Olivia“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”Nathan fanned at my face with a folded napkin. The cool air was a relief, but for the tenth time already, I offered him a weak smile and shook my head.“I’m fine, really,” I lied. “My legs just got a little weak, that’s all.”And for the tenth time, Nathan narrowed his eyes at me and pursed his lips. “I think we should get you home. You look pale.”Home. I could accept that—anything to get away from this luncheon, away from Dan and his biting words and his digging fingers. But I didn’t feel right leaving Clarissa here with him. Not after the way he had dragged her away suddenly.“Can we at least check on Clarissa?” I whispered. “I’m worried—”“Liv.” Nathan leaned in closer and lowered his voice. His blue-green eyes seemed to flicker beneath the light streaming in through the stained glass windows. “You have to let her go.”I swallowed. I knew he was right, of course; Dan’s warning had been loud and clear. But it didn’t make it hurt any less. Somethin
OliviaI woke up in the morning to the feeling of the warm sun streaming in through the curtains and a cold spot in the bed where Nathan would normally be.Yawning, I rolled over and sat up. The sound of the shower turning off in our shared bathroom caught my attention, and I rubbed my eyes as Nathan emerged along with a plume of hot steam a few moments later.“You’re up early.” I glanced over at the clock, which read 6:05 in the morning. That was nearly half an hour before Nathan usually got up to head to work for the day.“Yeah.” Nathan crossed the room, still wrapped from the hips down in his towel, and planted a warm, damp kiss on my forehead. “I’m heading out early today.”I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “How come? I thought today was supposed to be a short day.”“It was.” He sighed and dried his hair in the vanity mirror. The water on his back glistened in the morning light, highlighting his taut muscles.Despite the cold winter outside, Nathan never seemed to get soft and slee
OliviaThe bright fluorescent lights overhead as the nurses wheeled me into the emergency room was all I could see. Their bright glare practically blinded me, but I felt so far away that it didn’t even matter anymore.“Acute pain… Bleeding… Nausea…”“How many months…?”“Bad sign…”Their words seemed to fade in and out, along with the looks on their faces as they leaned over me. All the while, Angela was the one constant: her hand wrapped tightly around mine, the tears in her eyes, the feeling of her fingers brushing my sweat-caked hair out of my face.“I’m here, Liv,” she said gently, never once leaving my side the entire time. “I’m here.”I was able to manage a weak smile in her direction, but something dear to me was missing amongst all of the pain and the chaos.My husband.He still hadn’t answered my calls or any of the messages I had sent him. Or at least, he hadn’t the last time I had checked. At some point during the frantic car ride to the emergency room, the phone had slipped
Nathan“Now onto the matter of packs Eastwind and Crescent Moon,” Dan said as he shuffled around the pile of papers that sat in front of him. “Let us begin with their shared proposal.”“The way I see it, if those two packs want to merge,” one of the other Alphas said, “then they should also be required to pay a proportionately higher trade tariff to the association.”“Indeed.” Dan nodded as he jotted down some notes on his notepad. “They are two very large packs…”As the other Alphas discussed matters of pack politics, my mind was elsewhere. My phone had been buzzing incessantly in my pocket for several minutes now, and I was afraid to take it out for fear of another reprimand from Dan.But the more my phone buzzed, the more I realized that I couldn’t just ignore it. Whoever was calling me so much was likely not calling to chat, judging by the amount of times they called.No, something was certainly wrong. And whatever it was needed my attention.Checking to make sure that Dan and the
OliviaAs the ultrasound technician slowly moved the cold, gel-covered probe across my belly, I didn’t let go of Nathan’s hand the entire time. The sound of a steady pulse filled the room, and soon, the faint image of a small figure inside my belly popped up on the screen.“Hmm…” The technician thoughtfully hummed to herself as she worked. “Placental abruptions are usually difficult to see on ultrasound, but… oh. There it is.”Nathan and I both seemed to swallow in unison as we leaned forward to see what the technician was pointing to on the screen. As soon as I saw it, I felt my heart sink further than it already had.There it was; tiny, but there. A sliver of space between the placenta and the wall of my uterus. I guess part of me had somehow hoped that the doctor had been mistaken, but now that I had real, tangible, visual proof, it felt as if I had swallowed a leaden weight.“You can go ahead and clean yourself up,” the technician said then, handing me a warm towel. “I’ll go get t
OliviaI rolled over in bed with a heavy sigh. Despite the warm sun streaming in through the window and the sound of the birds chirping outside, I was feeling incredibly apathetic and lethargic that day.“I hate this,” I whispered, tossing aside the paperback novel I had been attempting to read with no luck. It thudded onto the end of the bed, the beautiful man and woman on its curled cover staring up at me almost judgmentally.Normally, I loved trashy romance novels like that one; but today, the idea of reading anything almost churned my stomach.“Just another week,” my wolf reminded me for what felt like the millionth time.I let out a small scoff and pushed myself up to a seated position, where I leaned my head back against the wooden headboard and turned to gaze longingly out the window.With February and the first half of March behind us, the cold weather was beginning to dissipate and the snow had completely melted. Soon, it would be spring, which meant that temperatures were ri
Olivia“Olivia, what are you doing?”The sound of Nathan’s voice suddenly coming from behind me startled me out of my reverie. I quickly turned with Elliot still in my arms to see Nathan standing in the doorway, still in his jacket. He looked worried.“Elliot woke up during his nap and started crying,” I said. “So I came in here to check on him.”Nathan sighed… “Olivia…” he muttered with exasperation as he rushed over to me. He quickly took Elliot out of my arms without warning, causing even Elliot to startle and begin to whine from being pulled away from his mother so suddenly.“What’s the issue?” I asked. “I was fine.”Nathan simply shook his head, bouncing Elliot to soothe him back to sleep. “Olivia, you’re on bed rest, he said.” He placed Elliot back down in his crib once his cries had subsided again and then took my hand and began leading me back to the bedroom. “You can’t be up.”“What was I supposed to do?” I asked as I followed him. “I couldn’t just let him keep crying until y
OliviaI yawned and flipped to the next page of the catalog. With the magazine in one hand and a marker in the other, I periodically circled items that we still needed for Alvin’s nursery; a mobile, some baskets for the changing station, a rug, curtains.With the date for the c-section just a few days away now, we were currently on crunch time with Alvin’s nursery. We had decided to convert one of the spare bedrooms downstairs, but it was only halfway done.“I just wish we had more time,” I said under my breath as I looked through the catalog.“Me, too.” Nathan met my gaze in the vanity mirror as he combed out his damp hair. He was fresh out of the shower, his bare muscles glistening with water droplets. A towel hung loosely around his hips, revealing the very top of his groin in the mirror. “But I’m sure little Alvin won’t mind if we’re still putting on some finishing touches when he arrives.”I smirked a bit and flipped to the next page. “He is the one who decided to come almost fou
OliviaI gripped the edges of the podium, my knuckles whitening from the strain as I stared out over the sea of faces. All eyes were trained squarely on me, awaiting my words. But I was frozen.A tremor of nausea wormed its way up my throat as I stared out at them. What was I thinking—how could I have ever agreed to this? Speaking to crowds had never been my forte; that was Nathan’s arena, not mine. I was just the woman behind the scenes, the young mom who had never gone to college, the one who had been handed her job by her husband…Suddenly, a flicker of motion off to the side caught my eye—Nathan, standing just at the edge of the stage with his arms folded across his chest. Even from this distance, I could feel the weight of his steady gaze, that piercing Alpha stare that always seemed to see straight into the depths of my soul.He must have sensed my faltering because, slowly, deliberately, he offered me the faintest of smiles and a single, reassuring nod.And just like that, the
Olivia I looped my arm through Nathan’s as we stepped down from the podium, the applause from the crowd and the flashing of cameras having finally subsided after what felt like an eternity. “It’s over,” Nathan beamed, giving my arm a squeeze. “That wasn’t so bad.” I couldn’t help but grin back at him. “No, it wasn’t. You were great up there.” And he really had been great; the press conference had been an overwhelming success—any lingering doubts or trepidation we had harbored before had been utterly blown away by the sheer force of the crowd’s enthusiastic response. For so long, it had felt like we were fighting this battle alone, like the victims who had suffered under Dan’s horrific operation were little more than nameless, faceless casualties. But today, we had finally given them a voice. Their stories had reached the masses, had resonated and struck a chord with everyone who watched. Nathan had handled all of the questions that were thrown his way with poise and ease
OliviaI rapped my knuckles lightly on the door to Nathan’s office. A moment later, his voice called out, “Come in.”Stepping into the room, I placed my hands on my hips upon seeing the scene in front of me: Nathan was standing in front of the mirror, his shirt still untucked and his tie loosened. His desk was a mess of papers and folders, and it was clear that he had been checking over his notes last-minute before the press conference.
OliviaI wiped a bead of sweat from my brow, slowly turning to survey the progress that had been made in the park. The banners we had hung were a bold purple color, signifying our support of the women who had been affected by the trafficking ring.I couldn’t help but smile a bit as I looked at our progress. With the press conference today, followed by a festival to help raise funds for the shelter we were building, the park was bustling with activity as our pack members worked hard
NathanI leaned back in my chair with a weary sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose in a futile attempt to stave off the encroaching headache. Spread out on my desk was an array of file folders, legal pads scrawled with notes, and printed transcripts—a minefield of information that would need to be carefully navigated on the day of the upcoming press conference.It had been two weeks since Dan and Montgomery’s bodies were found in the confinement pit, and it had been a dizzyin
OliviaMy hands shook uncontrollably as I stepped up to the edge of the pit, clutching the metal grating until my knuckles turned white. A thick, cloying stench wafted up from the darkness below—the unmistakable reek of death and decay.Despite the waves of nausea already roiling in my gut, I leaned forward for a closer look.
OliviaThe air coming through the open windows smelled like the fresh sea breeze as we made our way from room to room, touring every nook and cranny of the newly completed cottage. It was perfect—cozy and quaint, while still boasting all the modern amenities one could want. But more than that, it was a sanctuary, a haven.A fresh start.
OliviaThe sound of power tools outside streamed in through the window while I folded the laundry, a distant backdrop to my swirling thoughts. I had grown used to the sound, and actually kind of enjoyed it. It was a reminder that life went on, that our family was growing.It had been a couple of weeks since I had made the decision to take a temporary leave from work in order to really focus on my family—on rebuilding that long-severed bond with my mother—and I was glad I did.
NathanI couldn’t stop the rage from simmering just beneath the surface as I made my way through the darkened forest toward the confinement pit. No one knew I was here—I was coming under the cover of night, my hair and face concealed by a hood.But I had to come. I couldn’t stop thinking about Dan and Montgomery, and I needed to see them.