Dorian's eyes snapped to his sister standing frozen in the doorway, her blue-gray gaze taking in the scene before her with dawning comprehension. Harper's naked shoulder visible above the sheet. His arms wrapped possessively around her. The scattered clothes on the floor that told the story of their passion.
"Oh God." Lila's cheeks flushed crimson. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't alone. I just wanted to check that everything was okay after Marty told me about the wolves last night."
Harper stirred against him, her body tensing as consciousness returned and the reality of their situation crashedover her. Her green eyes flew open, meeting his for one panicked moment before shifting to Lila's mortified face.
"Lila." Harper's voice came out strangled with horror. She clutched the sheet to her chest as she sat up, her hair wild from sleep and sex. "This isn't what it looks like?—"
"I'm not naive," Lila interrupted, her voice tight with a mixture of embarrassment and something else—hurt? "I know what happened here. I knew something was going on between you two."
Dorian felt the moment Harper's defenses slammed back into place. The soft, vulnerable woman who'd melted in his arms became the professional therapist who couldn't afford complications. She was already pulling away from him, both physically and emotionally.
"I can explain—" he started, but Harper was already moving.
She scrambled from the bed with the sheet wrapped around her like armor, snatching her clothes from the floor with jerky, desperate movements. "Lila, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do this. I didn't mean to jeopardize our counseling relationship." Her words tumbled out in a rush of self-recrimination. "I should just leave."
No.
Every Alpha instinct he possessed roared to life as Harper rushed toward the door. She was running—from him, from what they'd shared, from the connection that had felt like coming home. His wolf snarled, demanding he chase her, claim her, make her understand that she belonged here.
"Harper, stop—" Dorian threw back the covers and lunged from the bed, wrapping a sheet around his waist as he moved.
But she was already gone, fleeing down the hallway with her clothes clutched against her chest like a shield. Moments later, the sound of her guest room door slamming shut echoed through the estate like a gunshot.
Dorian stood in his doorway, his chest heaving with the effort not to follow her immediately. The mate bond stretched between them like a physical ache, every step she'd put between them feeling like a knife to his gut.
"What did you do?"
Lila's voice was deadly quiet behind him, but when he turned, her expression blazed with fury that reminded him uncomfortably of their mother. Gone was the fragile, traumatized girl he'd been trying to protect. In her place stood a young woman whose trust he'd just shattered.
"You ruined everything," she continued, her voice rising with each word. "Like you always do. You ruined the one good thing that was happening because what—because you found her attractive? Because you're the Alpha and you can just do whatever you want?"
"No, Lila. It's not like that. I didn't do this to hurt you or because I'm selfish." His voice roughened with emotion. "You know me better than that."
"Then what?" Tears of anger and betrayal sparkled in her eyes. "How could you do this to me? She was actually helping me, Dorian. For the first time since the attack, I was starting to feel like myself again. And you—" She gestured helplessly at the rumpled bed.
Dorian's throat closed. He'd spent eighteen years protecting his sister, sacrificing everything for her wellbeing, and now she was looking at him like he was the enemy. The truth burned in his chest, demanding release.
"Harper is my fated mate, Lila."
The words hung in the air like a confession and a plea. Lila's anger flickered, replaced by shock that quickly morphed back into fury.
"I knew it from the moment I shook her hand," he continued, his voice raw with honesty. "But I tried to deny it. Tried to resistit because I knew you needed her more than I did. But last night, after the attack, after she needed comfort..." He ran his hand through his dark hair, suddenly feeling every one of his thirty-five years. "We messed up."
Lila stared at him for a long moment, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. When she finally spoke, her voice shook with determination.
"I don't care what you need to do, but you cannot let Harper leave. Not now. Not after she was actually helping me and I was starting to care about her." Her blue-gray eyes flashed with steel that reminded him she was a Holt, through and through. "You better fix this, Dorian. Now."
She spun on her heel and stormed down the hallway, her footsteps echoing like thunder before her bedroom door slammed with enough force to rattle the windows.
Fuck.
Dorian sagged against his doorframe, the weight of his failures crushing down on him. Lila was furious. Harper was fleeing. And he was standing here in nothing but a sheet, watching his world crumble because he couldn't control his need for the one woman who could heal them all.
His wolf paced frantically, torn between the urge to comfort his distraught sister and the desperate need to claim his mate before she disappeared from his life forever. The scent of Harper's fear and shame still lingered in the air, a constant reminder that he'd let her down when she'd been brave enough to trust him.
Dorian pushed away from the wall and stalked to his dresser, yanking on boxers and jeans with sharp, efficient movements. Harper thought she'd made a mistake—thought she'd compromised her professional integrity for a moment of weakness. She had no idea that what happened between themwas written in the stars, that fighting the mate bond was like trying to hold back the tide.
She's going to call Gerri. She's going to leave.
