“I’m serious. Reed, you found your fated mate. Do you know how rare that is, in the grand scheme of things? How lucky you are?”
“I seem to recall you had trouble with Thierry in the beginning, too,” I pointed out.
“True. I’m not saying I’m notalsoan idiot.”
I found myself smiling at that.
“I miss this,” Jeremy said suddenly. “All we need now is a six-pack of beer. We used to shoot the shit for hours. Real talk until the sun came up. It drove Ian nuts.”
At the mention of Ian—his former mate—I lost my smile. A monster had gotten him, too.
“Me too. But what if I end up going through what you went through? With Ian.”
“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Jeremy admitted. “But I don’t regret it. Every second with someone you love is a gift, Reed.”
“When did you get so sappy?”
“Thierry’s a bad influence on me,” he said with a chuckle. “And dying and coming back to life puts things into perspective in a pretty big way.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll bet.”
“Look, I’m going to say something and you’re not going to like it. But I need you to really think about it.” He paused. “Because whatever else has ever gone down between us, I’m still your best friend and I’m trying to save your life right now.”
“Duly warned.”
“Even if you and Harris both live to ninety because you’ve decided to keep him safe and stay away from him for good, but you’re both miserable for the rest of your lives—what’s the point? For either of you?”
I didn’t answer right away. The worst part was that he was right. I couldn’t deny that.
“At least he’ll be safe.”
“Some hard-won, unsolicited advice: there are two of you in this relationship. Safe or not, you made the choice for him. You guys can and should make the big choices together.” Jeremy, sounding more rueful, added, “Trust me, it takes plenty of practice. But you aren’t just a ‘you’ anymore. You’re also a ‘we’ and you always will be now. Sadly, being alpha doesn’t mean shit when it comes to your mate.”
“You didn’t see the way he looked at me. I don’t know if I can fix it.”
“He’ll forgive you,” Jeremy said. “Eventually. With a sufficient amount of groveling. Fated mates don’t give up on each other.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Trust me, I’ve been around enough fated pairs to know that destiny always wins.” There was a smile in Jeremy’s voice now. “And because I know you, Reed. You’re a good person. You care about other people. That’s not a weakness, even if you think it is. It’s what’s going to make you a good alpha. Better than I ever was.”
My throat tightened. “Shit. I miss you, Jer.”
I hadn’t just become alpha the night he turned. I had lost my closest friend. Mostly because I had been too stubborn and blind to see he hadn’treallychanged all that much. Which, if this conversation was any indication, he hadn’t.
He was right. I was being very dumb.
“I miss you too.” Jeremy’s voice went rough. “And I want you to be happy, Reed. You deserve that. Don’t throw it away because you’re scared.”
I swallowed. “You’re right.”
“Every once in a while. Now hang up the phone and go deal with this.”
We hung up, and I realized I was going to do exactly that. At the very least, I owed it to Harris to talk to him.
Actually, no. Fuck that. I was going to go and fix everything I had broken. Or try, at least. Whatever came next, Jeremy was right. We were a unit and we needed to take the next steps together, whatever those ended up being.
I only hoped Jeremy was also right that Harris would forgive me—if I groveled hard enough. I planned to do exactly that. I’d do whatever it took.
