12. Dorian
TWELVE
DORIAN
Dorian woke up to utter perfection. Harper's naked body molded against his side like she'd been designed specifically for him, as if eighteen years of loneliness had been preparation for her arrival.
Her long brown hair spilled across his shoulder in silken waves, and her breath whispered warm against his skin with each peaceful exhale.
Mine.
The possessive thought roared through him with primal satisfaction. Every cell in his body hummed with contentment he'd never experienced—the bone-deep rightness of holding his fated mate after a night that had shattered every wall he'd built around his heart.
His arms tightened instinctively around her sleeping form, and memories of their passion flooded back in vivid detail.
The way she'd surrendered completely to him, the soft cries of pleasure he'd drawn from her lips, the moment she'd taken him deep inside her body and made them one.
His wolf had been barely contained throughout their joining, desperate to sink his teeth into the curve of her neck and complete the mate bond that would bind them together forever.
But even in the throes of ecstasy, he'd held back.
Harper didn't know what she was to him—didn't understand that their explosive connection wasn't just attraction but destiny itself.
The mate bond pulsed like a living thing, but to her it was simply chemistry.
If he'd marked her without explanation, she would have run.
And after last night's attack, after seeing her terror when those wolves cornered her, he couldn't risk losing her.
Not when she's changing everything.
The thought hit him with stunning clarity.
In just a few days, Harper had accomplished what months of his rigid control couldn't—she'd brought light back into Lila's eyes.
More than that, she'd shown him glimpses of the man he could be beneath the Alpha's burden.
Someone who deserved comfort. Someone who needed partnership. Someone worthy of love.
Dorian pressed his lips to her hair, inhaling her jasmine and rain scent that had become as necessary as breathing. He needed to wake her soon, needed to get her back to the guest room before—
The door burst open without warning.
"Dorian, I just wanted to make sure you were—" Lila's voice cut off in shocked silence.
Shit.
Dorian's eyes snapped to his sister standing frozen in the doorway, her blue-gray gaze taking in the scene before her with dawning comprehension.
Harper's naked shoulder visible above the sheet.
His arms wrapped possessively around her.
The scattered clothes on the floor that told the story of their passion.
"Oh God." Lila's cheeks flushed crimson. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't alone. I just wanted to check that everything was okay after Marty told me about the wolves last night."
Harper stirred against him, her body tensing as consciousness returned and the reality of their situation crashed over her. Her green eyes flew open, meeting his for one panicked moment before shifting to Lila's mortified face.
"Lila." Harper's voice came out strangled with horror. She clutched the sheet to her chest as she sat up, her hair wild from sleep and sex. "This isn't what it looks like—"
"I'm not naive," Lila interrupted, her voice tight with a mixture of embarrassment and something else—hurt? "I know what happened here. I knew something was going on between you two."
Dorian felt the moment Harper's defenses slammed back into place. The soft, vulnerable woman who'd melted in his arms became the professional therapist who couldn't afford complications. She was already pulling away from him, both physically and emotionally.
"I can explain—" he started, but Harper was already moving.
She scrambled from the bed with the sheet wrapped around her like armor, snatching her clothes from the floor with jerky, desperate movements.
"Lila, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do this.
I didn't mean to jeopardize our counseling relationship.
" Her words tumbled out in a rush of self-recrimination. "I should just leave."
No.
Every Alpha instinct he possessed roared to life as Harper rushed toward the door. She was running—from him, from what they'd shared, from the connection that had felt like coming home. His wolf snarled, demanding he chase her, claim her, make her understand that she belonged here.
"Harper, stop—" Dorian threw back the covers and lunged from the bed, wrapping a sheet around his waist as he moved.
But she was already gone, fleeing down the hallway with her clothes clutched against her chest like a shield. Moments later, the sound of her guest room door slamming shut echoed through the estate like a gunshot.
Dorian stood in his doorway, his chest heaving with the effort not to follow her immediately. The mate bond stretched between them like a physical ache, every step she'd put between them feeling like a knife to his gut.
"What did you do?"
Lila's voice was deadly quiet behind him, but when he turned, her expression blazed with fury that reminded him uncomfortably of their mother. Gone was the fragile, traumatized girl he'd been trying to protect. In her place stood a young woman whose trust he'd just shattered.
"You ruined everything," she continued, her voice rising with each word. "Like you always do. You ruined the one good thing that was happening because what—because you found her attractive? Because you're the Alpha and you can just do whatever you want?"
"No, Lila. It's not like that. I didn't do this to hurt you or because I'm selfish." His voice roughened with emotion. "You know me better than that."
"Then what?" Tears of anger and betrayal sparkled in her eyes. "How could you do this to me? She was actually helping me, Dorian. For the first time since the attack, I was starting to feel like myself again. And you—" She gestured helplessly at the rumpled bed.
Dorian's throat closed. He'd spent eighteen years protecting his sister, sacrificing everything for her wellbeing, and now she was looking at him like he was the enemy. The truth burned in his chest, demanding release.
"Harper is my fated mate, Lila."
The words hung in the air like a confession and a plea. Lila's anger flickered, replaced by shock that quickly morphed back into fury.
"I knew it from the moment I shook her hand," he continued, his voice raw with honesty.
"But I tried to deny it. Tried to resist it because I knew you needed her more than I did.
But last night, after the attack, after she needed comfort...
" He ran his hand through his dark hair, suddenly feeling every one of his thirty-five years. "We messed up."
Lila stared at him for a long moment, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. When she finally spoke, her voice shook with determination.
"I don't care what you need to do, but you cannot let Harper leave. Not now. Not after she was actually helping me and I was starting to care about her." Her blue-gray eyes flashed with steel that reminded him she was a Holt, through and through. "You better fix this, Dorian. Now."
She spun on her heel and stormed down the hallway, her footsteps echoing like thunder before her bedroom door slammed with enough force to rattle the windows.
Fuck.
Dorian sagged against his doorframe, the weight of his failures crushing down on him. Lila was furious. Harper was fleeing. And he was standing here in nothing but a sheet, watching his world crumble because he couldn't control his need for the one woman who could heal them all.
His wolf paced frantically, torn between the urge to comfort his distraught sister and the desperate need to claim his mate before she disappeared from his life forever.
The scent of Harper's fear and shame still lingered in the air, a constant reminder that he'd let her down when she'd been brave enough to trust him.
Dorian pushed away from the wall and stalked to his dresser, yanking on boxers and jeans with sharp, efficient movements.
Harper thought she'd made a mistake—thought she'd compromised her professional integrity for a moment of weakness.
She had no idea that what happened between them was written in the stars, that fighting the mate bond was like trying to hold back the tide.
She's going to call Gerri. She's going to leave.
The thought sent ice through his veins. He couldn't let that happen. Not when Lila was finally healing. Not when he'd finally found the other half of his soul.
Dorian headed for the door, his jaw set with grim determination. He had to reach Harper before fear convinced her to run from the best thing that had ever happened to either of them.
The mate bond pulled him forward like a compass pointing home, and for once, Dorian didn't fight it.
Dorian's bare feet moved silently down the corridor, each step driven by desperation that clawed at his chest like a living thing.
The mate bond stretched taut between him and Harper's closed door, pulsing with her distress in waves that made his wolf pace more.
He could hear everything—the sharp zip of her suitcase, the rustle of clothes being hastily shoved inside, and worst of all, the broken sounds of her crying that tore through him like claws.
She's actually leaving.
Eighteen years of controlling every variable, of protecting everyone under his care, and he was about to lose the most important person in his world because he couldn't control himself for one night.
Dorian raised his fist and knocked on the guest room door, the sound echoing through the estate.
"Harper." His voice came out rough with emotion. "Open the door. I can explain everything."
The crying stopped abruptly, replaced by a silence so thick he could taste her fear in the air. When she finally spoke, her voice was muffled and thick with tears.
"I don't want to talk right now, Dorian. I just need to leave before I make everything worse than it already is."