Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

chapter twenty-four.

April

Clean, fresh white sheets surround me.

I don't know how long I've been asleep, a day or maybe longer. The last thing I remember is calling my father to let him know I'm safe and then falling into the bed in Reed's hotel room.

He's out, speaking with the Council of Elders about renewing the truce.

I ponder ordering room service because I'm starving and I jump in the shower and change into one of Reed's shirts. It's a familiarity now, being wrapped in his clothes.

The door to the hotel room opens and Reed slips inside. He closes the door as quietly as possible, then turns to see me sitting up in bed.

"You're awake," he says. "How are you feeling?"

I rub my eyes. "I'm fine, feeling better now that I've rested."

"Good. I was worried." He comes straight over to me and sits on the edge of the bed, taking my hands in his.

"What did the Council say?"

"They're happy to create a new truce, thanks to you," he explains, then pauses. "But they want you to be part of the negotiations. They think you can be a bridge between vampires and werewolves."

I look down at where his large hands encase my own. He removes one to touch my chin and raise my head till our eyes meet.

"April, if you don't want to be part of it, then I'll tell them that. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

A long sigh leaves me and I lean back against the bedhead behind me. "I want to help. I just feel like there's still so much I don't understand and I'm worried about saying or doing the wrong thing and ruining it all."

His expression is fond and warm. "You're not going to ruin anything, sweetheart."

I swipe my thumb over his knuckles. "Is North ok?"

"He's fine, I promise. He did...tell me about your friend, Harper. His mate," Reed says hesitantly.

I sit up straighter, concern barrelling through me. "He hasn't gone back to Yale and told her, has he?"

Reed shakes his head. "I said he needed to wait until I'd spoken to you. But April..."

"He can't, Reed. I have almost died more than once now and I've known about this entire mess for like a week. If Harper finds out, she'll inevitably be put in danger."

He looks pained, like he's being torn in two different directions. "April, I would do anything for you and I understand you want to keep your friend safe. But even if I was Alpha now, I still couldn't tell North that he's forbidden from seeing his mate. It's not allowed. Every werewolf has the right to seek out and court their mate."

"Court?" I repeat. "This isn't the fifteenth century, Reed. And he'd be putting her in direct danger. How am I supposed to be ok with that?"

"She doesn't have to know about vampires or anything that's happened. All he has to tell her is what he is and that she's his mate–"

"And that's the other issue!"' I cut in. "This idea of having the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with chosen for you. Harper would hate that. She deserves to have choices, to be able to choose these things for herself."

"Is that how you feel?" His expression is solemn now, reserved. "Like I've taken your choices away from you."

I wince. "That wasn't what I meant."

He turns his head away.

I lean forward and run my hands up his corded, muscular forearms. "Reed...I'm not talking about me. But can't you see why I want to protect my best friend from all of this?"