Myths & Rejections

Chapter 18 - Unexpected Guests

Word Count: 3540

Harper had just finished blow drying her hair and was dressed in a pale green halter top with white board shorts when Matt stepped into the bathroom. His brows were drawn together, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

"What's wrong, baby?" Harper asked, her eyes immediately moving over his chest shoulders where he'd been injured.  "Are you in pain?"

"No, but we have company." Matt said slowly.  "Reese and Callum are here with...Reese's parents."

"Oh god." Harper said, her eyes wide.  She was not ready for this; she wasn't ready to face them. "Does Celie know?  Is she down there?"

"No, I came straight up here, I think she's still in the shower." Matt said. "They're out on the deck, Adam is stalling them while I get you two, he explained to them that I know about wolves when they asked to speak to you two alone."

Harper rushed out of the bedroom and sprinted down the hall to Celie's bedroom, she knocked on the door, then pressed her ear to it when there was no answer.  She heard the distant whir of the blow dryer and reached for the door handle and stepped inside.

"I think she's drying her hair; I'll go in and make sure she's decent." Harper said, disappearing into the room.

A few seconds later the door opened, and Matt entered to find Celie dressed in summer dress with yellow sunflowers on it, her hair still slightly damp.

"How the hell did they get here so fast?" Celie asked, her eyes were worried. "I thought they were traveling overseas or something."

"Yeah, me too." Harper sighed. "I'm so not ready for this, goddess, this is going to be a long night."

"Harp, I'll go down there and throw them out right now if you don't want to see them." Matt said, crossing his arms over his chest. "They can come back tomorrow after you've had time to get used to the idea."

"No." Harper sighed, she pinched the bridge of her nose, a nervous habit she'd picked up in medical school when she was stressed after hours of studying. "None of this is their fault. I guess if I were them, and I thought I was dead for seven years I'd be eager to see me too.  Reese's parents were always good to me, they tried to be good parents to me after my mom and dad died, and I always cared about them. I was just hoping to have some notice and some time to sort of work myself up to a seeing them again."

"Yeah." Celie said nervously, picking at the bracelet on her wrist. "I always liked Alpha Lucas and Luna Sophia; they were always good to us. I'm not really all that surprised they showed up so fast."

"They're probably so mad." Harper said glumly, prompting Matt to put his arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze. "Let's go get this over with."

The wolves were clustered together sitting on one of the outdoor couches watching the sun as it sank slowly into the horizon. Harper hesitated as they reached the doorway out to the patio, she took a deep fortifying breath and exchanged a nervous look with Celie before stepping out the glass patio doors.

Luna Sophia gasped, her hand quickly covering her mouth as she stared at Harper for a what seemed like an eternity, before she sprinted over and enveloped her in a crushing embrace. 

"I'm so sorry, Harper! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Luna Sophia said, before she broke down and began sobbing into Harper's hair.

Tears flooded Harper's eyes and washed over her cheeks as she held the weeping Luna in her arms. All she could do was nod, she could barely breathe, much less get a word out as she was overwhelmed by emotion. Luna Sophia loosened one arm from around Harper long enough to loop it around Celie and squeeze her just as tightly.