Chapter Ten
Scott
Even though I knew Zade was going to have it out for my ass after I told Harley that we had history, it was worth it to see the surprise and relief in his face when he realized someone knew who he was before. After all, as rough as it would be to forget yourself, I couldn’t imagine also being surrounded by others who couldn’t – or wouldn’t – fill in the blanks.
“This is so cool,” Harley breathed out, swiveling his seat around and taking in the tiny living space in the back of my van. “Do you actually live in here?”
“Sometimes,” I confirmed. “You can go check it out, if you want.”
Harley grinned and for the first time since I’d found him, he seemed to lose all his nervousness and some of the cockiness I was used to surfaced. He poked around in the back, lifting the mattress and testing out the slide that pulled the couch down into a queen bed and fell back on it, laughing as he bounced. “Have I been in this before? This all seems really familiar to me.”
I bit my tongue to keep from saying that it should. After all, when I’d begun retrofitting the van, I relied almost exclusively on the plans that Harley and I had spent hours upon hours designing together. Back then, we’d planned on owning a tiny caravan design company. After I’d lost him, I didn’t have the heart to continue it on my own.
Shaking off the funk of the past, I forced myself to smile. “If you slide that panel aside, there’s a bathroom. If you move the other side, I have a tiny kitchen.”
“Wow.” Harley took me at my word and began moving panels and opening cabinets, oohing over my multi-level table and hidden storage cubbies. “You have a shower,” he mused, “but where’s the water tank?”
“Where would you have put it?” I countered, enjoying the wonder on his face as he explored.
“Hmm,” he hummed, his bright eyes bouncing around the tiny space before settling on the throw rug in the center of the floor. He twitched his eyes down dramatically, making me laugh. “A clue!”
“Yup,” I agreed, tapping my toe against the spring-loaded release that was recessed into the molding.
When the trapdoor sprang up – rug still in place – and revealed the water tank below, Harley laughed delightedly. “I knew it!” He ran his fingers over the painted wood panel before looking up in surprise. “Seriously? It's not even a real rug? You painted it on? That’s amazing!”
I felt my cheeks getting hot and rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not like it’s a work of art, or anything,” I disputed weakly.
“It’s pretty neat,” he argued, still running his fingers over the shellacked surface. “I never would have guessed that it was a painting.” He pressed in the catch and gently lowered the trapdoor door before stepping back to admire the floor. "You'd never know it was there."
"That was the idea." I cleared my throat. "We really should get you back, Harley." When his lips drooped into a familiar pout, I shook my head. "As soon as Zade knows you're safe, you can check the van out to your heart's content, okay?"
At that assurance, Harley grumbled under his breath, but returned to his seat and spun it around, locking the swivel base and snapping on his seatbelt. "Happy?"
I swallowed my laugh. While I knew most people – Alphas, especially – would be put off by the brattitude, it had always been one of Harley's most appealing quirks to me. "Ecstatic," I said dryly, smirking when he huffed and turned to look out the window.
The drive back to Blood Valley territory only took about twenty minutes, but, of course, Harley had been gone much longer than that and, as I expected, the troops were out in force looking for him when we arrived.
The glare that Zade pinned me with as Harley climbed out of my passenger seat made it clear there was going to be yet another discussion in the near future.
I forced back a groan.
"You okay?" Zade asked, his glare softening into a look of concern when his eyes met Harley's. "We weren't sure where you went."
"Sorry." Harley's shoulders drooped and all evidence of his old fire fled. "I didn't really mean to go anywhere." He chewed his bottom lip, his eyes trained on the ground. "I was just going to look for the wolf and I must have gotten lost or something."
"It's okay, Harley." Zade's husband hurried to assure him, planting his elbow none-to-gently in Zade's side. "Did you find him?"
Harley shook his head. "I ran into Scott and he showed me his van and then brought me back." He perked up a little. "You should see the inside," he told Levi hesitantly. "It's like an entire little house in there!"
"Why don't you show him, Har?" I suggested. "I did say you could finish checking it out when we got here."
Once the two Omegas had climbed into the back of the van, I took a few steps away and gestured for Zade to come with me.
"Don't start," I warned under my breath. "I found him dazed and about to walk off a fucking cliff. There was no way I was leaving him out there alone."
Zade's anger turned to shock and melted into fear in front of my eyes. He inhaled sharply and held the breath for several long minutes. When he finally released it, he looked worried. "Doc called after you left. He agrees you were probably in the dream." Zade shook his head disbelievingly. "He suggested having Trevor try to get through to him." He hesitated for a minute. "Trevor's supposed to have some special gifts, I guess."
I barely held back a laugh at the understatement, but managed to nod my head seriously. "I've heard."
Zade stared at me and I could see he had something to say. Finally, he inhaled and spit it out, "Trevor thinks you should come with us."
Ah. That explained why Zade hadn't wanted to tell me. "When do we leave?"
Zade sighed. "No time like the present."