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“Yes, it very much is.”
Piper heaved a sigh. “All right, I’ll tell you. But you won’t like it.”
“I’ve already concluded that.” He backed up to the sofa, pulling her with him, and then sat. He patted his thighs and hummed in approval when she straddled him. “Go on.”
Piper fiddled with the collar of his tee. “I’ll admit, a lot of what she said to me rang true. For, like, half an hour. I dismissed most of what she said after I gave it real thought. But a few things stuck with me. Or I wanted them to be true because I needed some help keeping you at an emotional distance. I told myself that she might have meant to cause trouble but that that didn’t mean she was wrong about everything.”
Fighting a smile at her babbling, Levi gave her hip a gentle, encouraging squeeze. “What did she say? Tell me.”
He forced himself to remain silent as Piper relayed the conversation, feeling his anger build with each word she spoke. By the time she was done, he was honestly surprised his blood pressure wasn’t soaring through the roof. “That bitch. I would never have used sex to make you form the anchor bond. You know that, don’t you?”
“I do. I was miserable enough to give the idea some consideration, but only for a few minutes.”
He rubbed her thighs, despising that she’d been so down—especially when it meant she’d also been so vulnerable that she’d been easy prey for someone like Celeste. “What parts did you let yourself believe for longer than a few minutes?”
“That it’s your anchor you see when you look at me, not me as a person. I guess I did feel like a possession to you at times.”
“Baby.” He drew her closer and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. In the beginning, I suppose I did add you to my collection of people. But not coldly. Bonding with others isn’t my specialty. I’m like my demon in that respect. But I formed one with you as time went on, and it’s not fucking going anywhere.”
“Like I’d let it.”
He felt his mouth hitch up. “What other bits of crap did you entertain as possible truths?” he asked without judgment. He wasn’t upset with her for buying any of it. She’d been hurting, and Celeste knew how to play people.
“That you’d try to control my life as far as possible.”
“Ah, that’s why you thought I was taking over when I suggested you move to this building.” He combed his fingers through her hair. “Would I like to take over your life and make certain your every need is answered? Sure. Would I do that to you? No. Not unless you were down with that. Which I know you never would be.” His demon found it a shame, really. “I might push sometimes, but I figure you can keep me in line.”
“And I figure you’ll make an effort to not push, although I’m sure that’s wishful thinking on my part. You’ll be unreasonable on the off-chance that you can get away with it.”
His chuckle was wolfish even to his own ears. “Probably.” He swept his hand up her back, loving that he was free to touch her as much as he liked whenever he liked. “Anything else ‘ring true’ for you back then?”
“That you’d gotten beneath my skin and made me feel owned on purpose so I wouldn’t be free of you.”
“There’s probably some truth in that, actually. I didn’t consciously aim to do it but, yeah, I did want to leave some mark on you that went beyond us being anchors.”
She slanted her head. “What about your demon?” she asked a little shyly. “I mean, will it be good with us being in a relationship?”
The entity snorted at what it perceived to be a preposterous question. “If it could, my demon would stamp itself on your very bones.” He nodded when she blinked in surprise. “It has never wanted to let you go. How does your entity feel about all this?”
“At the moment, it’s all ‘well it’s about time.’ It kind of finds us ridiculous for only getting to this point now.”
“My demon is of pretty much the same opinion.”
“I suppose it’s good that they’re on the same page.”
“Yeah.” He ghosted his fingertips over her lower lip. “And now that you and me are as well, it’s all fucking perfect.”
Levi took her mouth in a soft, slow, drugging kiss. He wasn’t sure what caused his control to snap, but he was soon eating at her mouth like he’d never get enough.
In a matter of minutes, he had her flat on her back on the sofa and was ragging off her jeans and panties. He impatiently unbuttoned his fly, settled between her thighs and—after a minimal amount of foreplay—he angled her hips just right. “My anchor. My mate. My everything.” He thrust deep inside her. Took her hard and fast, every drive of his cock blatantly possessive.
