Reaper (Dark in You 8)

It was irrational of Piper, yes. She and Levi had spoken on several occasions before that day, but they were never anything close to friends. He didn’t know her. Plus, Celeste was his girlfriend. So there had been no reason for him to speak up in Piper’s defense. Yet, his failure to do so had nonetheless stabbed her in the gut.

Likewise, it had burned that he’d no doubt been as amused by the crush as Celeste. His ‘She’s not my type’ comment had rankled too, though it had come as absolutely no surprise to Piper.

All in all, it hadn’t been a pleasant moment. But it hadn’t ranked as highly on the unpleasant scale as when he didn’t even acknowledge her as his anchor earlier.

Crossing to her house with her bags in hand, Piper reached back to rub at her nape. Her demon believed he’d come to them at some point—it kept sending her mental pictures of the proprietary look he’d worn when their psyches tried fusing together.

The entity had seemingly decided to ignore that there’d been no other emotion on his face. There’d been no apparent pleasure at finding his psi-mate, no resolve to form the bond, no interest in even talking to her.

As such, Piper felt she could safely conclude that he wouldn’t be coming after her. His rejection of the bond was a good thing. Really. Seriously. Truly. Because forming an irrevocable psychic bond with a man she was not only begrudgingly attracted to but who was her stepsister’s ex-boyfriend? That was just asking for trouble.

Looking down at her doorstep, Piper double-blinked, her nose twitching. Was that … was that a bag of dogshit? Ah, hell, it was.

She swore beneath her breath.

Man, this was so not her day.

Levi Cutler watched as Piper made a mad yet graceful dash for the escalator. If it wasn’t for the glint of panic in her eyes, he’d have followed. Chasing down a predator who felt mentally cornered would never end well. He could give her a little time alone to get past her shock and to process their discovery. A discovery he had not at all seen coming.

One minute, he’d been staring at her, wondering if she had any clue of the many filthy things he wanted to do to her. The next moment, he’d psychically touched her without thought … and his world had upended. All of a sudden, she was right there at the center of it. His priorities had shifted in an instant. Nothing had changed, and yet everything felt different.

His demon had all but lunged for her, determined to claim what belonged to it. But Levi had been too taken off-guard to do anything other than stand there, at a complete loss for words.

The entity wasn’t unhappy that she’d fled. On the contrary, it was amused that she thought there was anywhere she could run to escape it. The demon liked a good chase, and what better prize to receive at the end of a hunt than an anchor bond?

And there would be a bond.

Neither Levi nor his inner entity would settle for anything else.

Tanner looked at him, his brow wrinkled. “Is she your—”

“Don’t.” Levi wasn’t going to have this conversation in public.

“Okay.” Tanner pointed at the escalator. “But don’t you think you should—”

“Don’t.”

The hellhound raised his hands in surrender.

Knox went to speak but then instead pursed his lips.

“Where to next?” Levi asked Harper, who studied him for a long moment but then rolled with it and mentioned a clothing store.

Over the next hour, Levi kept his senses on high alert as they wandered around the mall. He usually found no issue with keeping his mind focused on his job. But right then, it wasn’t working so well. All he wanted was to be with Piper.

He couldn’t stop obsessing over if she was all right, what she was doing, where her head was at. Like she’d taken over some corner of his mind. He suspected she’d permanently reside there from here on out. And he found himself okay with it, even if it was such an odd sensation.

He was more than relieved when Harper finally declared she was ready to leave. Later, as Levi parked the Primes’ Bentley outside the entrance of their grand home, Harper and Tanner slid out of the vehicle.

Knox lingered. “I’m guessing you’re not coming with us to Raini and Maddox’s party tonight,” he said, referring to an anchored pair who had also taken each other as mates.

“I have to see Piper,” said Levi. They had much to talk about, not to mention an anchor bond to form.

“I thought as much. This situation may not be easy for you to navigate, what with her being the sister of an ex-bed buddy.”

“Stepsister,” Levi automatically corrected.

Knox inclined his head. “Whitney and Joe only ever refer to them as sisters, so I’m accustomed to doing the same.”