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.