you?” asked Tanner, another sentinel. The hellhound was also Harper’s bodyguard.
Piper shook her head. “Whatever you said to Jasper worked a treat. He backed off. I’ve had no more calls from their father either.”
Making enemies was nothing new for Piper, courtesy of one of her preternatural abilities. It was exclusive to her kind, but not very common. She could delve into a person’s memories, though not any memory—only those that were nightmarish in nature, such as attacks and near-death experiences. As she sank into the memory, she could slow down the incident, study each scene, and search for clues.
In doing so, Piper had helped identify many offenders within her lair over the years. She’d occasionally had to subsequently deal with verbal abuse from them or their loved ones. It was absolutely tedious, but she was used to it at this point.
What was more than tedious was Levi staring at her with such mind-melting intensity. So if he could just tone it down, that would be great. But he didn’t seem inclined to.
Eager to head home, Piper wrapped up the conversation and said her goodbyes to Tanner and the Primes. Keeping her expression friendly by sheer force of will, she met Levi’s gaze once more. Going for breezy, she said, “See you around, take care.” And may the chocolate chips in your muffins continually turn out to be raisins, she barely refrained from adding.
“You too,” was his only reply. But then his psyche boldly gave her own a featherlight stroke in what felt like a goodbye, she wasn’t sure—
A magnetic force viciously yanked at her mind, attempting to bond her psyche with his, causing an alien pressure to build in her head. Disorientation struck Piper first, but that was quickly buried under shock as realization slammed into her.
Holy hell, they were anchors.
That knowledge now glimmered in Levi’s eyes, along with an emotion she would never have expected to see in his gaze as he looked at her: Possession.
Piper’s heart went into overdrive. She didn’t move. Neither did he. Nor did either of them give in to the pull of the bond.
Her inner demon didn’t like his lack of action. It felt rejected. Piper, too, felt the sting of it. And yet, she continued to simply stand there, gaping at him.
Abort. Abort.
She mumbled more goodbyes and walked away. Her pulse still going haywire, she stepped onto an escalator, half expecting him to come after her. He didn’t, though. And maybe that was for the best. Because accepting Levi as her anchor would lead to a shitshow of epic proportions.
Seriously. Celeste. Would. Flip.
The banshee might have dumped him, but she hadn’t stopped caring about him. She’d hate that Piper had any claim to him, and that would spur Celeste into attempting to seduce him. The banshee might even succeed.
Celeste was good at drawing men back to her. Piper had seen it happen time and time again with other males. And now, with the new thread of possessiveness worming its way through her, Piper knew it would pain her to watch Levi and Celeste make their way back to each other.
Reaching the first floor of the mall, Piper hurried outside and onto the Underground’s Vegas-like strip. She walked fast as she shouldered through crowds, passed venue after venue—bars, clubs, casinos, hotels, stores, restaurants—and headed to the elevator that would take her back to the surface. The whole time, her heart kept pounding in her chest.
As she began her upward journey in the elevator, Piper rubbed at her temple, feeling a headache coming on as the anchor bond continued to pull at her psyche. Her inner demon was officially in a snit. It wanted to return to Levi but was torn on whether it wanted to claim him on the spot or quite simply throat-punch him.
Piper doubted the entity’s indignation would last long, or that—despite his inaction—it would easily let him go. The demon firmly believed that he belonged to it. It didn’t care that he was Celeste’s ex, though it did hate that he’d been intimate with the banshee.
So did Piper.
And that galled her.
Generally, she didn’t do ‘jealousy.’ Which was a good thing, really, or she’d have been devastated when her ex, Kelvin, began banging the tattoo studio’s receptionist a mere week after he and Piper agreed to separate.
The elevator finally slowed to a stop. Stepping out of it, she nodded at the demons guarding it and then crossed the basement of the club which concealed the Underground’s entrance. Outside the building, she headed to the Charger she’d parked in the lot and dumped her bags in the trunk.
Driving home, she thought back on how stupid she’d been to get involved with Kelvin. Piper knew better than to mix business with pleasure. Especially when the ‘business’ in this case was also her boss. The relationship hadn’t worked out, but there’d been no hard feelings between them. Still, it had been a kick to the gut that he’d moved on so fast. The kick might not have packed the same, for lack of a better word, punch if the receptionist wasn’t someone who’d—as he knew perfectly well—always been a bitch to Piper.
More, the couple didn’t confine their relationship to after-work hours. No, it had all happened right under Piper’s nose. He and Trinity had repeatedly snuck off throughout the day to have sex at the studio. The office, the stockroom, the break room, the restroom—anywhere and everywhere.
Piper had done her best to ignore it. Until last week. Realizing she’d left her cell at the studio after closing time, she’d hurried back to grab it … and found him fucking Trinity on the chair at Piper’s station. So she’d quit and then ignored all his subsequent attempts to contact her. No way was she going to work for a man who quite clearly had so little respect for her and so little regard for their friendship.
If Piper formed the anchor bond with Levi and was later forced to watch as he and Celeste became sexually reacquainted, it would be like tuning into the Kelvin show all over again, but far worse. She’d been able to walk away from Kelvin; she could move on with her life and never see him again. But there would be no walking away from Levi if they were bonded. Piper wouldn’t even be able to keep a huge distance from him, since it would be mentally uncomfortable for them to be apart for long periods of time.
Knowing she had zero chance of calming the organ in her chest if she kept reflecting on everything, Piper forced herself to concentrate on the road; to simply focus on turning, switching gears, and upping or slowing her speed. But the moment she arrived at her house and parked at the curb in her usual spot, all the thoughts she’d shoved aside fought for headspace.
Sighing, Piper closed her eyes. She’d never thought that her anchor might be someone who she couldn’t have in her life. She’d always imagined that she’d be thrilled to find them. Not simply because her psi-mate could strengthen her and stabilize her demon, but because she’d liked the thought of having someone who’d always have her back.
Oh, her mom and stepdad loved and supported her, but their dynamics were a little complicated. Whitney and Joe had met when Piper was just five and Celeste was eleven. The two girls … It wasn’t that they clashed. Celeste—angry at her parents’ separation and her mother’s abandonment—had simply been determined to dislike both Piper and Whitney, and that had never changed.
Piper felt sorry for Celeste in many ways. The woman had a right to her anger and hurt. But constantly and unfairly venting those emotions on Piper? No, that wasn’t cool.
Whitney and Joe never took sides. Piper understood why. But their inaction was part of the problem. Celeste knew she could pull all kinds of stunts but then escape any censure by crying “You love Piper more than me, you always take her side.”
The tears worked every time, especially since Joe was so busy trying to compensate for how her mother had up and left her.
For Piper, it would have been nice to have someone who wouldn’t be concerned with placating Celeste. Someone who would back Piper in every instance, no matter how many tears her stepsister shed.
There were downsides of having anchors, of course. Psi-mates could be as meddlesome and hyper-protective as they were territorial. But she’d have happily taken the bad along with the good, because the first could never outweigh the latter, in her opinion.
Thinking on how drawn she’d felt to Levi on sight years ago, Piper wondered if she’d subconsciously sensed he was her psi-mate. Back then, she’d done her best to hide her attraction to him. And she’d thought she’d been successful at it. Until she’d overheard a conversation between him and Celeste …
“Have you noticed that my stepsister has a crush on you?” Celeste laughed, as if it were sad and pathetic. “Not that I blame her or anything.” A pause. “You’re not interested in her, are you?”
“She’s not my type,” said Levi.
“You like curves and boobs and ass. She’s too thin.” Celeste sniffed in disdain. “Sometimes, I wonder if maybe she has an eating disorder. It’s possible, right?”
“Possible,” he agreed.
“Some girls can really work a size zero. Not her. She just looks sickly. She needs some damn meat on her bones for certain. Well, if she’s going for the ‘I’m dying a slow but certain death’ look, she totally has it down, right?”
“Hmm.”
“And she wonders why she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” A snort. “Well the rest of us don’t wonder, that’s for sure.”
“Hmm.”
Piper hadn’t waited around to hear more. She’d rushed off before anyone could notice she’d overheard them.
She hadn’t been hurt by Celeste’s words. She was used to the banshee criticizing her delicate build—a build that ran in Piper’s maternal family and was not at all the product of an eating disorder. But it had stung that Levi hadn’t disagreed with any of the bitchy crap the banshee spouted.
It was irrational of Piper, yes. She and Levi had spoken on several occasions before that day, but they were never anything close to friends. He didn’t know her. Plus, Celeste was his girlfriend. So there had been no reason for him to speak up in Piper’s defense. Yet, his failure to do so had nonetheless stabbed her in the gut.
Likewise, it had burned that he’d no doubt been as amused by the crush as Celeste. His ‘She’s not my type’ comment had rankled too, though it had come as absolutely no surprise to Piper.
All in all, it hadn’t been a pleasant moment. But it hadn’t ranked as highly on the unpleasant scale as when he didn’t even acknowledge her as his anchor earlier.
Crossing to her house with her bags in hand, Piper reached back to rub at her nape. Her demon believed he’d come to them at some point—it kept sending her mental pictures of the proprietary look he’d worn when their psyches tried fusing together.
The entity had seemingly decided to ignore that there’d been no other emotion on his face. There’d been no apparent pleasure at finding his psi-mate, no resolve to form the bond, no interest in even talking to her.
As such, Piper felt she could safely conclude that he wouldn’t be coming after her. His rejection of the bond was a good thing. Really. Seriously. Truly. Because forming an irrevocable psychic bond with a man she was not only begrudgingly attracted to but who was her stepsister’s ex-boyfriend? That was just asking for trouble.
Looking down at her doorstep, Piper double-blinked, her nose twitching. Was that … was that a bag of dogshit? Ah, hell, it was.
She swore beneath her breath.
Man, this was so not her day.
Levi Cutler watched as Piper made a mad yet graceful dash for the escalator. If it wasn’t for the glint of panic in her eyes, he’d have followed. Chasing down a predator who felt mentally cornered would never end well. He could give her a little time alone to get past her shock and to process their discovery. A discovery he had not at all seen coming.
One minute, he’d been staring at her, wondering if she had any clue of the many filthy things he wanted to do to her. The next moment, he’d psychically touched her without thought … and his world had upended. All of a sudden, she was right there at the center of it. His priorities had shifted in an instant. Nothing had changed, and yet everything felt different.
His demon had all but lunged for her, determined to claim what belonged to it. But Levi had been too taken off-guard to do anything other than stand there, at a complete loss for words.
The entity wasn’t unhappy that she’d fled. On the contrary, it was amused that she thought there was anywhere she could run to escape it. The demon liked a good chase, and what better prize to receive at the end of a hunt than an anchor bond?
And there would be a bond.
Neither Levi nor his inner entity would settle for anything else.
Tanner looked at him, his brow wrinkled. “Is she your—”
“Don’t.” Levi wasn’t going to have this conversation in public.
“Okay.” Tanner pointed at the escalator. “But don’t you think you should—”
“Don’t.”
The hellhound raised his hands in surrender.
Knox went to speak but then instead pursed his lips.
“Where to next?” Levi asked Harper, who studied him for a long moment but then rolled with it and mentioned a clothing store.
Over the next hour, Levi kept his senses on high alert as they wandered around the mall. He usually found no issue with keeping his mind focused on his job. But right then, it wasn’t working so well. All he wanted was to be with Piper.
He couldn’t stop obsessing over if she was all right, what she was doing, where her head was at. Like she’d taken over some corner of his mind. He suspected she’d permanently reside there from here on out. And he found himself okay with it, even if it was such an odd sensation.
He was more than relieved when Harper finally declared she was ready to leave. Later, as Levi parked the Primes’ Bentley outside the entrance of their grand home, Harper and Tanner slid out of the vehicle.
Knox lingered. “I’m guessing you’re not coming with us to Raini and Maddox’s party tonight,” he said, referring to an anchored pair who had also taken each other as mates.
“I have to see Piper,” said Levi. They had much to talk about, not to mention an anchor bond to form.
“I thought as much. This situation may not be easy for you to navigate, what with her being the sister of an ex-bed buddy.”
“Stepsister,” Levi automatically corrected.
Knox inclined his head. “Whitney and Joe only ever refer to them as sisters, so I’m accustomed to doing the same.”
“In many families, the ‘step’ part wouldn’t be considered significant. But it is to Celeste—she never lets Piper forget they’re not blood relatives. I don’t yet know if their poor relationship will make the anchor situation easier or harder on Piper.” He’d claim her either way.
“One would think that Celeste would cease immaturely resenting Piper and Whitney.”
“She’s a bitch toward both women, most especially Piper.” Levi felt his jaw harden. “That ends now that I’m around. I won’t allow it to continue.”
“Sadly, I doubt it will go as smoothly as you’re hoping. If you need to take some time off to get this situation sorted so you can claim Piper as your anchor, do so. This is important. Larkin can take over for you as my personal bodyguard until then.”
Levi gave him a nod of thanks. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
After parking the Bentley in the garage, Levi switched to his own car and drove en route to Piper’s home. He knew where she lived. He knew plenty about her. He’d kept a subtle eye on her over the past six years.
Essentially, he’d channeled his attraction to her into looking out for her, since he hadn’t been able to act on what he wanted.
He’d officially met her for the first time when—only two weeks before he and Celeste went their separate ways—she’d reluctantly introduced Piper to him … and he’d found himself caught up in pale green eyes so striking they could steal the breath from a man’s lungs. She’d been barely eighteen at the time. Just a baby. And the mere thought of touching her had made him feel like a cradle-robbing bastard. But that hadn’t stopped him from looking.
Slender with soft, subtle curves, Piper had legs up to her shoulders. Her long dark hair was thick and glossy as a panther’s coat. He loved her voice—it was velvet and whiskey and pure sin. Her high, perky breasts made him think of apples. He liked apples.
She had strong cheekbones and slightly tanned skin that looked smooth as silk. He thought she might have some Romanian in her heritage, but he wasn’t sure.
Back then, he’d ignored his attraction to her. He’d blocked it out. Or tried. He’d so spectacularly failed that he hadn’t been able to bring himself to even touch Celeste. He would have ended things with the banshee if she hadn’t beat him to the punch.
Despite Piper’s age—he’d tried to let it matter but he’d failed with that as well—he might have made a move on her. It wasn’t like he’d been in a serious relationship with Celeste. It had been short and shallow and non-exclusive, and they hadn’t seen much of each other due to his work commitments.
However, the aftermath of their split had been far from plain sailing. And there was already so much bad blood between the two women … He hadn’t wanted to make it worse, so he’d stayed away. And whenever they’d come across each other, he’d taken the opportunity to drink in every inch of her.
He thought of Piper from time to time. She simply popped into his thoughts. Some women did that. They gripped you somehow and never let go. They slipped into your mind, made a place for themselves there, and brought on the ‘what ifs.’
It wasn’t purely about her appearance, it was the sheer guts she showed, over and over. Whenever she used her ability to walk through a person’s nightmarish memory, Piper experienced it through their senses … as if it were happening to her. She had to block out the victim’s fear and pain to break down what happened and identify the culprit. It left her wiped, but she never hesitated to help if called upon, despite that she often had to deal with bullshit from said culprits or their families. Levi had personally intercepted many times on her behalf, though she didn’t know that.
Finally arriving at her house, Levi cut the engine and headed up the narrow path that slunk through her front lawn. He knocked on her door, which opened mere moments later. Piper stood there, a glass of red wine in hand. Her gut-grabbing eyes fixed on his, making his body tighten.
“We need to talk,” he said.
She muttered what sounded like, “Fuck my life,” and then walked inside, leaving the door open in a reluctant invitation.
He bit back a smile and followed her into the living room. Moving to stand in front of the fireplace, she observed him closely as she sipped her wine, saying nothing. His demon returned her scrutiny, perversely pleased by how prickly she was right then.
Levi planted his feet. “You ran from me. Actually, that’s not right. You ran from what you learned.”
“You didn’t exactly jump for joy yourself.”
He flexed his fingers as her molten-sex voice slid down his spine. “I think it’s safe to say it came as a shock to both of us, and neither reacted as we should have. I saw you needed time to process it, so I didn’t follow you. Was that the wrong call?” He didn’t believe so.
Sighing, she rubbed at her brow. “Forming the bond would be a real bad idea.”
He tensed. “Don’t fight this, Piper.”
“Celeste—”
“Has nothing to do with this situation,” he finished.
“But she’ll shove her way into it. You know that. Ignoring the facts doesn’t negate them.”
“The only facts that matter are pretty simple. You’re my anchor. You belong to me.” Which gave him more satisfaction than he suspected she’d be comfortable with. “I’m yours just the same. I’m not walking away from you, so don’t think to ask it of me.”
“Put aside the anchor possessiveness for one minute and look at the bigger picture. Celeste thinks of you as the one that got away. So you and me having any kind of connection? No, she’d never take it well. Add in that she was recently dumped by her boyfriend, and she isn’t in a good place right now.”
“All that is sad for Celeste.” Not that he actually gave much of a shit. “But how she feels isn’t what’s important to me.”
“You’re not at all reluctant to form the bond?” Piper asked, clearly skeptical. “You and Celeste didn’t exactly part on good terms. The aftermath was ugly. Drama galore. You really want to put yourself back in her path?”
“I don’t care about her path, I care about ours. I’m not going to let her get in the way. Nothing ever gets between me and what’s mine. And you, Piper … you’re mine.”
Something he couldn’t quite name flared in her eyes. She tipped her head back and drained her glass. The sight of her throat working as she swallowed the wine made his blood heat. She only made it worse by swiping her tongue over her lips, utterly oblivious to the effect she had on him.
As she placed her empty glass on the fire mantel, Levi took slow, easy steps toward her and said, “What you and I discovered today is a good thing, Piper. Something that should be celebrated. You can’t tell me you weren’t looking forward to finding your psi-mate. The vast majority of demons are. I sure as shit wanted to find mine, and here you are.”
Here she’d been for six years, and he hadn’t known who she was to him and his demon. He hadn’t at all sensed it. That galled Levi big time.
He reached out and briefly gave her hand a light squeeze. A mis
Piper Winslow didn’t judge those who gave social etiquette the cold shoulder. She’d been known to snub it herself on occasion. Life was more interesting that way. But there was an essential difference between ignoring social customs and point-blank failing to exercise common decency.
She was pretty sure that this particular reaper was very aware that it was downright disrespectful to oh so blatantly stare at people. And yet, the big bold bastard—who hadn’t said so much as a brief hello to Piper—kept his gaze fixed firmly on her like it was his right. And her middle finger was beginning to twitch.
Flexing her hand around the handles of her shopping bags, Piper did her best to appear unaffected. She strived to instead focus on the other three demons in front of her and drown out the sounds echoing throughout the mall—the mish-mash of voices, the slapping of shoes on tile, the ringing of cell phones, the music playing low.
But an internal voice just kept whispering … he’s still staring at you.
What, did she have something on her face? It didn’t seem likely. Levi’s companions weren’t slanting her weird glances as they chatted with her. Plus, this wasn’t the first time she’d caught him watching her so intently. He’d done it a few times, actually.
If he meant to simply rattle her he was wasting his time. Few things made Piper nervous. Namely wasps, her mother’s driving skills, and sticking a foot out of her bedcovers at night since she’d be irrationally tormented by the thought of Annabelle grabbing it.
Piper might have wondered if she was on the receiving end of an eye-fuck. She knew better, though. Knew for a fact that Levi Cutler wasn’t remotely attracted to her. Piper wasn’t his type—his words, not hers. Words he’d spoken to her stepsister back when he and Celeste had dated six years ago.
It was the first time Piper had ever begrudged the woman anything. Levi … he was a man who made an impact on every level, and he’d for sure made an impact on Piper back then. It really had sucked large to have a thing for her stepsister’s boyfriend, of all people. But Piper couldn’t be faulted for that—she was just an innocent bystander. Mother Nature was to blame for shaping him the way she had.
Tall and unabashedly male, Levi had the powerful build of an MMA fighter. Broad, solid shoulders. Superbly toned arms. A hard, defined chest. Just so much lean muscle that her poor hormones didn’t know what to do with themselves. Every part of him was a weapon, and it showed.
Normally, the whole ‘dangerous and dominant’ thing didn’t really do it for her. Hell, ‘dominant’ seemed too tame a word for Levi. He was an alpha to the core—it came across in everything about him. His unflinching gaze. His self-assuredness. His coolly calm, in-command air. The menacing, animal grace with which he walked. How he stood like a sentry—his head up, his back straight, his feet wide apart.
His voice was a lure all on its own—deep, smoky, compelling. His short hair was a rich dark espresso brown, and those steely gunmetal gray eyes … well, they were still locked on her.
An itch built between her shoulder blades. If they’d been alone, she would have demanded to know what the hell his problem was. But speak to him that way in front of the Primes of their lair? Nah, that wasn’t an option.
Levi was not only a sentinel, he was the personal bodyguard of the male Prime. Knox Thorne expected the demons of his lair to respect all four of his sentinels. The merciless Prime didn’t tolerate any bullshit so, yeah, she’d swerve pissing him off. Even her inner demon—a psychopathic entity that didn’t find fear unpleasant enough to heed it—wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.
Her demon nonetheless would have surfaced to warn off Levi if it felt that he meant to make Piper feel threatened. But it never got that sense from him whenever he watched her this way. Neither did she but, ugh, she didn’t know.
“I heard you quit your job recently,” said Harper, Knox’s mate and anchor. All demons had predestined psychic mates to whom they formed a bond that prevented them from turning rogue. Anchors looked out for each other and could be incredibly possessive, so sometimes the line between friend and lover blurred, but not all became mates.
Piper nodded and said, “Last week.” Which was why she was here at the mall indulging in some retail therapy. Well, it was good for the soul. And stuff.
Absentmindedly toying with the gold tips of her dark hair, Harper twisted her mouth. “Tell me to butt out of your business if you want, but I was wondering why you quit.”
Well it really came down to the fact that the man who was both Piper’s ex-boss and ex-boyfriend was something of a dick. But she didn’t want to get into all that. “I felt like a change,” she fudged. When Harper lifted a ‘please expand’ brow, Piper sighed and added, “I don’t like to badmouth previous employers.”
Harper’s lips quirked. “I like that response.” The pale blue color of her eyes swirled like liquid, their shade deepening as they became the color of warm honey—her eyes routinely changed in such a way, and there was no predicting what shade they’d be next. “I’m only asking because I’m looking to hire another tattoo artist. I know you’re good. I’ve seen your work. So if you’re interested, give me a call and we’ll set up an interview.”
Piper blinked, perking up. “I’d definitely be interested.”
Urban Ink was a highly popular tattoo studio here at the Underground—aptly named due to the massive demonic paradise being located below ground. It was kind of like the Las Vegas Strip, only way more eccentric with its combat ring, hellhound racetracks, and all manner of shit you simply would not expect to see. Demons were easily bored and liked cheap thrills, so it was a busy place.
“Good,” said Harper, handing her a business card. “My number’s on here. Be sure to call me.” Her polite smile dimmed. “On another—and seriously dreary—note, we should probably let you know that Sefton’s free.” She was referring to a member of their lair who, in Piper’s humble opinion, needed a lobotomy.
“We released him yesterday,” Knox added, his ebony eyes sharp. The dude was hot as hell—tall and dark and confident. “He was … appropriately punished.”
Piper would bet that was something of an understatement. Sefton had been held in the lair’s prison for the past two months, and she didn’t doubt that he’d been taken to Knox’s Chamber, where lots of delightful forms of torture allegedly took place.
Well, that was what happened when you put a pregnant woman asleep and trapped her in her worst nightmare, forcing her to re-experience it over and over—which, in this particular woman’s case, had been delivering a stillborn baby. To her, it had felt very real every time.
As a breed of demon known as a nightmare, Sefton could do that shit to people.
As a fellow nightmare, so could Piper.
She could also bring people out of such unnatural sleeps. So she’d woken the woman, who’d then fingered Sefton—a rejected suitor—as the culprit. Apparently, he’d cried his innocence when detained and had insisted that Piper convinced the pregnant woman to lyingly accuse him. No one other than his family, who now harbored a massive grudge against Piper, actually believed him.
“I highly doubt he will give you any trouble,” Knox continued. “But if he does, be sure to report it.”
“Is Sefton’s brother still bothering you?” asked Tanner, another sentinel. The hellhound was also Harper’s bodyguard.
Piper shook her head. “Whatever you said to Jasper worked a treat. He backed off. I’ve had no more calls from their father either.”
Making enemies was nothing new for Piper, courtesy of one of her preternatural abilities. It was exclusive to her kind, but not very common. She could delve into a person’s memories, though not any memory—only those that were nightmarish in nature, such as attacks and near-death experiences. As she sank into the memory, she could slow down the incident, study each scene, and search for clues.
In doing so, Piper had helped identify many offenders within her lair over the years. She’d occasionally had to subsequently deal with verbal abuse from them or their loved ones. It was absolutely tedious, but she was used to it at this point.
What was more than tedious was Levi staring at her with such mind-melting intensity. So if he could just tone it down, that would be great. But he didn’t seem inclined to.
Eager to head home, Piper wrapped up the conversation and said her goodbyes to Tanner and the Primes. Keeping her expression friendly by sheer force of will, she met Levi’s gaze once more. Going for breezy, she said, “See you around, take care.” And may the chocolate chips in your muffins continually turn out to be raisins, she barely refrained from adding.
“You too,” was his only reply. But then his psyche boldly gave her own a featherlight stroke in what felt like a goodbye, she wasn’t sure—
A magnetic force viciously yanked at her mind, attempting to bond her psyche with his, causing an alien pressure to build in her head. Disorientation struck Piper first, but that was quickly buried under shock as realization slammed into her.
Holy hell, they were anchors.
That knowledge now glimmered in Levi’s eyes, along with an emotion she would never have expected to see in his gaze as he looked at her: Possession.
Piper’s heart went into overdrive. She didn’t move. Neither did he. Nor did either of them give in to the pull of the bond.
Her inner demon didn’t like his lack of action. It felt rejected. Piper, too, felt the sting of it. And yet, she continued to simply stand there, gaping at him.
Abort. Abort.
She mumbled more goodbyes and walked away. Her pulse still going haywire, she stepped onto an escalator, half expecting him to come after her. He didn’t, though. And maybe that was for the best. Because accepting Levi as her anchor would lead to a shitshow of epic proportions.
Seriously. Celeste. Would. Flip.
The banshee might have dumped him, but she hadn’t stopped caring about him. She’d hate that Piper had any claim to him, and that would spur Celeste into attempting to seduce him. The banshee might even succeed.
Celeste was good at drawing men back to her. Piper had seen it happen time and time again with other males. And now, with the new thread of possessiveness worming its way through her, Piper knew it would pain her to watch Levi and Celeste make their way back to each other.
Reaching the first floor of the mall, Piper hurried outside and onto the Underground’s Vegas-like strip. She walked fast as she shouldered through crowds, passed venue after venue—bars, clubs, casinos, hotels, stores, restaurants—and headed to the elevator that would take her back to the surface. The whole time, her heart kept pounding in her chest.
As she began her upward journey in the elevator, Piper rubbed at her temple, feeling a headache coming on as the anchor bond continued to pull at her psyche. Her inner demon was officially in a snit. It wanted to return to Levi but was torn on whether it wanted to claim him on the spot or quite simply throat-punch him.
Piper doubted the entity’s indignation would last long, or that—despite his inaction—it would easily let him go. The demon firmly believed that he belonged to it. It didn’t care that he was Celeste’s ex, though it did hate that he’d been intimate with the banshee.
So did Piper.
And that galled her.
Generally, she didn’t do ‘jealousy.’ Which was a good thing, really, or she’d have been devastated when her ex, Kelvin, began banging the tattoo studio’s receptionist a mere week after he and Piper agreed to separate.
The elevator finally slowed to a stop. Stepping out of it, she nodded at the demons guarding it and then crossed the basement of the club which concealed the Underground’s entrance. Outside the building, she headed to the Charger she’d parked in the lot and dumped her bags in the trunk.
Driving home, she thought back on how stupid she’d been to get involved with Kelvin. Piper knew better than to mix business with pleasure. Especially when the ‘business’ in this case was also her boss. The relationship hadn’t worked out, but there’d been no hard feelings between them. Still, it had been a kick to the gut that he’d moved on so fast. The kick might not have packed the same, for lack of a better word, punch if the receptionist wasn’t someone who’d—as he knew perfectly well—always been a bitch to Piper.
More, the couple didn’t confine their relationship to after-work hours. No, it had all happened right under Piper’s nose. He and Trinity had repeatedly snuck off throughout the day to have sex at the studio. The office, the stockroom, the break room, the restroom—anywhere and everywhere.
Piper had done her best to ignore it. Until last week. Realizing she’d left her cell at the studio after closing time, she’d hurried back to grab it … and found him fucking Trinity on the chair at Piper’s station. So she’d quit and then ignored all his subsequent attempts to contact her. No way was she going to work for a man who quite clearly had so little respect for her and so little regard for their friendship.
If Piper formed the anchor bond with Levi and was later forced to watch as he and Celeste became sexually reacquainted, it would be like tuning into the Kelvin show all over again, but far worse. She’d been able to walk away from Kelvin; she could move on with her life and never see him again. But there would be no walking away from Levi if they were bonded. Piper wouldn’t even be able to keep a huge distance from him, since it would be mentally uncomfortable for them to be apart for long periods of time.
Knowing she had zero chance of calming the organ in her chest if she kept reflecting on everything, Piper forced herself to concentrate on the road; to simply focus on turning, switching gears, and upping or slowing her speed. But the moment she arrived at her house and parked at the curb in her usual spot, all the thoughts she’d shoved aside fought for headspace.
Sighing, Piper closed her eyes. She’d never thought that her anchor might be someone who she couldn’t have in her life. She’d always imagined that she’d be thrilled to find them. Not simply because her psi-mate could strengthen her and stabilize her demon, but because she’d liked the thought of having someone who’d always have her back.
Oh, her mom and stepdad loved and supported her, but their dynamics were a little complicated. Whitney and Joe had met when Piper was just five and Celeste was eleven. The two girls … It wasn’t that they clashed. Celeste—angry at her parents’ separation and her mother’s abandonment—had simply been determined to dislike both Piper and Whitney, and that had never changed.
Piper felt sorry for Celeste in many ways. The woman had a right to her anger and hurt. But constantly and unfairly venting those emotions on Piper? No, that wasn’t cool.
Whitney and Joe never took sides. Piper understood why. But their inaction was part of the problem. Celeste knew she could pull all kinds of stunts but then escape any censure by crying “You love Piper more than me, you always take her side.”
The tears worked every time, especially since Joe was so busy trying to compensate for how her mother had up and left her.
For Piper, it would have been nice to have someone who wouldn’t be concerned with placating Celeste. Someone who would back Piper in every instance, no matter how many tears her stepsister shed.
There were downsides of having anchors, of course. Psi-mates could be as meddlesome and hyper-protective as they were territorial. But she’d have happily taken the bad along with the good, because the first could never outweigh the latter, in her opinion.
Thinking on how drawn she’d felt to Levi on sight years ago, Piper wondered if she’d subconsciously sensed he was her psi-mate. Back then, she’d done her best to hide her attraction to him. And she’d thought she’d been successful at it. Until she’d overheard a conversation between him and Celeste …
“Have you noticed that my stepsister has a crush on you?” Celeste laughed, as if it were sad and pathetic. “Not that I blame her or anything.” A pause. “You’re not interested in her, are you?”
“She’s not my type,” said Levi.
“You like curves and boobs and ass. She’s too thin.” Celeste sniffed in disdain. “Sometimes, I wonder if maybe she has an eating disorder. It’s possible, right?”
“Possible,” he agreed.
“Some girls can really work a size zero. Not her. She just looks sickly. She needs some damn meat on her bones for certain. Well, if she’s going for the ‘I’m dying a slow but certain death’ look, she totally has it down, right?”
“Hmm.”
“And she wonders why she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” A snort. “Well the rest of us don’t wonder, that’s for sure.”
“Hmm.”
Piper hadn’t waited around to hear more. She’d rushed off before anyone could notice she’d overheard them.
She hadn’t been hurt by Celeste’s words. She was used to the banshee criticizing her delicate build—a build that ran in Piper’s maternal family and was not at all the product of an eating disorder. But it had stung that Levi hadn’t disagreed with any of the bitchy crap the banshee spouted.
It was irrational of Piper, yes. She and Levi had spoken on several occasions before that day, but they were never anything close to friends. He didn’t know her. Plus, Celeste was his girlfriend. So there had been no reason for him to speak up in Piper’s defense. Yet, his failure to do so had nonetheless stabbed her in the gut.
Likewise, it had burned that he’d no doubt been as amused by the crush as Celeste. His ‘She’s not my type’ comment had rankled too, though it had come as absolutely no surprise to Piper.
All in all, it hadn’t been a pleasant moment. But it hadn’t ranked as highly on the unpleasant scale as when he didn’t even acknowledge her as his anchor earlier.
Crossing to her house with her bags in hand, Piper reached back to rub at her nape. Her demon believed he’d come to them at some point—it kept sending her mental pictures of the proprietary look he’d worn when their psyches tried fusing together.
The entity had seemingly decided to ignore that there’d been no other emotion on his face. There’d been no apparent pleasure at finding his psi-mate, no resolve to form the bond, no interest in even talking to her.
As such, Piper felt she could safely conclude that he wouldn’t be coming after her. His rejection of the bond was a good thing. Really. Seriously. Truly. Because forming an irrevocable psychic bond with a man she was not only begrudgingly attracted to but who was her stepsister’s ex-boyfriend? That was just asking for trouble.
Looking down at her doorstep, Piper double-blinked, her nose twitching. Was that … was that a bag of dogshit? Ah, hell, it was.
She swore beneath her breath.
Man, this was so not her day.
Levi Cutler watched as Piper made a mad yet graceful dash for the escalator. If it wasn’t for the glint of panic in her eyes, he’d have followed. Chasing down a predator who felt mentally cornered would never end well. He could give her a little time alone to get past her shock and to process their discovery. A discovery he had not at all seen coming.
One minute, he’d been staring at her, wondering if she had any clue of the many filthy things he wanted to do to her. The next moment, he’d psychically touched her without thought … and his world had upended. All of a sudden, she was right there at the center of it. His priorities had shifted in an instant. Nothing had changed, and yet everything felt different.
His demon had all but lunged for her, determined to claim what belonged to it. But Levi had been too taken off-guard to do anything other than stand there, at a complete loss for words.
The entity wasn’t unhappy that she’d fled. On the contrary, it was amused that she thought there was anywhere she could run to escape it. The demon liked a good chase, and what better prize to receive at the end of a hunt than an anchor bond?
And there would be a bond.
Neither Levi nor his inner entity would settle for anything else.
Tanner looked at him, his brow wrinkled. “Is she your—”
“Don’t.” Levi wasn’t going to have this conversation in public.
“Okay.” Tanner pointed at the escalator. “But don’t you think you should—”
“Don’t.”
The hellhound raised his hands in surrender.
Knox went to speak but then instead pursed his lips.
“Where to next?” Levi asked Harper, who studied him for a long moment but then rolled with it and mentioned a clothing store.
Over the next hour, Levi kept his senses on high alert as they wandered around the mall. He usually found no issue with keeping his mind focused on his job. But right then, it wasn’t working so well. All he wanted was to be with Piper.
He couldn’t stop obsessing over if she was all right, what she was doing, where her head was at. Like she’d taken over some corner of his mind. He suspected she’d permanently reside there from here on out. And he found himself okay with it, even if it was such an odd sensation.
He was more than relieved when Harper finally declared she was ready to leave. Later, as Levi parked the Primes’ Bentley outside the entrance of their grand home, Harper and Tanner slid out of the vehicle.
Knox lingered. “I’m guessing you’re not coming with us to Raini and Maddox’s party tonight,” he said, referring to an anchored pair who had also taken each other as mates.
“I have to see Piper,” said Levi. They had much to talk about, not to mention an anchor bond to form.
“I thought as much. This situation may not be easy for you to navigate, what with her being the sister of an ex-bed buddy.”
“Stepsister,” Levi automatically corrected.
Knox inclined his head. “Whitney and Joe only ever refer to them as sisters, so I’m accustomed to doing the same.”
“In many families, the ‘step’ part wouldn’t be considered significant. But it is to Celeste—she never lets Piper forget they’re not blood relatives. I don’t yet know if their poor relationship will make the anchor situation easier or harder on Piper.” He’d claim her either way.
“One would think that Celeste would cease immaturely resenting Piper and Whitney.”
“She’s a bitch toward both women, most especially Piper.” Levi felt his jaw harden. “That ends now that I’m around. I won’t allow it to continue.”
“Sadly, I doubt it will go as smoothly as you’re hoping. If you need to take some time off to get this situation sorted so you can claim Piper as your anchor, do so. This is important. Larkin can take over for you as my personal bodyguard until then.”
Levi gave him a nod of thanks. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
After parking the Bentley in the garage, Levi switched to his own car and drove en route to Piper’s home. He knew where she lived. He knew plenty about her. He’d kept a subtle eye on her over the past six years.
Essentially, he’d channeled his attraction to her into looking out for her, since he hadn’t been able to act on what he wanted.
He’d officially met her for the first time when—only two weeks before he and Celeste went their separate ways—she’d reluctantly introduced Piper to him … and he’d found himself caught up in pale green eyes so striking they could steal the breath from a man’s lungs. She’d been barely eighteen at the time. Just a baby. And the mere thought of touching her had made him feel like a cradle-robbing bastard. But that hadn’t stopped him from looking.
Slender with soft, subtle curves, Piper had legs up to her shoulders. Her long dark hair was thick and glossy as a panther’s coat. He loved her voice—it was velvet and whiskey and pure sin. Her high, perky breasts made him think of apples. He liked apples.
She had strong cheekbones and slightly tanned skin that looked smooth as silk. He thought she might have some Romanian in her heritage, but he wasn’t sure.
Back then, he’d ignored his attraction to her. He’d blocked it out. Or tried. He’d so spectacularly failed that he hadn’t been able to bring himself to even touch Celeste. He would have ended things with the banshee if she hadn’t beat him to the punch.
Despite Piper’s age—he’d tried to let it matter but he’d failed with that as well—he might have made a move on her. It wasn’t like he’d been in a serious relationship with Celeste. It had been short and shallow and non-exclusive, and they hadn’t seen much of each other due to his work commitments.
However, the aftermath of their split had been far from plain sailing. And there was already so much bad blood between the two women … He hadn’t wanted to make it worse, so he’d stayed away. And whenever they’d come across each other, he’d taken the opportunity to drink in every inch of her.
He thought of Piper from time to time. She simply popped into his thoughts. Some women did that. They gripped you somehow and never let go. They slipped into your mind, made a place for themselves there, and brought on the ‘what ifs.’
It wasn’t purely about her appearance, it was the sheer guts she showed, over and over. Whenever she used her ability to walk through a person’s nightmarish memory, Piper experienced it through their senses … as if it were happening to her. She had to block out the victim’s fear and pain to break down what happened and identify the culprit. It left her wiped, but she never hesitated to help if called upon, despite that she often had to deal with bullshit from said culprits or their families. Levi had personally intercepted many times on her behalf, though she didn’t know that.
Finally arriving at her house, Levi cut the engine and headed up the narrow path that slunk through her front lawn. He knocked on her door, which opened mere moments later. Piper stood there, a glass of red wine in hand. Her gut-grabbing eyes fixed on his, making his body tighten.
“We need to talk,” he said.
She muttered what sounded like, “Fuck my life,” and then walked inside, leaving the door open in a reluctant invitation.
He bit back a smile and followed her into the living room. Moving to stand in front of the fireplace, she observed him closely as she sipped her wine, saying nothing. His demon returned her scrutiny, perversely pleased by how prickly she was right then.
Levi planted his feet. “You ran from me. Actually, that’s not right. You ran from what you learned.”
“You didn’t exactly jump for joy yourself.”
He flexed his fingers as her molten-sex voice slid down his spine. “I think it’s safe to say it came as a shock to both of us, and neither reacted as we should have. I saw you needed time to process it, so I didn’t follow you. Was that the wrong call?” He didn’t believe so.
Sighing, she rubbed at her brow. “Forming the bond would be a real bad idea.”
He tensed. “Don’t fight this, Piper.”
“Celeste—”
“Has nothing to do with this situation,” he finished.
“But she’ll shove her way into it. You know that. Ignoring the facts doesn’t negate them.”
“The only facts that matter are pretty simple. You’re my anchor. You belong to me.” Which gave him more satisfaction than he suspected she’d be comfortable with. “I’m yours just the same. I’m not walking away from you, so don’t think to ask it of me.”
“Put aside the anchor possessiveness for one minute and look at the bigger picture. Celeste thinks of you as the one that got away. So you and me having any kind of connection? No, she’d never take it well. Add in that she was recently dumped by her boyfriend, and she isn’t in a good place right now.”
“All that is sad for Celeste.” Not that he actually gave much of a shit. “But how she feels isn’t what’s important to me.”
“You’re not at all reluctant to form the bond?” Piper asked, clearly skeptical. “You and Celeste didn’t exactly part on good terms. The aftermath was ugly. Drama galore. You really want to put yourself back in her path?”
“I don’t care about her path, I care about ours. I’m not going to let her get in the way. Nothing ever gets between me and what’s mine. And you, Piper … you’re mine.”
Something he couldn’t quite name flared in her eyes. She tipped her head back and drained her glass. The sight of her throat working as she swallowed the wine made his blood heat. She only made it worse by swiping her tongue over her lips, utterly oblivious to the effect she had on him.
As she placed her empty glass on the fire mantel, Levi took slow, easy steps toward her and said, “What you and I discovered today is a good thing, Piper. Something that should be celebrated. You can’t tell me you weren’t looking forward to finding your psi-mate. The vast majority of demons are. I sure as shit wanted to find mine, and here you are.”
Here she’d been for six years, and he hadn’t known who she was to him and his demon. He hadn’t at all sensed it. That galled Levi big time.
He reached out and briefly gave her hand a light squeeze. A mis
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