“Everything’s going to be fine,” I told her.
It was a lie.
Nothing was going to be fine.
The small smile she gave me was absolutely a lie too.
“You should get some work done,” she said quietly.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to spend my last few days working, or wasting time. But it’s not like I can go outside and do things. Someone’s going to put two and two together. I never know when the spacing out is going to happen. I’m lucky it didn’t while I was driving.”
I hadn’t even thought about it.
She was right; we were insanely lucky.
“It’s going to be fine,” I repeated, fighting my emotions back like my life depended on it.
What else was I supposed to say?
You’re doomed?
My soulmate is going to kill you if he’s here when you devolve. If he’s not, your mom will?
Harper put her hand on mine, patting it lightly. We were still sitting on the floor, and neither of us made a move to get up.
She said softly, “Bloom, I love you, but it’s not going to be fine.”
My eyes welled with tears. “You can’t say that.”
“It’s better to accept the truth than to avoid it now. There’s no way out. The wolf blood didn’t work. I want to enjoy my last fewdays, and I want to know exactly how we’re going to prevent me from killing anyone else.”
I dashed the first bit of escaped emotion out from beneath my eye. “Okay. Let’s make a plan.”
Harper gave me a small smile. “We’re good at that.”
“We kick ass at that.”
“Let’s get the worst over with first. We can either turn me in to the Guild, or to your Alpha. It will end a lot better for you if we go with the wolves.”
“We can’t let the werewolves kill you without you seeing your mom again.” My voice cracked.
“I’m going to die either way.”
“Your last experience isn’t about me, Harper.” More tears forced their way out, and I brushed them away angrily. “God, this isn’t fair.”
“When has life ever been fair? You’ve had to hide what you are from almost everyone you’ve interacted with since you were a kid.” Harper gestured toward the door. “I never realized how hard that would be. The werewolves get to be all loud and proud, but they’ve killed people too, and theyslaughteredvampires. They’re not better than you.”
“Or you.”
Harper shook her head, emotion flashing across her face. “I still dream about Steven. That fucker is going to be with me until the day I die. He sucked, but he didn’t deserve that.”
“You didn’t deserve what Velour did to you, either.”
“Your Alpha would hunt him down, if you told him. Even Rhone would. After he kills me, obviously.”
“The Guild would hunt him down too.”
