Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Her inner demon smiled, satisfied. It had been sure that he’d return soon. It was pleased that he hadn’t allowed Piper to keep him at bay. Pleased that he wanted the anchor bond enough to insist on having her time and attention.

Watching as Levi slid out of his vehicle, Piper felt a frown pull at her brow. The reaper seemed to have a default serious expression. Not quite a glare, but certainly not a welcoming look. Right now, his face was utterly blank in a way that made her scalp prickle.

He was also holding a pizza box.

Stalking up her path, he pinned Kelvin with a vacant stare. Her ex didn’t move other than to swallow hard.

Levi settled his gaze on her, dismissing the other male the way he would a gnat. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was clearly something very wrong, she might have pointed out that he was supposed to be giving her time or space and then turned the reaper away. Might have. Probably not.

She wondered if his blank look had something to do with Diem’s death. News spread fast around their lair, so Piper had heard about the murder, though she didn’t know any specific details. If Levi had been the reaper to examine the scene, it would explain his mood. Either way, as Knox’s sentinel, he no doubt played some part in investigating the crime, so he’d probably had a super shit day.

Her heart squeezed. Yeah, she wouldn’t be turning him away.

“So you’ve come bearing gifts,” she said, eyeing the very large pizza box. “Or one, anyway.”

He climbed onto her front step and ate up her personal space, making her pulse jump. And now her hormones were doing the conga, and her stomach began doing forward flips like it was aiming for an Olympic medal.

“Figured we could eat while we talked,” he said.

Translation: They weren’t done discussing the anchor matter.

“Are there anchovies on the pizza?” she asked.

“No.”

“Then you may enter.”

Humor flickered in his eyes. “Appreciated.”

She stepped back, opening the door wider, and he shouldered past her … casually walking into her home like he did it every day.

Kelvin blinked at her. “So you and he …?”

“No, we’re not dating,” said Piper. “Now I really have to go.”

“Fine.” Kelvin rolled his shoulders. “Call me when you’re ready to come back to work.” He appeared to truly think she would, despite all she’d said.

Before Piper had the chance to correct his assumption, he turned and headed for his vehicle. Inwardly sighing, she closed the door. Hearing noises coming from the kitchen, she padded into the room, drawing in the smells of melted cheese, hot peppers, and pepperoni. Her stomach rumbled. Her fussy appetite had no issue with pizza, apparently.

Stood at the island, Levi looked up from where he was opening the square box. “I thought you quit your job.”

So he’d been eavesdropping. “I did. Kelvin’s not taking my resignation seriously.”

“He will once you’re working at Urban Ink. Have you called Harper yet?”

Piper snorted. “Like you don’t already know the answer to that.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “She may have called to ask me some nosy-ass questions, and she may have also mentioned that she arranged for you to have an official interview tomorrow.”

“Drink?” Piper offered as she grabbed herself a bottle of water.

He perched his epic ass on a stool. “Water is fine.”

She set both bottles on the island, nabbed a slice of pizza, and then settled on the seat opposite him. Had she ever envisioned a scenario in which she’d be sharing a pizza with Levi Cutler in her kitchen? Nope. Not ever.

Deciding not to pry about whatever was bugging him until after they’d eaten, she instead asked, “Is Harper pissed on your behalf that I didn’t jump at forming the bond?” It would be better for Piper to know that before the interview.

His brow furrowed. “No. She wasn’t surprised, and she understands. She’s also confident you’ll come round.” He bit into his pizza. “After all, she knows from personal experience how hard it is to fight the pull of a psi-mate bond.”

It really was a pull. Piper felt it even now. It had been a background ‘pulse’ in her head all day. But now that he was here, the pull was stronger. Gah. “This isn’t you giving me time and space.”

“I gave you some.” He removed the cap from his water bottle. “Did you really think I’d stay away? That I’d be good with setting aside every right I have to you?” He gave a slow shake of his head. “I can agree to wait a little before we form the bond, but I won’t keep my distance. I won’t act like you’re anything other than my anchor.”

“You know, I’m surprised by how much you want this.”

“Why?”

She took a bite out of her pizza. “You’ve always seemed so self-sufficient to me. Like you don’t need anything or anyone.”

“You’re not ‘anyone.’ You’re my psi-mate. Maybe that doesn’t mean much to you, but it does to me.”

She gave him a look of disgust. “Quit with the emotional blackmail, that won’t work on me.”

His mouth curved. “It was worth a shot.”

God, he was going to be a handful. If she accepted the bond. Which she would eventually. It would be dumb to kid herself about that.

Between bites of pizza, they discussed mundane, everyday topics. Once the box was finally empty, she closed it and pushed it aside before asking, “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

He sighed. “It was a shitty day. You heard about Diem, I’m sure.”

“I did. Should I take it that you examined the scene?”

He nodded, his eyes wary.

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to try pumping you for details that I’m not privy to. I was just, you know, showing concern.”

“See, you’re good at this anchor stuff already.”

Set on avoiding that subject for now, she tilted her head. “I have a question, but I won’t be offended if you don’t want to answer.”

“Hit me with it.”

“Is it true that you were gifted with the death touch?” The ability was exclusive to reapers but could only be used once in their entire lives.

He drummed his fingers on the island. “Yes. And if your next question is have I ever used the ability, the answer is no.”

In his position, she wouldn’t use it either. Not that being able to take a life with a mere touch wouldn’t be seriously helpful in a dangerous situation. There was a massive cost, though—somewhere in the world, an innocent would die. Said innocent could be a stranger, a friend, a relative, anyone. They could be young, old, or even an unborn child. The death touch did not discriminate.

“I could never envision a situation in which I ever would use the ability,” said Levi. “But now that I have you in my life, well, I’m not so sure anymore.”

She tensed. “I wouldn’t want you to use it in my defense. You’d never forgive yourself for condemning an innocent to death.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. To hesitate to use the ability in an emergency would be to trade another person’s life for yours. That’s not something I’d do. I would never feel guilty for doing whatever it took to keep you alive. If that makes me selfish, it makes me selfish. I don’t much care. I figure if there’s anything I have the right to be selfish about, it’s my anchor.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re just going to keep spinning the conversation back to the matter of us being anchors, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “That elephant’s not exactly gonna leave the room, is it?” He lifted his bottle and took a long swig.

Her lower stomach clenched when he swiped his tongue over his wet lips. Ugh, did she really have to be so attracted to him? Wasn’t the situation complicated enough? She thought so.

Piper would have felt a little better about it if she’d thought the attraction was mutual.

“She’s not my type.”

Piper almost flinched at the memory. Which was stupid. It wasn’t like she’d been in love with him back then, or that she’d thought she had a chance with him anyway. And yet, the offhand, dismissive way he’d spoken those words—as if Piper didn’t even register on his radar—had seriously stung.

She wasn’t going to hold it against him, though. It wasn’t like she could blame him for her not being his type—that was out of his control. And she wouldn’t expect someone to be attracted to her just because she was drawn to them. That would be plain narcissistic, and there were bigger things in the world to concern herself with.

Like how her mother and stepfather might not take the identity of her anchor well, for instance.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his gaze steady on hers.

“I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About how my family will react to us being anchors.”

“If you want them to hear it from you, it would be best for you to tell them soon. People are going to see me coming and going from here. It’ll get back to your family. They might not conclude that we’re anchors, they might instead assume we’re … involved. You’d then have to explain the situation, and they’d be disappointed that you weren’t upfront about this. You might as well get it over and done with.”

“It’s easy for you to say that. You won’t have to deal with the aftermath.”

Surprised she’d say that, Levi leaned forward and rested his forearms on the island, liking how her pupils dilated. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. For one thing, I’ll always be here for you when you need someone. For another, I have every intention of being present when you tell your family.”

Her brows drew together. “You want to be there?”

“Of course.”

“It could get ugly. Like really ugly. Why put yourself through it?”

Levi’s chest squeezed. He didn’t like that Piper expected so little from people, from him. “I get that you’re not used to having someone at your back, but that changed for you the moment I realized you’re my anchor. No matter who or what shit you’re dealing with in the future, you won’t be dealing with it alone. I’ll be in front of you, next to you, behind you—whatever you need. And I will always be on your side. I will always back you in whatever you want or need to do.” That got to her, he sensed. That touched her where it counted.

She swallowed, eyeing him closely. “And you’re truly okay with us taking the time to get to know each other before we form the bond?”

“I’m not thrilled about it, and I can’t promise I won’t pester you to give in—that would be a vow I’d break for sure. But if it’s important to you to wait, I’ll deal.” For now. “It’s not as if my claim to you doesn’t count as things stand. You and I are tied by fate with or without the bond. Demons come in pairs. You know, part of me feels sorry for you.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to drive you nuts. I will want your trust. I will want you to turn to me. I will want you to rely on me. But you already know that, don’t you? It makes you uncomfortable, because you’re not used to depending on people.”

“Well give the reaper a cookie.”

His mouth twitched. Being around her … he liked it. Liked just looking at her. Liked knowing that this woman belonged to him. It satisfied him on a visceral level. Even steadied him.

Mentally, he’d been in a bad place all day. Examining Diem’s death scene, feeling what she felt, experiencing what her killer felt, having to accept that the killer could well be the same person who murdered his aunt … All in all, it had been a mind fuck.

Not wanting to come to Piper in a black mood, he’d tried shoving it all aside, but it had repeatedly crept into his thoughts. As he now sat opposite his anchor, though, the shit fest had no hold on him. Her hold was simply that much stronger.

Recalling Larkin encouraging him to be open with Piper, he thought about raising the subject of his aunt; thought about running some theories by her. But that would be lumbering a lot of heavy shit on her, and they didn’t know each other well enough for her to feel comfortable with that.

Plus, the last thing he wanted was to taint the evening. He wanted her to be relaxed and at ease in his company—something she currently seemed to be, which pleased both him and his demon.

“Being mine won’t be so terrible, you know,” he told her. “You’ll see that soon. But only if you don’t hold me at arm’s length. We can’t truly otherwise get to know each other. So, can you agree not to insist on my giving you space the same way I’m agreeing not to insist that I don’t have to give you time?”

She licked her lips, and fuck if his gut didn’t clench. An image of that tongue licking its way up his cock flashed in his mind’s eye. He inwardly cursed.

He really shouldn’t be letting his thoughts turn X-rated around her. But, honestly, he didn’t see that stopping anytime soon. Discovering Piper was his anchor, that he had such singular rights to her, had only intensified his need for her.

Would he be able to keep his hands off her? In the short-term, maybe. But in the long run? Probably not.

He definitely couldn’t afford to act on what he wanted now. She was skittish enough as it was. She needed time to adjust to him being her anchor before she could even think of letting him touch her that way.

The problem was … Levi wasn’t confident that his demon would care to bear that in mind. It was too focused on her. Too determined to find out how her mouth tasted. Too intent on knowing just exactly how hot and tight she’d feel around—

Fuck, now his cock was twitching to life. Levi subtly drew in a steadying breath through his nose, willing his body to calm the hell down. His demon chuckled, the bastard.

“Yeah, I can do that,” she finally said, snapping Levi out of his private struggle.

At her agreement, something in him settled, making a knot in his gut unravel. “Good. Now tell me … just how much of a problem is Kelvin making of himself?”

She flicked up a brow. “Is this how things are going to be? You’ll see I might have some issue, and you’ll want to take care of it yourself?”

“Yes. You can handle your own problems, I know. I simply don’t intend for you to have to. And you won’t make that difficult for me, will you?” It was a firm suggestion.

She didn’t bristle as he’d expected. She instead said, “Of course I won’t.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I want your word that you won’t be stubborn and surly when I step in to fix your problems for you.”

She held up a hand. “I swear it on my dead canary’s ashes.”

He blinked. “You had a canary?”

“Yeah. Paulie. He died of scabies. Very sad.”

Both he and his demon frowned, not entirely sure they believed her. Deciding to let it go for now, Levi prompted, “So, Kelvin?”

“He’s not an ‘issue,’ just a minor annoyance. But if that changes, I’ll let you know.”

“Does he want you back?” Levi asked, managing to keep his voice casual. “I know you two dated for a short while.” His demon tensed as it awaited her answer.

“He’s not interested in anything other than keeping me as an employee.”

“You sound very sure of that.”

“I am.”

Levi wasn’t. There’d been something in the other male’s eyes earlier. Something dark and resentful. As if seeing another man near her had made Kelvin feel threatened on some level. “Who dumped who?”

“It was a mutual agreement to part ways.”

“That doesn’t mean he was happy about it.”

“No, he was fine with it. Seriously. He moved on very fast. Like uber fast.”

“He might have been hoping to make you jealous. Or he could have been trying to prove to himself that he was okay with the separation by fucking other women.”

Piper shook her head. “Kelvin doesn’t want us to get back together.”

Levi felt his insides seize as he asked, “And if he did?”

“He’d be awfully disappointed. I’m not interested in giving things another shot.”

Like that, Levi’s system relaxed. He might not be planning to put any moves on her anytime soon, but he wouldn’t be able to stand back while Kelvin or other males made a play. Levi’s demon would warn them off if he didn’t do it himself. “On another note, what time is your job interview tomorrow?”

“Ten thirty a.m.,” she replied, her shoulders stiffening slightly with what appeared to be nerves.

“I’ll pick you up and take you.” He raised his hand before she could object. “You have your own car, I know. I’ll leave my car here and ride shotgun if you’re intent on driving yourself there. Either way, I’m going with you.”

Her eyes flashed. “Are you now?”

“As I’ve already pointed out, we can’t get to know each other if we don’t spend time together. Besides, I don’t want you going alone. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking, and being under the same roof as Khloë Wallis for any length of time can give anyone a case of anxiety.”

Piper snickered. “I like Khloë. I mean, I don’t know her well, but I’ve spoken with her a few times. I got the impression she’s a riot.”

“Yeah, ‘riot’ works.” He slanted his head. “When do you want to speak to your family about us?”

She pulled a face. “I’d rather tell them all at once. My mom called an hour ago and invited me to her house tomorrow to have dinner with her, Joe, and Celeste. I could maybe tell them then, but Celeste’s reaction will spoil the evening. It doesn’t seem fair to do that to my mom and Joe.”

“Could you eat a meal with them guilt-free knowing you were holding back news that they’d want to know?”

She grimaced. “No.”

“Then it would be best to tell them when you first arrive. When we first arrive. Don’t feel bad that it might taint their evening, because the fact is that it shouldn’t. This is good news for you. They should see it that way. If they don’t, that won’t be on you.”

“I know. My mom and Joe will be pleased that I’ve found my psi-mate.”

“They’ll just wish it wasn’t me.”

“I suspect it will be more that they’ll wish you hadn’t once been involved with Celeste.”

Well, he harbored that same wish, so he wouldn’t blame them for that. “And what about you? Do you regret that I’m your anchor?” He hadn’t meant to ask that, but there was no taking the words back.

“No.”

“Just no?”

“Just no.”

Oddly enough, the simple answer appeased him and his demon more than a paragraph of placatory words would have done. “Before you ask, no, I don’t regret that you’re mine.”

“I wasn’t going to ask that.”

“You weren’t?”

“No. You’d have no reason to regret it. As anchors go, I’m a winner.”

He chuckled. “And so humble.”

The conversation turned lighter after that. Spending time with her was … easy. That was Piper, though. She might not be bubbly or cheery, but she was an easy person to be around.

Part of it was that there was a calmness to her—possibly something that came from the quiet strength she emanated. The other part of it was that she didn’t simply listen to what you said, she paid attention with her entire being. Her eyes never wandered, her focus never shifted, her body language remained open.

She left a person feeling well-rested. As if they’d woken from a long, deep, dreamless sleep. Which was ironic, really, considering she was a nightmare.

By the time Levi rose from the stool to leave her house, there was a peaceful stillness inside him. A steady calm. That lasted right up until he walked outside and saw that someone had slashed her tires.

A growl built in his chest. “What the fuck?”

“Little bastards,” she muttered, her face tight.

“You know who did this?”

“Apparently there’s a group of human kids going around pulling all kinds of crap. They left a bag of dogshit on my doorstep last night.”

“Dogshit?”

She shrugged. “At least it was in a bag.”

Levi didn’t care if it was in a fucking decontamination device, it shouldn’t have been on her goddamn doorstep. Also … “You should have told me.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“It’s not like they placed a bomb on the step. And they’re only kids. Now if they’d thrown clumps of shit at my front door or something, yeah, you’d have received a call. What good is an anchor to a girl if they won’t come wash canine waste off her house? Or get rid of wasps?”

Shaking his head, Levi looked at her wheels once more. “I’ll have someone come and replace your tires.”

“That’s okay, I can—”

“I’ll have someone come and replace your tires,” he repeated. “I told you, there’ll be no more of you dealing with things alone. Never again, Piper. Let me fix this for you.” Trust me to be someone who won’t let you down.

She sighed and then gave him a ‘have at it’ shrug. “All right.”

His insides relaxing, Levi nodded. He felt bad for her. Really. Because he’d be highly overprotective where she was concerned, and he had the distinct feeling she’d feel smothered in no time at all. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at ten. Be ready.”