Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
bloom
After we were clean and dressed, we headed out. Maverick was in his typical jeans and t-shirt, and I wore my usual leggings, along with one of his sweaters.
He’d talked me into wearing one that was way too big for my shoulders, to show off the scarred wounds on my neck, like the possessive pain in the ass he still was.
I would’ve had to borrow his pants again if he hadn’t been hoarding mine for weeks, but he had been.
So, no borrowing was required.
I’d tied my damp hair up in a bun before we left, too.
“Oh, shit,” I said.
“What?” He looked up and down the hallway, like he was checking for threats.
“Are you going to make me do my own laundry now? I should’ve considered this before sealing the bond.”
“Is that your dealbreaker? Laundry?”
“Don’t act surprised. You saw the pile of dirty clothes in my apartment.”
Maverick hit the button to call the tower’s elevator, draping his arm over my shoulders. It wasn’t nearly as slow as the office building’s, so we wouldn’t be waiting too long. “Alright, I’ll keep doing the laundry. But there’s a condition.”
“Why is there always a condition?”
“It’s only fair.”
“Fine, give it to me.”
“You have to sleep naked. All the time.”
Well... if all of his conditions were that easy, maybe I didn’t mind after all.
I sighed dramatically. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“I do drive a very hard, very large bargain.”
“Alright, deal. You do the laundry, and I’ll sleep naked. Even if there’s knotting involved.”
“There will be.”
We stepped into the elevator, and my humor faded.
I’d been hiding from the reality of Harper’s situation since I’d been awake. Now that we were headed up to see her, I wasn’t going to be able to hide any more.
“How bad is she going to be?” I asked him mentally. Honestly, it felt good to talk that way, and I thought it might ease the blow.
Maverick grimaced. “Bad.”
That was it.
Just bad.
If that was all Maverick had to say about it, it was going to be brutal.
The elevator stopped partway up, and a few other werewolves stepped on.
“Congrats,” one of the women said with a smile aimed directly at me. She must’ve seen the scars on the sides of my throat.
“Thanks.” I gave her a small smile back.
“The whole pack felt the link ripple when I bit you,” Maverick said into my mind.
“Why?”
“I’m the one who holds it together, and my ability is now tethered permanently to you too. It didn’t change anything, but they felt it.”
“Werewolves are so weird.”
He chuckled. “Of course we are. Vampires are altered humans, but we’re our own species.”
“Doesn’t that make it strange that we’re compatible?”
“Depends on your definition of strange. Nature tends to balance itself out.”
The doors opened, and a few more people got in the elevator.
Another congratulations came our way, and I thanked them again.
I got along well with his enforcers, but it was hard to believe Maverick’s other werewolves would like me too.
“Does anyone in your pack hate vampires?” I asked.
“I told you, my Omega is mated to one a lot deadlier than you. No one gives a fuck about your fangs. They’re going to be nice to you because you’re my mate, and mated Alphas are notoriously nice to people who treat their mates well.”
“Takes the edge off your assholeishness?”
“Sure does.”
He kissed the top of my head.
I was almost disturbed by how much I loved it.
The elevator stopped again, on the floor Maverick had hit the button for.
“This is us,” he told everyone, and the crowd parted. A few of the wolves sent us on our way with wishes of good luck.
“Do they know about Harper?” I asked him as we walked down a new-to-me hallway.
“They do. It would be dangerous to have a turned vampire here without warning them, and I don’t keep secrets like that from the pack.”
“That’s fair. Is she safe, though?”
“This is probably the only safe place in the world for her right now.”
Emotion made my throat swell again.
I would never forget the way her mother had ordered Timber to kill her. I just hoped she didn’t remember it.
Seeing her mom one last time before she died had seemed necessary, but if she wasn’t dead, that was a memory that could hurt her for the rest of her life.
“Thank you for helping her.”
“Technically, Rhone made the call, and he’s the one who’s been feeding her.”
“You would do the same.”
“I wouldn’t let anyone else put their fangs in my throat, Bloom. Not even Harper. My wolf wouldn’t allow it.”
Maverick opened a door in the middle of the hallway. It was made of metal, but not silver.
I slipped through, finding myself in what looked like an observation room straight out of a TV show. It was small, with a large viewing window that had a tabletop running the length of it. There were a few chairs in front of the tabletop.
Rhone sat on one of them, next to the man who had helped Rhone tackle Maverick out of the room when I was in the cage. He looked over at us with a grin and a wave.
“Hey, Bloom. Nice to officially meet you. I’m Nolan, the pack’s Omega.”
When I stepped closer, something about the air around him felt calmer.
“Nice to meet you too. I’m not sure what I technically am. Please tell me the Alpha’s mate doesn’t have a title.” I finally lifted my gaze toward the viewing window, and went still when I did.
Harper was sitting on the edge of a simple, firm-looking bed.
The sheets and blankets that must’ve been on it were torn and scattered through the room, and there were patches of blood on her skin and many of the other surfaces.
All she had on was a black tank top and cotton shorts in the same shade, both of which had visible blood stains on them as well.
But she was alive.
Her expression was dark, but she didn’t look devolved. She looked... sad.
My eyes stung.
A man was sitting beside her. His dark hair was a wavy mess that reminded me of a surfer’s. His light brown skin was on display, since he was wearing nothing but a pair of basketball shorts, and I couldn’t see his face.
He was about the size an average human man, so it seemed safe to assume he was the turned vampire Nolan was mated to. I was pretty sure Maverick had said his name was Oren.
A tear escaped down my cheek, and Maverick eased me into one of the chairs. He sat down close to me, draping his arm over my shoulders. “The Alpha’s mate is just the Alpha’s mate.”
“Sounds sexist,” I murmured, silently wiping away another tear.
“The Alpha’s mate is male as often as female,” he countered. “Not sexist.”
“And technically, the pack is calling you the Alpha’s Vampire, so it’s a moot point for you anyway,” Nolan said.
“That might be even worse. Maybe I should send a strongly worded message to everyone. Please just call me Bloom.”
“Don’t let Maverick catch you calling me anything but Bloom or you might lose your head would be a lot more effective,” the Alpha put in
“Well, I don’t want to scare them.”
“Werewolves aren’t often scared by emails. Even the strongly worded kind.”
The men were trying to keep the mood light, and I appreciated it. Even if it didn’t really work.
“What’s he saying to her?” I asked.
Rhone hit a button on the wall, turning the sound on momentarily.
“The bloodlust never fades. You can sate it temporarily, but you’ll never function the way a born vampire does. Vampirism is a part of them. It’s an illness for you.”
Rhone hit the button again, shutting off the conversation.
The daggers Maverick was glaring at him told me my Alpha didn’t want me hearing the worst of it. I smacked his arm lightly, and earned a rumbly sigh.
I wiped away a few more tears. “How long has she been lucid?”
“Gets better every time,” Rhone said. “Only five minutes the first time I fed her. Ten the second. Twenty the third. We’re nearing an hour, this time.”
My eyes widened, and I looked at Rhone. “You’ve let her bite you that many times?”
“It’s the most effective way to stabilize a turned vampire,” Nolan replied for him. “When they start losing control, you just cluster feed them. Not a big deal for a werewolf.”
“It seems like a big deal.” I dried my face with my sleeves.
Nolan shook his head. “They only take a little blood every time. It’s not bad. Mostly just some wrestling. Maybe some fucking. It’s fun, when you’re mated to them.”
My eyes flicked to Rhone.
He wasn’t mated to her. They hated each other. So why had he volunteered to feed her?
His expression didn’t leave my best friend, and his shoulders were tight.
Maybe he was worried she would lose control again.
“Don’t feel bad for Rhone.” Nolan’s scent changed slightly. Something about it relaxed my shoulders a little. Rhone’s, too. “Like I said, it’s fun.”
“He doesn’t even like her,” I pointed out.
“I can pin her down in a fraction of a second, and she can feed from me almost as fast. It’s fine,” Rhone said, still not looking my way.
“Our werewolves are curious about vampires. I can think of about three dozen in the pack just off the top of my head who would jump at the chance to try feeding a turned vampire,” Nolan said.
“I’ve had to knock the sense into a few of them who’ve asked Oren to bite them for experience’s sake.
When Harper’s stable, she’ll have plenty of options. ”
Rhone said flatly, “She’ll only be feeding from me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“He means for the moment,” Maverick said quickly.
“Definitely,” Nolan nodded.
The way they replied and the way Rhone growled told me he absolutely did not mean that. But that was far from our biggest problem at the moment.
“Can I go in there with her?” I asked.
“No,” all three men said at the same time.
“It’s too dangerous,” Maverick added.
“She’s fine at the moment,” I pointed out.
“That could change at any time.”
“Wouldn’t it help her stay lucid to see a familiar face?” I asked. “Other than his.” I gestured to Rhone. She may have been ridiculously attracted to him, but she hated him.
“Or it could trigger her,” Rhone said.
“Can you just ask her if she wants to see me?” I gestured toward the window.
“No.” Maverick said bluntly.
Nolan cleared his throat. “Let me see what Oren thinks. He’s got a better understanding of her headspace than any of us.”
There was a pause. I assumed they were communicating mentally.
“I’m not comfortable with that right now,” Maverick said into my mind.
“I absolutely want you to see her, but I want to do it right after she’s fed, when she has the best chance of staying lucid and has stabilized.
I know you want to talk to her, but there’s no reason to risk your life to do it a little sooner. ”
I bit my lip.
“Oren thinks she needs time alone to decide what she wants,” Nolan said. “Agreeing to be a turned vampire, especially without a mate, is basically accepting a life full of pain. Feeding helps, but only temporarily. She has to decide whether or not she wants to live with this bloodlust.”
My eyes burned all over again, but I nodded.
She deserved to make the choice. She was my best friend, and I’d probably been too pushy, but it was out of my hands now. I couldn’t take her place. I couldn’t hurt for her, or suffer for her, or even live for her.
We watched in silence as Oren continued talking to Harper. I wished Rhone would turn the speaker on again, but she deserved her privacy.
When Harper started to tremble, Oren squeezed her hand and slipped out of the room.
I closed my eyes as she began losing control.
A pair of arms lifted me out of my chair and carried me out of the room.
“Come on, Bloom. We’ve got stuff to pack.” Maverick’s voice was too cheerful. He was trying to make me feel better. It wasn’t going to work, but it was sweet of him to try.
“You’re going to end up paying someone to move most of it,” I said against his chest.
“Nah, I’ll send my enforcers in. I’m already paying them.”
“Mmkay.” I let out a long breath as he carried me toward the elevator. I should’ve made him put me down, but I didn’t. “What do you think she’s going to choose?”
“I don’t know. The bloodlust is supposed to be bad, but Harper has fire. She could handle it if she wanted to. The question is if she wants to, and you’d know that better than I would.”
“I think she would, but it hasn’t exactly been a great few weeks for her.
She’s been having nightmares from murdering Steven, after the guy she was hooking up with basically killed her.
And she obviously lost her mind. Now she’s biting Rhone repeatedly, and she doesn’t even like him. It could go either way.”
“I hope she chooses to stay lucid,” Maverick said honestly.
“I do too. Is that selfish?”
“No. She’s your family.”
Family.
Shit.
I groaned. “I never talked to my parents and sisters after the poisoning. They’re going to kill me.”
“I video called them and sent pictures when you were unconscious, and I’ve been updating them when they ask since. They said you blocked them.”
I looked wide-eyed at Maverick. “What?”
He gave me a lazy grin. “I told you I would win them over.”
“You’re an evil genius.”
“I know. You’re a lucky woman.”
I smacked him on the arm, though it was halfhearted, and spoke aloud. “If you make my family like you more than they like me, I will not forgive you.”
“You’re their world. I couldn’t do that if I tried. Since we’re all going to be family, it doesn’t make sense to hold onto grudges.”
“How pissed are they about the Harper situation?”
His lack of an immediate answer was answer enough.
Extremely pissed.
“I’ll set up a lunch date,” I said with a sigh. “Somewhere neutral, so there’s a better chance that no one dies.”
“That’s probably a good call.”
We took the elevator down to the parking garage and got in Maverick’s SUV. It smelled like cleaning supplies.
“How long did they wait to tell you what happened?” I asked as he started the engine.
“Until after the last challenge. It had been four hours.”
I bit my lip. “Thanks for not losing your shit. I would’ve deserved it if you had, but I’m glad you didn’t.
“You didn’t deserve my anger, but I did lose my shit. Rhone and Nolan helped me work through it before I talked to you. I knew you had secrets, and I probably should’ve harassed you about them sooner.”
“I wish I knew you could help sooner,” I admitted. “I would’ve begged you for help.”
“You’ll never have to beg me for anything.”
“Thank you.” I put my hand on his thigh. He captured it, lacing his fingers through mine with one hand as he maneuvered the car with the other.
I didn’t even want to think about what I’d be feeling or doing at the moment if he and his pack hadn’t basically saved the day.