Chapter l258

Chapter 0258

Nicholas walked into the room behind me. “Mark? What the hell?”

“Protocol, Sir.” Mark did not lower the gun away from me. “The answer, Piper. Please.”

“Morning glory.” I said.

Instantly, Mark lowered the gun. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Whatever it takes to keep Elva safe. Where is she?”

Mark motioned toward the closet. I rushed over and opened the door.

Elva, the Nanny, and Charlotte were playing dress up.

Elva laughed when she saw me. “Mommy!”

I rushed forward and pulled her into a tight hug. She was wearing a pair of my high heels. Her foot

sl*pped right out of the shoe when I lifted her.

“Play with us, Mommy!”

“1 will. Just give me a moment, okay?” I lowered Elva back to the ground, and she returned to the Nanny

to play.

Charlotte met my eye across the closet. She gave me a nod. I understood: Elva was okay. They were

able to keep her in the dark about what happened.

But what exactly had happened?

I excused myself from the closet and came to stand beside Nicholas and Mark.

I’m sorry. Sir. I don’t want to threaten Piper but the circumstances required it.”

“I was standing right behind her, Mark.”

You could have been fooled. You assigned me the task yourself. Protecting Elva is my first priority

above anything else. Even Piper’s safety. Even your own, Sir.”

Nicholas rubbed his hand over the back of his n*eck. “I’m not angry, Mark. I know your orders, and I’m

glad you camed them out. But my wolf. Seeing Piper in danger like that nearly made me shift.

My apologies, Sir.”

Don’t apologize.” I said I would face ten thousand gun barrels if they were meant to keep Elva safe

+15 BONUS

Nicholas startled like he hadn’t noticed me approach. He recovered quickly enough though.

“How’s Elva?” he asked.

“She’s okay. From what I can tell, she has no idea anything bad happened.”

“At the first sound of a struggle, the Nanny and Charlotte relocated Elva into the closet,” Mark said.

We’d decided on that plan of action from the start. I’d hoped that we wouldn’t have to put it into practice.”

“What exactly happened here, Mark?” I asked.

“It’s my understanding from what I’ve been able to gather, that Jane came to the room,” Mark said. “The guards, as per protocol, asked her the identifying question. She didn’t know it. We heard yelling from

inside. She was demanding to see Elva.”

Suddenly chilled, I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Then she had a knife. She stabbed one guard, went for the other. After securing Elva, I stepped into the

hallway. Our numbers scared her off. We alerted the paramedics, then I came inside to secure from

within.”

Jane had been here. She’d been so close. She’d tried to see Elva.

“Why would she want to see Elva? What could she have hoped to gain from such a thing?” I asked.

“My assumption, Miss Piper,” Mark said, “is that she intended to kidnap her.”

“Oh my Go d.” I was going to be sick.

Nicholas immediately came to my side. He wrapped his arms around me.

“Nicholas…”

“Shhh.” He held me tightly.

I buried my face into the crux of his n*eck and shoulder, and felt my b*dy shake apart. I was going into

shock, from seeing the knife wound, from nearly being stabbed, and then nearly shot, to know hearing that

Jane had been so close to stealing away my daughter.

My b*dy couldn’t handle the stress. It was too much. It was all too much.

I couldn’t let Elva see me like this. I had to get it out of my system.

to fall apart.

piece me back together was cholas,

+15 BONUS

“Give us a moment, Mark,” Nicholas said.

Mark nodded, and went into the closet. His gun was holstered now, like he had never held it all. I wished

he hadn’t of needed to hold it.

“Jane will be back. She’ll just keep coming. She won’t stop until she has what she wants.”

“We’ll stop her.”

I shook my head. “I know you and Julian stayed up all night, trying to think of a plan. I know you couldn’t

decide anything.”

“Give us time,” Nicholas said. “So we didn’t plot anything last night. That doesn’t mean we’ll never have

any ideas. I will find her and I will stop her, Piper. If I have to tear this entire palace apart, brick by brick.”

It was then that I noticed I wasn’t the only one shaking.

“She comes into my home and threatens the people I care about the most.” A growl lined beneath his

words, deepening his voice, low and dangerous.

I looked up at him. His eyes were flashing, more green now than gold. Nichola s’s wolf was struggling,

clawing its way to the surface.

I placed my hand flat against his face, hoping to soothe him. He leaned into my palm.

“I can’t let her take you and Elva,” Nicholas said. Or maybe it was his wolf talking now. I couldn’t be

sure. “You are my family.”

The wolf, then. Nicholas would never call Elva and I that. With wolves, even friends were considered

family. Pack. Of course, it would see Elva and me as part of that.

1 shushed him gently. “We are both still here. No one has taken us.”

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the gold had taken over once more and Nicholas had

returned to himself.

He inhaled a shaky breath. “I keep losing myself.”

I start to lower my hand, but he grabs it and places it right back where it was, on his cheek.

“I’m usually much more in control of my wolf,” he said,

There likely hasn’t been danger like this before

tre how many people threaten me,” Nicholas said. “But when they come for you, or for Env

goes out the window. I only know I have to protect you

+15 BONUS

You do protect us.”

“Not well enough.”.

“Nicholas. It’s only because of you and those you’ve selected to surround us that we remain safe. If I

was on my own, I…”

I didn’t want to give voice to those thoughts. I well and truly knew the answer, however.

If I had been on my own with Elva, and Terry and Jane had found us. We’d either be dead, or already

part of their grand design.

Regardless of whatever happened next, we’d only made it this far safely because of Nicholas.

“I need to see Elva,” Nicholas said. “I need to make sure she’s safe.”

I understood that sentiment. I wanted to see her too.

Together, we walked to the closet and opened the door.

“Nick-lass!” Elva cried and rushed toward us.

Nicholas scooped her up into his arms. “There’s my princess,” he said. He held her in a tight embrace for a moment, before opening up one arm to invite me.

I moved closer. I draped one arm around Elva’s waist and the other, I wrapped around Nicholas.

For several long minutes, Nicholas, Elva, and I held each other.

Elva giggled after a while, not understanding the purpose of the hug. She didn’t know the danger she faced. She didn’t need the affirmation that each of us three were alive and present.

But I understood. And Nicholas did too.

So we kept holding on.