CHAPTER EIGHT || HARRIS #2
Reed nodded at me and then glanced at Daniel. “I believe you.”
Some of the tension left Daniel immediately. But he still avoided Reed’s gaze, his cheeks flushed bright pink. He nodded, staring at the floor. His “thanks” came out barely above a whisper.
“I think you two need to sit down and tell me everything,” Emma said, pointing at the couch in the center of the room. Then, beckoning us to follow her, she made her way to the armchair next to the couch and took a seat.
Reed and I followed her and dutifully sat down.
“Start with the monster attack,” Emma suggested.
Reed nodded, then filled everyone in on how it had gone down the night before. He told them how I had found him, glossing over our argument, and then how the creature had attacked, its paralytic powers, and how it had vanished after I shot it.
“Well, the paralysis explains why the hiker sat still long enough for this thing to inflict the kind of wounds Hattie described,” Emma said thoughtfully, when he was done.
She turned to me. “And you managed to injure it with a gun? Most creatures from the Otherworld aren’t susceptible to regular bullets. ”
I cleared my throat. “Err, they’re silver.”
“Silver?” Reed demanded sharply.
“Yeah?”
Everyone in the room went silent. Sarah closed her laptop and set down her pen with a clatter onto the legal pad, without taking her eyes off me. Daniel’s jaw dropped. Reed’s brows drew together and he studied me carefully, as if seeing me in a new light.
“Are you a hunter?” Sarah demanded, breaking the silence.
“What’s a hunter?” I asked, confused. “I’m from Los Angeles. We don’t hunt.”
“Not that type of hunter,” Sarah countered.
“Silver is lethal to werewolves,” Emma explained, her voice even. There was a strange glint in her eyes as she studied me.
Oh. Well, that explained the sudden tension in the room.
“I thought that was just in the movies?” I paused, meeting Reed’s gaze. “Silver bullets actually kill werewolves?”
“You didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “Cole gave them to me before he left town. He said they work on most supernatural creatures. But on vampires, they just make them weaker—giving humans a chance to fight back.”
“Who the hell is Cole?” Sarah demanded, the suspicion in her voice palpable. “And why would he give this guy silver bullets?”
“He’s Thierry’s brother, Nicolas,” Reed explained. “He goes by Cole. And he’s friends with Harris.”
Sarah blinked rapidly at me, her eyebrows shooting up. “Oh. Well, it’s a small world after all, I guess.”
“Reed and I met at Thierry’s wedding,” I offered. “And Cole was worried about me when he moved up to Seattle, so he made sure I had a stash of silver bullets. He said they’d protect me. And they work on humans, too. So I figured, why not?”
“Why not?” Sarah repeated, shaking her head. “And you’re actually friends with a vampire?” She sounded incredulous. “Aren’t you worried he’s going to chomp on you when he gets hungry?”
“I don’t scare easily,” I replied. “I’m a detective and I’ve had a badge and a gun for about a decade now. Hell, I’m a certified firearms safety instructor on the force. I promise I’m not going to shoot one of you by mistake.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” Emma said, arching an eyebrow at me. She considered me for a long moment. “And it’s also good that you were able to escape Daniel’s boundary spell. If not for you, it’s hard to say what might’ve happened.”
“But what are you even doing here?” Sarah demanded. “You just drop in out of nowhere and—”
“Hush, child,” Emma said.
“But gran, this is insane! We don’t just let randos into the—”
“Harris is Reed’s fated mate.”
That bombshell was met with total silence.
Reed’s lips pursed into a thin, tight line, but he said nothing to contradict Emma’s words.
Sarah’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline.
Daniel’s face was unreadable, giving nothing away.
He’d already known and was probably trying hard to control his expression.
For myself, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her laying our relationship out in the open.
It was probably easier this way. But it still felt private.
Something we ought to have told them ourselves.
There was a flash of sensation from my connection to Reed—half emotion, half inner knowingness.
He felt suddenly vulnerable. Emma’s bald admission had stripped away his feeling of agency, as if he was the child and she the all-powerful adult in the situation.
It was almost exactly what I had felt, but far more intense.
A wave of seething anger rolled through me that she had made him feel like anything less than what he was.
When no one said anything, Emma met my gaze and added, “That’s why you were able to find him last night, wasn’t it? The bond has already begun to form.”
“Listen to me,” I said, glaring at her with narrowed eyes.
Anger sparked hot and fast, blotting out everything else, along with an urge to protect Reed that felt impossible to ignore.
I didn’t raise my voice, but my words were flat and hard as granite when I added, “I don’t know what you thought you were doing, but that wasn’t yours to share.
The relationship between Reed and me is our business.
And if and when he chooses to tell you his personal business, you will be respectful and keep it to yourself. Because he is your alpha.”
A strange sensation flowed through me—a thread of power jolting up my spine, almost like getting zapped by a bolt of electricity. I felt it as the current flowed into my words, making them something more than ordinary speech.
Then the power flowed out of me all at once.
Emma’s eyes went wide, her jaw dropping with shock. My gaze was locked on hers, so I caught the way her eyes flashed gold for an instant.
Daniel’s hand flew to his mouth. His gaze was fixed on me in wide-eyed disbelief.
“Holy shit,” Sarah breathed, a strange mixture of fear and wonder transforming her expression. “How—”
“We’re leaving,” Reed growled, fixing me with a hard look. “Now.”
With that, he stormed out of Emma’s cabin without so much as a backward glance.
Feeling strangely spent and shaken, I followed him.
Reed led the way to his cabin, his back ramrod straight and practically trembling with—well, I knew it wasn’t anger, exactly.
It was something else, far deeper than that.
As though the gravity of what I had just done was threatening to upend him from the earth and he was struggling, with every step, just to remain steady.
When we entered his cabin, he pointed to the couch. “Sit.”
Feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion crash through me, I obeyed.
I expected Reed to have a meltdown, or to at least ask me what the hell had just happened, but instead I heard him busying himself in the kitchen—more aggressively than was strictly necessary, judging by the banging.
But I could barely hold my head up. My body began to tremble.
And the air felt cooler than before, as if it was leeching my body heat away.
My eyelids became too heavy to keep open and drooped shut. I practically melted into the couch cushions, a wave of darkness overtaking me.
“Drink,” Reed said, snapping me awake with a jolt.
He was kneeling before me, holding a steaming mug of dark liquid, like strong tea.
He pressed it into my hands. I would have dropped it, but Reed kept his hands pressed against mine.
His words were gentler than I expected when he added, “Careful, now.”
I nodded and let him help me drink. The brew was herbal, vaguely floral, and very sweet—cloyingly so. Reed encouraged me to drink half the cup. It was hot, but not too hot to drink.
“Lavender and chamomile for calming your nervous system,” Reed said gently, watching me with obvious concern.
“And skullcap, to stabilize your internal energies. Honey, to restore your blood sugar. Also, because the herbs taste like ass.” He paused.
“And some ice, too—so it doesn’t burn you when you drink it. ”
“Is it magic?” I asked, already feeling better. My eyelids became less heavy and my hands stopped trembling. I straightened up on the couch, my grip tightening on the mug.
“Sort of. It’s tea, but there’s plenty of natural magic in plants.
It’s an old pack recipe,” Reed explained, relaxing as he spoke.
“The first time an alpha uses their powers, it’s extremely taxing on the nervous system.
Your body takes time to get used to it. It’s kind of like a massive blood-sugar crash. You ought to finish the entire cup.”
Dutifully, I drained the mug.
“You just scared the shit out of me,” Reed said, taking the mug from me and setting it on the floor next to him.
“You’re not angry?” I asked, trying to catch up with him emotionally.
“I thought you were about to die,” Reed said, his eyes widening slightly, as though I had startled him by suggesting he might have been angry.
“The powers of an alpha are taxing on any werewolf, and we have supernatural healing in our corner. I had no idea what it would do to you. It freaked me out.” He paused, and a faint smile curved his lips as he met my gaze.
“But I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re stronger than I give you credit for. ”
“I’m okay,” I said. “I think.” Then I paused and his words sank in. “Wait—what do you mean… powers of the alpha? Are you saying—”
He nodded solemnly, and the rest of what I was going to say died in my throat.
“Alphas can force other wolves to obey their commands. It’s called adjuration.
It’s a type of compulsive magic and it’s not something to be done lightly.
Trust me on that.” Then he paused and his gaze locked with mine.
“You somehow tapped into my power, Harris.”