I’ve always had a fondness for Piper. Maybe it’s her creativity or the way she takes life by the reins and enjoys it. But I never in a million years would have thought we’d be scent-matched if I could ever scent her.
But I did. And we are.
It doesn’t take long for the hotel to deliver a tray of bottled water, electrolyte packets, and a doctor-on-call. Raelynn all but drags Piper off the ottoman to the velvet couch and hovers over the white-coated stranger while Piper gets poked, prodded, and asked a series of questions.
“Any nausea?” the doctor asks.
“No,” Piper says, “just existential dread.”
Raelynn’s mouth thins out. I try to hide a smile.
“Any history of fainting?”
She grins. “No. And even if I did, I wouldn’t say.”
The doctor looks momentarily unmoored. Piper has that effect on people.
I take up position by the main door to stay out of the doctor’s way. It’s not him, per se, but something about tonight’s air feels charged. Prince Kellen and his bodyguard are all matches, weall belong as one. But they’re strangers, and I don’t let strangers near Piper Sumner.
Piper’s undiluted scent isn’t helping in the slightest. It settles into my head and threatens to scrape my self-control raw.
Raelynn is the first to notice the tension. She throws a look my way that’s somewhere between irritation and suspicion. “Nolan, you can go down the hall. I’ll call if we need you.”
“No,” I answer before thinking. It comes out sharper than I intend. “I’ll stay. The threat hasn’t been neutralized yet.” That last part is bullshit, but Raelynn’s only got so much emotional bandwidth. It’s easier to argue security than biology.
She scowls at me, but gives up. She’s obviously had a long night.
After the doctor clears Piper but recommends “rest, fluids, and absolutely no strenuous activity,” (to which Piper snorts, “Define strenuous, because I have, like, three interviews tomorrow”), Raelynn vanishes to her own adjoining suite, probably to pace and make angry damage control calls.
This finally leaves me and Piper alone, with a dense silence I’m not sure how to bridge.
She doesn’t say anything at first, just shifts her feet onto the couch and pulls her knees to her chest. A lock of her pink hair falls over her shoulder as she stares at me from over her knees.
“I can’t tell if you’re pissed at me,” Piper finally says, “or at the world in general.”
“Why not both?” I try for light, but it comes out closer to gravel. I’m not much for comedy or sarcasm.
She grins. “Classic Nolan answer.”
I’m whatever she needs me to be. That was the contract. Protect her at all costs. Get her from Point A to Point B safely. Nothing more, nothing less.
Until tonight. A scent-match throws all of that into chaos.
Or does it? I already vowed to protect her with my life when I signed that contract. A scent-match just emphasizes the point.
No one will ever hurt my omega.
I pace the suite’s perimeter and re-check the window locks even though I know damn well they’re secure. I’m trying to ignore her scent, but it’s impossible. Every inch I move in the room, it’s there—cherries and vanilla, sticky-sweet. Like she’s designed to taunt me.
Finally, when there is nothing left to check and the silence carries on too long, I decide to face the biggest issue head-on. I pivot to face her. “What’s your plan if this gets out? You’ve been keeping your designation a secret for as long as I’ve known you.”
Piper sighs and looks toward the line of reinforced windows giving us an incredible view of the city beyond. “It’s not going to get out. It hasn’t before, and people will just think I… I don’t know. Drank too much or something.”
“Enough to stagger into the prince?” I try to keep emotion out of it but even I can hear hardness of my tone.My omega.
Piper winces. “I did kind of fall into him, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
