Chapter 43: Chapter 43

HARLAN

The note in my hand read, ~Help me.~

It was pretty cursive writing that they didn’t teach in school anymore. I’d found it tucked tightly in my grasp when I woke that morning.

Everlee hadn’t put it there. She’d looked awfully chummy with Rage at the dining table. I attempted to keep myself together and not let my insecurities harm my rational thinking.

If I had any left.

I caught sight of myself in the mirror of the lobby and didn’t recognize myself anymore. I still had my dirty-blond hair and dark eyes. But the animalistic part of me was gone. It’d vanished with my wolf.

The ache inside of me was deep. It fed a sorrow that was growing wildly since my wolf left. Gabriela had done her job. I was her job, but there was something stirring in me when I looked at her.

Those purple-colored eyes and beautiful silver hair.

She looked like an anime character. Not my usual type, but she was spellbinding. I stepped out onto the front steps in time to see their town car leave the kingdom. It was sleek and dark. The windows were tinted, so I couldn’t see who was driving.

I flipped the small note in my hand over and over.

What did she need help from? Was the fae her keeper? Why was he even with her to begin with? They didn’t seem to have a bond or a tie.

What was going on with them?

I walked back into the castle and toward Alpha Allaire’s office. He’d called the witch doctor. Maybe he had a phone number I could trace or a website.

It sounded silly. I was grasping at straws because I wanted to save her. Maybe it was my sudden lack of purpose? I wasn’t sure, but I had to try, right?

Slipping into his office, I left the door cracked open and walked over to his mahogany desk. The papers were neat, most likely Luna Savannah keeping it that way, so I felt like an ass moving them around.

Minutes ticked by of wafting through bills and alpha meetings when the door creaked open. I jumped upward, sending all his papers onto the floor.

He leaned against the doorframe and glared at me. “What are you doing, Harlan? You’ve never been the stealthy one.”

I sighed heavily and bent down to pick up the mess. Alpha Allaire walked over and began to help me pick them up. “I’m sorry. I should have just asked. I’m just…not feeling myself.”

He placed his palm over mine to stall me. When I looked up, his blue eyes were softer than usual. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. I felt like a foreigner in my own body. My wolf was gone, and I wanted to beat the hell out of someone but I knew I couldn’t.

I was weak.

He sat back and braced his elbow against his bent knee. “Tell me the truth. Why were you in here?”

I sat back in a similar manner. I knew if I told him the truth, he wouldn’t allow me to help her. “I was looking to see where Gabriela was from.”

“The witch doctor?” he asked. “Why?” Then a sly look crossed his face, and he waggled his brows at me.

“Don’t ever do that again,” I mumbled, keeping the note tucked away in my pocket. “I’m just curious about her. I felt something for her.”

I stood up swiftly and placed the papers back on his desk. “I was hoping you had a number or an address.”

Alpha Allaire stood up. “Savannah got in touch with her. I’ll have to ask her about it. She put you a plate back at the table. Do you want to eat, and then I’ll find out.”

“I need it now,” I said.

His ability to weed information out of people was superb. So, I sighed heavily before he could pry. “I’m mateless. Wolfless. Let me find a purpose. I’m not going back to Werewolf University. I had a gut feeling about her. A connection. I want to find her and thank her. Hopefully, get to know her.”

To save her.

Alpha Allaire seemed to see my desperation and nodded. “I’ll go ask Savannah.”

The office door opened, and as if summoned, Savannah poked her head through the crack. “I put your plate on the kitchen cabinet, Harlan. Is everything okay in here?”

“Harlan needs the information about Gabriela.”

She stepped all the way inside and placed her palms on her hips. “Why? Did it not work? Are you feeling sick? I can have one of the elders whip up something for nausea.”

“I felt something for Gabriela, and I need to find her.”

“Oh.” Luna Savannah looked surprised. “Well, I put her number around here somewhere. Let me find it.”

I could feel her disapproval. I’d just been cleansed of a curse and was looking for love in the wrong places in their eyes. They didn’t feel what I felt. I may have been human now, but my feelings were strong.

And the note in my pocket meant those bad vibes I got from the fae were right.

Savannah dug in the desk drawer for a moment and handed me a slip of paper. The area code was from several towns away. “Now, you don’t go jumping into a relationship because you’re hurting, Harlan. You give yourself time to heal at the university when you go back.”

I hissed under my breath. “I can’t go back there. I’m not a wolf anymore. I have no reason to go back. I think I’m going to look into a trade school close by. I like to weld. I did a little last summer. I can’t go back there. Not after all of this. Especially after I tried to kill a bunch of wolves.”

She opened her mouth, but Alpha Allaire placed his palm on her arm, silencing her. “I see,” she whispered. “Don’t go leaving me all alone,” she said. “Don’t move to Alaska and forget about us.”

I leaned forward and pulled her into a hug. She was my mother. She took care of me when no one else would. “I love you, Mom.”

I felt a tear press against my cheek. “I’m sorry this happened to you, baby.” She pulled back and braced her palms against my cheeks. “I love you, too. Now, you go eat your breakfast. I need to talk to Daxton.”

I felt his stare on my face as if he sensed something was off.

I smiled at him and slipped from the office. I couldn’t hear where everyone was anymore, but I knew they were close after breakfast.

I hurried up the stairs and down the hallway to my room. Gabriela’s scent was still hanging in the air. I imagined her standing over me, pulling the curse from me, and leaving me to pick up the pieces.

All the while, she was searching for help.

Help that I planned to give her.

I heard Everlee’s door shut down the hallway, and I knew she was no longer someone I needed to protect. Rage was her chosen mate. Rage would die protecting her.

He’d already shown that to me. Not that she needed protecting. She’d whooped all of our asses the day before.

I imagined Alpha Allaire smiling at the thought of her and saying, “That’s my girl.” I didn’t blame him. She was spectacular like her mother.

I grabbed my duffle bag from the closet and began to shove my clothes into it. There was an unknown sitting in the distance for me.

I was completely human. Something I’d never been, though there’d always been a part of me that was human. I just needed to find my place there.

My human side was strong.

It had to be.

I kicked my full duffle bag underneath my bed and out of sight. I was going to find Gabriela and help her.

Save her.

From what? I didn’t know.

I couldn’t stay at the kingdom and become the pitiful human boy. I had to stand up and fight for myself. Humans could be heroes too.

I just needed to prove I was brave enough to be one.

End of Book 2