Reaper (Dark in You 8)

Piper wished she could snort at that, but it made her think of his collection of unusual sculptures and paintings. Whenever she asked about their history, he could never remember. He would just shrug, indifferent. There was no appreciation in his eyes when he looked at them.

“Maybe something unique might be a little more valued,” began Celeste, “but it’ll simply be put on a shelf rather than in the toy box. The kid might look at and even touch the unique item on the shelf from time to time, but it’s still just a toy at the end of the day.

“In toy terms, you’re a limited edition, Piper. A collector’s item. One he’ll shelve, dust, keep clean, and never give away. But you’ll still only ever be one of his many possessions.”

Her arms still folded, Piper flexed her fingers. Her inner demon rolled its eyes, not particularly seeing the problem with being thought of as a possession. But then, it was just as bad for collecting people.

“God help you if you meet a man you want to date. Levi won’t make that easy for you. He won’t like others touching or taking his collector’s item from his shelf. Nu-uh. Like he said to me … he looks at you and sees his anchor. He doesn’t see Piper. No. He doesn’t see who you are but what you are.”

It took a lot for Piper not to wince, because that felt a little too close to the truth.

“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. Next he’ll buy you a car, because he’ll want you to drive something he bought you—essentially marking his territory. He’ll seek to have a firm hold over your world.”

No, he wouldn’t go that far. He’d always watch over Piper, but he wouldn’t try to take the reins. Even if only because he knew it wouldn’t work.

Celeste sniffed. “I could have warned you about all this earlier, but you wouldn’t have listened to me.” She slanted her head. “You’re telling yourself that I’ve got it all wrong; that Levi wouldn’t use sex as a tool.”

Actually, Piper wasn’t thinking that at all. She knew how ruthless he could be, especially when it came to going after what he wanted. He’d admitted it to her several times, completely unrepentant.

“I’m not claiming he’s a bad person, Piper. Just that he’s a collector. He likes for things to belong to him. But they don’t hold his interest for long. So many of the women in his past were hurt by his withdrawal, just as I’ll bet you’re hurting right now. The worst of it is … if he was to kiss you, you wouldn’t push him away. You’ll always be waiting for him to pick you back up off that shelf and play with you. Unless you face now what others have found so hard to confront—you’re not as important to him as you think you are. Oh, you’re important as his anchor. But if you weren’t his psi-mate, he’d have walked away by now … if he’d have even gotten involved with you in the first place.”

A hard knock came at the office door.

Celeste threw it a haughty look before settling her gaze back on Piper. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. You know, part of me pities you. Like I said, he still has some hold over me. But I can stay away from him. I don’t have him constantly in my orbit making demands of me. But you? You can’t say the same. You’ll never be able to say the same. He won’t ever let you go, Piper. He won’t ever loosen his grip on you. And anytime he feels you straining to get a little bit of distance from him, he’ll do what it takes to stop you—even if it means occasionally having sex with you to lead you to temporarily believe that you two could be more than just anchors. So good luck trying to live a life that isn’t dominated by Levi. You’re going to need all the luck you can get.”

Celeste spun on her heel and crossed to the door. Whipping it open, she paused at the sight of Devon and Khloë—both of whom were probably eavesdropping, going by the almighty scowls on their faces. Once Celeste skirted around them and left, the two females hurried into the office.

Piper blew out a breath. “You heard all that, huh?”

“We wanted to be sure she wasn’t yelling at or threatening you,” said Devon. “If Harper and Raini weren’t busy with clients, they’d have been lingering at the door too. And they’d be just as livid as I am right now. Just to give you a heads-up, Enzo said that Levi’s on his way here.”