Chapter 27 #2
Maverick took my face in his hands again. “Listen very carefully, Bloom. I don’t care if they never come around. I don’t care if I have to kill someone in a fight every day of my fucking life after this. You’re mine, I’m yours, and we will figure it out.”
“If you think I’m going to get any work done while you’re fighting, and bleeding...”
“Good news—your boss is giving you the day off.”
“Shut up, Mav.” I dragged his face down to mine and kissed him. Hard.
He kissed me back, slipping his fingers into my hair and dragging his tongue over mine.
The kiss was slow.
Passionate.
Sweet, and soft.
When he pulled away, I wasn’t ready for it to end.
“I’ll have someone text you updates, and I’ll come by between most of the fights.”
“Alright. Be careful?”
“I’m always careful.”
I rolled my eyes. “You are never careful.”
“I’m careful when it counts.” He tugged my hair playfully, as a pair of enforcers came around the corner. Elise and Ryker. I managed to give them a small smile. “They’re going to take the cameras down, and guard your door afterward.”
“Okay.”
He gave me one last, lingering kiss before he stepped back and strode away, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t leave the room without me or I’ll change the code.”
I threw back, “Has anyone ever told you you’re an asshole?”
“Only my favorite people.” He flashed me a grin before disappearing around the corner.
My chest squeezed, and I reluctantly typed the code to let the enforcers inside the room.
Harper was leaning against the wall, staring at something, when I stepped in. I followed her gaze to an empty stretch of wall and swore mentally, pulling her in for a quick hug to hide her episode from the enforcers.
Her arms hung slack at her sides, but Elise and Ryker didn’t seem to notice as they headed straight for the first camera without missing a beat.
When she stirred, I released her, and she slowly blinked confusion out of her eyes.
Luckily, she didn’t say anything as she came out of it. I leaned up against the wall beside her while the enforcers removed a whopping four security cameras from the one-bedroom apartment.
When they were gone, Harper let out a soft sigh and slowly sank to her knees on the floor. I sat down next to her.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” I told her.
It was a lie.
Nothing was going to be fine.
The small smile she gave me was absolutely a lie too.
“You should get some work done,” she said quietly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to spend my last few days working, or wasting time. But it’s not like I can go outside and do things. Someone’s going to put two and two together. I never know when the spacing out is going to happen. I’m lucky it didn’t while I was driving.”
I hadn’t even thought about it.
She was right; we were insanely lucky.
“It’s going to be fine,” I repeated, fighting my emotions back like my life depended on it.
What else was I supposed to say?
You’re doomed?
My soulmate is going to kill you if he’s here when you devolve. If he’s not, your mom will?
Harper put her hand on mine, patting it lightly. We were still sitting on the floor, and neither of us made a move to get up.
She said softly, “Bloom, I love you, but it’s not going to be fine.”
My eyes welled with tears. “You can’t say that.”
“It’s better to accept the truth than to avoid it now. There’s no way out. The wolf blood didn’t work. I want to enjoy my last few days, and I want to know exactly how we’re going to prevent me from killing anyone else.”
I dashed the first bit of escaped emotion out from beneath my eye. “Okay. Let’s make a plan.”
Harper gave me a small smile. “We’re good at that.”
“We kick ass at that.”
“Let’s get the worst over with first. We can either turn me in to the Guild, or to your Alpha. It will end a lot better for you if we go with the wolves.”
“We can’t let the werewolves kill you without you seeing your mom again.” My voice cracked.
“I’m going to die either way.”
“Your last experience isn’t about me, Harper.” More tears forced their way out, and I brushed them away angrily. “God, this isn’t fair.”
“When has life ever been fair? You’ve had to hide what you are from almost everyone you’ve interacted with since you were a kid.
” Harper gestured toward the door. “I never realized how hard that would be. The werewolves get to be all loud and proud, but they’ve killed people too, and they slaughtered vampires. They’re not better than you.”
“Or you.”
Harper shook her head, emotion flashing across her face. “I still dream about Steven. That fucker is going to be with me until the day I die. He sucked, but he didn’t deserve that.”
“You didn’t deserve what Velour did to you, either.”
“Your Alpha would hunt him down, if you told him. Even Rhone would. After he kills me, obviously.”
“The Guild would hunt him down too.”
“Maverick is going to be devastated if you don’t tell him, Bloom.”
“He’s going to be furious, regardless of how he finds out. This decision isn’t about my... fiancé.”
“He’s your soulmate. We both know he’s right about that. It’ll be worse for you if you don’t tell him.”
I looked her in the eyes, mine full of steel. “I am about to lose the person I’m closest to in this whole fucking world to the curse I’ve spent my whole life hating and hiding from, Harper. Things can’t get worse.”
“If we tell Maverick first, there’s a better chance he’ll be there for you.”
“I lied about a turned vampire. He’s not going to be there for me.
He thinks they’re monsters too.” I wiped away a few more tears.
It was like throwing a towel on a river.
They were flowing now, and no amount of effort was going to stop them.
“My family’s also going to be pissed. At least I have Phyllis. ”
Harper laughed through her own tears. “Good ole’ Phyl. Can you imagine how it’ll go if she’s the other killer?”
A snort-laugh burst through me.
Harper basically cackled. “What the hell was that noise?”
“I don’t know. Multiple weeks of stress and sleep deprivation, paired with a near-death experience?”
“On the plus side, if Maverick hates you, the murderer might stop trying to take you out.”
“Good point. Maybe I should hope for that.”
Our humor faded slowly, over the next few seconds.
The sound of a bullhorn blasted from the nightstand. Harper and I both jumped.
“He must’ve put my phone in here at some point,” I said, wiping away more tears.
“He’s ridiculously helpful.”
“I know. I feel like it should be concerning, but it’s so nice.”
“No kidding.” Harper wiped her face too. “Alright, we’ll go to the Guild. To my mom. I know you want to put it off, but I don’t think it’s safe to wait more than a few more days.
“How’s your bloodlust right now?”
“Since I gorged myself, it’s okay. I don’t think it’s going to last, though.”
Neither did I.
“We could play it by ear,” I said. “If Maverick finishes fighting earlier than expected, maybe...”
“No. We’re picking a day.” Harper’s gaze went back to the wall.
Panic clenched my stomach, but she didn’t zone out again. She was just thinking.
“We’ll do it on Thursday night. At the gathering, after you feed, just in case someone puts you in prison or something.
You can’t bite Maverick while he’s recovering from the fights.
He’ll be pissed that you bit someone else, but that’s the safest call for you.
It buys you three weeks to figure things out with Maverick, with the Guild, or with a new city if you have to leave.
It gives us three and a half days to just hang out, too. ” She managed another small smile.
My tears returned with a vengeance. “We can’t have a lifetime of experiences in three and a half days of being trapped in this apartment. We should’ve planned things to do earlier. I shouldn’t have wasted it all working and fucking around with Mav. We—“
“We wouldn’t have had this long if we hadn’t spent it at the office, Bloom. You were right—it kept me sane. And I’m glad you’ll have him when I’m gone.”
“I’m not going to have him, Harper. He’s not going to want a mate who lied to and manipulated him.”
“I have to hope, okay? I can’t just accept leaving you behind with no one except your obnoxious family.”
I lifted my borrowed shirt to dry my eyes. “We’re such a mess.”
“At least we’re a hot mess.”
“Speak for yourself.”
The bullhorn that was my phone went off again, two more times in a row. We looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
“You’ve got to give that guy credit for effort,” Harper said.
“Seriously.” I got up and grabbed my phone off the nightstand.
One of Maverick’s enforcers was texting me from his phone, letting me know that the first fight had started.
“Is he okay?” Harper asked.
“Yeah. Fear aside, he’s really good, and he doesn’t lose.”
We pulled up the notes on my phone and made the fun part of our plan—what we were going to do over the next few days—followed by a list of what we’d need to do it. When I opened the door and gave it to the enforcers, they didn’t bat an eye.
Ryker even asked if we wanted company.
I looked at Harper, and she shrugged. “Might as well.”
Since Maverick and Rhone already thought she was sick and dying, we could blame her zoning out on that.