26. Harper
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
harper
I woke up locked in a pair of gigantic, sweaty arms, with a gigantic erection throbbing against my ass and heavy, vibrating snores echoing against my back.
I felt nothing but bloodlust, at first.
But when I lifted a thick arm to my lips and sank my fangs into the vein there, the need that accompanied Rhone's low groan chased my neutrality away.
"What time does the fight start?" I asked him through the bond that connected us, because I didn't want to release his wrist.
"Don't know. Don't care." The feeling of having him in my mind was still slightly overwhelming.
"Tell me."
There was a pause before he responded again. "8."
I glanced at the clock.
7:30.
We'd be cutting it too close. Maverick and Bloom were counting on us to be there. Showing up late wasn't an option.
"You can't knot me," I warned.
"Like hell I can't."
"I'm serious. You have five minutes, and you can't knot me. Our options are quickie or bust."
He grumbled, but agreed.
Six minutes later, he was coming all over my core and inner thighs, his hand on his cock and both of us panting.
Ten minutes after that, we met Bloom and Maverick on the expansive grass field the pack apparently used for fighting.
It was complete chaos. There were people everywhere. Enforcers. Pack members. Challengers, sequestered in one strictly-marked portion of the grass.
Rhone was tall enough to find our people over everyone else's heads.
When we reached them, Bloom had her arms around her middle and her ass in a camping chair. Mav's hand was in her hair, playing with her ponytail lightly, while he stood behind her and talked to one of the enforcers. Elise.
Bloom's expression said she was spiraling internally, and she always thought she needed to be alone when she was spiraling.
She just needed a hug.
One of the enforcers handed Maverick two of the thick, disgusting fortified protein drinks the werewolves were always chugging.
Rhone had tried to get me to drink one, once. Near the beginning of my stability.
When I nearly devolved from the effort of trying to choke the foul beverage down, he'd abandoned the idea.
I eyed the Alpha, who was now talking to Rhone and the enforcer about some fight stuff. I wasn't listening.
The guys needed to focus on not getting Maverick killed.
For once, there was something I needed to do, too.
I plopped down on Bloom's lap and wrapped my arms around her neck, leaning in for a hug. She sputtered out a laugh and hugged me back.
"What are you doing?"
"Claiming you. Everyone's doing it these days."
Maverick snorted. "Get your own vampire, Harper. I already claimed this one."
"I claimed her first. We were living together when you broke in, remember? Technically, she even offered to mate with me."
"Harper's right. Sorry, Mav." Bloom wrapped her arms around me, hugging me a little tighter.
Mav gave me a wolfish grin. "I'll fight you for her if I have to."
I shooed the werewolf away with a hand. "Go back to Alpha-ing. We're busy."
Bloom shooed him too. "Focus on staying alive."
His gaze lingered on her. He lifted her hand to his lips, and kissed her knuckles.
Then finally dipped his head, and went back to his conversation with Rhone and the enforcer. They must've been speaking through their link, because I felt like I'd missed something.
Rhone caught my eye, and his mind brushed mine. "Mav says thank you."
"Just keep him alive for her. It sounds like the guy he's fighting is supposed to be pretty tough."
"He'll be fine." Rhone's hand brushed my shoulder, and he spoke aloud as Maverick and the enforcer walked off toward a group on the other side of the field. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't move."
"He's still this bossy after claiming you?" Bloom asked me, earning a sharp look from Rhone, who didn't walk away, despite his statement.
"Yup."
"How do you deal with that? I'd want to strangle him."
"I just bite him whenever he pisses me off."
"Is that why you bit me, Trouble?" he drawled, his eyes almost playful.
"Totally. Definitely the only reason."
"That's why you smell like sex?" Bloom teased.
"Absolutely."
Rhone shook his head at me before following the other guys.
"You reek of him," Bloom informed me, as I stared at his ass while he walked away.
"You reek of Maverick," I pointed out.
She flashed me a devious smile. "They're going to lose their shit when they smell each other's scents on us. Werewolves are more territorial during mating season."
"Imagine the outrage if we traded clothes."
"Mav might punch Rhone."
"It might be fun to watch him try. I've never seen Rhone fight. Have you?" I asked.
She shook her head, her lips curving upward. "It's a horrible idea."
But she let go of me, and I basically cackled as she tugged her hoodie—Maverick's hoodie— over her head.
I pulled my graphic tee off too, and we traded.
Bloom wrinkled her nose at the scent of Rhone on the shirt she was now wearing, and I nearly gagged when a heavy hit of Maverick's smell wrapped around me thanks to the hoodie.
The guys' backs were to us, but a female enforcer nearby shook her head slowly in our direction. I'd met her the night before, and was pretty sure her name was Charli.
She was totally trying not to smile. "Are you hoping to wreak havoc?"
"Always," I said.
"The pack will go rabid for it if you get Rhone and Maverick to fight."
"Good rabid, or bad rabid?" Bloom checked.
Charli lost her fight with the smile, and basically grinned. "Good rabid."
"What are we talking about?" A male enforcer asked. I'd met him the night before, too. Leo.
"Rhone and Maverick potentially fighting because their mates traded clothes," Charli explained.
Leo's eyebrows shot upward. "That's an option? Hell yes. What do we need to do to make this happen?"
"Don't let Maverick come over here until after the fight is over?" Bloom suggested.
"We'll distract him. No worries." Leo saluted us. "We appreciate your service."
I snorted.
Bloom grimaced. "This is probably a bad idea."
"Bad ideas make life more exciting, and you only live once." The words didn't process until I'd said them. "Unless you're a turned vampire. In which case your second life is a hell of a lot harder, but you do live twice."
Bloom nodded.
We adjusted our positions on the chair so our sides were squished together, instead of me sitting on her lap.
Somehow, the grassy area grew more crowded instead of less.
Dozens of people wandered over to us on their way in, settling into place around the unmarked space in the center that was clearly reserved for the fight. A lot of them just came over to greet Bloom.
And to say hello to me, too, or congratulate me on my mate bond.
The ladies from the elevator who spread the gossip about me fucking Rhone even came over to say hi, and we chatted for a few minutes.
I felt bolder, when I was holding Rhone's hand. Less like a risk. More like a person.
But I felt his eyes on me a few different times, and every time I glanced over, he was looking at me.
He wasn't going to let me hurt anyone.
I trusted that, even though I had to keep reminding myself that I did.
After a few more minutes, Rhone strode back over to me and Bloom, shucking his pants and shifting forms on the way.
I could've drooled at the show.
Wolfy Rhone sat down smoothly in front of us, his side only a few inches in front of my bare toes. I slid my toes beneath him, and he shot me a look that could only be translated to I am your guard, not your blanket.
At least, I assumed that was what it meant.
Until he asked me through the bond, "Is there a reason you traded clothes with Bloom? I don't particularly like smelling Maverick on you."
"We're lightening the mood. The pack wants to see you and Mav fight."
"No thanks."
"It would make Bloom happy."
He grunted.
There were a few enforcers behind the camping chair Bloom and I still shared. I'd seen Nolan and Oren earlier, so I knew they were around there somewhere. Even Sutton and Riley were at the estate, though I hadn't seen them at the fight.
Maverick shook hands with the mountain of a man he was about to fight. Apparently, the guy was one of the biggest vampire haters that was still alive. This was his third time challenging Maverick.
Fucker was doomed.
"If I devolve, you're going to get me out of here, right?" I asked him through the bond.
"Trouble, if you devolve, I'm going to have your fangs in my throat before anyone else realizes what's going on."
"Not in front of the pack."
He turned his head, and those glowing eyes met mine. "Yes. In front of the pack. If your sanity is on the line, I don't care who's watching."
He had a point.
We'd held hands at the barbecue. I'd basically clung to him the whole time, and he hadn't seemed bothered at all.
Maverick went into the center of the field, and made a big deal about announcing the challenger before he stripped his clothes off.
I wasn't going to complain about the view. Bloom covered my eyes with her hand anyway.
"I didn't block you from checking out Rhone," I muttered to her under my breath.
"You could've."
"I thought you deserved a glance at perfection, since you have to stare at Mav's sad, inkless ass every day."
Rhone snorted.
"Call my mate's ass sad again and we're going to have an issue, Harp."
I elbowed her lightly.
We both knew Maverick's and Rhone's asses were far from sad.
The world would be better off with more butts like theirs in it. I just happened to prefer Rhone's tattooed backside. Probably helped that I was mated to him.
"We already have issues," I whispered, as the pack cheered about the upcoming fight.
Bloom made an attempt to cheer with the pack, but she was visibly stressed.
"So many issues."
I took her hand, and squeezed.
She gripped mine tightly.
It was the first time that things between us had felt normal since Velour turned me.
That was enough to make my throat thick.
Bloom and I weren't just friends. We were family. We had been, since before we shared an apartment. She was my anchor more than she ever realized, and I was hers too.
Her grip on my hand tightened as the fight began.
Maverick and the other guy both shifted forms, and lunged for each other's throats.
Even with vampire speed, I couldn't take it all in. I slowly zoned out as I watched their teeth snap and their bodies collide.
Skin tore.
The scent of blood grew.
My fangs throbbed. Then descended.
My vision blurred.
A pair of wolfy canines grazed my ankle lightly, snapping me out of the haze just in time to see Maverick's opponent choke out,
"I yield."
Both men were bleeding, but Mav's opponent was significantly worse than the Alpha.
Bloom held my hand so tightly it was numb.
Maverick stepped back, and my best friend let out a breath of relief so heavy, I almost hugged her.
Mav offered a hand to the man on the dirt. He scoffed at the Alpha, slowly rising to his feet on his own. When he spat in mine and Bloom's direction, Maverick went deathly still.
"You'll eventually get sloppy and lose," the man growled at Maverick.
One of the Wilder Pack enforcers strode out of the crowd. I hadn't noticed where they were sitting, but it was near me and Bloom. Two others were at his heels.
Next to the other werewolves, these men looked positively savage.
All of the blood drained slowly from the challenger's face when he saw them. I was pretty sure the Wilder Pack was just as well known as the Alpha Pack, in a very different way.
The first Wilder wolf challenged the guy Maverick had just defeated, without another word.
He looked like he wanted to refuse, but he didn't. He asked for an hour to eat and recover, which was apparently standard.
The Wilder wolves agreed to the wait, and stayed where they were while Mav accompanied the other asshole and a handful of enforcers to find a snack.
He and Bloom exchanged a long look that told me they were having a mental conversation. He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes at him before he left.
"Why doesn't the challenger say no?" I asked Rhone.
"Pride. Shame. Instinct. Social expectation."
"He's going to die, right?"
"Yeah, he's fucked. He knows they'll kill him either way. Might as well go out with dignity." Rhone shifted back to his human form and pulled on the shorts he'd been wearing earlier. "Bloom, you're coming with us. Harper needs to bite me, and Mav doesn't want you away from my side or his."
"I'm fine," I protested.
He shot me a look that said he saw right through my bullshit, and I sighed.
"Lead the way," Bloom said, relaxing more by the minute now that her mate's life was no longer at risk.