“I formed my own at Ramsbrook.”
“You collected us. Me. Keenan. Tanner. Larkin. You didn’t initially connect with us on any level. It took time for you to do that. But, Levi, you already have a bond with Piper. And I don’t simply mean the psi-mate link. You formed a connection with her while getting to know her and building the foundations for an anchor relationship. In other words, you got past what, for you, is the hard part. Now you just need to keep her.”
The man made it sound so simple, but … “I don’t know if I’ll manage it in the long run.”
“Why? You didn’t sabotage the familial bonds you’ve formed with me and the other sentinels.”
“But none of you are negatively affected by how much or how long I work,” Levi pointed out.
“True. However, you’re only as busy as you are because you choose to be. I’m not saying you escape into work. Nor am I saying you’re a workaholic. You’re a doer. A man who likes to fill up his time doing productive things. You’ve become so used to it that you haven’t realized how much you’ve needlessly taken on. And until now, you’ve never had a reason to be bothered by it, so you’ve never thought much on it or done anything about it. There are many people you could delegate to, Levi. Many responsibilities you don’t need to personally take on. Shed some of them.”
“What, like no longer be your bodyguard?”
“Both Tanner and Keenan are bodyguards as well as sentinels. Tanner watches over Harper. Keenan guards Asher. They still make time for their mates. Granted, they’re not as busy escorting their charges around as you are escorting me. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have a meaningful relationship with someone. Especially if said someone understands and respects your commitment to your positions. From what Larkin told me, Piper certainly does.” Knox twisted his mouth. “How would your demon feel about keeping her?”
Levi puffed out a breath. “It branded her. Twice. With the death ballad.”
His lips twitching, the Prime lifted his brows. “I see. Well, that says everything.”
“I don’t know if it’ll be easy to convince her to take a chance on me.”
“I suppose you’ll soon find out.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
On the screen of Piper’s cell, Olive folded her arms and threw her a dirty look as she said, “I don’t see how we can come back from this.”
Sinking more fully into the sofa, Piper sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Her friend snorted. “No, you’re not.”
“Okay, fine, I don’t regret not telling you. But I am sorry that you’re upset by it.”
“Are you? Are you really?” Another snort.
“I didn’t want to worry you. Plus, you were on vacation; I didn’t want to spoil it. I chose to wait to tell you until you got back—I thought it would be over by now.”
Olive’s sour expression softened slightly. “I get it, but I would rather you’d told me.”
Piper lifted her shoulders. “There was nothing you could have done. You would only have gotten all stressed about it. Hell, you’re stressing right now.”
“My BFF—who has some serious making-up to do—is in danger. Of course I’m stressing.” Olive unfolded her arms. “I want to come see you.”
Piper shook her head. “No. Not until this is over. I don’t want any more people getting pulled into this. You’d say the same to me if it was the other way around.”
“Pfft. I’m not quite that selfless.”
Piper smiled. “Liar.”
“You’re the liar.”
“I didn’t tell tales, I simply didn’t—”
“Lying by omission counts. You didn’t even tell me that you and Levi formed the anchor bond or that—more interestingly—you did some rolling around in his bed.”
“You had to see why I wasn’t in a hurry to talk about the latter.”
Olive leaned forward, wagging her finger in an accusatory fashion. “You mean you knew I’d tell you that you were playing a dangerous game by sleeping with him, and you didn’t want to hear it.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I mean. Maybe the whole agreement thing was stupid, but I don’t think we would have left it at a one-night stand in any case. I don’t have that much self-control, and he never seemed all that interested in exercising any.”
“Hence what happened last night.” Olive poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue. “It’s a good sign that he asked to stay with you rather than heading off to his own bed.”
“I’m trying to not read anything into it. I mean, he might have wanted to stay with me, but he acted as if what happened in the bathroom … hadn’t. He didn’t speak of it.”
“Neither did you.”
Piper pulled a face. “I didn’t want to hear him say that it hadn’t changed anything.” Because she couldn’t help but hope that it had. There was no point pretending otherwise. She was tired of lying to herself. Tired of blocking out her wants and feelings. It hadn’t exactly gotten her anywhere good, had it?