Chapter Ten
Olivia
When Olivia woke up in the morning, her body entire body was sore and drained with exhaustion. Even her toes needed stretching out as she lay under the covers, her body still naked, and she tried to sort in her mind what had happened the night before.
It wasn’t as if it was the only time she had snuck out of the house late in the night and found herself hooking up with a guy she thought was cute. It didn’t happen often but sometimes those walks through the night with a guy she had a crush on had ended up more physical than just a walk. But never in her life had she had sex like she’d had the night before.
Her body was clearly still recovering from the intensity, the sheer passion that had torn through them both. It had been hard to even know what had come over her, it was like her body hadn’t been hers. She’d given into the pure lust she’d felt for him, some animalistic being inside of her that had turned her brain into mush and all she had felt was the burning inside of her. She had wanted him, she had needed, and when they ripped each other’s clothes off, she had taken him.
A smiled lightly played at her lips at the memory of his tongue licking the wetness between her legs and she knew she’d never experienced anything like that before with a man.
Then again, she’d never been with shifter before. Regular humans lived in town not that far away from her own pack, and that had allowed her to choose plenty of dating options that didn’t consist of shifters. Maybe the intensity that she’d experienced with him was normal when hooking-up with a shifter. Though her body felt spent, her mind was racing on a track too fast for her to be able to keep up.
Through her teens years she’d dated different boys she’d met in her town as well as some in the neighboring towns, but Olivia had always been careful to stay far away from any of the boys that were in the pack. Some girls had found their perfect soft hair, burning eyes, and impossibly muscular bodies to be an insane turn-on, Olivia wanted nothing to do with dating a shifter. Those girls made conquests of dating those boys whereas Olivia had always made it a conquest to find boys that were completely opposite of what she knew.
There was nothing wrong with dating a shifter, but it was already hard enough to live in a pack where she was the only one without the ability. There was also the reality that being unable to shift in a world full of shifters was what had gotten her mother killed and that was a fate that Olivia wanted to stay far away from. It still tore at her at night as she wondered what may have happened to her mother in that fight, had she been able to protect herself. But there was no use letting her mind wander down that path at the moment, she had other things that she needed to figure out.
Like why she had spent her whole dating life staying as far away from shifters as she could, just to jump at the first one she’d had an attraction to. Of course, she’d never known an attraction like she had with Dominic. That felt like something new entirely and Olivia wasn’t sure how to handle it. Stretching some more in the empty bed, she tried to lay her feelings out for herself in an attempt to get them straightened out.
Dominic was attractive. Not just attractive actually, but hot with a clearly raw sexuality that drove Olivia wild. But he also annoyed her completely with his abrasive personality and his rude way he acted as if he was better than her. So what if he was a prince? As if a prince who had been sent away to a small pack to be a guard was anything to be impressed about. She was the daughter of an Alpha, if there was anyone who should be bowing down it should be he who knelt at her feet.
There was another part about him, though, one that she wasn’t sure upset her or made her more intrigued by him. It was something dark, a shadow that lived behind his warm amber eyes that told her he held a past that still chased after him. It was obvious he had done something to get himself sent to her pack, it wasn’t as if princes were sent away from their castles every day, but whatever it was, it still ate at him.
In the midst of her thoughts she heard the heavy front door of the cabin scrape open and then close quietly. She didn’t know where Dominic had gone but she had better get up because he was back. Slipping on a t-shirt and panties, she walked out into the living room where Dominic was sitting on the couch, his head in his hands.
“Hi, you,” she greeted him, her voice soft and relaxed.
“Olivia,” he greeted her more sternly.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, suddenly feeling a little unsure of herself.
“I’m starving,” she tried again. “Should I make us some breakfast?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I’m not hungry.”
He hadn’t even turned to look at her but she felt suddenly exposed. More exposed than when she had been lying naked underneath the strength of his body.
“Alright, well, the rain seems to have subsided. We could go do something today.” Her voice had lost its soft comfort and had become shakier.
“You’ll be spending the day inside. I’ll be outside, patrolling the grounds. Once it becomes dark I’ll come back and do as Atticus has ordered me to do.”
A flash of anger surged through her, “You’re really planning on just leaving me here today? Alone?”
Dominic stood and turned toward her but wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “The danger hits at night, I’ll be back before then. There’s a meeting at Atticus’ today so I’ll be there for part of the day. As long as you stay put and don’t go wandering around, you’ll be just fine. There will be no reason to be scared.”
“Scared? Is that what you think? That I’m scared of being left alone?” Clearly Dominic didn’t know the first thing about her and the strong-will that she possessed. Being scared was the last thing on her mind. In fact, she felt the whole business about her being baby-sat by a banished prince was ridiculous.
For a flash his eyes met hers before he broke their stare. Her tiny hands bawled into fists as his attitude frustrated her further.
“So, if you’re not scared to be alone, then it shouldn’t be a problem if you stay here.” It wasn’t a question that he was asking but a statement which he planned to bait her with.
“Of course I’m not scared! But you’re just going to leave me here as if nothing happened last night? As if I suddenly mean nothing? Or do you sleep with all the girls and leave them like this?”
Dominic opened his mouth and Olivia waited for his smart remark. If he was going to give her attitude, then she was going to give him a fight.
“Olivia, I’m not going to do this with you. I’m going to leave for the day. I’ll see you tonight.”
He turned and walked toward the front door and Olivia felt her heart race. She didn’t want him to leave her there, she didn’t want him to leave her at all. But it was clear that after all of her thinking about him that morning, she was obviously wrong about him. He wasn’t at all the dark, sexy, interesting prince that she thought he was. Instead he was nothing more than a ‘love them and leave them’ kind of man.
As much as she admits she didn’t know much about him, it was clear that he certainly didn’t know her. If Dominic thought that a locked door was going to keep her inside all day and away from the action of what was going on around them, he was sorely mistaken. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with a jerk like him, but he shouldn’t have gotten involved with a determined girl like her.
He left her there in the living room, her t-shirt skimming her bare legs. He had resisted her with no temptation in his face at all. The door clicked with a lock behind him and she stomped her foot on the wooden ground like a child throwing a temper-tantrum. She’d show him that she didn’t need him and that she wasn’t afraid of whatever was going on. Olivia could take care of herself and once she heard what the meeting was all about and learned the details that no one wanted to share with her, she’d show both Atticus and Dominic that she didn’t need a man or wolf to baby-sit her. With that thought, she turned on her heel and went to the bedroom to get cleaned up so she could get on with her plan.