19. Rhone
CHAPTER NINETEEN
rhone
I woke Harper up before I needed to leave for my meeting the next morning. She bit my wrist when I put it against her lips, while I held her in my arms.
When she only took three swallows, I pinched one of her nipples, and told her to bite me again.
She did… and took three more swallows.
When I slipped my hand between her thighs and played with her clit, she finally tore into me, and drank until she came.
I wanted to stay, but needed to go, so I kissed her throat lightly before leaving her in my bed.
I itched to be with her again, the moment we were apart. I fucking hoped that was breeding season's fault.
If it wasn't, it had to be because of the sex. I wasn't used to screwing the same woman more than once or twice.
Mating with her wouldn't come with feelings. I needed to believe that.
Maverick and I rarely had meetings of any kind. Particularly with the top enforcers. Most things that needed to be said could be said through the pack link.
If he wanted to meet, there was something that we needed to discuss.
Mav was already talking to three of our eight lead enforcers when I sat down in one of the spinning chairs in the meeting room. His nostrils flared when he glanced over at me, and he lifted an eyebrow.
I lifted one back.
He shook his head slowly before refocusing on his conversation.
I knew what the raised eyebrow was about.
Harper.
Her scent would be all over me.
That satisfied me more than I should admit.
I could've washed her off my skin before the meeting, but I'd wanted to smell like her.
After we sealed our mate bond, our scents would be intertwined to the point where everyone we met would smell that we were a pair.
Fuck, yes.
Maverick took the spinning chair next to mine, and cleared his throat.
"I got a call from our team up at the estate last night.
Three of the Wilder Pack enforcers showed with a tent and camped out on the lawn.
When our people asked them what they were there for, they said their Alpha sent them as challengers. "
My forehead creased.
Challengers?
Zane had no interest in Maverick's position. He didn't even want fucking wi-fi. He wasn't going to take over the Alpha Pack.
It was no secret that Zane was probably the only werewolf alive who could genuinely take Maverick down.
Most of the men from his pack were good, too, but Mav could read his opponent in a way no one but Zane could.
Neither of them would admit it, but they used their power over mental links during difficult fights too, which was why they could survive pretty much any challenge.
No one would take either of them down without decades of experience managing and controlling a mental link the size of their packs', and even more time spent fighting.
"What kind of challengers?" Ocean, one of our female lead enforcers, asked. She had tan skin, and white-blonde hair that reminded me of Harper's the first time I met her.
"They're going to challenge everyone I beat," Mav said.
No one said a word for a long moment.
"They're going to kill anyone who fights you," Lorenzo stated. He was the smallest of our male enforcers, with pale skin and brown hair, but he was the smartest.
"Yup." Mav nodded. "They're publicly siding with us on the vampire issue. This is a good thing."
A very good thing.
Before Maverick abducted Bloom, he rarely fought in challenges. Since then, he'd had more than a hundred in just a few months.
There were another hundred on the list of upcoming fights, as well. We'd reduced the challenges allowed to three a day over every weekend, so the number was growing faster than it was shrinking.
The Wilder Pack's intervention would change that.
Quickly.
Mav had only killed a handful of his challengers. The ones who hated vampires to the point where they would've been a danger to his mate.
Maverick wasn't violent unless he had to be. If we started killing all of his challengers ourselves, there would've been a fucking uprising.
No one expected civility from our rural equivalent, though. With the Wilder wolves executing anyone who challenged him and lost, the number would drop drastically.
The rural packs and the city packs would all abandon the tirade against vampires sooner rather than later, if the Wilders publicly sided with us. It would be necessary, for the sake of their survival.
"Should we do anything to stop them?" Ocean asked. "It would look bad if we let them kill half a dozen challengers without intervening."
"No," I said flatly. "We don't intervene."
"Rhone's right," Maverick agreed. "If we intervene, it sends a message that we support werewolves challenging me over vampires.
If the Wilders are this invested, they're not going to be satisfied until the rest of the packs accepts vampires, anyway.
Do we know who their turned vampire is?" He looked at me.
"No. I wasn't going to risk Harper's life by looking for an answer. Zane's not willing to talk about it, and they wouldn't let Harper meet them, so I assume him or Jace somehow fell in love with a turned vampire."
Maverick nodded. "I can't see any other reason why they'd suddenly be backing us on this, unless they were really charmed by Harper."
A few of the enforcers snorted.
I scoffed. "If they were that charmed, they'd be dead."
The meeting went on for another hour or so as we discussed the tower's security and our plan for the challenges that weekend.
We talked about our options with the Guild, but Holly Valenti was still underground with Neve. They'd surface eventually. Our team was still scouring the city, and we had ears in the other cities nearby.
The Neve issue was a delicate one, with her being both Harper's mother and a human. We weren't going to be able to kill her as soon as we found her.
Given my female's relative instability, I was really fucking dreading that conversation. The last thing Harper needed was something else to struggle with.
Mav and I always stayed to talk after meetings ended, so I waited in my chair while he chatted with everyone. Eventually, they were all gone, and he kicked back in his chair.
"What’s going on with you and Harper? Don’t tell me it’s nothing. I can smell her all over you."
"She’s still mine." I didn’t bother with pleasantries. "She decided she needs a mate to stabilize herself, so I offered to seal a bond with her."
Maverick stared at me for a long moment. "Did you make the offer just like that?"
"Obviously."
"Do you remember exactly what you said?"
"Something along the lines of mating if that was what she needed."
"Was it… romantic?"
"No. Nothing between us is romantic."
"What did she say?"
I grunted. "Why are we playing twenty questions?"
"Because you’ve completely fucked yourself over, and I’m trying to figure out just how bad it is. What did she say?"
A bolt of irritation tightened my gut.
Or maybe that was… worry?
"She wasn’t interested, but she’ll come around," I said.
Maverick shook his head slowly. "She’s not coming around."
"You don’t know that."
"Yeah, I do."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded.
"Bloom and Harper set up a bunch of meetings today."
"Meetings for what?"
Maverick sighed. "She’s speed dating, to choose a mate. Bloom’s helping.
My eyes narrowed. "Right now?"
"Yeah."
"Where?"
"I don’t think ending her meetings will go over well if she already rejected your offer of a mate bond, Rhone. I know you’re possessive, but you need to decide if you actually want her."
"Of course I want her." I stood quickly, and Mav did too.
I’d find them.
The tower was huge, but Nolan would know where the meetings were happening. He always knew the gossip.
Maverick grabbed my shoulder. "Not just physically, Rhone. You know what a woman in a loveless mate bond looks like. Harper doesn’t deserve that."
"I can keep her stable, and I would never put her through what Isabelle dealt with," I growled.
"I know. But if you still genuinely don’t want a mate, you need to let her go."
I didn’t want a mate.
I wanted Harper.
I wasn’t letting her go. I didn’t fucking care if it was selfish, either.
"I get it," I said.
Maverick grimaced. "They’re in the food court."
I was already jogging to the elevator when he called through the pack link, "Don’t kill anyone, or I’ll have to replace you."
"If that's a genuine offer, I'll kill someone just to force your hand."
"Jackass."