Fullepub 
Chapter Seventeen
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Piper licked her lips. “Hey,” she croaked.
His head snapped up, and relief flared in his eyes. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’ve got a little mind fog going on and …” Trailing off, she grimaced. “Why can I taste blood in my mouth?” The coppery scent of it filled her nostrils. “We were in the park. Why are we not in the park anymore?”
He took her hand in his. “Stay calm for me.”
That didn’t sound good. That didn’t sound good at all. She sat upright, her demon going stiff as a board. “What happened?”
His thumb circled her palm. “We were attacked at the park.”
She froze. “What?”
“Whoever wants you dead struck again.”
Feeling the blood drain from her face, she asked, “Is everyone okay? Why the hell don’t I remember?”
“Everyone is fine,” he assured her, cool and steady. “You weren’t, though. Someone psychically struck your brain. You were unconscious, not to mention hemorrhaging. That’s why you don’t remember. But you’re all right now. Maddox healed you.”
Piper frowned as she tried sifting through her memories of the park. The last thing she could recall was talking with Levi near the see-saw ride. “Did you see who attacked us?”
His mouth tightened. “No. He concealed himself somehow.”
She dragged in a breath and wiped a hand over her mouth, pulling a face when little brown flakes came away. Dried blood. Fabulous. “What exactly happened? I need to know how it all went down.”
Standing, he tugged on the hand he still held. “Come. I’ll tell you everything while you wash your face and brush your teeth, because I can see you want to. Fair?”
Piper stood. “That’ll work.”
She probably shouldn’t have let him keep possession of her hand, but she was tired and freaked out—he was solid and steady and everything she needed right then.
In her private bathroom, she crossed to the vanity and said, “Start talking.”
Propping his hip against the wall, he folded his arms and gave her a rundown of what happened while she cleaned herself up.
Her stomach rolled when he very vaguely mentioned he’d been injured. “I need to thank Maddox for healing us both. Just how badly were you hurt?”
He shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”
She dumped the blood-stained face cloth in the hamper. “You’ve also showered and changed—you weren’t wearing those clothes earlier.” She narrowed her eyes. “I know you. So I know you wouldn’t have easily left my side while I was sleeping. Not even to wash up. That tells me you don’t want me to know exactly how many wounds you had or how bad they were.”
“It’s not important.”
“It’s important to me.”
He pushed away from the wall, took a step toward her, and gathered her face in his hands. “The wounds are all healed. Every last one of them. Don’t dwell on what he did, baby.”
Whoa, baby?
“He doesn’t deserve to have that power.”
Just as the people around her didn’t deserve to get caught up in all this bullshit. “I should have said no when Harper invited me to the park.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You’re not at fault for what happened today.”
“But I am aware that someone wants me dead. I shouldn’t have agreed to go on a group outing. I put them at risk.”
Levi lowered his hands to her shoulders, pinning her gaze with his. “You didn’t do anything. You’re living your life. Which is exactly what you should be doing. He’s the only one in the wrong here.”
“Maybe, but I need to take more precautions. No more group outings, for starters. No more paying visits to my parents or anyone else. I can’t go back to the studio for a while either.” Hopefully Harper and Raini wouldn’t fire her for taking time off. As for staying here … she couldn’t do that either. Not anymore. “I should also move out—”
“No,” he said, his grip on her shoulders tightening.
“I need to hole up somewhere.”
“Do you really think I’d be good with you being on your own when you most need protection?”
“I’m not allowed to protect you? Leaving is the only way I can.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he told her, his voice low but firm. “I get that the attack shook you up. I can understand if you don’t feel so safe with me anymore, considering you were dying and I didn’t even notice—”
“What?” Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t feel unsafe with you. I’d say you were kind of caught up in what was happening around you, so it’s not surprising that you didn’t notice I was bleeding.”
“You’re eager to get away from me.”
“Because I don’t want you to be hurt again.”
“This complex is secure. He can’t penetrate it. That’s why he struck in public.” Levi tugged her close, swiping his thumbs over her collarbones. “Listen to me. You’re safe here. Has it occurred to you that he’d hoped to have this effect on you? That he wanted to make you isolate yourself so that it’d be easier for him to nab you?”
Actually, no, that hadn’t occurred to her. It should have. Dammit, she was smarter than this. “God, I hate him.”
“He will be caught and dealt with, Piper. Then that sick feeling in your stomach will go, things can get back to normal, and we can find you another place to live. Preferably an apartment in this building.”
Piper’s insides seized. Celeste’s past words echoed in her mind.
“Oh, and you’re wrong if you think he’ll let you return to your house. He’ll want you living somewhere in his building so he can monitor your day-to-day activities.”
Piper stepped back, making his hands slip away from her.
His brows dipped. “What? What did I say?”
“You can’t take over my life, Levi.”
A look of genuine befuddlement fell over his face. “I’m not trying to take over.”
“You want me to move out of my house.”
He shrugged. “I thought you might not feel comfortable living there when you know he once squirted come all over the rear wall. If you’re going to relocate, I’d rather you moved somewhere I know you’ll be safe. This place is practically impenetrable. It’s also close to the Underground, and you have friends here as well as me. It seemed like a good choice.”
Her hackles lowered at the sincerity in his voice. “I can’t say whether or not I’ll want to relocate. Not until I go back to my house. But I wouldn’t want to move to this complex. I don’t think it’d be good for us to live virtually on top of each other. Anchors generally don’t live too close together. It’s better that way. For obvious reasons.”
His eyes searched hers as he closed the distance she’d put between them. “You’ve been avoiding me. Avoiding being alone with me.” Sighing, he rested his forehead against hers. “I miss it,” he added softly.
She felt her brows flit together. “What?”
“The ease we had.” He paused. “I miss a lot of things. Miss you.”
She swallowed, cursing her stomach for fluttering. “You see me every day.”
“There’s a difference between being around someone and truly having their company. You and I might have gotten off to a shaky start, but we got past that. Things were going good. We were friends. Then it all got derailed.” Raising his head, he palmed one side of her neck. “I want her back.”
“Who?”
“My Piper.” He gently squeezed her throat. “I want her back.”
She averted her gaze. “Things will get back to the way they were in the beginning. It’s obviously gonna take a little more time.” From the corner of her eye, she saw him tilt his head.
“You forgot your ears.”
She looked at him. “Sorry?”
“You forgot to clean them. There are flecks of dry blood in this one. You’ll probably have them in your other ear.”
Inwardly groaning, she grabbed the pot of earbuds.
“Let me.” He took one of the buds, wet it with water from the tap, and then very gently wiped away the blood. And she let him. Because right then, he seemed so damn lonely. A feeling she understood, since she’d been wracked with it since the distance between them first appeared.
She ignored that her nerve-endings were enjoying his touch and closeness a little too much. Ignored that her hormones were all stirred up and ready to roll. Ignored how unbearably conscious she was of his close proximity and richly masculine scent.
Finally done, he chucked the used buds into the small trash can.
“Thanks.” Piper’s brow pinched as she stared into his eyes. There was a dark, tortured look in them. “What’s wrong?”
He exhaled heavily. “I can’t stop seeing it. That moment when you went limp against me … and I had no clue you could die.”
“I’m okay, thanks to you and Maddox. He might have been the one to heal me, but you were the one who shielded me and then got me the help I needed. As you yourself once said … as anchors go, you’re not half-bad.” Her lips twitched at the memory. It was of a time when things were easier. A time when she’d been hopeful that they could be good friends.
A time when she’d had no idea that having him inside her just once would damn her to hell and back.
“So long as you don’t wish your anchor was someone else,” he said.
She frowned. “I would never wish that.” It would be so much easier on them both if they’d been paired with others, but she could never long for that.
“Good. Neither would I. Now come here, I need to hold you for a minute.”
His arms settled around her as he moved closer. With his warm chest pressing against the side of her face and his chin resting on the top of her head, she felt safe and snug and cared for.
“You can’t die,” he said, the words like crushed rock.
“It’s not in my plans.”
“I can’t lose you. But sometimes I feel like I already have.”
An ache lanced through her chest. “You haven’t.”
Maybe it wasn’t wise but Piper closed her eyes and sank fully into the hug, slipping her arms around his waist. This man had curled his body over her unconscious form. Had solidly taken hit after hit after hit in shielding her. Had gotten her the help she needed when he realized she’d been seriously hurt. It was safe to say she would be dead right now if it wasn’t for Levi.
He swept his hand up her back and began massaging her nape. She almost moaned aloud. Those fingers were all too clever. They knew what they were doing in other places too. Something she really shouldn’t be thinking about. But it was difficult to be around Levi and not think sexual thoughts—they constantly flitted through her mind, unbidden.
As if he knew … or as if he was having some X-rated thoughts of his own … his cock began to thicken against her. Piper opened her eyes, unsure what to do. She didn’t want to draw attention to it, though she doubted he’d be embarrassed or anything. She also couldn’t exactly ignore that he was getting hard.
Her body certainly wasn’t ignoring it. Nope. It was responding in turn. Her pulse was speeding up, her nipples were tightening, and lots of very sensitive places were getting all tingly and achy. Which, yeah, could be a lot to do with how she kept remembering how good it felt to have that long, thick cock inside her.
He slowly trailed his mouth down the side of her face and over to her ear. “Sometimes, I wake up in the night and reach for you. Then I remember I don’t have all of you anymore.”
She’d done that a time or two. Woke. Rolled toward the other side of the bed. Found it empty. And felt like she’d been punched in the gut when reality smacked her.
“You don’t know how many nights I almost came to your room, feeling like I’d go insane if I didn’t have you,” he added, his voice dropping an octave. “Instead, I jacked off. And I saw you in my head the whole time.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. She’d often gotten herself off thinking of him. She wouldn’t tell him that, though. The situation was too precarious while sexual hunger had turned the air static, leaving them both balancing on a ledge. Piper had the distinct feeling that any explicit confessions from her would send them both hurtling off it.
“Levi—”
“I know, I’ll let you go.” He tightened his arms around her for a moment but then pulled back, staring down at her through eyes that had darkened with need. “Rest. Call if you need me.”
He took a step back. And another. And another. All that space between them … she hated it. Every inch of it.
His gaze dropped to her pebbled nipples, flaring with something feral. His eyes slowly roamed lower, and lower, and lower. Then they moved up, and up, and up before settling on her mouth.
It was a full-on eye-fuck, pure and simple. One that made her pulse jump, her stomach twist, her mouth dry up, and her brain short-circuit. The whole thing was impossibly nerve-wracking.
Without thought, she nervously licked her lips. His eyes lifted to pin her own—dark, dilated, gleaming, carnally cold. Whatever he saw in her gaze made a low growl rumble in his chest.
His hunger seemed to sweep out and clash violently with hers. The air tautened. Her body sang. The room temperature seemed to rise unbearably.
She wasn’t sure who moved first, but they collided. Their mouths locked. Their tongues tangled. Their hands grabbed and squeezed.
Piper moaned as he ground his cock against her. The needs of her body completely drowned out her thoughts. That was good. She didn’t want to think. Didn’t want to care what was smart or unwise.
She just wanted him.
He tore his mouth free with a growl. “Fuck, I’ve got to have you.”
There was pulling and shoving and yanking as they stripped off each other’s clothes. Or removed some, anyway. Neither seemed to have the patience to wait until the other was fully naked. She still had on her bra when he lifted her, turned, and propped her on the vanity. Well.
Deliciously shirtless with his fly open, he gripped the underside of her thighs and roughly dragged her to the edge of the vanity. His eyes lowered to her brands as he dipped a finger inside her. His gaze snapped back to her face. “Wet,” he bit out, pressing his mouth to hers. Then he shoved his finger deep. “Very wet.”
Piper frowned as he withdrew his finger, but her complaints died on her tongue when he wasted no time in lining up the thick head of his cock to her pussy. Oh, yes. She wrapped her legs around his hips and squeezed tight—a silent demand for him to get inside her.
Levi bit down on her neck and slammed home, burying his long, fat shaft balls-deep in her pussy.
Her lips parted as she heaved in a breath. Fucking hell she’d forgotten how the first thrust always burned just a little. No other man had ever made her feel so full.
Pulling back his hips, he licked up her throat and bit her earlobe hard enough to make her wince. He hadn’t been lying that time he told her he liked to bite. “You feel so fucking good.” He drove his full length inside her once again.
She hissed. “More.”
“Yeah, more.” He fucked her hard. Like he hadn’t seen her in years. It was rough and wild and everything her body craved.
He slammed so deep each time. Grunted. Growled. Snarled. All that animalistic, aggressive sexuality twisted her stomach.
“You have no idea how fucking hot it is to see those brands on your skin,” said Levi, unsurprised by the guttural quality to his voice when he was caught in the tight grip of a haunting, elemental need. “I shouldn’t like them. They shouldn’t make my cock hard, but they do.” Every damn time.
Levi purposely dug his fingertips into the brand on her inner thigh as he took her. Fuck, he’d missed this. Her taste, her moans, her nails clawing his back, the tight, hot clasp of her pussy. He’d never craved anything the way he did her. Never wanted someone so badly they invaded his dreams or popped into his thoughts too many times a day.
Nothing other than a clear ‘no’ from her could have made him walk out the door. He’d needed to be in her so badly he felt it everywhere. It was an ache in his chest, a throb in his veins, an itch beneath his skin.
She palmed the back of his head, scratching with her nails. “Faster, Levi.”
He gripped her thighs tighter and upped his pace, savagely ramming into her. His demon all but prowled within him, wanting its turn, but it made no move to take over. It instead egged him on just as she did.
“Play with your clit. Yeah, good fucking girl.” He watched her finger rub, press, and roll her clit; felt as her inner walls squeezed, spasmed, and clamped down on his cock. “You always make me come so hard. Do it for me now, baby.”
She whimpered, her pussy getting hotter and tighter. Then it happened. Her back snapped straight, her head fell back, and a scream tore out of her throat.
Groaning as her pussy clutched and rippled around his cock, he drilled into her harder, pounding and pounding and pounding. And then he was gone. He buried his face in her neck as he blew his load inside her, wishing it would stay there.
Levi closed his eyes, fighting for breath. He’d missed this as well; missed the peace that fell over him each time he had her. It wasn’t simply a chemical contentment. It was emotional, and it ran bone-deep.
His entity settled, pleased. Levi then realized why his demon hadn’t surfaced. It had wanted the moment to be about her and Levi; wanted them to reconnect; wanted them to feel that there was no going back.
She dropped her forehead to his shoulder. “Why do we do this to ourselves?”
He stroked her back and kissed her head. The answer was simple, really. “We don’t know how to stop.”
Sitting in Knox’s home office the next morning, Levi sighed. “It has to be either Sefton or Jasper.”
“They both have alibis,” said Knox, sinking back in the chair behind the U-shaped executive desk. “The same alibi, actually.”
“Lester?”
Knox nodded. “He claims the three of them watched a game together.”
“We’ve already agreed that he’d lie to protect them.”
“But we can’t prove that he did.”
Levi silently swore. He wanted to have good news to pass on to Piper. Something that would vanquish the fear in her eyes.
She’d allowed him to lie with her during the night as she slept. She’d still been off with the fairies when Knox telepathed him an hour ago. Levi hadn’t woken her. Instead, he’d left her a note to say he’d be back soon and to contact him if she needed anything.
“Are you sure it was wise to rule out Piper’s ex?”
“I don’t consider him a viable suspect, but I have people watching him.” So far, Kelvin had done nothing out of the ordinary. Also … “They confirmed that he was at a friend’s house during the time of the recent attack.”
“So there’s no need for us to question him.”
“No.” Sighing, Levi looked off to the side and stared, unseeing, at the three abstract art canvases of mechanical clockwork on the gray wall. “The fucker who’s after Piper isn’t going to be happy until she’s dead. And that can’t happen.”
“It won’t,” Knox vowed. “Keep doing what you’ve already been doing—make it difficult for anyone to reach her. That’s our best chance of ensuring he makes a mistake.”
Hearing a child’s squeal of delight come from somewhere in the mansion, Levi asked, “How’s Asher?”
“His usual self,” Knox replied. “He was unsettled yesterday, but he bounced back fairly fast. Don’t forget he’s been through his own share of scary situations.”
“Plus, there’s plenty of imp in him, even if he’s not one.” Very little bothered them for long.
Knox gave him an unimpressed look. “Yes. That.” He tilted his head, studying Levi closely. “You seem different today. Less tense. Yet more troubled.”
Exhaling heavily, Levi rubbed at his face. “I screwed up. With Piper, I mean.”
“By starting to sleep with her, or by stopping?”
“The latter. I can’t let her go, Knox.” And it was about fucking time Levi acknowledged it. “But I don’t know how to keep her.”
Knox met his gaze steadily. “You were never going to let her go. You simply hadn’t made your peace with it until now.”
Yeah, that about summed the situation up. What bothered Levi was that … “I make a shit partner. I hold back. Stay detached. Don’t look to build anything with anyone. Throw all of myself into my work and nothing into my … hell, I don’t think you could even call them relationships. They were barely even flings.”
“You’ve been a shit partner to others. But I don’t believe you’re incapable of being a good one. You just have to want to be. You never really did in the past.”
“I should have. I was selfish.”
“Yes. And no.” Knox stood. “You put your work life first in the past, yes. But you didn’t feel compelled not to, because you didn’t connect with those women you bedded. You’ve always struggled to form attachments.”
Levi felt his brow crease. “That’s more my demon.”
“No, you’re just as bad for that.” Knox skirted the desk. “Harper made me read a lot of parenting books with her. She was worried that, given she has a poor relationship with her mother, she would struggle to bond with her own child. It’s important for children to experience loving bonds of some sort when very young—particularly a parent–child bond. Important for not only their brain development but also their emotional development.
“You didn’t have a bond with your mother. You lost her. Going by all you learned after leaving Ramsbrook, you also had no bond with your aunt.” Knox leaned back against the desk. “Ever heard of reactive attachment disorder?”
“No.”
“I remember reading about children who, due to their parents not meeting their needs for one reason or another, developed reactive attachment disorder. The symptoms made me think of how you were as a child—withdrawn, defiant, distrustful, easily angered, avoided touch, showed no fear of strangers, sought no affection from anyone. You’d never had a real sense of family—”
“I formed my own at Ramsbrook.”
“You collected us. Me. Keenan. Tanner. Larkin. You didn’t initially connect with us on any level. It took time for you to do that. But, Levi, you already have a bond with Piper. And I don’t simply mean the psi-mate link. You formed a connection with her while getting to know her and building the foundations for an anchor relationship. In other words, you got past what, for you, is the hard part. Now you just need to keep her.”
The man made it sound so simple, but … “I don’t know if I’ll manage it in the long run.”
“Why? You didn’t sabotage the familial bonds you’ve formed with me and the other sentinels.”
“But none of you are negatively affected by how much or how long I work,” Levi pointed out.
“True. However, you’re only as busy as you are because you choose to be. I’m not saying you escape into work. Nor am I saying you’re a workaholic. You’re a doer. A man who likes to fill up his time doing productive things. You’ve become so used to it that you haven’t realized how much you’ve needlessly taken on. And until now, you’ve never had a reason to be bothered by it, so you’ve never thought much on it or done anything about it. There are many people you could delegate to, Levi. Many responsibilities you don’t need to personally take on. Shed some of them.”
“What, like no longer be your bodyguard?”
“Both Tanner and Keenan are bodyguards as well as sentinels. Tanner watches over Harper. Keenan guards Asher. They still make time for their mates. Granted, they’re not as busy escorting their charges around as you are escorting me. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have a meaningful relationship with someone. Especially if said someone understands and respects your commitment to your positions. From what Larkin told me, Piper certainly does.” Knox twisted his mouth. “How would your demon feel about keeping her?”
Levi puffed out a breath. “It branded her. Twice. With the death ballad.”
His lips twitching, the Prime lifted his brows. “I see. Well, that says everything.”
“I don’t know if it’ll be easy to convince her to take a chance on me.”
“I suppose you’ll soon find out.”
