April
"This is a joke right?" Harper verbalizes my exact thoughts as I pack a bag in my dorm room.
"I wish it was," I sigh, folding a plain dress into a careful square.
"You're twenty-two years old, April! Your parents can't tell you that you have to go home."
"I know, but they're paying for my tuition. They'll cut me off if I don't."
"Fucking assholes," she swears. "What about your classes?"
"They're all online these days. I just have to email my lecturers and ask to switch over."
"But...you can't leave me," she whines. I stop packing to pull her into a crushing hug. She's smaller than me, but she hugs back twice as hard.
"I'm not going to be far. It's less than two hours."
"I know but...It feels like forever. And I only just got you back after thinking you were dead."
"I'm really sorry about that," I say into her hair before we both pulled back.
"You know you still haven't explained where the hell you were for the past few days."
I resume packing, trying to be nonchalant. I am no good at lying to her. "I was...with a guy."
"But not Nik Gray?"
"No. Someone else. I, uh, met him at the party."
Her eyebrows jump up her forehead in surprise. "Really? So you went to the ball as Nik's date and then...found someone better? Does someone better than the Nik Gray even exist?"
"It wasn't like that. I mean, not exactly. It just sort of...happened."
"So you did spend the entire weekend getting laid? Just to clarify?"
My cheeks heat as I remember Reed's touch, the way I came apart in his arms. "No."
"You're blushing!" she gasps, being theatrical.
"I didn't, Harp. Really. I mean...not the entire weekend."
"Oh my god!" She squeals, hitting my arm.
I laugh and she helps me to finish packing. As we walk down the hallway of my dorm building together, she asks, "How long do you think you'll be gone?"
"Until I've managed to calm my mom down a bit. Hopefully it won't be more than a couple of weeks."
"Will you be back before Spring Break?"
We usually spend the holiday together and do something fun; her father is so busy this time of year.
"I hope so. I'm going to call you everyday ok? Maybe you can come down and visit on the weekend," I suggest as we walk outside.
"Yeah, we could go–"
"April," a masculine voice cuts Harper off and my eyebrows immediately draw down when I see North striding toward us.
What the hell? Reed promised me that my werewolf protection detail would be silent and unseen. Maybe something bad happened...
"What's wrong?" I ask him, suddenly nervous, like a vampire is going to jump out and snatch me away in broad daylight.
"Where are you going?" He asks me, but...he's looking at Harper. Only at Harper. And she's staring back, startled at his presence.
"I'm...going to stay with my parents for a few days. In New York," I say meaningfully, hinting that he's going to have to follow me if he wants to stay on my detail.
"Right," he nods, still caught on Harper, not listening to a word I say.
"Uh, April, aren't you going to introduce us?" She asks.
"Right. Sure. Harper, this is North. He's um..." Shit. "A friend I met over the weekend."
Luckily, Harper seems beguiled enough by North not to notice how shitty of a lie it is. She holds out her hand and he takes it. Not shaking it, just holding it.
"Hello?" I wave my hand between them. "Harper, don't you have to get to class?"
She blinks and pulls her hand away. "Right, yeah. Call me when you're in New York, ok?"
"I will."
We hug and she trudges off across campus, glancing back periodically at North.
I hit him on the arm. "What was that about?" He's still staring at her and I notice that his gaze is starting to glow unnaturally. "North!" I hiss. "We're in public!"
"Shit." He ducks his head and I try to shield him from anyone passing by while he gets himself under control.
"Are you ok? What's going on?"
"I'm fine," he growls, brown curls falling far enough into his eyes to hide them as they slowly return back to icy blue. "I have to call Reed."
"Why? What just happened?"
"She's my mate."
I am shocked into silence. He can't mean... There's no way...
"Tell me you're joking," I breathe. "North, this isn't funny."
He glares at me. "You think I'd joke about something like this?"
"Reed said human mates are rare and she just happens to be my best friend. What are the chances of this?"
"Low," he replies tersely. "Very low. I need to go after her." He goes to walk past me but I grab his wrist, digging my heels in and stopping him. I'm quite sure he could throw me off easily, or drag me along, but he stops obligingly.
"You are not going after her and you're not going near her," I snap. "She can't know about any of this."
"She's my mate, April. Of course I have to tell her about this. I need to tell her about everything–"
"No." My tone leaves no room for argument. "You are not putting her in danger." I lean in closer to him, dropping my voice. "Werewolves and vampires are teetering on the edge of all out war and you want to involve my best friend in it? Absolutely not."
"You have no say over this," he bites out.
I swallow and arch an eyebrow. "Don't I? Last time I checked, I'm your future Alpha's mate. Doesn't that mean you have to do what I say?"
Anger overtakes his face and he seizes my arm with an iron grip, dragging me behind the building where no one else is around to see us. Oh god, he's not going to kill me is he?
"Ow, North let go." I try to wriggle free, but his hand only tightens till my whole arm aches. When we are far enough away that no one can overhear us, he shoves me forward, finally letting go. I stumble and steady myself on the side of the building.
"You are so fucking naive. If you had bothered to stay and actually listen to Orson, then you would know that until you've completed the mating ceremony, you're not officially his mate. You have absolutely no authority over me and don't think for a single second that you do."
I shrink back against the brick behind me. "I'm sorry."
"And just because Orson made the idiotic decision to let you go—which is fucking ludicrous, by the way—doesn't mean I would ever do the same thing. Harper is mine and I'm not going to make the same mistakes Orson has."
This infuriates me, emboldens me. Harper doesn't belong to anyone and I don't love anyone in the world the way I love her. I know she would defend me in a situation like this. If North tells her and Harper gets pulled into this mess and then she gets hurt...I'll never forgive myself.
"Give me your phone," I command, holding out my hand.
"Excuse me?"
"Give it to me." He reluctantly pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. I go to contacts and press on Reed's name.
It rings twice.
"North, is April ok?" Reed asks in lieu of a greeting.
North growls and tries to snatch the mobile from my grip but I bat his hand away, stepping further from him.
"Reed, it's me."
"April? What happened? Are you hurt?"
"No, no I'm fine. But something happened and I think you should know," I say. "I have to go to New York."
North's face contorts in confusion; he expected me to tell Reed about Harper being his mate.
"New York?" Reed questions over the phone. "What are you talking about? I just dropped you back at Yale yesterday."
"I know, but my parents showed up and they're dragging me home to New York. I don't know how long I'll be there but...I'm nervous. Can you ask North to stay close to me, just in case?"
North realizes what I'm doing and glowers at me like I am his worst enemy.
There is a pause on the other end of the line. "I don't want you to be scared. I'm going to come with you–"
"No, no. Reed, it's ok. You're needed at the pack, I know that. I just want to make sure that my protection detail isn't going to abandon me."
He lets out a long sigh. "Ok. Let me speak to him."
I put the phone on loud speaker and meet North's glare strongly.
"North?" Reed says.
"What?" North snarls.
"You're going to have to go to New York with April. You know that fucking city is crawling with vampires, so don't you dare let her out of your sight, alright?"
North's jaw clenches.
"Hey? Do you hear me? That's an order: she doesn't leave your sight."
"Understood," he spits, rips the phone from my hand and hangs up.
I push off the wall and start walking back toward the road. "Come on. I've got to meet my parents and then we have a long drive ahead of us."
And we are going far, far away from Harper.
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