“Landon, I explained this to you,” Olivia interrupted.
Landon turned to face her. “That’s enough, Liv. This is between the demon and me.”
Cain clenched his jaw as anger coiled around him. Nothing triggered his demon more than his mate being mistreated or threatened. He wanted to kill whoever caused her any pain. But it was her brother. Cursing, at that moment he wished Landon wasn’t related to her, wished Landon wasn’t married to his friend.
“We decided when the time came we would tell you together,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, I guess you both worked out your story,” Landon retorted.
“It’s not a story,” Olivia interrupted. “I thought it would be best if I—”
“Liv,” Landon warned, his tone filled with fury.
Rage, anger, wrath burned deeper.
Control
, he chanted, materializing an inch from Landon’s face. “Don’t fucking talk to my mate that way!” he yelled for the first time.
“I’m her brother, and her alpha! I’ll talk to her however I fucking want!”
Conceited, arrogant bastard
. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You’ll treat her with respect.”
“Landon, that’s enough,” Jocelyn said.
Landon’s eyes on him, he roared, “No!”
“I’m moving out,” Olivia said firmly, drawing everyone’s gaze to her. Her features seemed set in stone, grim determination in her eyes.
Shit.
What would Landon do now? Fear making him act, he didn’t think. He moved, materializing in front of Olivia, blocking Landon from reaching her.
“Get away from her! You think I’d hurt my own blood?”
No, he doubted Landon would. Despite his temper, Landon was a good man. It didn’t change the fact Landon lost his temper a lot and when he did, he screamed. Cain had stood by and watched it before, his demon begging to avenge his mate, but that was over. He wasn’t going to let it happen again, ever. “From the way you treat her, I can’t say for sure.”
Olivia’s slim hand grasped his shoulder attempting to pull him away. Reluctantly, he moved, but his arm went around her waist, clutching her to him so her side was plastered against his.
“If you make me choose, I choose Cain,” she said, her voice steady and firm.
His chest puffed with pride, a small smile tugged at his lips.
Shaking his head in denial, Landon’s face paled, jaw dropped. “You can’t—”
“Yes, I can, and I did,” Olivia cut him off.
“But where will you—”
“With Cain.”
“But you can’t—”
“I tried explaining things to you earlier. What did you think? That you would come here and fight Cain and I’d forget him? That you would huff and puff and things would go your way?” She shook her head. “Not this time. Not about this.”
She paused, and that wall she’d built around her emotions crumbled, her expression saddening.
Cain felt every ounce of it, making his chest clench. Instinctively, his arm tightened around her waist.
“You have Joce. Other werewolves are now mated to immortals from other breeds. Cain is my mate—”
“You don’t know that for sure. There could be another, a werewolf—”
“I don’t want another. I want him.” A tear slid down her cheek. Her voice cracked when she said, “How c-can you not understand when you went through this yourself with Joce months ago?”
Cain couldn’t stop himself. He cupped her head with the other hand, and pulled her to him until her cheek pressed against his chest. She leaned against him as if for support, and he feathered a kiss on her temple.
Landon growled, his eyes leaving his sister briefly to glare at him.
“I’m sorry, but if you can’t accept this then we can’t…” Her words fell away. “You have to accept this…Cain and me, or—”
Eyes wide, looking and sounding shocked Landon asked, “You’re giving me an ultimatum?”
“Yes…you accept us together, or you don’t accept me.” Several more tears slid down her cheeks before she pulled away from him and walked away.
He stared after her, fighting the urge to chase her then he faced Landon. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want you out of her life. Needless to say, she doesn’t either. I want you to accept us. I don’t want Liv to suffer, like she’ll continue to do. But she’s
mine
, I
love
her, and I’ll
never
let her go.”
With those last words, he materialized in front of Liv. “Darling.”
Her gaze lifted to his. Then she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He laced his fingers through her hair, gripping the back of her neck as his other arm went around her waist, and materialized them to his room. Lowering his head until his lips were just above her ear, he said, “You shouldn’t have done that, Liv.”
Pulling away, she angled her face to his. Her puffy, swollen eyes met his. His heart clenched just as she croaked, “What?”
“You should’ve waited for me.”
She had agreed to wait, but for some reason changed her mind. He wondered why, then put the thought aside, and focused on wiping away the tears streaking her face.
“You think it would’ve changed anything? If anything the drive here calmed him somewhat…Actually, that’s not true. It seems the only thing that calmed him was me moving out.”
He shook his head then released a breath. “You shouldn’t have given him an ultimatum.”
“Like he would have understood any other way?” she asked rhetorically, her expression torn.
Running his palm down the side of her face, he pointed out, “This hurts you.”
“Being away from one another hurt both of us,” she countered. “Besides, what were we going to do? Did you really want to continue to sneak around until he came around? We would have been sneaking around for centuries. I mean he’ll never—”
He drew a strand of hair away from her face. “It’s fine, sweetheart.”
She looked away from him, and her brows drew together. “Do you think I’ve ruined the alliance between the pack and the—”
“No, darling. You can’t ruin anything.”
“You aren’t mad that…I kind of just moved here…You didn’t ask me per se—”
He smiled. “I asked you to mate me and marry me. Did you think I meant to claim you, and live away from you?”
“No, but we hadn’t discussed when we would tell Landon, or where we would live and…now I feel like I—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence,” he said then kissed her lips softly. “I couldn’t be more thrilled, darling.”
****
A bit unsettled still, Olivia headed into the kitchen at the demon compound. She preferred to be alone after the confrontation with her brother, but her stomach continued to growl, and she couldn’t ignore it.
Although Cain had a kitchen on his floor, the pantry wasn’t stocked. Neither was his fridge. She figured he hadn’t been shopping since before he’d gone to Santorini.
Cain left the compound a little over an hour ago, telling her he had errands to run. He’d attempted to get her to spend some time with Jenna and Ashley, Jocelyn’s two sisters, but she wasn’t in the mood for company. She knew he worried about leaving her alone, but she assured him she just needed some time alone, which she did. She’d left out the guilt tearing her apart. Then again, she didn’t have to say it. He knew what her brother meant to her. He knew she was hurt and probably read it in her emotions, too.
Landon was the only family she had left, but he’d given her an ultimatum before she’d given him one. He wanted her to end her relationship with Cain—the man destined for her. She couldn’t live without Cain just as her mother couldn’t without her father. She hoped Landon would come to terms with her decision. However much hope she had, she felt it useless. Her brother was as stubborn as they came, and she feared losing him because of it.
As she walked into the dining room leading to the kitchen, she spotted Jenna and Ashley.
“Hi,” Jenna greeted her brightly. “Are you hungry? I made some sandwiches.”
“Yeah,” she admitted then took a seat. “I’m sorry to barge into your lives—”
“Liv, you haven’t barged in anywhere. You’re as welcome here as you’ve always been. This is your home now.”
“Thanks, I’m sorry you had to witness that—”
“No apologies,” Jenna insisted. “We’re all aware how stubborn and hot-tempered Landon can be. Don’t worry too much. He’ll cool off and come around.”
“He’ll come around,” Ashley repeated. “Jocelyn will nudge and nudge until she gets him to admit he overreacted.”
Jenna plated a sandwich for Olivia and handed it to her. “I wonder if a brother of mine would have reacted like that,” Jenna wondered aloud.
“From what I’ve heard, you had plenty to deal with, with Clyde,” Ashley said. Clyde, Ashley’s soulmate, was an angel and had been guardian to Jenna around the time Jenna met Lucas. He’d disapproved of their relationship from the get-go and gave both of them a hard time.
Jenna chuckled. “That I did.”
“Five sisters? A brother of yours would’ve had his hands full,” Olivia said.
Ashley laughed. “True. I guess we’ll never know.”
Taking a bite of her sandwich, she said, “You know who mentioned sisters? Drake. I wonder if he’s as overbearing as my brother.”
“Drake?” Ashley asked.
“He’s an alpha from Texas. Landon, Joce and I met him last night to discuss an alliance. Landon plans to arrange a meeting between him and the Guardians.”
“I think Cain mentioned something about the alpha. Oh! Maybe we can invite all the Guardians and Drake over for dinner,” Jenna said.
Ashley rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Here we go.”
Olivia laughed. It wasn’t a secret Jenna loved to play hostess.
“My heart, what’re you planning now?” Lucas’s voice boomed from behind Olivia.
She turned to glance in his direction, and noticed him accompanied by two demons she hadn’t met, which she assumed were the new recruits. Both demons had dark hair and dark eyes, but that’s where the similarities ended. While one was model-esque capable of posing for GQ; the other was rugged with a full beard.
“It’s not a party. It’s a dinner and strictly business. Olivia says Drake, the Texan alpha, wanted to meet the Guardians and since there’s no meeting until later this week…” Jenna explained.
Hiding a smile, Lucas said, “That’s a good idea, love.”
“Olivia, have you met Hades and Nathan?” Ashley asked.
She shook her head.
The model-looking demon, extended his hand to her and said, “I’m Nathan.”
She shook his hand.
“Hades,” the bearded demon said.
“Nice to meet you both,” she replied.
“Are you boys hungry?” Jenna asked.
They spoke simultaneously.
“Starved,” Lucas muttered.
“Yeah,” Hades and Nathan said.
“Have a seat,” she said, plating sandwiches for each of them, then took her seat beside Lucas. Her gaze went to Olivia’s and she said, “So about this dinner, how do I get in contact with Drake?”
“I’m sure Landon has his number,” Olivia said. “Drake mentioned he may be leaving today. He was here with his sister and her male.”
“I see. I should get on that right after lunch then,” Jenna said, more to herself.
“Liv, Jenna and I were going to tan by the pool. Do you want to join us?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t have a bathing suit,” she said, remembering not only didn’t she have a bathing suit she didn’t have any clothes at all.
“Don’t worry about that. I have plenty. As a matter of fact, I have a couple of brand new ones I haven’t had the chance to wear,” Ashley said.
“Oh, I don’t want to—” she began.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind, really. Clyde keeps buying me bathing suits,” Ashley shrugged. Her expression became somber for a moment.
Jenna placed her hand over Ashley’s. “Don’t think about that,” Jenna whispered to her sister.
Bewildered, Olivia said, “Only if you’re sure, I don’t want to intrude—”
“The more the merrier,” Jenna said. “I’ve been dying to hear about your vacation.”
****
Cain was on cloud nine. His mate was with him in his home, not that it mattered where they were. His home was wherever Olivia was, but they no longer had to hide. It thrilled him.
He left hours ago telling her he had errands to run, which he did, but the errands were for her. He stopped by several stores, spent close to a fortune buying her clothes, shoes and under garments. No cost was too much for her. She deserved the best of everything and had nothing to her name in his home—their home. He supposed he should invest in redecorating too, letting her pick out what she liked, so she’d feel more at home. He’d never spent money and had a small fortune saved; he’d enjoy blowing it all on her.
Tonight would be special. He had plans to make her a romantic dinner. Then finally he’d give her the engagement ring and necklace Lucas gave him, and he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he did. He’d spent the day imagining her reaction.
Materializing in his closet, he dropped off his purchases on the floor then stepped into the room. Scanning it, he realized Olivia wasn’t there. He checked the rest of his floor, but it too was empty.
He couldn’t help it then. Dread began prickling up and down his back, his thoughts wandering toward the worse possible scenario—that she regretted the decision she made hours before, that she left. He shook his head trying to rid himself of his fear then materialized in the security office fully equipped with a state of the art surveillance system. He searched the camera screens until he spotted her on the top floor, sunbathing with Jenna and Ashley. Releasing a breath, he materialized on the rooftop. Instantly soothed with the sound of her giggling, he strode toward her.
Before he reached her, she turned to face him, smiling then she stood and sprinted toward him. He lifted her off the floor, wrapping his arms around her, picking up her scent mingled with sun tanning lotion.
“Darling,” Cain said then crushed his mouth to hers.
“Hi,” she said after pulling away.
“You look delicious in that bathing suit and taste even better,” he whispered. “Speaking of…Have you eaten?”
She nodded. “I went to grab a bite in the kitchen then Ashley mentioned she and Jenna were planning to tan, so she gave me this bathing suit…”
He turned his attention to Ashley and Jenna.