There was a crease between his eyebrows that I’d never seen before, and he hadn’t looked away for a moment while I spoke.
There was a brief silence before he said, “I understand why you didn’t come to me in the beginning. Why not after the poisoning? Or after I told you I wanted to seal our bond? Or after you heard Velour’s theory?”
“It obviously wasn’t true. She’d been drinking your blood basically from the beginning. It doesn’t get more werewolf than this.” I gestured to all of him. “When it came down to it, we had to choose to let the Guild kill Harper or to let you guys kill her. She needed to say goodbye to her mom, so?—”
“It’s true.”
“What is?”
“A steady supply of werewolf blood is the only way to stabilize a turned vampire. It has to be from the vein, and it’s not a cure-all. Most of them can’t be saved. There are only two stable, turned vampires alive right now. One’s in hiding with her mate, in close contact with us for monitoring. The other’s mated to my Omega. Oren.”
I stared at him.
He stared at me.
Neither of us said a word for a good, long while.
“She could survive?” My voice wobbled.
“I don’t know. Wolf blood isn’t a guarantee. She has to decide if she wants to live or not, and if she does, she’ll have to fight the bloodlust for the rest of her life to a degree you have never experienced.”
“Are you...” I trailed off, then tried again. “Do you know of any...” I stopped myself again.
“Spit it out.”
“I know I have no right to ask after hiding the truth from you, but is anyone in your pack willing let them bite her, to see if she can fight it?”
“Rhone fed her last night, right after he brought her here. She was lucid for a minute or so.”
My eyes stung. “Is that a good or bad sign?”
“It’s too early to say, but if there was no hope, the blood wouldn’t have done anything at all.”
I nodded, dashing away a few small tears with the back of my hand. My mouth was dry, and I had a headache, but I was okay. “Thank you.”
“I’m not the one who offered her my neck. You can thank my Beta.”
“I will.”
Another moment of silence passed.
I had no idea where we stood. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to insinuate to that I expected things between us to be exactly the same.
They were different, now.
Obviously.
And I still needed time to process everything that had happened with Harper.
I also needed to call my family and explain.
And make sure the Guild went after Velour.
Talk to my team at the investment company and double check that things were still running smoothly for Maverick’s sake, too.
I’d messed everything up between us, but I wasn’t going to let that fall apart for him. Especially not if his pack was trying to keep Harper alive for me.
“Thanks.” I stood up, wrapping my arms around my middle. They were terrible support. My legs shook.
