Chapter Five
Monday morning had been a big hit. Harper had been a little afraid that with the appearance of Mateo, some of the pack women might not want to come to her shop. The whole banished curse thing coming back to ruin her life. No one held back.
In fact, by two o’clock, most of her new stock was sold out. She had already put in a brand-new order for more supplies, and they should arrive by the end of the week. Also, the pack females had banded together. Every single one of them had offered her help and guidance. She’d even been touched that a few of them were concerned that she would leave the pack for good.
She didn’t want to leave Silver’s pack. She had no idea if there was a way around it or not. She’d already pledged her loyalty to Silver, and that wasn’t going to change.
“Fuck me, my feet hurt,” Franny said, collapsing into one of the free chairs.
Harper went to her diary and saw she had a four o’clock, so for the next couple of hours, she could clean.
“How do you do it?” Franny asked.
She laughed and glanced toward her friend. “Do what?”
“All of this work.”
“Well, I can’t be useless at this pack, can I?”
“Hey, I am not useless! I just don’t know what I want to be so I go where I am needed.”
Franny, technically, didn’t have a job. She went where the need was. Harper had lost count of the number of jobs her friend did. From helping her out, to being at the school, to the nursery, to the coffee shop, and even at the DIY store. Franny had taken every job. The funniest one was the week she’d offered to replace one of the other women, and be a cleaner. Franny said she still had nightmares from the stuff she’d seen.
Harper would take her word for it.
As it happened, she loved cleanliness. It was something she enjoyed doing, even when she was a kid. Some people found it a punishment when their parents demanded they clean their room. To Harper, it had been a dream, one she had enjoyed and relished.
She quickly cut the memory off. Thinking about her parents reminded her of everything else she had lost. She rarely got to see her folks. There had been a couple of Christmases they had invited her back to the pack, but she had refused.
There was no way she was going back to Fox’s pack, and certainly not while her banishment had been in place. A few times they had come to her home, but she knew they didn’t feel comfortable at Silver’s pack.
Harper had gotten the usual permission and done the formal requests, but her parents were not known for change. Still, she loved them for at least trying with her.
“Incoming,” Franny said.
Harper didn’t have long to prepare before her storefront door opened, and there was Mateo, complete with a small bundle of flowers in his arms. She held onto the broom she’d just gotten out of her closet, and she looked at him.
“Afternoon, Harper, Franny,” he said.
Her friend gave a grunt in return.
“Afternoon,” Harper said. She always had to be polite. It was something her parents had instilled in her, even if all she wanted to do was ask him to leave. She had to be nice, at least this first time. After that, she could be done with the pleasantries.
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked, not exactly fighting fire with fire, but it was a start.
“I, I wanted to ask you out on a date,” Mateo said.
This made Franny scoff.
Mateo ignored her.
“Look, I know you don’t trust me, and you have every right not to, but you’re my mate, Harper. I want to do whatever’s necessary to make this right.”
Harper looked at the flowers, then at him, and forced a smile to her lips. “No, thank you.”
She saw how Franny sat up in her chair.
“Harper?”
“Look,” she said, taking a deep breath. She had to compose herself and try to find the right words for him to understand. “I don’t want to be with you. I like it here. You’re not going to want to stay here, but I’ve built a life for myself. I love the Silver pack. This is my home now, and that means you’re not a part of it, and you’ve not been part of it for a long time.” She brushed some hair off her temple. “I’m sorry, but it’s a no.”
She turned her back on him and began to clean up the mess.
He must have stood there for several minutes, because that was how long it took for her to hear the bell. She pressed her lips together.
“Wow,” Franny said. “He brought flowers, Harper.”
She turned to her other friend. “You don’t think I should have rejected him?”
“I don’t know what to think. He’s not my mate, but … what about our discussion yesterday? The full moon is close, Harper. You can’t just…”
“I can,” Harper said. “I’m not going to live my life afraid of him getting bored. I don’t know what changed his mind, but you weren’t there when he banished me. Even my father tried to get him to change his mind and it didn’t happen. Nothing would sway him, but now that his mind is made up, I’m supposed to, what, be happy about that? He broke my heart. His answer to finding out I was his mate was anger and disgust. Have you seen what happens when two people finally find each other?”
Franny nodded. “Yeah, their happiness is … palpable.”
“The whole pack witnessed his rejection of me. He didn’t like the fact I was his mate, and now, because he has finally accepted it, I’m supposed to be happy about it?”
“No, you don’t have to be happy about it.”
Harper took a deep breath. “Even though they were really pretty flowers.”
“I noticed,” Franny said.
Harper smiled. “But I can’t be with him. I won’t.”
****
Mateo sat at the kitchen counter, attempting to enjoy his late-night cereal. Women were supposed to love flowers and chocolate. He’d not gotten the time to get the chocolate, but he’d spent hours at the florist trying to come up with the perfect bouquet for Harper.
She didn’t want any of them.
To add to his problems, he had allowed himself to open up to her, to feel her wolf. It had been brief, and his father had always told him to only ever do it in extenuating circumstances. Alphas had the ability to communicate with all wolves, and to open a channel for them to help heal. In most situations it is used during the transition where wolves shut down or struggle to deal with the pain.
Mateo had used this gift sparingly, but he’d needed to know how Harper was feeling. Her wolf hated him. Even as she admitted there was a bond between them. They were mates, her wolf didn’t want to mate with him. She wanted nothing to do with him, and this was rare. Even his father had told him it was unheard of.
Whatever he did to Harper, the wolf, she’d taken it personally, and to protect herself as well as her human, she was fighting back the only way she knew how, and it wasn’t looking good for him.
“I thought I might find you here,” Franny said, stepping into the kitchen. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized shirt.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No, you don’t have to leave.”
Franny folded her arms across her chest. “Today wasn’t a good day for you, was it?”
“You mean, where my mate gives me a taste of my own medicine? No, today was not a good day.”
She sighed. “Harper’s hurt.”
“I know.”
Franny moved around the kitchen, and he watched as she grabbed a mug and started to fill it. He went back to eating his cereal. It was his second bowl of the day.
“I need to ask you something,” Franny said.
“Ask away.”
At first, Franny was silent, as if she didn’t want to speak to him. Mateo knew if he lost his patience with her, it would just be another reason Harper would hate him. She clearly adored this young woman, and even though he didn’t understand it, he wasn’t going to come between them.
He had to figure out how to win Harper. His own wolf was pretty pissed at him as well.
“Are you planning on leaving anytime soon?” Franny asked.
He chuckled. “Hoping to get rid of me?”
“Actually, no, I’m asking this out of concern for my friend.”
“Harper?”
“Yes, uh, the full moon is approaching, and I’ve seen the way mated couples act, and well, is there a chance she is going to need you?” Franny asked.
Fuck, shit, fuck. He’d not thought about the full moon. For him, it was already torture enough, knowing where his mate was and not being able to go to her.
“That look on your face says my fears are right.”
“What fears?” he asked.
“Hello, you and Harper. In case you didn’t know, she’s not exactly your number one fan, and I don’t want her to be upset or to suffer because of decisions she made when she wasn’t in her full mind.”
“Thank you,” he said.
She let out a growl. “Look, buddy, you can take this personally, or you know what, maybe you and I can help each other out.”
“I’m not fucking you,” Mateo said.
“What? Ew, gross. Hell, no. I’m a good friend, and no offense, you’re not my type. You’re on the old side.” She blew out a breath. “We’ve got two weeks to try and mend seven years of hurt.”
Now this did catch his attention. “You’re willing to help me?”
“Within reason,” she said, holding her hand up. “Look, don’t go thinking this is to help you or make you feel better, or any of that shit, okay? I still don’t like you. I’m never going to like you. What you did was crap. Worse than crap. I’ve never known anyone to act like that, but this is for Harper. She deserves better, and I don’t want her freaking out when the full moon comes, and, you know, wolves want to play.”
He put his spoon back into his bowl. “So, I guess I need to know what kind of deal you and I are making here?”
“In all honesty, I have no idea. All I know is that I don’t want my friend to get hurt, and the only way to guarantee that is to … I don’t know, figure this out.” She nibbled her lip. “That’s all we can do.”
“Our wolves are going to want to take over,” Mateo said.
“Look, Harper does not want to forgive you. I’m not going to suddenly encourage her to do that, but maybe what you could do is not back down.”
“I’m trying.”
“Oh, please, standing in the shop asking for a date with a bunch of flowers is not being determined. You gave up the moment she said no, and that is not the kind of energy we’re wanting. What you need to do is become like the furniture, but the good kind that people need to have around.” Franny shrugged.
“You’re asking me to be a piece of furniture.”
“I’m asking you to turn up at her shop, maybe with coffee or a cinnamon bun, and be helpful. Tell her you just need to be close to her or something. You know, do what mates do, without the whole mating thing. Allow her to get used to you being around. At the moment, she expects you to give up and leave. Is that what you’re going to do?”
“Never.”
“Then how about you pull on your big-boy pants and start thinking about how you’re going to heal seven years of damn hurt?” Franny said.
“And what are you going to be doing?”
“Oh, I’m going to start suggesting she consider you a piece of meat. The full moon is fast approaching, and I know the hormones go out of whack, and, well, your mate is here now, so why not use him?”
“Use me?”
“It’s a start, isn’t it? It’s either use you or find another pack male who doesn’t mind the risk of getting his head ripped off.”
Mateo couldn’t stand the thought of Harper being with anyone else. Even his wolf was ready to go and start an all-out war at the prospect of another man touching his woman.
Harper was his mate. She belonged to him, and no one was going to take that from him.
“Well?” Franny asked. “Do you want to be used or not?”
“I’d prefer not to be.”
“Then I don’t have a clue how I’m going to help you. All I can think of is the full moon, and this is to help Harper come to terms with the fact she might need you. Then again, I might be worrying for no good reason. Do you see the difficulty I’m having here?” she asked.
He ran a hand down his face. This was not ideal.
When he banished Harper, he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions. All he wanted to do was get her away from him before he did something he might regret. Now, he regretted sending her away in the first place.
“Fine,” Mateo said.
“Fine? That’s all you’re going to say?” she asked.
“What more can I say? I can’t argue with you, and I don’t see this working any other way. All you’ve got to do is tell me when I should arrive.”