Page 62 of Shifting Fate
Dallon
The day that Harper Fleur saved my life, Rhine invited him to stay with us. Not just for the night, but for the unforeseeable future.
Turns out, Harper had spent the last ten months moving from hotel room to hotel room, living off convenience store food and crappy coffee on the search for his sister. After learning that we already planned on making a move against her, he’d offered to aid us in any way possible, in exchange for temporary room and board.
Rhine agreed without a second thought.
Once upon a time, my Alpha would’ve gotten all puffed up and growly at the thought of sharing a home with our sworn enemy’s brother. Hell, he’d freaked the fuck out when Rory had dragged a wounded Bastien home. It’d taken himmonthsto get over his grudge against Westwind and accept Bastien back into our lives, and now here he was, openly accepting of a stranger? A stranger whose magic could easily decimate our entire pack with, like, a blink?
Weird.
I hella respected the new and improved Rhine Sutton, though, I had to admit. He was starting to become a pretty badass Alpha.
But not everything was sunshine and rainbows when it came to the new living arrangements. When Rhine announced that Harper would be staying with us, Sawyer had flipped his shit. He started flinging accusations at Harper until Tegan snarled at him to go cool off. Sawyer stormed out of the room like a walking tornado and, well…
He still wasn’t over it.
He openly glared at Harper from across the dinner table. He growled whenever the man got too close, keeping a good six feet between them at all times, and he’d become almost possessive over Remy. Poor Rem was flabbergasted, and more than once, I’d heard them arguing in hushed voices, so as not to wake the babies.
But beneath his prickly exterior, I saw the truth shining clearly in Sawyer’s eyes.
He was afraid.
Of what? I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t my place to prod. I knew he’d been through some scary shit in his life. I mean, fuck, he’d become a goddamnDreadhunter, for Christ’s sake. Obviously you don’t just sign your life away and “inherit” someone else’s magic if you aren’t scared shitless of the enemy—which was shifters, up until he became one.
And now? Apparently, in Sawyer’s eyes, Harper was the enemy. It kind of pissed me off. The guy had seriously saved my bacon. He could’ve let us die. He could’ve let the Dreadhunters run amok in the streets of downtown Northpoint in a bloodbath, but he didn’t. He put his life in danger to save me and Arias. He was willing to help us kill his sister, and Sawyer had his panties in a twist?
“Dude, real talk. What is your problem?” I asked after dinner one night, when I caught Sawyer glowering at Harper from across the room.
The witch was talking quietly with Ezra in the kitchen, their shoulders close but not quite touching. Ezra nodded his head in an animated fashion and Harper’s face stretched into a broad smile. Remy laughed from where he stood, washing dishes. A deep growl rumbled out of Sawyer.
“Seriously,” Gage muttered.
Sawyer pinned me with stormy gray eyes. “I don’t trust him. I don’t want him here.”
“Unfortunately, that isn’t your decision to make,” Bastien said calmly. He sat in the rocking chair, slowly rocking himself with the tip of his shoe. Roslyn lay on his chest, her little hands fisted in his shirt. She’d just spent the past twenty minutes wailing her heart out and now she was finally winding down.
Thank god.
“If my brother trusts the guy, he can’t be that bad.” Rory laid on the floor beside the rocking chair, his hands resting on his stomach. His shaggy black hair was pushed back away from his face as he gazed up at us. He frowned. “Rhine doesn’t trust just anyone, especially someone who could be a danger to his mate. If anyone deserves the right to be freaked out, it’s Tegan and Ezra. Theyaremarked, remember?”
Sawyer crossed his arms over his chest, scowling. “I know, but—”
“But what?” I countered. “You haven’t even made an effort to get to know the man, Sawyer. At the very least, you could’ve Googled him. He isn’t the villain you’re making him out to be. In fact, he’s actually kind of awesome.”
“You don’t understand,” Sawyer uttered, his voice suddenly hoarse. His eyes flashed wide, round as saucers, then narrowed into slits. “How could you? You didn’t live it! You weren’t there!”
“Neither was Harper. Think about how he feels. Not only did he lose his twin sister once, but now he has to kill her, because if he doesn’t? Shifters all around the world are going to die. We are going todie, Sawyer,” I said. “And you’re wasting energy holding a grudge against him, just because of who he is?”
Sawyer frowned, but didn’t say anything.
“What about Arias? Or Espen? Or Ezra? Do you hate them too? They’re Liora’s children. They have her magic.”
“That’s different—”
Anger bubbled inside of me. I snarled. “It’s no different!”
“They didn’t choose to come into this world,” he hissed back.
