Piper swallowed, her throat thickening. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d needed to hear those words until right then. Oh, she knew they loved her; knew they didn’t deliberately prioritize Celeste’s feelings. But Piper had needed them to verbally acknowledge the mistakes they’d made; needed to hear that things would be different from here on out.
She cleared her throat. “Okay.”
A short while later, Whitney and Joe left after once more thanking Levi for ‘taking care of their girl.’ He’d had to bite back the comment that she was his girl.
Piper folded her arms. “When are you going to question Jasper?”
“Once Harper, Raini, Devon, and Khloë get here,” replied Levi. “I think they might be bringing Asher.”
Her brow furrowed. “You asked them to come so I wouldn’t be alone?”
“No. They wanted to see and check on you. I decided to time it for when I’d be leaving so you’d have company while I was gone.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Let’s be real, you wanted to be spared a morning of girl talk. Am I wrong?”
“No. No, you’re not wrong.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Raini shoved Khloë’s feet off her lap with such force the imp almost slipped off the sofa they were sharing. “For the eighth and final time—”
“Ninth,” Harper chipped in.
“—I’m not massaging your feet.”
Khloë pouted. “You did it for Devon yesterday.”
“She’s pregnant,” said Raini. “When you’re knocked up, I’ll … well, I’ll light a candle for your poor unborn child.”
“I would make a wonderful mother,” declared Khloë.
Everyone simply stared at her.
The imp raised her shoulders. “What?”
Devon cleared her throat. “So, Piper, how does it feel to be anchored?” she asked, relaxing into the armchair that was a carbon copy of the one on which Piper herself sat.
Aside from the fact that being bonded to Levi this way had a sting in its tail … “I feel stronger. Steadier. And it’s a relief to know that although my demon can still reach for supremacy sometimes, it can never have full power over me.” Piper would always remain the dominant of the two. “I still can’t quite get used to how my mind reaches for Levi’s all the time, though.”
“It’ll become metaphorical white noise eventually,” said Harper, sitting on the rug near the toys her son had abandoned when he raced out of the room to go exploring the apartment with Keenan close behind him. “Have you told your family yet?”
“My mom and stepfather know,” said Piper. “They’re pleased for me. They’re actually planning to drop off some of my stuff so I can stay here until the danger passes. Which reminds me that I’ll have to pick a room to sleep in.”
Raini’s brow furrowed. “Pick a room?”
“Yeah.” Noticing the women exchange odd looks, Piper frowned. “What?”
Harper scratched her cheek. “I figured you’d be sharing Levi’s room, that’s all.”
Ah, so they were aware that he and Piper did the dirty. Bouncing her gaze from female to female, Piper said, “I didn’t think you knew.”
Khloë lifted one shoulder. “We kind of guessed.”
“You never mentioned it,” said Piper.
“We didn’t think there was any point,” Devon told her. “You and Levi were never couple-y, so it was clear that you were intent on keeping the fling on the down-low.”
Piper fiddled with her fingers. “It wasn’t a fling. We just had sex occasionally. We’re not anymore, though. We agreed beforehand that we’d stop when we bonded.”
“Ah.” Raini bit her lip. “I gotta admit, what with how intense he is around you, I wouldn’t have thought he’d be good with that. Are you?”
“It’s better this way.” Piper looked from Harper to Raini. “I know you two mated with your anchors, and I know it’s not really unusual. But it won’t work that way for me and Levi. You can’t begin a relationship with someone who isn’t open to having one. He’s not.”
Harper inclined her head. “He does tend to keep his relationships the epitome of casual.” She twisted her mouth. “I don’t think he’ll find it easy to stick to this agreement you two made. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It totally gives me tingles.”
“Attraction fades,” said Piper. “Haven’t we all been attracted to people who we later look at and feel absolutely nothing around?”
Harper nodded hard. “Oh, definitely.”
“I’m not saying it won’t take a little effort for me to view him through purely platonic lenses, but it will happen eventually.” Piper would make sure of it. “It’s hard right now because we take up so much of each other’s time and space. It won’t always be that way.”
“True.” Harper bit on the inside of her cheek. “How does your demon feel about all this?”
“It’s happy about the bond, but it’s not impressed that me and Levi are choosing to go back to the way things initially were.” It was pleased about his demon’s brands, but Piper saw no need to talk about those with anyone. “It’ll get used to it, though.”