“And that’s why you broke up with me? Not because you didn’t love me?”
“No. Of course not. I knew you were the love of my life. I knew that from the second I met you, Harper. There’s never been anyone else. But I had to break up with you to protect you. And that broke my heart too.”
“But – but?” She paused, clamped her hand over her mouth while she forced her emotions under control, but unshed tears hung on her lashes. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” He let off a long sigh.
“My dad told me not to. He said that it would’ve invalidated the prophecy, and you would’ve no longer been protected.”
“But protected from what?”
“I don’t know. I begged the Oracle to tell me, but she didn’t know either. Apparently she doesn’t get the details. It’s just a pronouncement that comes down from the fates, and it’s her job to pass it on.” Harper began to cry now, silent tears trickling down her face. He laid a cautious hand on her shoulder, but her body remained stiff and unyielding.
“Harper?”
“This is too much, Rocco. All this pain, all this suffering I went through, supposedly to save me from something, and we don’t even know what it is. I mean, maybe she was mistaken.”
“She seemed pretty sure,” he said, recalling the sinister old woman who’d made the damning pronouncement as clearly as if it was yesterday.
“I mean, has anyone ever tested these pronouncements?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that the Broken Hill Bears hold her in the greatest esteem.”
“All those dreams I had for our future,” she murmured softly, as if she was talking to herself. Rocco reached for her hand, and this time she didn’t pull away.
“I had the same dreams, Harper. It tore me apart to have to break up with you.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. We had this charmed life together, and I was never the same since.”
“All I saw was you having fun, riding around on your bike, hanging with that new bunch of guys. I felt like my heart had been run over by a truck, and you’d just forgotten about me.”
“Not at all. I was doing all those crazy things because I couldn’t forget you. I was broken. I stopped caring about my safety and reputation, and I really went off the rails for a while. When dad died, I had to grow up fast, but up to that point, I was the same – always taking stupid risks, putting myself in dangerous situations. There hasn’t been a day when I haven’t thought about you. You’ve always been right in the middle of my heart, and there’s been no space for anyone else.” Her throat convulsed and he knew that she was trying hard not to break into sobs.
“Come here,” he drew her into his arms and she let him, curling against his chest, suddenly feeling very small and vulnerable.
“Harper, it was all to protect you. However much I was hurting, I hoped you’d forget about me in time and have a happy life.” She pulled away again, an unreadable emotion passing across her features. And then she blinked rapidly, in the way she always did when she suddenly figured out the answer to something.
“What is it, Harper?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Tell me?”
“I need more time.” His shoulders slumped. She didn’t trust him with her thoughts anymore. But she has no reason to, he reminded himself.
“Of course. Take as much time as you need,” he said.
“I think I’m going to go to bed. I need to be alone for a while.” He nodded, wishing that she’d ask him to stay with her so he could hold her in his arms all night, but understood that she needed her own space. He squeezed her hand again, then got up, wished her a good sleep, and closed the door softly behind him.
Rocco slept fitfully, waking often and replaying that terrible day when the Oracle gave him the pronouncement. There was also a seed of hope that Harper would believe him and stop hating him one day. But it was buried deep inside him, and he hardly dared to acknowledge it. When he was eventually awoken by a repetitive banging sound, it was a relief to escape from those two tangled thoughts. The banging was on his bedroom door, he realized eventually.
“Come in,” he called. Harper opened the door. Her face was still pale, but her jaw was set with determination. He sat up quickly, adrenaline jolting him wide awake.
“Harper, what is it?”
“Can you take the day off work and come with me?”
“Of course. Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there, if you don’t mind. I’m not sure if I’m right, so I just want to make sure before I start jumping to conclusions.”
“Okay, I’ll be down in five.” She closed the door and he bounded into the bathroom, getting himself ready in record time.
She asked if they could take his truck, but she wanted to drive. He agreed readily, keen to do whatever it took to help her find some peace.
“We’re driving to your clan territory, right?” he said, when they were 50 miles along the road.
“Yup,” she said, and fell silent again. He watched her covertly. She looked strong and sexy driving a truck, he noted. But he couldn’t stand the frustration of not knowing what was going on behind those intelligent eyes. As they pulled up at a stoplight in another 50 miles, she turned her head to meet his gaze, and her face softened a little.
“I remembered last night that right after we broke up, my mom disappeared for a few days,” she said haltingly. “I was so out of it at the time that it didn’t affect me as much as it normally would have, and I never found out what really happened. It might be nothing, but I’ve kind of got a feeling that it may have something to do with this whole situation.” Rocco nodded, realizing at the same time that he was keen to find out if there was something concrete that they could relate to the Oracle’s pronouncement.
“So we’re going to speak to your mom. I think that’s a good idea.” Harper flashed him a smile.
“Good.”
13
“Harper!” Amelia yelled, hurtling out of her cabin and running toward them as soon as the truck pulled up in the driveway. Harper jumped down from the driver’s seat and hugged her mom tight, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back her emotions. Amelia pulled back and looked at her closely. “Are you okay, honey? This is a surprise.”
“You’re not happy to see me, mom?” Harper said with a grin.
“I meant a pleasant surprise. But aren’t you meant to be in school today?”
“I called in sick. We drove over here because we have something important to ask you.”
“Hey, Mrs Waverly,” Rocco said, stepping forward, and Harper’s mom hugged him too.
“Relax, mom. It’s nothing bad.”
“Okay. Okay. That’s good to hear. Why don’t you two take a seat on the porch and I’ll bring some drinks and snacks out?”
Rocco and Harper wandered around the garden while Amelia disappeared into the house, happy to stretch their legs after the drive.
“Will she be upset when you ask her about this?” Rocco asked.
“I’m not sure,” Harper said, kicking at a loose patch of turf. “My memory of that time is a bit of a blur, but I have the impression that her disappearance was really played down by other family members, so that I hardly knew she was gone, and that we were discouraged from talking about it when she came back.” Rocco shrugged.
“A lot of time has passed now though. And she has a new mate. I’m sure it will have lost its impact.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Amelia came out with a tray of homemade lemonade and carrot cake and they joined her on the porch.
“I feel like a homemaker from another era,” she said with a laugh. “But I just had a strong craving for lemonade when I woke up today, so I decided to make a batch up.”
“I loved how you used to make it for us when I was a kid,” Harper replied, thinking it was striking that her mom was reminiscing about the past.
“So what do you want to ask me?” Amelia said, getting ri
ght to the point. Harper smiled, knowing exactly where her own impatience came from.
“Mom, do you remember that time when Rocco and I broke up?” she began. Her mom’s eyes filled with pain.
“Of course I do, baby. You were so sad, and seeing you like that just about broke my heart as well.” Harper swallowed hard. Seeing her mom in pain always had a knock-on effect on her.
“And do you remember the time just after, when you went away for a few days?” Amelia’s face stiffened.
“That was a long time ago. It’s water under the bridge now. I don’t know why you’d want to know about that.”
“Of course it was. But please, mom. I need to know what happened. It might be important.” Amelia huffed out a long breath, thinking.
“I can’t see why, dear, but okay. I’ll tell you: I was kidnapped by the Black Paw Ridge Clan –” Harper gasped, and at the same moment, Rocco’s bear let off a growl.
“Those disgusting half-breed mutts!” he exclaimed.
“Why?” Harper asked, her heart thudding double time.
“They wanted me to become the mate of someone in the ruling family. And they wanted to marry you off to his son.” Harper’s jaw dropped.
“What? That’s so wrong!”
“I know. And I refused, of course. But they said they wouldn’t let me go until I agreed to it.”
“And then?”
“And then I waited. I hated the Black Paws and the way they did things. I was never going to agree to this union for either of us. So they kept putting more pressure on me. They said that they had people watching you, and that I was a bad mom for leaving you unprotected, and that I should give in to their demands so I could get back to you. It was clever and nasty.” Harper shuddered.
“But you didn’t give in?”
“I didn’t have to. It so happened that Tarkus was visiting their territory on some business. They had me locked up in a filthy old shack. I didn’t know him at all then, but when he passed by, I picked up his scent and knew that he wasn’t from the clan. I just yelled out to him, hoping with all my heart that he’d be sympathetic to me. Luckily he hated the Black Paws too, and when I told him what they’d done, he was so mad that he and two of his clan mates tore them apart – the bear who wanted to mate me and the two who were after Harper. But it was strange. He wasn’t even planning on visiting the clan that day. He’d actually been putting off meeting with them for a long time. He only came by because he woke up with a voice in his head telling him that he had to go see them that day. And then he turned up, like my knight in shining armor. He brought me right back home after that, and we were friends for years. Until things changed, and we became more than friends,” she finished with a blush.
“That was it!” Harper exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
“That was what?”
“That was the Oracle’s doing. Fate’s side of the bargain.”
“What do you mean, honey?” Rocco cleared his throat.
“Maybe I should explain, Mrs Waverly. As you know, Harper and I were together in our teens. I loved her very much, and was looking forward to the day when we’d officially become mates and, in time, build a home together and have cubs. But on my 18th birthday, and according to clan tradition, my father took me to see the Oracle, to find out about my future career and who my mate should be. Of course, I was expecting her to say that I should take Harper as my mate as soon as possible. But, to my horror, she told me that I had to break up with her, or something terrible would happen. She said she didn’t know any more than this, but I had to do it immediately. It broke my heart, but I had to do it. And so I lost the most precious thing to me in the world.”
“And all this time, he hasn’t known what terrible event he averted,” Harper cut in. “Until now. This has to be it, mom. What were the chances that Tarkus would stop by that day and you’d pick up his scent from where you were imprisoned? And that he’d turn out to be your mate?”
“Not good,” Amelia agreed with a smile. I think you’re right, dear. He was sent to me by fate. But, as a consequence, my beautiful daughter has had to suffer all these years.” She held her hands out to Harper and Rocco and they each clasped them. “I’m so sorry, Harper. I know it was very hard on you. But when you told me that you hated Rocco and didn’t want to think about him ever again, I took it as a sign that you were recovering.” Harper nodded.
“I was. I did get over him. Which is why it was such a shock to discover that he was coming back into my life again. Permanently.” She shot him an ironic glance.
“Well, my dears, I hope that this time you’re finding a deep and lasting happiness as true mates, with your union blessed by the fates.” Harper squirmed a little, but forced herself to keep smiling. “And I’m very glad that those filthy Black Paws have now had a positive role in bringing you together. What goes around certainly comes around, as they say.” She impulsively pulled each of them into a hug, her elegant figure belying the bear strength that lay beneath. “Now, I hope you’ve brought some photos of Paris to show me?” Harper grinned, shaking her head, always amazed by her mom’s passion for looking at photos. She’d had a bunch printed, as she knew her mom liked to have physical versions to look at, and the three of them huddled close and went through them. As one couply photo was succeeded by another, Harper’s throat tightened. They’d taken selfies and had strangers snap their photos too, but she hadn’t thought they’d looked particularly intimate. She was wrong. She and Rocco looked like the sweetest, most loved-up couple ever. The whole time they’d been in Paris – apart from that last night – she’d been thinking of them as friends. But it was as if the camera had seen something else. There was one, taken by a stranger on a famous bridge, where she was looking at the camera, but he was looking at her with such tenderness that it sent a shiver down her spine. As her mom kept flipping, exclaiming over this and that, she could hardly breathe.
“My, you two really are the perfect couple,” Amelia said. “Now, my only question is when I’m going to be blessed with grand-cubs.”
“Mom!” Harper exclaimed. Just then, Tarkus arrived.
“How come I always miss the party?” he boomed in his deep, growly voice.
“Dad!” Harper flung herself into his arms.
“How’s my favorite daughter?”
“Good,” she said, honestly.
The four of them spent the rest of the day together, cooking up a big barbecue and enjoying rowdy conversations, complete with lots of joking and teasing.
As the day slid into evening and Rocco and Harper headed back to the car, Tarkus drew her aside.
“Are you really happy, my dear?” he asked.
“Yes, I am. We’re just getting to know each other again,” she said.
“That’s very good to hear. And you do look happy – very bright-eyed and alive. I just want you to know that there’s no rush for you to have cubs. I know Amelia can’t wait. But please make sure that the two of you are as close as you can be and have time to enjoy being with each other first. There’s plenty of time.”
“Thanks, dad,” she said, and gave him a last hug goodbye.
“Whew. That was very eye-opening,” Rocco said, as they drove back home along quiet roads.
“Poor mom. I can’t believe she kept that from me for all that time. She must’ve been so scared.”
“I know. But she was protecting you. As was I. Even though it seemed like the opposite at the time.”
“I do know that.” Harper turned her head to look at him. A shard of early-evening light fell across his face, showing up the golden flecks in his eyes, and seeming to caress his full lips. For a second she imagined herself leaning across and kissing them. She hadn’t realized that she’d slipped off into a daydream – recalling one of the days of their youth, when they’d had a picnic in a forest together, and had lain on a blanket in a clearing as the sun set and the fading light caressed their faces – until she discovered that Rocco was saying her name.
; “Sorry,” she said with a laugh. “It’s been a tiring day. What did you say?”
“I was just asking how you feel now?”
“Better. And overwhelmed. Like I need to take some time to reprocess my memories of those days.”
“Of course you do. I know it’s a lot to take in.”
She nodded, touched by his sensitivity. No-one who’d seen him during his bad-boy days would realize it of him, she mused, but he’d always been a very thoughtful boyfriend, who’d always wanted to know what she was thinking, and how he could make her happy.
During the rest of the drive, they talked about the Black Paws, about how much each clan hated them, and about the damage they’d done to so many shifters’ lives. They also talked about Tarkus and how amazing he was, and how great it was that Harper’s mom had ended up with him. When they arrived home, they cooked and ate dinner together, just like any other couple, then sat on the sofa and watched a TV show.
“Right, off to bed. I’m beat,” Harper said, yawning and stretching. “Goodnight, Rocco.” She got up and headed for the stairs.
“Harper,” Rocco called, his voice husky. She turned on the stair.
“What is it?”
“Do you think that one day we could get past all this and truly be mates?” her mouth opened and closed again.
“Maybe. I just need a little time.” He nodded.
“Of course you do. Goodnight.”
Harper’s sleepiness was gone by the time she lay down in bed, and she stared at the ceiling for a long time. The last few days had been overwhelming. Everything she’d believed for so long had been completely flipped on its head. But there had been so much water under the bridge. Regardless of his motives, Rocco told her to her face that he didn’t love her, and it had almost broken her. And then he’d got together with someone else right afterwards. Seeing them together had hurt so much that she’d been physically sick, more than once. She hadn’t been able to eat for months and she’d lost 30 pounds. Could she get past all that and allow her heart to be open to him again?
Bear Cuffs: Bear Shifter Romance (Broken Hill Bears Book 3) Page 9