Harley Merlin 7: Harley Merlin and the Detector Fix

by Forrest, Bella

“You should! If I had your ability, I’d be zooming off to a different country every day.” She smiled shyly at me. “Maybe, one day, when I know you a little better, you could show me somewhere outside America? I’ve never been anywhere.”

  My cheeks turned hot. “Yeah… that’d be cool.”

  “Well, if I get to keep my memories, that is. I won’t remember any of this conversation if I get wiped.”

  “I really hope Imogene agrees to let you keep your memories.”

  “Me, too.” She leaned forward on the edge of her bed, so close I could’ve kissed her. “Although, if I’m going to be staying here a while longer, I’ll need some comic books or something, because I’m about to lose my damn mind in this room, with nothing to do. Unless you can think of something more fun to distract me?”

  My throat constricted. “I’ll get you whatever you need.”

  “Like this?” She leaned farther forward and placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

  I froze. “Uh… maybe.”

  She sat back and grinned at me. “Maybe we’ll stick to comic books for now.”

  “Or… I could do this.” I cupped her face in my hands and leaned in. I’d never kissed anyone before. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing, but I’d seen guys do this in movies. The hands-on-the-face thing. She smiled wide, right as I kissed her, and my lips pressed against her teeth. I pulled back in surprise as she collapsed in a fit of giggles.

  Way to blow it, Jacob. Way to blow it.

  “Sorry.” I lowered my gaze.

  “Why? Just try it again.” She smiled. And I did just that.

  Forty-One

  Harley

  The next morning, I awoke in the chair beside Wade’s bed. My muscles were stiff, and my throat felt dry and raspy, but I was happy to see him looking so peaceful beneath the covers. Krieger had been watching over him, letting him sleep off the hex that had taken hold of his mind. Destroying the pendant had knocked Wade out completely and he’d been unconscious ever since. Now, the poor doctor was back in his office with Jacob, working tirelessly on the magical detector. Wires crisscrossed over Wade’s body, making him look more like an android than a person, but he was hopefully back to being my Wade. My heart and my windpipe could rest easy knowing he wasn’t going to try and crush either of them again.

  “Ah, little Miss Stockholm Syndrome awakens.” I turned to find Finch watching me from a nearby bed.

  “Don’t call me that, Finch.”

  He shrugged. “Did you know it takes the average victim nine times to walk away from their abuser?”

  “It was the hex, not Wade!” I snapped back.

  “Tell that to the bruises on your neck.” He glowered at Wade’s unconscious figure, cracking his knuckles.

  “Well, now I know there’s no way I’m leaving you alone in a room with him,” I said. A flutter of panic rippled through me as I patted my body, checking for the satchel with the Grimoire inside. Santana had given it to me last night, after a brief reunion, and I hadn’t taken it off since. I was going to keep this bag on me at all times, no matter what. If Katherine wanted this thing, she’d have to rip it from my cold, dead body.

  With all this Wade business, I hadn’t had the chance to look inside the Grimoire, though I was dying to after what I’d unearthed in front of Imogene. There had to be a way to read those swirling symbols, and I was going to figure it out. But only after Wade woke up and I knew he was okay. That might have seemed stupid, but my brain would continue to be mush until I knew he was back to his usual self.

  Finch grinned. “Why not, Sis? You scared I’m going to do to him what he did to you?”

  “It wasn’t him, Finch!”

  “You keep telling yourself that. You don’t think that hex played on feelings he already had? You don’t think he was really harboring some resentment toward you? Maybe he was just being honest, for once.” Finch folded his arms across his chest. “I mean, come on, our dad fought an insanely powerful curse to keep you alive. Wade could’ve put some effort in. But he didn’t. You don’t find that odd?”

  I shot him a warning look. “No, I don’t. I think it took him by surprise, that’s all.” Finch was exploiting some of my biggest insecurities here, and he freaking knew it, but that didn’t make what he was saying any easier to stomach. What if he was right? What if Wade was harboring some resentment toward me? He’d said as much even before he tried to squeeze the life out of me.

  “You shouldn’t rely on him, that’s all I’m saying. I said it before, I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face. Love makes people stupid. It doesn’t cement loyalty. Only blood can do that.”

  “Have you tried telling that to your mom?” I shot back.

  He chuckled. “Oof. Low blow, Sis.”

  “Or maybe you’re just off your meds.” I knew I’d gone too far, but I couldn’t stuff the words back in my mouth. He scowled, a wounded look drifting across his face.

  “Now that really was a low blow. Maybe you’re the one who needs meds, if you can sit by his side and not hate him for what he did,” Finch replied curtly. “I’ll never get that image out of my head. If I hadn’t come running when I did and smashed him over the head, he’d have killed you. No question about it. I’d suggest you remember that.”

  I sighed wearily. “I’m sorry, Finch. I didn’t mean to say that. I’m under a lot of pressure, but that’s no excuse.” I dropped my gaze, reaching for Wade’s hand. “See how you’d feel if the man you loved had tried to hurt you.”

  “Sorry, Sis, I don’t swing that way.” A small smile turned up the corners of his lips, letting me know I was forgiven. Finch could hold a grudge like nobody’s business, but he was also pretty good at picking his battles. I guessed I was off the hook this time, after everything I’d been through. “Anyway, where are the rest of the Muppet Babies? I haven’t seen any of them this morning, and I’ve been watching you like a creepy weirdo for at least an hour.”

  I chuckled. “Comforting to know.”

  “You fallen out with them, or something?”

  I shrugged. “Santana seemed fine when I spoke with her yesterday.”

  “Seems, madam? I know not seems.”

  “Eh?”

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s Shakespeare, you philistine.”

  “I’m sure everything’s peachy. They’re probably steering clear so Wade and I can patch things up when he wakes up. They’re good like that.” I let the hint dangle in my voice, but Finch didn’t take it.

  “See, that’s why you need me around. I’m not leaving your side for anything. I’ve even got a puke bucket ready for when the beast does wake up.” He kicked a genuine bucket that he’d managed to find somewhere, probably just so he could make that joke.

  “You really haven’t seen anyone this morning?” That hurt me a little bit, though I’d never admit it to Finch.

  He grinned. “I may have been exaggerating slightly. I saw Isadora and Louella earlier, but they’re on some menial assignments for Captain Whitehall around the coven. They said the rest of the Muppet Babies were doing similar stuff. Not Raffe, though—that liability is on probation. No need to guess why.”

  He nodded toward the other occupant of the ward. Levi. He was still out cold, which was probably for the best. He wouldn’t take kindly to finding out he’d been usurped while he slept, and then there was the whole deal with his son almost murdering him to come to terms with.

  “Poor Raffe,” I murmured. Raffe was no more responsible for what he’d done than Wade was, but I knew he’d be beating himself up about letting his djinn get the better of him.

  Finch snorted. “You’ve got a warped idea of empathy. He almost squished Levi’s head like a watermelon. Not that that would’ve been such a bad thing.”

  “See, this is why nobody trusts you. You can’t go around saying stuff like that.”

  “I can to you.” He smiled shyly, before turning back to kicking his bucket in a really irritating way.

  A sense of order seemed to be coming back t
o the SDC, emerging from the ashes of Levi’s dictatorship. Imogene hadn’t seemed too thrilled about becoming the new director, but at least she wasn’t resisting the need to jump into action. The fact that she was still working on temporary amnesty for Finch was comforting, too, even if she didn’t personally trust him. And it was good to see Alton back in a position of usefulness. He seemed happier when he had something to do… and wasn’t behind bars. At least, that had been the vibe I’d gotten from him last night, when I’d bumped into him on my way back to the infirmary.

  After Levi’s colossal screw-up, the upper echelons of magical society now knew about Echidna and Katherine’s advancement to the final ritual, and they’d all gone straight into high alert. Garrett was dealing with the magical children to make sure they stayed safe, and everyone finally appeared to have a useful purpose, instead of being kicked to the sidelines. However, one question remained—how many of the higher-ups would actually do something about it, and how many of them were under the cult’s stealthy influence? Only time would tell, but any inaction would be one heck of an indicator as to who was being manipulated and whose minds were still free of Katherine’s grasp.

  “Ooh, battle stations.” Finch smirked and gestured toward Wade.

  “What?” I glanced down in time to see Wade stir beneath the covers. He groaned softly, his eyes blinking awake. He looked around in confusion for a moment before he set his gaze on me. I braced myself and held the satchel close to my side, terrified that it hadn’t worked, that Wade would lunge at me again with that wild look in his eyes. Instead, he smiled sadly.

  “Harley,” he croaked.

  I squeezed his hand. “I’m here.”

  “Yeah, he can see that,” Finch muttered. I shot him daggers, and he held up his hands in mock surrender. He wasn’t going to ruin this for me, and if he dared to try, I’d kick him out of this infirmary so fast it’d make his head spin.

  Wade smiled up at me. “We’ve got a guard dog, huh?”

  “Unfortunately,” I replied.

  “What happened?” He struggled to sit up, clamping his free hand to his temple. “I don’t remember much.”

  Finch snorted. “Convenient.”

  I ignored him and held Wade’s hand tighter. As he looked at me with confused eyes, I relayed everything that had gone on since we’d decided to go to New York to steal the Grimoire. I left nothing out, no matter how much it hurt me to tell him what he’d done. Not that it was all bad—I had the good news of Imogene taking over to soften the rest of it, although that came with the revelation that Raffe had nearly caved Levi’s skull in. He looked horrified, his face growing pale as I recounted the story of our journey through the underbelly of the New York Coven and his brutal attack on me. I finished by telling him about the Romany hex, in the hopes it’d make him feel less awful.

  “So, it wasn’t your fault,” I said. “Katherine had managed to hex my pendant, probably when I got too close in Tartarus, and it twisted your mind so that up was down, and left was right, and love was hate. You didn’t mean to hurt me, I know that. You couldn’t control what she’d done to you through that pendant.” Another mole or cultist might have hexed the pendant, but the only people I’d been around since being reunited with Wade were Finch, Jacob, Garrett, and Kenzie. Remington, too, but the first hint of the weirdness had started before our meeting in San Francisco. That left Tartarus and Katherine as the only option.

  Wade turned to look at Finch. “Thank you for stopping me.”

  “What?” Finch’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “Thank you for standing in the way. If anything had happened to Harley, I’d never have been able to forgive myself. I might have a doozy of a headache from whatever you hit me with, but I’ve got you to thank for keeping her alive.”

  He shrugged petulantly. “Someone had to.”

  “Nevertheless, I’m grateful to you.”

  He smirked. “Does that mean you owe me?”

  Wade frowned. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  With that, Wade turned back to me. “I’m so sorry, Harley. You must have been terrified of me. I’m so sorry if I scared you, or made you think that I didn’t love you, or made you think that I actually wanted to hurt you.” Tears glittered in his deep-green eyes. “You have to know that I’d never do that. I’d rather die a thousand times over than hurt you.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  “Do you? You’re looking at me like you don’t even know me.” He dropped his chin to his chest.

  Leaning over, I cupped his face in my hands and forced him to look back into my eyes. “I do know you. I know you weren’t responsible for what happened. I’m not scared of you, Wade. You’d have to do a lot more than try to kill me to make me scared of you. I’m not scared of Katherine, and she’s tried a handful of times.” I grinned at him, trying to coax a smile onto his face.

  “Yeah, and she really meant it,” Finch interjected. “No hex necessary.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Ignore the idiot in the room.”

  “That’s not a nice thing to say to a guy who’s just come out of a hex,” Finch said snarkily. “Sorry about her, Wade. For an Empath, she’s got a surprising lack of actual empathy.”

  Wade chuckled. “Has Krieger got any drugs to knock him out so I can apologize to you properly?”

  “I could always ask.” I gazed into his eyes, happy to see some light coming back into them.

  “I really am sorry, Harley. I can’t even begin to describe how sorry I am.” He turned sad again. “I’m almost glad I don’t have any memory of it, because I don’t know how I’d deal with that. I love you, Harley. I love you so much. And I promise, as of this moment, that I will never do anything to hurt you again. I’ll be on the lookout for Katherine’s spells, and I’ll never let her get a hold of me again.”

  I brushed my thumb across his cheek. “I’m just glad you’ve come back to me. I love you so much, Wade. I thought I’d lost you back there, and I didn’t know if it could ever be fixed. You’ve got no idea how happy it makes me just to be able to sit here, right now, and look at you, and know you’re my Wade again.”

  “I’ll always be yours, Harley.”

  I leaned closer as he lifted his chin, his lips meeting mine in a tender graze that sent bolts of electricity through my veins. I held his face tighter, sinking deeper into his kiss, and his own hands slid around my waist, pulling me up onto the edge of the bed. Suddenly, his hands were in my hair as he kissed me with the passion of a man who’d been separated from his lover for far too long. I kissed him back with equal desperation, reveling in the rough brush of his stubbled jaw, enjoying the rough and the smooth together. The rest of the world, and all my multitude of worries, fell away as I disappeared into his kiss and his touch. He was definitely my Wade again, and I was grateful beyond all sense for that.

  “Can we keep it PG-13, kids?” Finch’s voice shattered the delicious moment, and I could’ve punched him in the face. “I’m not sure this is sanitary. We’re in an infirmary, for Pete’s sake. Think of the germs!”

  I pulled away from Wade, the two of us grinning like idiots. “I might go and find those drugs now, to knock him out.”

  “Finch, get out.” Wade shot a warning look at him.

  Finch rolled his eyes. He got up and stalked out of the room in sullen silence. I felt kind of bad for him, but I wasn’t going to argue, seeing as Wade and I hadn’t had a moment alone in… well, forever.

  As soon as Finch had gone, Wade scooped me up into his arms and pulled me into his lap. His mouth was on mine before I even knew what was happening, his hands trailing a delicious line up my spine as he held me close. I kissed him feverishly, my hands in his hair, my body flush against his as we disappeared into each other. I thought about all the times I’d wanted to tear off his expensive shirts, but I lacked the courage to tear away his hospital gown now, with Finch on the other side of the infirmary door. Nevertheless, I pressed my p
alms to his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart as we sank deeper into the kiss, his tongue caressing mine and his teeth gently grazing my bottom lip, making me shiver with excitement.

  I felt his strength as he flipped me over and laid me down on the bed, smiling at me. He leaned back in, kissing me harder. My hands smoothed along the taut muscle of his abdomen. His hand came to rest on my thigh, squeezing it gently, as his mouth caught mine. I pulled him down, letting his emotions flow into me, feeling the vibrant pulse of his love and desire for me. I was desperate for his touch, but now wasn’t the time or the place. And that sucked massively.

  “I missed you,” he murmured against my neck, as he planted kisses along the curve of it.

  I hugged him tightly to me. “Not as much as I missed you.”

  “I’m sorry for everything, Harley. I’m sorry that I hurt you.” He pulled back and traced the outlines of my bruises, before leaning back in to kiss them. “I won’t hurt you again, I promise. I’ll protect myself from hexes from now on. I’ll be vigilant.”

  “Is this your idea of sexy talk?” I chuckled against his shoulder.

  He pulled away again. “I mean it, Harley. I feel terrible about what happened. I don’t want to be a liability to you—I don’t ever want to put you in that position again.”

  I kissed him on the nose. “You aren’t a liability to me, Wade. You’re literally one of my greatest strengths. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for your stubbornness, and that’s no exaggeration. You’re everything to me. You’re the person who keeps me going when I feel like everything is hopeless. Just thinking about you saved me when I thought my affinities were going to tear me apart. I love you, Wade. And that love is what keeps me fighting, because if we don’t survive Katherine, I’ll never get to know how deep and how far that love can go. And I want to. I really, really want to.”

  “I feel the same way,” Wade whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “I love you so much that it hurts sometimes. I love you so much that I don’t know what I’d do without you. I—”