by Fay Walsh
“Protect your sister, no matter what, and always keep running.”
***
A few hours earlier, Harmony and Chrys went out into Fairview to look around the town to go shopping and job hunting. Harmony was thankful that Chrys decided to not fight her today and the two were making small, casual conversation while going in and out of stores.
“I’m going next door, Harmony. I’ll meet you there.”
Harmony stood in a line with a few articles of clothing in her hand. She playfully frowned, and said, “you know some, no, most of these clothes are yours, right? And we still have to go food shopping.”
Chrys pulled a smile and wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders. Whatever tension or argument they had from yesterday had faded for the time being.
“And love you for that! But I hate waiting in long lines.”
Harmony smiled as she rolled her eyes.
“It’s literally like, three people, but fine whatever. I’ll be there in a second.”
Chrys excitedly did a fist bump in the air and headed out of the door, leaving Harmony shaking her head.
It’s was only a few moments before Harmony arrived at the head of the queue to pay for the clothes. With bags on each arm, Harmony headed for the double doors, and exited, but the minute that she did she accidentally bumped into a hard surface.
“Oh, I’m sorr—”
Harmony was caught off-guard, stunned by the person that had bumped into her. Time slowed down as she looked into a pair of bright blue eyes, eyes that make her body rigid and numb. Her heart dropped in her chest and the memory of that night flashed before her eyes and for a moment, it looked as if those blue eyes had the same gleam it did that night before, that it found its prey.
What—no, it can’t be…
Before Harmony could even process what she was thinking, she was pulled from her trance-like state. The person’s head turned away from her, leaving Harmony standing in the middle of the sidewalk, dumbfounded. She stared at the back of the person’s head and tried to sort through her confused thoughts.
Those eyes, could it be? Harmony questioned. No, that’s impossible... People can’t turn into animals, right? But that feeling. Harmony reached out her hand and touched her chest.
I’ve never felt such a feeling. It had felt, like fear.
“Harmony?”
The sound of a man’s voice pulled Harmony from her delirious thoughts and she turned around to see Kai again. He had a concerned look across his face.
“K-Kai, right? You’re Roan’s friend.”
Kai nodded and approached her, his eyes still held concern, Harmony noted.
“Yeah, thanks for remembering... Are you alright? You were just standing here, and I had to get out of my car to check on you.”
Harmony looked behind her, knowing the strange blue-eyed man that gave her spine chills was long gone now. She turned back to Kai with a smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine, really. You aren’t stalking me, are you?” She playfully questioned.
Kai’s eyes widened and shook his head wildly. “O-Of course not! I really was passing by but — is, uh, Chrysanthemum with you?”
Harmony raised her brow. She found it odd that Chrys would allow a stranger to call her by her full name, even when she was a child she wanted their parents to call her Chrys.
“Uh, yeah, Chrys is—”
Before Harmony could finish her sentence, Kai already turned around, and Chrys stood outside the store doors.
“Kai?”
The two had completely forgotten Harmony, and it was as if she was invisible as the two were lost in each other’s gaze. Harmony cleared her throat and pulled the two of them back to reality.
“Hey, did ya’ll forget we’re out in public?”
Shockingly, Chrys’ face was flushed, which Harmony found curious on her sister. She never used to get flustered so easily.
“Oh, Harmony, I almost forgot, Roan wanted me to give you his number if I ever saw you to tell you your car is being taken care of and if you ever wanted to talk that you could contact him anytime.”
Kai handed her a piece of paper and that same electric feeling rushed through Harmony’s body again as she grasped the paper in her fingertips.
“Thanks,” Harmony said and rubbed her thumb along the papers smooth front.
“So, you guys need a lift?”
***
Harmony thanked Kai for the lift and asked him to drop her off at the high school, so she could enroll Chrys for the next semester. On the way to the school, she texted Roan on her cellphone and let him know that she had received his message.
Just texting Roan alone left her skin tingling.
“I’ll, uh, wait here for you to finish. We’ll just be sitting down and talking.” Kai told her. Chrys had already climbed in the front seat of Kai’s truck.
It was still an odd feeling and Harmony didn’t understand, the glances, the blushing, and stuttering between the two, but so far, Kai seemed like an okay person.
“Alright, I won’t take to long. Okay, Chrys?” Harmony knew that her sister would complain how long she was in there, but Chrys paid little attention to her as she focused it all on Kai.
Harmony dismissed it and headed for the school just as soon as her phone buzzed in her pocket. Immediately, Harmony knew who was calling as the surge of electricity ignited through her body and a big grin appeared on her face. She accepted the call.
“You rang?”
Harmony could almost feel Roan smiling on the other end.
“I’m glad Kai found you. Hopefully, he has brought your car to the shop.”
Harmony nodded despite no one seeing her. She climbed the flight of steps that led up to the high school.
“He did mention it briefly, thank you for that, really. You didn’t have too.”
Harmony stood at the top of the steps and waited for him to respond. She could feel her cheeks growing warm by the second.
“I wanted too, just like I want to ask you out tonight. I’m sorry I had to leave early, but I hope you’ll say yes so I can—”
“Of course!” Harmony exclaimed happily before he finished his sentence. She pressed her lips together, embarrassed by her outspoken bravado. “I mean, uh, yes, yes I will go out with you.”
Roan chuckled on the other end, his accent making shivers run down Harmony’s spine.
“But I’ll have to talk to you later, okay?”
“Aww, tired of me already?”
It was Harmony’s turn to laugh and she surprised herself by letting a tiny giggle escaped her lips.
“Never, I’m just about to enroll my sister for school next semester. So, what time should I expect you?”
“Seven sound good to you?”
“Mmm, I’ll see you soon.”
The two hung up the phone and Harmony placed it back in her pocket. She started to head for the high school, but something made her freeze in place, and the back of her neck hairs stood on end.
Harmony’s entire face flushed pale and she felt a sinking feeling in her gut. However, the moment, Harmony turned around to look behind her and discover where the unsettling feeling was coming from, she saw nothing.
Harmony narrowed her eyes as they darted around the area. She saw a few cars and Kai’s truck in the parking lot, but nothing out of the ordinary that stuck out to her.
Come on, Har’, you're just being... paranoid. She thought to herself and grabbed the door handle. There’s nothing out there.
Despite Harmony telling herself nothing was stalking her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Chapter 6
Roan couldn’t deny that when he saw a text message from an unknown number appear, his heart skipped a beat. He saw that it was from Harmony. Every fiber of his being wanted to speak to her since he had to abruptly leave the day before.
“I’ll be right back, everyone,” Roan said to a group of young Shifters. He had wanted to make sure that everyone was
alright and further explain the shifting process to them.
“Yes, Alpha.” They simultaneously said.
Roan retreated from the backyard of the ranch house and jogged to the front of the house, he pressed the number on the text message so it could ring her number.
When she answered the phone, the electricity coursed through his body, and made his entire body warm. His heart was beating faster than normal, and it was as if every sense he had heightened by a thousand. He didn’t know what Harmony was doing to him, but he didn’t really care, to be honest. He was happy, happier than he had been for a long time.
“Seven sounds good to you?”
After a brief exchange of words, Roan had asked her out, it had been weighing on him as he wondered if he was going too fast or not. Fortunately, she was as excited to go out with him as he was with her.
They both hung up the phone.
Before Roan could head back to the Younglings, he sensed someone coming from the forest. When he looked up, he saw someone with fair-skin running toward him. His long thick hair blew behind him as the wind picked up when he ran. His chiseled chin was free of facial hair and he had similar facial features to Roan. If it wasn’t for a scar that ran across his right eye, and the bright azure blue eyes, no one would expect the two to be brothers.
Kiran Quinn, Roan’s brother, was third in command, after Kai, and had been away on a hunting trip, recruiting and speaking with other clans in Roan’s behalf.
“I didn’t know you would be back so soon, brother. I thought you wouldn’t be back for another week, last you told me.” Roan reached out his arms and embraced his brother in a bear hug when he approached. The two stood nose to nose, except Kiran had two inches off his brother.
The brothers released each other from their hug. Kiran tucked his hands in his pocket and shrugged his lean shoulders. His grinned a thin-lipped smile, exposing sharp canine teeth.
“Plans changed and Alpha Auron is willing to aid us whenever we choose, as long as we are willing to do the same. I told him that ‘Alpha Quinn is a man of his word’.”
Roan smiled and patted his brother’s shoulders.
“I knew you were the man for the job. So, are you hungry?” Roan asked and Kiran chuckled under his breath. The two brothers’s climbed the porch steps and headed for the oak wood door.
“Oh, of course.” Kiran sniffed the air, as he stepped into the house. “You teaching a class today? I smell new Shifters. I thought that was—”
“There was a bit of an accident,” Roan explained to his brother as they walked down the short walkway toward the kitchen.
The interior of the ranch house had an antique look to it. To the left, through a rectangular archway, was the living room. The walls had a dark green wallpaper and the floor was newly furnished oak wood and still had the smell of pine from when the last person cleaned. A brown couch sat in the middle of the room, where it faced a large flat screen television.
In the room next to it was the dining area and a large table sat in the middle, above it an overhead crystal chandelier.
“Looks like you need to update your interior, Roan. It looks like I stepped into a 1950s museum.”
They walked past the grandiose wooden staircase and entered into the island kitchen where the floors were also made of oak.
Roan went to the refrigerator and watched his brother, who leaned against his back against the island and surveyed the area.
Roan cracked a grin and took out several bowls of leftover food from yesterday.
“Everything to your liking, your highness?” he joked and sat the bowls down on the table. Kiran turned around to look at him as he went to grab a plate from the cabinet.
“No, No, of course not, Betty Crocket, you’ve done pretty well around here.” Kiran nodded his head in approval.
Roan raised a brow and snorted. “I think the name you’re looking for is Martha Stewart.”
Kiran shrugged. “Well, they both can do some badass stuff.”
Roan could feel Kiran’s eyes on him as he made his plate. Kiran wasn’t one to be silent and it made Roan anxious to know what was on his brother’s mind.
“So, what have you been doing lately, brother?” Kiran asked. Roan looked up at him from the corner of his eyes. Kiran’s blue eyes bored into him, as if he suspected him of something.
“Hmm, what do you mean?” Roan asked, he licked his thumb, and turned to the microwave that was on the other side of the kitchen. He could feel a heavy pressure against his neck and knew that Kiran was staring at him.
“Oh, nothing, really, you just smell a bit, different, that’s all. I’m sure some of the Herd smelled something peculiar on you, but they’re too afraid to speak to the Alpha.”
Roan laughed and he turned back to face Kiran, keeping his face from showing any emotion. No one was able to read him, but people like his brother could read him like an open book.
“Oh, and you aren’t afraid?” Roan joked, but his entire senses were on alert. He had completely let it slip his mind that any Shifter would be able to smell Harmony’s sent off of him. Since Shifters and humans, especially Hunters, didn’t necessarily get along, Roan was sure they wouldn’t be too keen knowing their Alpha was speaking to a human.
“Hey, hey, no offense!” Kiran playfully exclaimed he lifted his hands in surrender. “The smell was familiar to me like I smelled it before. A female, perhaps? I just couldn’t believe that you of all people would be moving on, especially after Celine.”
Roan’s throat tightened hearing her name. A ghost of his past that had haunted him. Roan had thought that he would always be closed-off and conservative forever, but then he met Harmony, and she made him want to break out and have fun again.
“Ah, that’s nothing, you know I’m around humans all the time. I do business with females during produce trades. It hasn’t been that long that you forgot.”
The sound of the microwave beeps saved Roan, and he went over to the microwave to take out the food. The smell of turkey and other assorted foods wafted in the air. He sat the plate down in front of Kiran.
“Now this smells good, April made this?” Kiran asked, taking a bite of macaroni and cheese.
“Nope, Pepper did, but don’t let her catch you saying that.” Roan patted his brother on the back as he started to make his way out of the kitchen. “I’ve got to run back to the Younglings, Kiran, make yourself at home, but when you’re done scout the perimeter and if you take anyone, let it only be the two of you.”
Kiran raised his thumb in the air. “Aye-Aye, Alpha,” he said with a mouth full of food.
Roan smiled and shook his head, leaving out of the kitchen to meet back with the Younglings.
***
Roan finished training with the Shifters for a few more hours, many of them turned as they should. He then went to finish the rest of his duties tending to the ranch and the crops that would need to be shipped out into Sidney later in the week. Thankfully for him, the time had gone by quickly. He quickly showered and dressed in a simple, striped black button up shirt, and blue jeans. Once he made sure that his hair was styled the way he wanted, he left out of the ranch house.
It was already ten minutes to seven when Roan drove down the street and headed to the motel Harmony and Chrys were staying in.
He parked the car and went up the stairs, reading off the numbers on the doors until he came to the number of the hotel Harmony had given him. He knocked on the door and waited for a few moments.
His sensitive hearing allowed him to hear movement and shuffling in the room, followed by the voices of two women in the background that he assumed were Harmony’s and Chrys’. When the door opened, Roan lost his ability to speak, and the smell of honeydew wafted up to his nose.
“Roan, hey, I was just about to put on my shoes. Hold on for a second?” Harmony asked. Her hair was in a braided, side ponytail, with several strands of hair covering her forehead and she wore a black summer dress with a flowing tram at the end.
“You can stop drooling over my sister, she likes you, you know, so you don’t have to try so hard. Think she was dreaming about you the other night, she was gasping a lot.”
“Chrys, really?” Harmony exclaimed, her cheeks burned intensely at her sister’s blunt comments.
Chrys shrugged and turned her attention back to the television on the other side of the room. “What? It’s true. You two keep giving each other googly-eyes, it’s not that hard to notice you both want to screw each other’s brains out.”
