Everly didn’t seem to mind her husband’s bloodthirstiness at all as she turned to me. “Are you sure you’re okay, Piper? You weren’t hurt?”
My heart softened at the concern in her voice. “I’m okay, really. The chandelier fell, but it wasn’t over my bed. I am a little worried about Matteo, though.”
Everly bit her lip as she watched the healer continue to pour magic into Matteo. Whatever he’d been shot up with, it must have beenbad.
“You okay, Matteo?” I asked in a low voice. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he was gritting his teeth so hard I feared they would shatter.
“Is it just me, or are all poisons made to feel like living fire is consuming your veins?”
I winced.
So, that was a no.
His phone started ringing, and it sounded like it was coming from his front pocket.
“You slept with your phone in your pocket?” I got up to help him answer, since he was clearly in no shape to. “I’m going to reach in, okay?”
Matteo nodded. “It’s probably Alpha.”
I fished it out, but the caller ID still made my stomach dip when it flashed Alpha.
“Can’t he reach you with the Clan Link?” I asked, almost desperately. I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk to Riggs yet.
Matteo snorted. “He doesn’t want to talk to me, Piper. I guarantee it.”
Biting my lip, and totally frustrated with myself for being a big chicken about this, I clicked accept.
“Hello?”
There was a beat of surprised silence, then Riggs’ raspy voice ground out my name, sounding both relieved and devastated.
“Piper.”
There was so much emotion in that one word that I felt the back of my eyes sting. I felt for the chair beneath me and sat, trying to ignore Matteo’s smirk.
“Told you,” he whispered.
I sniffed, then cleared my throat. “Hi. We’re okay. Matteo is still being worked on by the healer, though. Barrett’s men injected him with something.” I glanced at Everly and the Prime, putting my hand over the phone. “I’m so sorry I’m just now thinking to ask, but were any of your people injured?”
The Prime nodded, and his eyes started glowing again from his dragon. “Some of my off-duty kitchen staff were in the same area as one of the bombs, and some of my guards were in the vicinity of another. There were injuries, but no fatalities.”
“I’m so sorry,” I told them. I lifted my hand. “The Prime’s staff have some injuries, but no one was killed,” I reported. Anything to avoid talking about the amount of emotion that was in his voice when he said my name. Anything to avoid eventhinkingabout it.
The Prime gently moved his wife off his lap, then sat her down and took a few steps away, pulling out his phone. I couldn’t hear his conversation, though, because I was too distracted with my own.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Riggs asked, his voice intense but gentle.
“I’m sure.” I swallowed. “Sorry for just leaving you with Alanna. That was... awful of me, I know. I just didn’t know if I would be able to do it, to leave her there so I could get help. And every conversation, every stalled moment, would have made me change my mind, and this was what was best.”
He sighed. “I’ve been happy to protect and watch her, Piper. Anytime, actually. What hurt is that you didn’t even give me a chance. You just assumed you knew how I would react. You just assumed there were no other options.”
I frowned. “What other options were there?”
“Well, I could have sent Matteo with you from the beginning instead of having him try to find Barrett. You would have been safer and had backup that way. Or, you could have stayed withAlanna in the Clan’s circle of protection, and Matteo and I could have gone to ask for help from the Prime.”
I scoffed. Most people didn’t like to ask for help. I'd even had a hard time with it myself. And though a simple phone call might have worked, I’d been too afraid the Prime would dismiss my pleas over the phone. I shouldn’t have worried about that, though. The Prime was a good man. Seeming to read my mind, Riggs said softly, “I would have asked him, Piper—ofcourseI would have... for you.”
I swallowed, letting my head hit the cushion behind me and closing my eyes. It was what he wasn’t saying that struck me—what it meant.
