“Or condoms. Maybe he’s trying to send me a message.”
Harper snorted, sitting down in the chair in front of Maverick’s bag. “That didn’t sound like condoms.”
I gave her a quick rundown of everything that had happened. As I finished, I grimaced.
“Shit, I think I left my clothes there.”
Actually, he had been holding them. Where had he put them when we got to his office? I couldn’t remember.
“Are you going to see him again?”
“I don’t think so. He and Rhone will be investigating the murders, but I’ll have my own office, so we won’t need to interact or anything. And they think the killer is someone on the outside, so they probably won’t be there much. Are you okay? You seemed weird before everything happened at the office, and you look kind of pale.”
Harper grimaced. “I have to tell you something.”
“Okay...”
She hesitated.
“Did Velour fuck something up? Do I need to send him a strongly-worded text?”
Harper let out a shaky breath and looked down at the countertop.
“Just tell me, Harper.”
Her hands were in her lap, but I could see them clenched together from where I was. “It’s… bad, Bloom.”
“How bad?”
“Really, really bad.” The blood was draining from her cheeks. She was fidgeting, too. She never fidgeted.
“Then spit it out. You know I’m here for you, whatever it is.” We were the kind of friends who would bury bodies for each other.
“I killed Steven.” Her face was paler than usual, her eyes still focused downward like she couldn’t look at me.
My body went still.
A solid minute passed.
“What?”I finally asked, though I was sure I’d heard correctly.
“Velour bit me while we were fucking. He took too much, and panicked. He fed me some of his blood, and snapped my neck. I turned. The bloodlust was immediate.”
I stared at her, my chest tight with horror. “No.”
“You didn’t answer your phone,” she said softly. “I came to the office to find you, but ran into Steven in the lobby. He asked me come upstairs to talk about his calendar. I was disoriented, but went. He grabbed my arm to see why I wasn’t paying attention,and he was dead before I even realized I bit him. I freaked out, used hand sanitizer where I’d touched him, and ran home.”
My eyes stung. Burned. Watered. “Harper.”
“By the time I picked myself up enough to seem normal, the workday was about to start. I knew you needed caffeine and clothes, so I stole some of your colored contacts and forced myself to leave. I was going to tell you in the bathroom and get out of the office before anyone realized what happened, but someone found his body, and the wolves showed up.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Then I was going to turn myself in to protect you, but they said you were his mate, and I knew the Alpha wouldn’t kill his mate, and I… I didn’t want to die. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I fucked up. I fucked up so badly. I keep seeing Steven’s face, and he was such an ass but he didn’t deserve to die, and I’m so sorry.” Her eyes were watering too, but she didn’t wipe her tears away.
“He turned you,” I said. “Velour did.”
She nodded, the motion jerky.
“I’m going to fuckingkillhim.” My fists clenched. I had no idea how to kill a vampire, but I’d fucking figure it out. “First, we have to figure out what to do about this. We need a plan.”
