Page 65 of Shifting Fate
“You wouldn’t have answered,” I replied. “You would’ve read it, then ‘accidentally’ forgot all about it. I know your games, brother-mine.”
He grunted. “When?”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight,” he repeated slowly, then cut a glance to Merrick. His mate smiled shyly back. Espen wrinkled his nose, then huffed out a soft laugh. “You ready to meet the parents, Merr?”
“It sounds like I don’t have much of a choice,” he admitted.
“Sorry,” I told him with a shrug. “If it’s any consolation, Dallon’s going too. She’s been hounding me for weeks, asking to meet him. Guess she took matters into her own hands, huh?”
We all laughed at that. The conversation shifted and breakfast was served, but something was bugging me. I stood, excusing myself from the table. “I’m going to check on Harper, make sure everything’s okay.” My brother waved me off, his mouth stuffed full of scrambled eggs.
I went out the back door and headed towards the large outbuilding at the edge of the property. I stepped inside the barn just as Harper came stumbling down the steps of Wiz’s office. There was a sheet of paper clenched in one hand. He caught himself on the railing, swaying in place.
He sank down on the bottom step and stretched his long legs out in front of him, clutching the paper to his chest. He bowed his head and I felt the tingle of his magic against my skin. Sorrow. Pain. Guilt. I didn’t need to look into his eyes to know that he was grieving.
I slowly walked over to him. He didn’t raise his head, but he knew I was there. He sniffed and wiped at his face, and a pang of sadness shot through me like an arrow. I rested my hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he murmured.
“Liar.”
Harper blinked up at me, his mouth forming a small ‘o’ of surprise. “Youaremy blood, aren’t you?” It won me a smile, though it faded just as fast. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. Then he gently folded the paper into fourths before tucking it into his pocket.
“Who was that?” I asked, even though I already knew. It was one of Wiz’s missing persons posters. It had to be, by the stricken look on the witch’s face.
He gave his head a small shake. “Cross was a lover and a good friend.” There was a moment of silence before Harper cursed softly. “Was. Likely a foe now, if Whisper’s conjecture about missing shifters being mutated into Dreadwolves is anything to go by.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I had my own assumptions, but seeing it in black and white…” He shook his head. “It hurts.”
“If it’s any consolation, I get it. My little brother is on one of those posters, but I won’t give up until we find him, for better or for worse.” Even if the only closure we got was his body. I wouldn’t give up on Findlay until I knew, for sure, that he was gone.
Harper smiled sadly. “You have the Fleur spunk, that’s for certain.”
I knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but it was a slap in the face nonetheless. I flinched. My inner-wolf let out a discontented growl, but I gritted my teeth to keep it in.
“Look,” I began, suddenly needing to voice these feelings. “I know you can’t possibly know this, but Espen and I? We grew up without a mother’s love for the first several years of our lives. Father’s guilt over what he did to your sister? It ate at him. The shame was too much. He was never a father to us. He was too disconnected, too angry, and honestly? Being compared to the very woman who wants us dead stings, knowing that my own birth mother hates me for even existing. I’m not a Fleur and I never will be. I might be her blood, but I amnotLiora’s son.”
Harper looked down at his hands. “I… I’m sorry.”
I shrugged it off, but inside, my heart throbbed with an otherworldly ache. “Me too,” I murmured, then, without a word, I turned around and went back inside.
Suddenly, I wanted Dallon. It struck me hard, a deep longing that swelled in my chest and made it hard to breathe. I blinked tears from my eyes, needing my mate more with each passing second. I could feel the threads of my composure unraveling, fraying and twisted.
“Hey, Espen?” I spoke, lingering in the doorway. Merrick and Espen both glanced up, and my brother cocked his head. I nodded towards the front of the manor. “I’m going to head out. Don’t forget, dinner with Mom and Dad tonight at six. Don’t be late.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He scoffed, but his gaze softened. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I told him, because I would be soon. “See you later, brother-mine.”
As soon as my feet hit the hard ground, I shifted and galloped all the way to Amber Run. Remy answered the door with a smile, pointing up the stairs.
I found my mate sound asleep in his bed.
Quietly shutting the bedroom door behind me, I crawled in beside him. He stirred with a soft groan. I looped both arms around his waist, needing him close. I buried my nose in the hair at the nape of his neck, breathing him in, and with each breath, the tightness in my chest eased just a little.
It was strange, how someone could feel so much like home.
Dallon was home. In such a short amount of time, he’d somehow become the four walls around my heart, keeping me safe and watching over me. There was no “falling” for me—this was it. This was love. This was mine, and I was never letting go.
