Page 65

Sixty

HARLOW

Alec’s speed proves I have no shot of beating him all the way to Banff, which means I still don’t get his age.

Yet. I will figure it out.

When we approach the mountains, I pull him to a stop. “Could we find a cave or something instead of using Morgan’s basement. It’ll be right before sunrise when we arrive and won't have time to fully explain everything like they’ll want. I’d rather avoid them until necessary.”

No doubt, Morgan’s worried, based on Alec’s story about what happened after the sun set and he realized I wasn’t with her. But she deserves the time to ask what she needs to and not be rushed through that shocking conversation within minutes.

He leads me into another direction, seemingly knowing where he’s going, and we reach a large cave in the side of a mountain.

“It goes far back enough that sunlight never reaches far inside.”

I head to the very back as he recommends, taking a seat on the ground that no longer feels hard. Alec settles beside me, leaning against the cave wall.

“You should rest. Your body went through a lot with the transformation. The first couple days as a vampire are the most difficult.” He pulls me close, his body a perfect fit against mine. “I think I will too. Dying really takes it out of a person.”

Maybe but sleep feels like the furthest thing in my abilities.

“I don’t know if I’m able to.” I straighten off of him, inching to the side. “But you feel free to. No need to hold me.”

Abruptly, he yanks me on top of him, my legs around his thighs like I slept last night in Morgan’s basement.

From now on, you’ll sleep in my arms.

Possessive. But I’m okay with it.

I have something to be possessive over.

I love you too.

He stares at me, murmuring in a wondrous tone, “How have I gone so long without you?”

“How long exactly would that be?’

He lightly slaps my ass. Nice try.

I had to give it an honest effort. What happens tomorrow?

What do you want to happen?

When I first rejoined the coven, it felt right to be home. But now…

You’re still a witch. You still belong there.

I’m in-between. Vampires won’t want me around because I’m the enemy. Witches will be scared of me.

He tightens his arm around my waist, but it doesn’t do anything to my despondent mood. “ I want you, so fuck everyone else.”

“They’re my coven, Alec; it’s not that easy. Even if I was raised away, my magick recognizes them. Sinclairs made Highridge, so it’s like my legacy. Since I’ll never have kids, I’ll forever be the remaining Sinclair. Feels wrong to leave.”

He stiffens. “Did you want kids?”

I shake my head into his side, answering in his head rather than pushing the words from my tight throat. Not really, but I can’t say where the future would have ended up. Did you want kids in your human life?

They were expected of me. Wants did not matter. I was heir to my father and would have been arranged to wed a woman, a princess from another kingdom most likely. She would have become my queen and bore my children. At least one son, one spare, and then however many more she wanted.

When Alec speaks of his past, it always strikes me how strange the differences between history and now is. His explanation seems so cold and impersonal, but normal for his time.

It’s the life he would have had, if my ancestor made different choices. If the vampires who hunted him didn’t turn them. If his father didn’t give Cora to the coven.

“Do you wish that was the life you had instead of being a vampire?”

Silence stretches between us like an uncomfortable band that’s too tight around my sternum. When he finally answers, it seems to be with the weight of all his choices. “The transition freed me. Then, yes, I believed I’d miss my old life, but I soon realized being beneath my father’s reign was a set of unbreakable shackles. As vampires, Cora and I were free, and while it may have taken a bit to get used to the idea of drinking blood and living forever, I much preferred it. If you’re asking if I wished I stayed human to take a wife and have a brood of children…” Abruptly, the angle changes as I’m flipped onto my back, Alec coming over me. “Then no. Not the kids, not the wife. They were all part of the role expected of me. When I met you, I officially woke up. Like my immortal life had meaning.”

“That’s because my blood gave you purpose. Dormer, asshole vampire, and businessman.”

He flicks my nose, grinning. “Your sarcasm is half your charm, Miss Sinclair. No, I don’t miss the life I might have had. I wouldn’t give up my future with you for any version of my past.”

He kisses me until I forget what we were talking about. If I was still mortal, I’d be breathless. He kisses me like his mouth holds the answers, and for a moment, I slip into the safety of the unknown. That everything will be fine.

* * *

Alec remains behind me as I let myself into Morgan’s home, pausing as two bodies lurch upright from their seats, having been woken from a nap. Morgan lunges from the chair in the far corner while Carina lifts her head from the couch’s arm and tosses her cell to the side.

“Fuck, Harlow, I’ve been so worried.” Morgan flies across the room toward me, stopping short when my physical changes register, and she falters, arms lowering back to her side.

This is what I was afraid of.

“Goddess…you—you’re a?—”

“A vampire,” I finish, mentally preparing myself to be tossed out of the coven. “And a witch.” I make a fireball, and quickly extinguish it by curling my hand around it, the sizzle of flames settling back into my skin.

“Holy shit,” Carina murmurs, coming beside her mother, who’s shifting between composed and shock.

“How is this possible? Your hair…”

“I’ve embraced black magick too.”

“How? This goes against everything the Goddess holds dear.”

I flinch as though she slapped me, hearing another statement entirely: You go against everything the Goddess holds dear.

Alec’s mental touch slithers around my dead heart. Ignore her.

The door opens abruptly, another person striding in. A witch, given the way purple eyes scan the four of us. A cloak swirls around her legs, contrasting the skinny jeans, Keds and hoodie with the slogan Suck It , she’s wearing.

The stranger stops on me and flicks waist-length red hair over her shoulder. “Harlow Sinclair. Finally , I’m meeting the woman of the hour. You inspired the colour today.” She lifts a chunk of her hair.

Of course she’s here, Alec mutters, gaining a sharp look from me. He knows the witch when I don’t? I get being raised away from covens limiting my connection to all things of my culture, but him?

Morgan all but pushes by Alec and me, dipping her head. “Blessed Be, Priestess. Freya. We didn’t realize you’d be visiting.”

The name sounds familiar, like I’ve heard it recently, but there’s been so much new information jammed into my brain lately, it’s difficult to sort through.

“Blessed Be,” the witch, Freya, replies primly. “It wasn’t in the plans, but we need to chat.” All her peace slips away when she twists toward Alec lingering by my shoulder. “Glad you got your head out of your ass, vamp. Like my sweater? Wore it for you.”

“As unhelpful as always, witch. If you’re offering…I have a few friends who’d love a bite of your power.”

She jabs her tongue out before flouncing by us all and into Morgan’s living room, making herself at home on the chair Morgan recently vacated. “You’re about to eat those words, moron.”

“You know her?” I ask.

“She’s been around unfortunately. Noting that, she’s the reason the barrier around your house fell and I was able to get to you.”

I stare at the witch, my rage bristling until my palms warm. “You helped him kidnap me?” Not that it didn’t work out in the end, but fuck, if it was a journey of hatred and suicidal escape attempts that got us there.

Morgan, like an energetic bee, practically buzzes right by me. “Forgive her, please. She wasn’t raised in the coven and doesn’t understand the position you hold.”

Amusement lines Freya’s mouth and she kicks one leg over the other. “It’s cool. I’m well versed in the tragic story of Harlow Sinclair and Her Vampire King —ooh! Goddess, I am so trademarking that. Eventually we’ll see you two on the big screen.” She waves her hand in the air, spreading them like showing something off. “ The Witch Who Beat the Vampire King —nah, too basic. Spells Like Mate —ha, that’s cute. The Fire Witch and the Asshole Bloodsucker —that has a nice ring.”

Morgan settles into the couch beside Carina. “Remember I mentioned the First Witch? Freya is her.”

“She’s crazy as fuck,” Alec rumbles. “Not quite there. Missing a few incantations, if you know what I mean. You should really see someone about that, witch.”

“Suck it, vamp.” She kicks her legs out and randomly conjures a movie bucket of popcorn. After popping two kernels into her mouth, she tosses a handful toward Alec, but they fall short. “Keep it up, Your Highness. I’ll ensure someone ugly plays you in the movie.”

“It’s Your Majesty, and you know it.”

“I helped you. Be nice. You wouldn’t be here without me.” She pointedly looks toward me.

“Maybe. None of it changes that ‘quirky’ isn’t apt enough to describe you.”

“’Kay, you carry centuries of knowledge on your shoulders and see what it does to your brain.” She sticks out her tongue again before gesturing toward me. “Enough chatting. We have business to discuss. Sit. Standing there is so vampire-like of you.”

I obey only because I don’t know what to make of the witch—the first of our kind. An air of superiority floats around her that demands obedience, and regardless of my new abilities, pissing off the original witch isn’t something I’d like to do.

I cross the room and sit on the opposite end of the couch, beside Carina who’s holding her phone up but taps the red recording button to end it and lowers her phone at her mother’s scowl.

“Jasper will never believe it if I don’t have proof.”

Freya clasps her hands together, making the popcorn bucket disappear, along with the ones she threw at Alec. “I’m sure we can all agree, Harlow being both a vampire and a witch is the most interesting thing to happen today, and that you’re all wondering the magic question: how, considering laws of nature shouldn’t allow it. Well …I don’t have answers. Like, at all.”

Weight I didn’t realize I was holding up crashes to the ground. If anyone on the planet had an answer, she seemed the most likely. Alec notices, or feels, the change in my disposition and hisses at Freya who only waves him off with an eye roll.

“Down boy. I get you’ve already pissed on her, but stay calm.”

“If you don’t know, why come?” he demands, and Morgan makes a face like she’s swallowed a lemon.

“Let me talk and I’ll get to it. No idea how I put up with your ass all these weeks. Anyway ...” She flicks hair over her shoulder, shifting to the edge of the seat. “I have to confer with Hecate and get answers. Until then, I guarantee you’ll still be vital to the future. More important than when you had the cure, which if you haven’t figured out, is no longer a thing. You are the only hybrid in the world and will be targeted by both sides for now —” a sharp gaze darts to Alec daring him to comment “— but it won’t be like that forever. Witches will be wary of you, vampires won’t know how to take you. Your elemental powers remain the Goddess’ gift to you, and you will not be overtaken by black magick now that you are a creature of Darkness. Essentially, you’re the ideal balance.”

“What about this supposed oncoming war?”

Wariness flicks over her expression so quickly I don’t know what to make of it. “I can’t say much at this time. You were allowed to become a hybrid for reasons, though. It’s fate. Everything that’s happened was. When the Twilight Grove coven turned to black magick, this went into motion.”

Morgan curses softly, looking away. “That’s who…fuck, Jasper will be…” She trails off, mumbling, and Freya speaks overtop her.

“Motion being; your family’s deaths, your kidnapping, the ongoing memory wipes, meeting Alec. I helped him because fate designed him to take you at that moment. Not the next day, not the previous. Everything had to happen for the path pre-laid to be walked at the correct speeds. I am sorry for my role, including by not helping you. You can hate me, scream at me, attack me, whatever, but know, Hecate never abandoned you, even if at times it felt that way. You are an important woman, Harlow Sinclair.”

“So you’re using her,” Alec interjects coldly, wandering closer. “I’ll protect her from whatever plans you have”

“We want nothing less from you,” she replies. “You two being mates will be important for the future. I won’t say why, how, or when, but it’ll come to pass.”

This is all vague at best and unsettles me. “Arthur and Violet mentioned four witches. The descendants from the four original bloodlines that their coven—Twilight Grove, I assume—will be joining together in some ceremony.”

Freya glances toward Carina and Morgan, her lips pinching. “They were telling the truth, but the path I’m seeing laid and the path that coven believes they’re following are different. They’ll be the same for a while, but will eventually deviate. More couples will come together, but that’s all I can say at this time.”

“More vampires and witches?” Carina asks, sitting forward.

“Not quite.” Freya tips her head. “I’m not allowed to say anything more. Until then, though…” She shifts to me. “You and Alec can’t stay.”

“Why not?” That’s Morgan, and something inside me lights a bit brighter. “The coven respects her connection to Alec. Once they digest the fact she’s a hybrid, this is her home.”

Carina slips her hand into mine, and like that, I’m welcomed to the coven all over. “My childhood friend was already stolen from me. Don’t make her leave again.”

Freya purses her lips, glancing at her hands. “I’m sorry. But from here on out, having one-point-five vampires hanging around Banff will disrupt the future. You need to return to your castle.”

“Can I visit?” Carina asks, directing her question toward Freya.

She glances toward the ceiling, making me wonder what she’s looking for, before replying, “In a few months, sure. Not for a while, though. And now, I must go.” She stands with a slap of her thighs, tucking her cloak in tighter. “It’s been lovely chatting. Nice to meet you, Sinclair. Blessed Be, everyone!” By the doorway, she flicks her finger toward Alec. “Except you, bloodsucker. No blessing for you.”

She steps form the room and disappears into thin air.