Chapter Nine
Dominic
Dominic was already up and out of bed, dressing and admonishing himself for his ridiculous mistake the night before. How could he have let that happen? How could he have let his guard down with Olivia? That had been a stupid mistake, one that he couldn’t let happen again.
Olivia was still tucked in his bed, the blankets draped casually around her naked body, sound asleep. There was a small smile on her lips and Dominic had to look away from her. The wolf in him was too tense, too confused by what had happened. There had been many girls in the prince’s life but none that had overtaken him the way that Olivia had.
“Once you meet the mate you’re fated for, you know it. It’s instinctual.”
That’s what Dominic’s father had been telling him his whole life but as carefree as he was, Dominic had never cared about finding a fated mate. It was far more fun to run free and with so many females in the world, there was no sense in tying himself down to just one. That idea sounded absurd to him, that there’d ever be one female that could capture his interest for the rest of his life. It just was impossible. Not to mention that Dominic very much doubted the theory that fated mates even existed. After all, in a world where there were countless people, how could there be just one that instinct told you was your mate?
Since he’d first begun sniffing around the opposite sex, Dominic had been fed this notion that one day he’d meet her and his world would flip upside-down. Respectfully he would nod his head in agreement while stifling eye rolls, yet run around with whatever attractive girl he found. But after his night with Olivia, he was starting to question everything.
There had been something so different about what happened between them. It had been more than a hook-up, more than just physical, though the physical had been damn impressive. There had been something primal and animalistic about it. The whole night, from the moment he ripped at her clothes to the way she clawed at his body, and even the way they’d fallen deeply asleep, spent from each other, had entirely messed with his mind. Being with her had made him feel more wolf than man and that turmoil was still reeling inside of him when he woke up next to her.
The last time he’d let his wolf fuel his decision was when he’d let the feeling of anger destroy his brother’s life. When his father had made the announcement that Ronald was being trained to be the king. As Dominic sat there across the long table, seeing the cocky smile spread on his brother’s face, he couldn’t help that his wolf felt ready to explode from inside of him. It wasn’t as if he expected his father would choose Dominic himself to be the next king, but he detested the smugness of his brother.
It didn’t seem fair that a weak wolf like that should be ruler of a kingdom, that he should get everything in life, so Dominic’s jealous wolf lead him to sleeping with his brother’s fiancé. Then the fight that ensued after…that thought was one that Dominic tried hard to block from his own memory. Because of that fight, he had been kicked from his royal place in life and the fall from grace had been painful. There was no chance he was going to risk falling any further down.
If Atticus found out what had happened between Olivia and himself, he was sure to be kicked from the pack as well. After being removed from the castle and then kicked out of the small pack on the outskirts of the kingdom, there was no way any other pack around would let him in. He’d be forced to be a lone wolf; traveling far until hopefully some far away pack would take pity on him and let him join. Dominic shook his head, it was not a life he had any intention of living. He was better than that, but he also knew that the longer he spent around Olivia the harder it will become to control his animal desire for her.
Especially since he had already had her and the feel of her skin was burned into his body.
He couldn’t become a lone wolf and he didn’t want to— no wolf did. With that thought, Dominic knew there was only one thing he could do.
The day was breaking and with the light meant the dangers of a night attack had faded away. Dominic checked one more time to make sure that Olivia was still deeply asleep before he slipped out of the house and locked it safely behind him. It was early, he hoped that he wasn’t going to wake Atticus but knew that he couldn’t wait. There was no possible way that he could spend more time with Olivia, specifically every minute of the day as Atticus had demanded. He was getting in over his head; more than he already was, if that was even possible.
Atticus lived only a few minutes away. Almost everyone in their small pack lived close by, so Dominic was at Atticus’ porch before he’d come up with what he should say. The Alpha was already outside on the porch, puffing at a pipe, grey smoke hanging in the morning air.
“Good morning, Atticus,” he greeted.
Atticus turned from where he’d been staring off into the distance to see Dominic, hunched against the morning dampness, his hands buried deep into the pockets of his jacket.
“It’s quite early,” Atticus answered. “Is everything ok?”
Dominic stood on the steps of the covered porch, unsure of what exactly to say. How was he supposed to tell Atticus he couldn’t act as Olivia’s bodyguard without telling him it was because he wanted her body to himself?
“I think that Olivia should stay with someone else,” he told the man.
Slowly, Atticus took another puff on his pipe and looked hard at Dominic as if trying to read his mind.
“Is there a problem?”
Under any other circumstances, the prince never had a problem talking to Atticus. He was the Alpha and while there was no choice but to listen to him, Dominic had royal blood and never felt dominated or intimidated by anyone. But he felt as if what he’d done with Olivia was written all over his face and he couldn’t meet her father’s eyes.
“No,” he paused to search for an excuse. “I just think I could be of more use doing something else for the pack. Patrolling the woods at night or something.”
“Do you think that protecting my daughter isn’t important enough?”
Dominic shook his head. That wasn’t it at all. In fact, Atticus had no idea how important Dominic felt protecting Olivia. The thought of anything happening to her made him sick to his stomach. He wanted her to stay safe and he wished that he could be the wolf to do it, but he couldn’t separate the need to protect her from the need for her. But that wasn’t something he could tell Atticus.
“No, it is extremely important to protect her,” Dominic said seriously. “I just know I’m quick and strong and would be of good use on the front lines of an attack if there were to be one.”
Atticus nodded, Dominic knew that his argument made sense. He held his breath while Atticus debated the request.
“Our pack may be small and not all of us are as young or as strong as we used to be, but there’s still plenty of wolves to defend against an attack. The only one who can’t defend herself would be Olivia.”
Dominic knew that was true because she was the only one of the pack that couldn’t shift.
“Then wouldn’t it have been a better idea to keep her in school away from all of this?” he questioned.
“If she was safer in school I would have left her there. But these murderers know who is in the packs and too many stories have come out that wolves who live on their own have been slaughtered on their own. She’s safer here where she can be taken care of.”
Dominic hadn’t known about the attacks on solo wolves, but there still had to be a better way. He opened his mouth to say something but Atticus cut him off.
“She’s safer with you.”
There was nothing more that Dominic could say, the conversation was closed. He’d have to find a way to stay away from Olivia while still keeping her tucked safely away with him.