Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

special chapter five.

Harper

Blood stains my sheets. I ignore it, pressing a cool, damp cloth against the smaller, slowly healing wounds on North's body. I've managed to wrangle most of his clothes off—except for his underwear—and have cleaned his wounds with painstaking care.

He's hardly woken, sleeping fitfully, tossing and turning and groaning in pain.

At some point, I fall asleep, curled against his warmth, beneath the crook of his arm.

"Harper?"

I wake to the rough sound of my name, jerking upright. He sits slowly, groaning and gripping his side.

"Don't move," I rush to say. "Don't– Just stay there, ok?" I leap up from the bed, filled with nervous, anxiety-induced energy. I flit over to pour him a glass of water from a jug and then race back to his side, swearing as I spill some of it on my carpet. "Here. Drink."

He takes it from me, still looking a little confused. "Where's April?" he asks before gulping it down.

I run my hands over my hair, then down my sides, unable to be still for even a second. "I don't know," I admit, the worry choking me. "She said she had to go and find Reed. But she didn't say how...North, what happened?"

I need to know, more than I need my next breath.

He rubs his eyes, leaning back against the wall. "Our pack was attacked and taken hostage."

"What?" I gasp. It's unfathomable to me. "Should we...can we call the police?"

He grimaces, shaking his head. "That's not how it works, Harper."

I feel stupid and useless. "Who attacked you?"

He hesitates and doesn't answer. Secrets stretch the distance between us. Instead, he says, "I need to go. If April has gone after Reed by herself, then she's in danger. And so is the rest of my pack—what's left of it anyway."

He pushes himself up, but before he can get far, I plant my hands on his bare shoulders and try to hold him down. "You can't go anywhere!" I protest. "You're injured, North."

"I'm fine," he grunts, going to stand.

"Stop!" Blood seeps through the bandage around his torso. "You've re-opened your wounds." I try to push him back down on the bed, but he's too strong. Immoveable. Panic seeps in. "Please, North. Please lie back down." My voice is quiet, broken. I'm so stressed I'm on the verge of a full blown meltdown.

At my pleading expression, his mouth flattens and he reluctantly lies back, wrapping his hand around my wrist to keep me close. "I'm sorry, Harper. For dragging you into this." He shakes his head. "Maybe April was right; I should've just left you alone."

It's painful to hear, tears threatening to fall at the edge of my eyes.

"All you need to worry about is getting better. You can't help anyone when you're..." My bottom lip wobbles. "Jesus, you could've died, North. You should be dead." Any human wouldn't have survived the deep wounds he currently wears.

I shouldn't care this much about him, the thought of his death shouldn't devastate me because I hardly know him and yet...The pain is thorough and all consuming.

"Please don't die," I whisper.

"Hey, hey, baby." He reaches up and cups my cheeks, wiping away my tears. "I'm not going to die. I'm fine, really. I just need another day or so and then it'll be like nothing even happened."

My breathing starts to even out, the panic receding slightly. He pulls me down till our foreheads touch.

"Everything's going to be ok," he murmurs. "I know you didn't want to be part of all of this–"

"I didn't say that," I interrupt, curling my fingers around his wrists. "It wasn't that I wanted to stay out of it all...it was more..."

A solemn expression takes over his face. "You didn't want to be my mate."

I make a noise of frustration. "I don't want to be anyone's mate! It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with wanting choice. Freedom to choose who I love." I choke on the word 'love'.

His eyes dart down to my lips and then he presses a crushing kiss against them, pulling back before I can respond. My head whirls—I'm barely able to process it.

"You know, I watched Reed struggle with this same thing with April and I thought to myself, if it were my mate, I would just tell her that she was mine and there'd be no further argument." He shakes his head. "How fucking naive was I?" He lets me go completely, his hands falling back to his sides.

Reluctantly, I sit up straighter, my knees still pressing into his thighs.

"But now I realize why Reed made all the decisions he did. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Harp. Even..." He swallows and looks away, his jaw tense. "Letting you go. If that's what you decide you want."

I don't know what I want. Physically, I ache for him. But my head is a tangled mess.

When I say nothing, he adds, "All I ask is that you take some time to think about it. Don't make a decision too quickly. And just know that no matter what...I'll always be waiting for you."

I can hardly breathe under the weight of his words. "Come on," I say, my voice hoarse as I urge him to lie further down on the bed. "You need to get back to sleep."

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