"Okay, okay. I believe you. I think," In relief, and without thinking, he reached for her hand, which was resting on the comforter. She snatched it away.
"You're confusing the hell out of me, Rocco," she said. "If it wasn't to get me pregnant, then why did you want to mate me?" His breath hitched in his throat.
"Because I want you, Harper," he said at last. "I want you all the time." Her eyes burned with that characteristic flash of anger again.
"You ruined everything in our teens. And you broke my heart. And now you're telling me that you always want me?" she spat. "What's changed, Rocco? I'm still the same person I've always been."
"But I've changed. I've grown up now," he said helplessly.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I've got feelings for you, Harper." To his surprise, this seemed to make her madder than ever, and he sensed that every one of her muscles was twitching with barely contained fury.
"So you loved me forever. And then you didn't love me. And now you're telling me that you've got feelings for me?" She spat the word out as if it was something disgusting, and his throat tightened.
"I was young and stupid when I broke up with you, Harper. I didn't understand emotions," he stuttered, stumbling through the lie.
"How can I ever trust you after what you did, Rocco? One day you said we'd always be together, and the next, you broke up with me."
"It wouldn't be like that. I promise."
"And why not?" She looked so angry and fierce that he knew her bear was moments away from bursting out of her.
"Because – "
"Because what?"
"I can't say." At that, her claws broke out of her fingertips, ready to rip into him.
"You'd better tell me right now, Rocco Silvester," she growled. "Or you're going to curse the day you decided to take me to Paris." A pulse beat hard in his temples.
"Because of the Oracle," he said. "the Oracle told me I couldn't be with you." Her face crumpled.
"What?"
"I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I went to see the Oracle right before I broke up with you, and she told me that if I didn't end it with you, then great misery and destruction would come into your life." Harper shook her head.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. It was the worst thing I could imagine hearing. My dad took me to see her, according to the family tradition. I was expecting her to tell me that it was time to ask you to formally become my mate, so I was all happy and careless. And then she gave me this terrible news. I just fell apart." Her eyes had become very wide, the whites gleaming in the dim light of the room.
"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.