"Where have you been?" Richard asked as he stood from his desk and rushed around the table toward Olivia. She walked into the room to meet him, watching as the other people in the room moved out of the way to make a path for him. He came up in front of her and held her forearms in his hands, looking her up and down, studying her.
"I went on a walk. I couldn't sleep," Olivia said, her voice quivering. "Please, daddy, can we talk privately?"
She hoped he would send everyone away so they could talk without an audience. She breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded and sent everyone out of the room.
"Call off the search, tell them she's been found. No one is to disturb me for the next half hour," Richard said sternly as everyone filed out. His secretary nodded and closed the door behind her with a small smile directed at Olivia. She cringed back, her weak attempt at a smile.
"Sit down, Olivia. Tell me what happened. Why weren't you in your bed this morning
Olivia woke several hours later. She had slept the morning away, the clock showed it was past two in the afternoon. She heard a soft rustling at the door as Mary slid through the opening and walked up to her bed. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Mary said with a bright smile. "You're awfully chipper," Olivia said with a groan. She rolled over, trying to hide her head under the pillow. "Oh, no, you don't get to go back to sleep. You need to wake up, your sister is calling for you," Mary said, smiling down at Olivia as she walked to the bed and sat on the edge. "Belle? Oh my goodness, I forgot to check on her this morning. I promised her I would. She's going to be furious," Olivia said as she jumped out of bed and rushed around the room, throwing clothes on. "She's ok. She's looking a little under the weather, but the doctor thinks it's from the excitement of the day. I took a tray to her room just now and put your lunch on it. I figured you'd be hun
"Alpha," Ben said calmly as he walked into the alpha's office. He greeted their leader with a nod of his head. The alpha was pacing around the room. He had been raging for almost an hour, wanting an update on the ambush that had hurt his men. "What happened? Tell me. Now!" Alpha Samuel said, glancing angrily between Ben and Xander. Ben stood calmly and addressed the alpha as he recounted the events of the last day, leaving out details of the human girl that had helped them. "The blast was successful. Xander's explosives took down a very large section of wall and we were able to complete the connection between the river and our trench. Water is flowing down the trench now. We anticipate it to take a few days for the water to flow fully through our river and fill the lake. We have men watching the progression. They will make adjustments to the depth as necessary," Ben said, standing straight, addressing the alpha. "We caught sight of humans near t
Olivia woke slowly, her head groggy and her back sore. She had slept in a chair by Maribelle's bed. She looked at her sister, sleeping peacefully in her bed, and sighed in relief. She was ok. Olivia looked closely at Maribelle's head and noticed there was a sheen of sweat at her hairline. She leaned forward and put her hand on Maribelle's forehead. Her sister was burning up. She sat up quickly and pain shot through her abdomen and groin. She winced as the memories of last night flooded through her mind. Tears welled in her eyes and despair spread through her chest as images of Simon pressing her down flashed through her memory. She cringed and pushed the images away. She wasn't equipped to deal with the emotions that wanted to spill forth. She pushed it down, she pushed the memories away and the pain away. She pretended she had a particularly tough ride on her horse the day before and allowed her mind to block the rest of the images. If she told herself the lie long enough,
Olivia sat in a chair in her room, staring into the flames. She couldn't move, she couldn't get up and do anything. She knew she needed to check on Maribelle, but seeing her sister one more time, her face flushed with fever, would break her. So she sat in the chair by her fire and waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for. Maybe she was waiting for the next attack that the fates were going to send her way, or maybe she was waiting for someone to come and save her. She couldn't be sure. She just waited. A soft knock sounded at the door. Olivia didn't look away from the flames, but she spoke. "Enter." Her voice rang out through the room, breaking the silence with her soft whispers "Olivia?" Simon's voice rang out through the room. Olivia stiffened as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. "Your sister was calling for you. Where have you been all day? I expected to see you at dinner," Simon said reprovingly. Ol
Olivia ran back. Mary stayed behind as she pushed onward toward home. She didn't care that she left the maid behind without waiting. She was going to get as far away from Ben and Xander as she could. She couldn't believe she had helped them. She was going to go straight home and talk to her father. She would tell him about the wolves, she would tell him that they planned to steal the weapons and attack the city. There was no way she would sit back and let the wolves kill innocent people. Those were her friends. Her family.She reached the edge of the gardens and rushed into the house, not caring to climb the trellis or be quiet. She raced toward her father's study. He would be awake, she was sure of it. There had been too much conflict with the wolves recently for him to be sleeping peacefully in his bed. He had foregone a honeymoon in order to organize the attacks on the wolves.Olivia's chest hurt, she stopped and grabbed the wall, gasping for breath. She walked slow
Olivia took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down as she glanced around the breakfast table. Simon sat across from her, eating his breakfast silently. He looked at her periodically, giving her a small smirk when he caught her looking nervously at him. "What are your plans for the day, Olivia?" Simon asked. Richard looked at Olivia with interest. She had not yet decided what she wanted to tell her father she was doing, but she knew that she needed to figure out an excuse to get into town. "I'm going downtown to shop, I think," Olivia said, glancing at her father. "If that's alright, daddy?" "Yes, of course, Olivia. You don't need my permission to shop. Who are you taking with you?" He asked, taking a bite of his food as he waited for her response. "I'm going to take a kitchen maid I met last week with me. She was telling me about a fabric shop and I'd really like to look through their fabrics. I need a new dress made," she let her voice t
Olivia was glad that she had worn a dark gray dress that day. It was the right color to make her blend in with her surroundings. She typically wore bright, cheerful colors but she had not felt in the mood to wear anything cheerful that morning. So, gray it was. And it was a good thing, too.She and Mary crept around the train cars, trying to hide in between the trains and peek within the carriages. So far they had found nothing."What if they've moved them?" Olivia whispered."Well, we need to try our best to find them if they are still here, we still have some time left, let's check the rest of this train and then go along the next two. There are still three left to look in," Mary whispered back.Olivia nodded and crept between the carriages to peek out to the other side. Seeing no one, she quickly rushed along the side of the final cars in the row, peeking in to find them empty. She scrunched her face in frustration as she shook her head and looked at M
"My dear, did you find the fabric you were looking for?" Simon asked without preamble as he sat across from Olivia. She glanced up at him nervously and he smirked at her discomfort."Yes, I did. The modiste is going to arrange all of the things I need for our," her voice broke as she choked out the last word, "wedding.""That is good to hear. Your father is quite pleased with the arrangement, we wouldn't want him disappointed. What else did you get up to today, that was a rather long trip just to be spending time at the modiste," Simon said."Mary and I walked in the park, it was refreshing," Olivia said evasively."Walked in the park?" Simon asked."Mm-hmm, the park behind the modiste, we went for a walk to clear our heads," Olivia said, not looking at Simon. She was watching the city pass by as they rode toward her house."The park by the train depot," Simon asked.Olivia glanced at him quickly, alarm on her face. She quickly compos
Ben could feel the metal on his wrists rubbing his skin raw, he wasn't healing which meant the metal was silver, poison to a wolf but incredibly effective at keeping them confined. His eyes were sore as he opened them slowly and tried to look around the room despite the pain in his chest and the pounding in his head. He looked down at his chest and saw a gaping wound, a wound that had been put there by the Alpha. The Alpha had wanted him dead, and now he was in jail. There was no safe place in this godforsaken city, the humans would skin him alive and sleep on his pellet fur while the Alpha would dance around his burning corpse. Both options were dire. He couldn't leave Olivia to fend for herself. She would be killed by the humans if they knew how much she had helped him. And, in hindsight, it had done no good, as the city was in ruins despite their best attempts at peace. The last thing Ben had seen was an explosion and the smell of fire and smoke filling the air as the tallest bu
Olivia felt the morning sun shining on her face. She distinctly remembered closing the curtains the night before, needing the feel of safety that came with being in a small enclosed space without the vast darkness of night seeping into her room. So this early morning presence of bright sunlight on her face was disconcerting.Her eyes blinked open as she tried to block the sun from her face with her arm. "Good morning, Olivia," a deep voice called out to her. She looked at the table that was situated in front of the fireplace. There were two plates sitting on top of the table, both filled with a variety of food, and a pot of coffee perched on the table to the side of the plates, cups empty and ready for the steaming liquid. Under normal circumstances, the sight would be welcome but the dark eyes that studied her from one of the chairs made her stomach drop in dread. As if he could sense her trepidation, Simon spoke."Oh, come now, my dear," his eyes sparkled with lascivious delight a
Olivia's eyes were wide as she watched the Alpha, his presence towering over the rest of the wolves. The werewolves on his side of the wall descended into chaos around him. The men that had been fighting alongside Ben were overrun by other werewolves. They were being held down and arrested, anyone that put up resistance. It was obvious there was unrest among the ranks as snarls rent the air from both sides of the conflict. Ben was being dragged back through the forest by a duo of wolves, a trail of his blood being left in his wake. Olivia couldn't pull her eyes away from the conflict, it felt as if her heart had stopped beating and her lungs were trying to catch up. Her chest constricted from the pain of seeing Ben shot through the chest. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't focus on anything other than the pair of legs disappearing between the trees and she felt the small part of her heart tied to him being dragged after him leaving a gaping hole in her chest. "Olivia, get down!" Ku
Ben was in charge of thirty men. It wasn't nearly enough to meet the hundred men lined up at the wall, guarding the human side of the city. 'It's like they know we're coming,' 'They probably do,' Ben replied as realization filled him. 'The Alpha could have told them.' 'Why would the Alpha want to kill us?' 'Because he knows that we don't approve of his plan to attack innocent kids and women.' 'He knows that we know he's losing his damn mind?' 'Anyone could tell that. He's insane. When did it get so bad?' 'I don't know, but be careful what you say. It could get you killed.' The chatter through the link was close to treason, if not enough to get them all hanged. Ben could see the humans lining up on the other side of the city wall. He wouldn't be the first to attack. He couldn't kill innocent humans, not after meeting his mate, not after seeing her face in his dreams and feeling the pull of the bond between them. There was a poetic justice in being killed by her people. It woul
Olivia stood gingerly, assessing her injuries as she watched Simon walk out of the room. She only had a few moments reprieve before he would come back and take her to her sister. They were here to find Susan, but Susan was nowhere to be found. She had disappeared.Olivia thought darkly that she wished she could disappear, too. If only for a few hours. She just wanted the world to stop turning to give her a reprieve from the inevitable pain that would come as soon as her sister succumbed to her injury.If only she had seen her sister slip away.If only the wolves hadn't blown up the wall.Her heart felt the beginning of bitterness and she blinked away the tears. For once, the tears were for her sister's situation and not her present dilemma. The world could send her as many Simons as it wanted as long as Maribelle was spared. Her sweet, beautiful sister. She would be dead soon.Maribelle might even be dead now. Enduring Simon's brutality was n
Simon rushed into the basement after Richard. "Olivia!" he said, his surprise apparent. He looked at her in awe and grabbed her in his arms to hold tightly. "I thought you were dead." He let out a sigh of relief and Olivia looked at him warily. The part of the relieved fiance that he was playing took her by surprise after their last encounter. "I am fine, Belle is sick though. She is not going to last much longer," Olivia said as she stepped back from Simon. Her voice broke and she walked to her sister's bedside to sit. She wanted to soak the last few hours with her sister before the infection overcame her body. "There's nothing you can do?" Richard asked. "Nothing at all?" He glared at the doctor. Dr. Northern was unphased and he shook his head. "No, there's nothing to be done at this point. The infection is too strong for our medications. We have tried everything we could, but it was not enough. Something invaded her body and she is not able
Olivia woke with a start. She felt her abdomen but it felt fine, as if nothing was wrong. She looked at it incredulously. She could have sworn she had been standing in Ben's house with a handful of blood just before she passed out. She remembered seeing the blood and feeling light headed, then blackness. She shook her head. It had been a long, stressful week. Maybe she had imagined it. She stood up from the bed and remembered the attack on the city. The train depot had been demolished. She had seen it happening. She had almost been demolished with it. She walked toward the door, wanting to find Ben. She needed to get back to her sister. Maribelle was ill and she wouldn't be happy waking up in the doctor's basement without a friendly face. Her stomach twisted at the thought of Maribelle all alone, scared, with only the doctor to keep her calm. She needed to get back to her sister. She needed to be with her. She walked toward the staircase and made her way down
Ben caught Olivia just as she fell, she had passed out from the wound in her side. He hadn't even noticed it. How had he missed something so important? "I should have known she was hurt," he murmured as he lifted her into his arms and held her close. "Get my bed ready, Heidi, we need to dress her wound." Heidi rushed up the stairs ahead of him and he followed closely behind, setting her down gently on the bed in his room. He wasn't about to let her out of his sight now that he had her in his grasp. Heidi grabbed her dress and ripped with her claws, the fabric falling away and exposing her pale, porcelain skin. Her breasts fell out of her dress and Ben growled when he realized there were others in the room. Xander looked away and Flor smirked as he glanced at her chest. "Look away or I will rip your eyes out of your head right here," Ben said, growling under his breath. "One should never look at another man's mate," Flor said under his breath.
Olivia sobbed in relief, clutching Ben with all her might. She felt instant relief when his arms held her tight to his chest and he held her head in his hand, breathing in deeply as he buried his nose in her neck. She shuddered in desire, even here in the midst of destruction, she wanted him. "I need to get you to safety," he murmured as he pulled back from her and looked around. "Where's Mary, did you see her at the manor? Is she ok?" Olivia asked frantically. Ben sent a mind-link to Xander. 'Is Mary alive?' he asked. 'Yes, she's alive, but she got hit hard on the head, she'll be out for awhile. I'm taking her back to your place to Heidi,' Xander replied. 'You need to use the tunnels. The Alpha will be watching what we do, we need to be careful. Meet me at the southern gate, there's an entrance near there,' Ben replied. 'On it,' Xander replied. "Mary's fine, Xander is with her and he's taking her to my house. My