Chapter Fifteen
Dominic
There was no chance of Dominic being able to hold back his wolf, not after the news that Patrick had delivered. No, he needed to tear out of his human form and race into the woods. He needed to stretch, to breathe, to clear his head from everything that was going on.
God, why was his head so foggy?
Ever since he met Olivia he’d been wrestling with his mind and his body and it was becoming exhausting. Maybe if he’d met her at another place and time he’d be stronger against her wiles. Maybe it was the knowledge that she was in danger and needed someone to keep her protected that kept him feeling confused, but he highly doubted that was it.
There was a feeling inside of Dominic that told him no matter when he would have met Olivia, as he was surely destined to do, he wouldn’t have felt this confused and riled up. It was just bad timing that when he met her, packs around their country, including his, were in grave danger. The tension was mounting inside of him, as well as the desire to belong to a pack, and it was all getting confused inside of his mind.
If there was one thing he was certain of, however, it was that he no longer thought that fated mates was just a fairytale. Though he’d scoffed at the notion for years, after his second night with Olivia, he knew it to be true. Fated mates indeed existed, and he was certain that he’d found his. But it couldn’t happen between them, it was impossible.
With Dominic’s reputation there was no way that Atticus would be alright with his only daughter ending up with a wolf like him. He’d banish him out of that pack and let Dominic fend for himself in the wild rather than let his daughter be with him. That was probably for the better, Dominic had caused enough problems and turmoil in people’s lives; not only women’s but his brother’s and families’ as well, that he had no desire to do any of that again.
Not to mention the fact that Dominic should have been doing something more important with his time. Being with Olivia had been a perfect way to spend any amount of time that he had, but since he couldn’t have her, he should have been out protecting everything around him. The pack, the town, even the kingdom since that was what his father sent him out to do anyway.
And that was exactly what Dominic planned to do. Once again, he vowed that he would stay away from Olivia and be there only as a protector. But this time he wouldn’t go in the house. No. Instead he would stay outside on the porch, in wolf form, as if he was a watchdog. That was the only way he could be sure she was safe from any harm while keeping an eye on his pack.
Tension was brewing in the air, it was so thick that Dominic could taste it on his tongue. The attack was coming, and it was going to be soon. Dominic’s hackles went up instinctively and he knew that the attack could be as soon as nightfall. He needed to get back to the pack and their cabins, he’d been out running long enough.
What would he say to Olivia when he got back? How could he tell her that no matter how perfect she felt in his arms that he could never be with her? It wasn’t as if he could blame Atticus, it wasn’t his fault that Dominic carried the negative reputation that he did. Dominic had made those decisions to bounce around from girl to girl and live carelessly in the assumption that he’d never find that perfect girl. Now that he’d found her, it was a vicious circle that he couldn’t have her because of his reputation.
Damn his luck.
Had this been what his brother had felt for his fiancé? He was designed for her, yet Dominic had clouded her mind and judgment by convincing her of the bore that was his brother?
If so then he supposed he deserved the cards he was being dealt.
It didn’t matter much in the moment, the only thing that mattered to him was keeping her alive. He’d find a way out of the confusion he was in, once he took care of his pack. His pack was going to come first, though he hadn’t the faintest idea how he was going to do that either.
Suddenly nothing felt simple anymore. Not his emotions or his love life, and especially not the comfort of his pack. They needed him and he needed them, but how was he going to keep them all alive? He was just one wolf, no matter how strong he was, there was just one of him and he had a feeling there were going to be plenty of poachers to battle with.
Dominic stopped short of his cabin and once again put back on his clothes after he shifted to human form. The first thing he needed to do was talk to Olivia. He needed to explain what was happening, why he had to stay away from her, and hopefully she would understand how much she meant to him. He had to hope she wouldn’t hate him for staying away from her. Once she went back to school, she’d forget all about him. After all, she wasn’t a shifter, she probably didn’t even have a fated mate. She’d move on and find some college guy and fall in love.
The thought made him sick but at least she could be happy, she’d be taken care of and by someone Atticus would approve of. He would spend his life in misery, he was sure, but he probably deserved it. She’d go on to be happy and that would somehow mean more to him.
But first things first; he had to keep her alive.
Back at his cabin, he straightened himself up and opened the door to the cabin, prepared for the hardest thing he’d have to do— push her away.