Piper had to be dreaming. This was a horrible nightmare. She hadn’t woken up from her nap with Anson. Any second she was going to wake up and have pizza and beer with Anson on her unused patio.

Any second…

“You… you just won’t go!” Colleen screamed at her, tears pouring down her face, her mascara running in rivers over her cheeks.

“Colleen? What…”

“Shut up! You shut up! You think you’re so perfect. You think you’re so much smarter than me.” The gun in her hand was shaking, her finger resting on the trigger.

“Colleen, I don’t understand, but can you put the gun down?”

“Don’t tell me what to do! You’re not my boss! I should be your boss.”

“Okay, if you want that, we can make it happen. I was thinking of taking some time off, stepping back a bit.”

Colleen laughed a sick laugh that made Piper’s skin crawl. “You think you can do me a favor? Like I’m picking up scraps from you?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“He had one job, one stupid fucking job. He couldn’t even do that right. Now he’s in jail. He’s a wimp, he’ll talk and I’ll lose my job!”

Piper was trying to keep up. She knew that Anson was in the house. He had to know what was happening. She just needed to give him time. Keep Colleen talking.

“Do you mean Jerry? How did you know him?”

“Because you were so blind, you didn’t even notice him following you around. You ignored him because you thought you were better than him! You think you’re better than everyone. Jerry couldn’t see that. He thought you were perfect. That you would see him one day and fall in love.”

“I… I didn’t know that. I didn’t see him. I wish I had, it would have saved me years of pain.”

“Pain, you think that was pain? Oh, boo hoo, poor Piper has someone who is obsessed with her. Then you get him? A Kindred? You just fall into giant puddles of luck. Men willing to marry you, jobs, promotions, then you get married and mated? What about me? What do I end up with? I’ll tell you, Jerry is going to tell them I gave him that gun. I told him where you’ve been staying. He’s going to drag me into this.”

“I’m sorry about that, Colleen. I can’t say what Jerry is going to do. But, you wanted me dead? I mean, over a job?”

“I wanted you gone, moved on, gone to another planet! But you just wouldn’t go!”

“I did go, a lot. I moved and ran from him. I was tired of running.”

Colleen laughed viciously. “God, you’re such a sob story, I gave Jerry all the info about you that I had. He managed to scare off your fiancés, and you still didn’t run. You’re a masochist, that’s what you are. You like the pain.”

Piper shook her head. “I don’t like it. I want it to be over, Colleen. I need some peace in my life.”

“I’m going to give you peace, I’m going to make sure you don’t win.”

“What are you going to do? Shoot me? You think you’re going to get my job and my husband because I’m dead?”

“No… no, I won’t, but at least you won’t have it either.”

Piper could see the moment Colleen decided to pull back on the trigger. She started to move and saw the flash of Anson coming around the corner, half shifted and aiming for Colleen. There was a loud BANG as Piper hit the ground. Her eyes were still on Anson as he pulled the gun from Colleen and restrained her.

“Piper, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m okay.”

“Call 911, now.”

Piper ran to her cell in the kitchen and dialed. She talked to the operator as Colleen screamed and struggled against Anson. His eyes stayed on hers as he held the woman that could have ended her life.

Without thinking, Piper reached up and put her hand over her mark. Anson’s eyes flashed silver from across the space between them and he let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. Piper felt the same release. This was why she couldn’t relax. Why it hadn’t seemed real. It was her instincts telling her she wasn’t safe. That feeling was gone. The adrenaline was there, the shaking was starting, but the fear was gone.

* * *

Anson spoke with the police. Detective Klein showed up to speak with Piper personally. Hank also showed when he heard the call.

King came because he’d been listening to the police scanner for fun. Piper retrieved the pizza box from the kitchen floor where Anson had dropped it and took it to her couch. Anson had followed her and helped while the detectives interviewed her. He filled in the gaps while she chewed. She’d pulled the blanket up over her head leaving just her face out.

When Detective Klein finished up, she shook Anson’s hand. Piper paused to nod at the detective. King cleared everyone out and left Anson to watch over his mate. Returning to the couch, he sat on the coffee table in front of his mate.

“Babe?”

“Hmm?”

“Stop eating pizza and look at me.”

“I am looking at you.”

“No, you’re looking through me. What just happened was bad, it sucked.”

“Yeah, sucked.”

“Honey, you can cry if you want. Someone was pointing a gun at you an hour ago. A bullet whizzed past you. That’s a moment that can change you.”

“No, not changed. Annoyed, but not changed.”

“Annoyed?”

“Yeah, I got that job fair and square. And getting engaged twice, or three times technically. That’s something to be jealous of? That’s not a goal, that’s a cautionary tale. She was fighting for the life that I had. My life was her goal. That’s life-changing.”

“I’m not following.”

“This whole time I thought I was trying to make a life, have a future, I didn’t realize that to someone else, I already had one. Doesn’t that make me… I don’t know, selfish? Or at the very least ungrateful?”

Taking the slice away from her, he pulled her into his lap, blanket and all. “What you had before, it was a life. It wasn’t the life you were meant to have. You could have been happy. Raised a family, stayed at your job, lived your life. But that wasn’t what the universe had in store for you. It had something bigger.”

“You’re that something bigger?”

“Babe, I’m for sure bigger. You can have whatever life you want, as long as I’m in it. Family, Clan, future. All of it is ours. All the shit you’ve been through, that’s just so when you look back, you’ll see how strong you are. I’m here to make your future as easy as I can.”

“Easy? What does that look like?”

Anson placed a kiss on her cheek, then her other cheek. “It looks like this. It looks like my woman taking a break. Letting her man love her and pamper her. Line up beautiful homes for her to choose from. Plan her presentation ceremony so she doesn’t have to even choose an appetizer. The only thing you need to worry about is what you decide to.”

“So if I decide to check out for a while?”

“You can. Not that I think you will.”

“Why not? Maybe this couch and pizza are all I want for the next six months. Six months of no weird calls, no weird packages, no one following me. That sounds good to me.”

“Because you didn’t hide before and you wouldn’t start now. You are Piper of Clan Fehu. You are mated to me, who by all accounts is a successful person, not to toot my own horn. I’m pretty sure you like it when I make love to you. In fact, I know you do. You can’t stop living, not now.”

Piper squinted at him and then rolled her eyes. “Why are you always so positive? Damn, it’s annoying.”

“Because someone was pointing a gun at my mate and that moment is going to be running through my head for the foreseeable future. I’m not going to let you give up because that moment reminded me that we are on this planet for a very short time. My mate is going to live her life to the fullest.”

“I am? For real?”

“For real, baby.”

“You make it really hard for a woman not to love the hell out of you, Anson.”

“Good, because I love you too. Now, pizza, movies, sex, sleep.”

“You are so bossy,” she said pressing her lips against his.

“You love it.”

“Maybe I do.”