Reaper (Dark in You 8)

Olive’s eyes lit up. “You’re babbling. Interesting. Ooh, I feel some intriguing news coming on.”

Piper took a swig of her grapefruit juice and then set the glass back on the table. “Okay, so, you remember Levi Cutler, right? The sentinel who Celeste loosely and briefly dated years ago?”

“The one you not so secretly wanted to ride like Seabiscuit?”

“Well … yeah.”

“Of course. That hottie is not a man who will be easily forgotten by any woman. What about him?” Olive suddenly perked up. “Wait, you screwed him?”

“No, nothing like that.” Unfortunately. “It’s, well, it turns out that he’s my anchor.”

Olive’s brows shot up. “Whoa, you serious?”

“Ultra-serious.”

“Well ain’t that a kick in the boob. Have you two formed the bond yet?”

Piper shook her head. Now that the shock-induced panic had faded from her system and she’d had time to properly consider everything—including all that Levi had said during his impromptu visit last night—she was no longer in the ‘it can never happen’ zone. Mostly because he’d pointed something out that made her mentally come at the situation from a different angle.

“At first, I didn’t intend to at all. But then Levi said something, and he’s right.”

“What’d he say?”

“That I often give Celeste’s feelings way too much consideration when I make decisions. I didn’t realize before now how much I do it. And I don’t like that I didn’t realize it.” Piper had always considered herself a self-aware person. She’d evidently been wrong.

“No one pays much attention to things that they do reflexively. Your mom and Joe got you into the habit of tiptoeing around Celeste like that when you were five. It became the norm for you. Which is messed up. I doubt she gives a single fuck what you feel about anything. She doesn’t concern herself with what goes on in your life. She will if you claim Levi as your anchor, though. I take it you haven’t told her he’s your psi-mate.”

“Not yet.” Piper rubbed her thigh. “I’m not looking forward to that conversation.” It wouldn’t go well, and drama really wasn’t her thing.

“She’ll expect you to give him up,” said Olive, conjuring a nailfile out of thin air. “You know that, right?”

“Yup.”

“And will you do it?”

“Only if I feel that it’s the right decision for me.” The way Piper saw it, if there was anything that she had a right to stand up and fight to keep regardless of Celeste’s feelings, it was her anchor. “If I thought there was a chance he might get cozy with Celeste again, I definitely wouldn’t have any interest in forming the bond.”

Olive nodded. “You don’t need another person in your life who’s going to expect you to always be mindful of her thoughts, opinions, and reactions.”

“Exactly.”

Olive peeked up from the nail she was filing. “Plus, seeing them together would have made the whole thing harder due to how possessive of him you’ll no doubt be feeling—it comes with the anchor package, sad to say. Added to that, if all went tits up between them, you’d be the one caught in the middle. You don’t need that.”

“No, I don’t. But he swore he was done with her and that there’d be no reconciliation.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Yes.” Piper had heard the ring of truth in his voice. “She wanted him to give up his positions within the lair so she’d have more of his time and attention. He’ll never do that, so there’s nowhere for them to go, relationship-wise. Plus, going by the things Levi said to me, it wasn’t more than a casual fling. Either she exaggerated things to others or she ignored his intention to keep things simple because it suited her. Whatever the case, I don’t foresee them starting things up again.”

“Then why are you hesitating to accept him as your anchor? If it’s because you want to jump his bones, don’t let that be a factor. Hormones calm down, and attractions flame out eventually. Your little thing for him will wear off in time.”

Piper was counting on it. “This isn’t about that. I’m hesitating because I don’t want to rush into things. I want to get to know him a little first.” More, Piper wanted to feel she could trust him before fully bringing him into her world. After all, he’d expect to be at the damn center of it.

“That’s reasonable. I asked the same of Daniel. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed.”

“Levi wasn’t pleased either, but he lied that he’d be good with it. And he agreed to give me some time and space.”

Olive snorted and blew on her nails.

“What?”

“Tell me, do you really think an alpha male demon being ridden hard by anchor-level possessiveness would stay away from his newly discovered psi-mate for any real length of time?”

Piper considered that for a moment and sighed. “I suppose not.”