I narrowed my eyes at him.
“He means for the moment,” Maverick said quickly.
“Definitely,” Nolan nodded.
The way they replied and the way Rhone growled told me he absolutely didnotmean that. But that was far from our biggest problem at the moment.
“Can I go in there with her?” I asked.
“No,” all three men said at the same time.
“It’s too dangerous,” Maverick added.
“She’s fine at the moment,” I pointed out.
“That could change at any time.”
“Wouldn’t it help her stay lucid to see a familiar face?” I asked. “Other than his.” I gestured to Rhone. She may have been ridiculously attracted to him, but she hated him.
“Or it could trigger her,” Rhone said.
“Can you just ask her if she wants to see me?” I gestured toward the window.
“No.” Maverick said bluntly.
Nolan cleared his throat. “Let me see what Oren thinks. He’s got a better understanding of her headspace than any of us.”
There was a pause. I assumed they were communicating mentally.
“I’m not comfortable with that right now,”Maverick said into my mind.“I absolutely want you to see her, but I want to doit right after she’s fed, when she has the best chance of staying lucid and has stabilized. I know you want to talk to her, but there’s no reason to risk your life to do it a little sooner.”
I bit my lip.
“Oren thinks she needs time alone to decide what she wants,” Nolan said. “Agreeing to be a turned vampire, especially without a mate, is basically accepting a life full of pain. Feeding helps, but only temporarily. She has to decide whether or not she wants to live with this bloodlust.”
My eyes burned all over again, but I nodded.
She deserved to make the choice. She was my best friend, and I’d probably been too pushy, but it was out of my hands now. I couldn’t take her place. I couldn’t hurt for her, or suffer for her, or evenlivefor her.
We watched in silence as Oren continued talking to Harper. I wished Rhone would turn the speaker on again, but she deserved her privacy.
When Harper started to tremble, Oren squeezed her hand and slipped out of the room.
I closed my eyes as she began losing control.
A pair of arms lifted me out of my chair and carried me out of the room.
“Come on, Bloom. We’ve got stuff to pack.” Maverick’s voice was too cheerful. He was trying to make me feel better. It wasn’t going to work, but it was sweet of him to try.
“You’re going to end up paying someone to move most of it,” I said against his chest.
“Nah, I’ll send my enforcers in. I’m already paying them.”
“Mmkay.” I let out a long breath as he carried me toward the elevator. I should’ve made him put me down, but I didn’t.“What do you think she’s going to choose?”
“I don’t know. The bloodlust is supposed to be bad, but Harper has fire. She could handle it if she wanted to. The question is if she wants to, and you’d know that better than I would.”
“I think she would, but it hasn’t exactly been a great few weeks for her. She’s been having nightmares from murdering Steven, after the guy she was hooking up with basically killed her. And she obviously lost her mind. Now she’s biting Rhone repeatedly, and she doesn’t even like him. It could go either way.”
