3. Eight

~ Harper’s POV ~ 

One minute I was standing on the stage, overcome with pride and satisfaction that this day had finally come. I was the alpha of the pack. I was perusing the crowd. My pack. It was my duty to take care of them now, to protect them and provide for them. As an alpha, I would have to put the pack before myself, if the circumstances demanded it. I was the sole person responsible for the well-being of these people. My people. 

The feeling was overwhelming. This moment, which I had waited for so long. My gaze swept over the crowd, who had bowed down, to pay their respects to me, their alpha. Not future alpha, but the alpha.

My eyes moved over the crowd and landed on two figures standing by themselves, by the doors of the backyard. I did a double-take when I realized who this person was. 

My eyes had landed on Zara, who was staring at me, standing at my home. For so many moments, I could just stare at her, doubtful if she was a figment of my imagination, or if she was there. Because if she was, we, me and her, had the worst possible timing of all time. 

My eyes couldn't move, my mouth couldn't move, my body couldn't move, it was in shock. My brain was still comprehending if I was seeing the one person, I had wanted to see these past few months, the one person I had missed and wanted to be beside me when I finally took the vow to protect this pack with my life. Instead of standing beside me, she was standing so far away from me, it physically hurt. 

My body was frozen with shock. My wolf howled in joy at seeing his mate after such a long time. One second, she was standing there, and the next, she whirled around and ran back into the house and out of my vision. 

My body finally jolted in realization. What I was seeing was not some hallucination I had conjured up, but she was here. Zara was here. My mate was here. Zara, my mate was here. My brain repeated the words several times in my head because it was the only way I was going to believe it. 

"Harper?" Natalie's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. My head turned to look at her and then a horrific realization dawned on me. 

Zara had just seen me taking my alpha vows with Natalie. She had already expressed her feelings about the both of us together and seeing us right now, taking the vows together, must have solidified her views. Horror churned in my gut. No, I had to tell her that I had had the alpha ceremony organized because of dire consequences and the threat of rogues upon us. I wanted to run after her and tell her every thought that crossed my mind, which finally made me take this step. I just wanted to quell her worries about anything happening between Natalie and me. I wanted to tell her that we participated in this ceremony as friends and not people who could potentially love each other. 

I did just that. I hurriedly climbed off the stage in five large strides. Murmurs broke out in the crowd, everyone wondering where I was going. Paying no heed to anyone, I stepped into the crowd, ready to part it and follow Zara to the ends of the Earth, when I heard a frantic cry. 

"Seb." My mother's cries rose into the wind and I whipped around to see what had happened. My father had fallen to the ground, unconscious, looking pale and weak. My heartbeat sped up, seeing him like that, prone on the ground, minutes after he had just crowned my alpha. 

My feet took the choice from my hands when I felt myself climbing back the steps to the stage, to get closer to my father. Hysteria broke across the crowd when they saw how their previous alpha had fallen and lay prone on the ground. I paid no one any heed and crouched behind my father. My mother was sobbing hysterically beside my father and I hesitantly held his hand to check for any pulse. There was none. 

There was no fucking pulse. I put my hand on my father's chest, only to find that his heart wasn't beating. Panic seized my throat. My father was lying on the ground, his heart not beating and I didn't know what to do. 

Someone mentioned how they had called the ambulance, which should hopefully arrive soon. All the world vanished before me and only my father remained. I didn't know if I should start pumping my father's chest or if it would do more damage to him. I didn't know what to do and that was freaking me out even more. 

In a few moments, two paramedics came and took my father to the ambulance on a stretcher. I let my mother sit beside my father in the ambulance and watched as it rode away en route to the hospital. I swiftly got in my car, my body working on auto. All the emotions and thoughts had been blocked off from my mind the second I had seen my father on the ground. 

Somehow, I made it to the hospital, just as the ambulance doors opened and my father was rushed into the operation theatre. It was disheartening how I had spent so much time in the hospital this last month, life throwing one obstacle after another. 

We watched my father go through the same doors he had crossed a few days ago, while me and my mother stood in the waiting room, shocked at how everything had happened. How had such a celebratory and joyous occasion turned so morbid?

My mother turned to me and I put my arms around her, letting her cry to her heart's content. She needed my support right now and I would be here for her. 

Two hours later, we were still sitting on the stiff chairs of the waiting room, eagerly hoping for some good news. The door opened and a young doctor walked towards us, his face betraying no emotion. My mother hastily wiped her face and stood up, as did I.

"The alpha has suffered from a serious heart attack. His heart has already failed once on the table. His heart tissue is friable and we are doing everything we can to repair his heart. He will hopefully make it through it." He nodded at us and walked back through the doors he had just come from.

My mother slumped back on the chair but I didn't. I was too wound up because of my father fighting for his life. I couldn't leave my mother alone right now. Me being here provided her a certain kind of comfort and I didn't want to deprive her of that. 

I so desperately wanted to see Zara. The fact that she was so close to me and yet so far away, pained me and my wolf. Zara was here, I still couldn't believe it. If everything had been alright, I wouldn't have let her run away like that. I would have asked her to give me a chance to explain myself, why I had to have the alpha ceremony, and that if she had been here, I would have asked her to be my Luna. I would have dispelled all her worries about me and Natalie, I would have given my best to convince her. 

Zara was here. 

Aiden, I need you to go to Zara's house and see if she's there. I mind-linked Aiden, still doubtful if I had imagined her standing there, on the day I had hoped she would be with me. 

He sounded confused but replied in the affirmative nonetheless. Aiden wouldn't have been able to see Zara, he was facing the stage, so his back was to her. At least that was what I was telling myself, lest I would go mad. 

Zara was here. 

Twenty minutes later, Aiden confirmed that a new car was parked outside Zara's house and she was indeed back in town. Harper, she's home Zara's home. I can smell her strong scent in the house. 

Zara was here. 

By hearing the confirmation from someone else, I felt a huge rush of adrenaline in my body. With it, I felt a strong need to pull her in my arms and bathe myself in her scent, to see her, to be with her, to hear her voice, after so many months. 

But as much as I wanted to, I couldn't leave the hospital, not when my father was on the operation table, fighting for his life. Our reconciliation would have to wait a few hours. Well, I had waited to see her for these months, a couple more hours didn't matter, but they sure as hell felt more excruciating and long. 

Zara was here. 

It was several hours after that we were informed that my father had made it to the operating table. They had repaired his heart but the next few hours were crucial. I left my mother beside my father's hospital bed, the scene becoming all too familiar to me. 

I stepped out of the hospital to see that it was evening and the sun was beginning to set. Perfect. I quickly got in my car and drove towards Zara's house, eager to be close to her. 

I parked my car at the end of the street, aware of her nosy neighbors, which she had complained about when we were together. Her scent of chocolates and pines overwhelmed me and I found myself climbing her window. I had climbed it so many times when she was gone that it was now only second nature to me. 

Her scent grew more overpowering as I gained height. I had also grown quite handy in opening her bedroom window and sneaked inside her room, without making any sound. I could sense that only her mom and her brother were in the house at the moment. There was no sign of her dad and the guy who accompanied her. Jealousy reared in my head for a second before my eyes fell on my mate, who was sleeping soundly in her bed. 

My heart stopped beating for a moment, as cliché as those sounds, just like the first time I had seen her in the school hallway, the day I had realized that she was my mate. Her scent hung heavy in her room, more so now that she was in it and not in traces. 

Zara was here.

Of course, she would be sleeping right now. She took the phrase 'sleep on your problems' quite literally and after watching me have my alpha ceremony with Natalie, she must have been struggling with a lot of emotions. So, she ended up sleeping and when she would wake up, she would have a cleared head and the mental energy to sift through her emotions. 

I crouched down beside her and planted a feather-light kiss on her forehead. I breathed in her scent and let myself bask in her proximity. My wolf had never felt more at peace than in this moment. 

I got up without making a sound and tiptoed towards the window. I needed to get back to the hospital but I would be back here again. Later in the night, when she would have trouble sleeping.