Van, Becca - Taming Olivia [Terra-form 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (8 page)

Olivia pushed her way back out of the circle, too furious to care what anyone thought. “Which one of you is Gavin?”

“I am,” called a tall warrior, stepping toward her as he spoke.

“Gavin, could you please escort me to April?”

“It would be an honor,” Gavin replied, crooking his arm for her to take a hold of.

Olivia turned her head, looking over her shoulder, and gave a final glare at the two now very subdued panthers then let Gavin lead her away.

“What the hell was that about?” Olivia whispered, walking through corridors with Gavin.

“I don’t quite know, myself,” Gavin hedged.

“But if you had to hazard a guess?” Olivia asked persistently.

“It would be better if you questioned your mates, lady.”

“Olivia. My name is Olivia,” she muttered.

“A pleasure, Olivia. We are where you wanted to go.” Gavin indicated the door in front of him.

“Thank you, Gavin,” Olivia said, knocking on one of the double doors in front of her.

“Just call if you need some assistance, and I will be at your side,” Gavin stated then nodded his head and left.

“Olivia, April will be pleased to see you. Come in, little one,” Ben said, practically pulling her through the door.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking at Ben’s tense expression.

“April has been crying since she woke up. She can’t seem to stop. We don’t know what to do,” Ben stated with frustration.

“Oh. Don’t worry about it. Her body’s just been through one hell of an ordeal. Her milk will start coming in, and I’ve heard that can make new moms real emotional. She’ll be fine, you’ll see,” Olivia stated, patting Ben’s arm.

“I thought you said you knew nothing about birthing and babies?” Ben asked curiously.

“Well, I don’t, but I’m not totally ignorant. I do know how to read, and I’ve heard other women talking,” Olivia said with exasperation and a roll of the eyes.

“April, stop blubbering,” Olivia said, walking further into the room. She spied April in bed with her baby girl in her arms. Gage and Saxon were reclining on the bed beside her. Both had worried expressions on their faces.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You three get out now. You’re only making things worse. Go and do what you…do, and leave us women in peace for a while,” Olivia commanded.

Olivia saw Gage and Saxon raise their eyebrows at her audacity in ordering them, the Alphas of the panther clan, out of their bedroom. But when they sighed, she knew they were actually glad to have an excuse at a reprieve.

Olivia watched as April’s three mates practically ran out the door. She snickered and then crawled on the bed beside April and baby Jade. That perfect angelic face and the small bowed lips smiling in her sleep was enough to get her all weepy, too. Instead she looked up into April’s tear-drenched eyes.

“You can stop that right fucking now, girlfriend. You’ll not get an ounce of sympathy out of me. You have those three men wrapped around your little finger. You in tears isn’t going to make me pander to you, so suck it up. You have a beautiful baby girl. You should be happy, not sad.”

“I am,” April wailed. Olivia was doomed. She’d tried and failed. The perfect little girl was enough to melt any jaded heart. Both the women spent the rest of the day cooing and bawling over the baby Jade.

Olivia felt a yearning in her heart and soul. She imagined herself with a round belly as her own child grew inside her womb. The thought of holding her own baby, a piece of her mates as well as herself, made her tear up. She could think of nothing better than holding her own child in her arms. Once that thought took hold, she knew she was never going to leave.

She was going to have to try and come to terms with all her demons so she could realize the ultimate dream of having her own baby. She just didn’t know how to go about being a complacent female. She hoped she could let down all her barriers one day soon. She was driving herself insane as well as her mates, and she knew she couldn’t keep her walls of protection in place forever.

Chapter
Eight

Cedric pounced on his Alphas as soon as they entered the communal dining room. His brother was beside him. He had a dilemma he didn’t really want to sort out but knew the emotional and physical safety of their mate depended upon him solving the problem. He waited until their Alphas were seated at their table and approached.

“Alphas, if we may join you, we would like some advice,” Cedric asked courteously.

Cedric was relieved when Gage swept his hand out in invitation, watching as he and Hugh approached their table. “What seems to be the problem?” he asked.

“I found Tony pursuing our mate earlier today. He was in panther form, which of course called to my beast to challenge. Our mate was brave enough to defuse the situation,” Hugh said. Cedric saw his brother’s proud grin spreading across his face and knew he was just as impressed as he had been at their mate’s actions.

“Once we had both calmed down, Tony revealed he thinks Olivia is his mate also. We don’t know for sure if what Tony says is true, but we don’t know how to go about finding out.”

“Hm, these women are becoming such a pain in the ass,” Gage said with a smile. “But they are so sweet and precious.”

“So what do we do?” asked Cedric.

“I think you should introduce Olivia and Tony. Let them have some time together, get to know each other,” Ben stated, crossing his massive arms over his chest.

“I understand what you’re saying, Alpha, but Olivia doesn’t even know us well, yet. She’s still very skittish around us. We haven’t had the time to spend with her and make her more comfortable,” Hugh stated.

Cedric watched the three Alphas look at each other. They were obviously communicating using their own private telepathic mind link. He waited expectantly and with trepidation for their Alphas to speak. Finally, the three Alphas leaned back in their chairs, turning to the front of the table again.

“We are giving you a week’s reprieve from your duties. You will spend that time with your mate. She needs to be at ease with the both of you. I am also giving Tony that week free from duties. He will also be spending time with your mate. I want you all here for the evening meal. The four of you will sit at that table, where we can see how your mate interacts with you all. If Tony believes your mate belongs to him as well, it will be apparent to you and us by meal’s end,” Gage stated with conviction, brooking no arguments.

Cedric wasn’t very happy with Gage’s decree, but since he was an Alpha, he had no choice.

“As you wish,” Cedric conceded. He and Hugh gave slight bows, turned, and left the dining room.

What do you think, brother? Do you think Tony has a claim over our mate?
Cedric asked.

I’m not wanting to admit it, but from his reactions, I would say yes. But I won’t be agreeing to anything until I see how our mate and Tony interact. I’m hoping he has no claim over her at all. We’re having enough trouble wooing and taming our mate as it is. Our mate’s reaction to introducing another mate to her is going to be catastrophic.

Well, we don’t have a choice. We’ll just have to deal with issues as they crop up. We are going to have to inform Tony that Olivia uses her mouth when she feels frightened or threatened. You know what a hard-ass he is. The last thing we want is him scaring our mate any more than he already has,
Cedric mused.

She’s going to freak.
I know.

* * * *

Olivia crawled from April’s large bed where she had spent the day visiting baby Jade. She stood, preparing to leave, when persistent knocking on the double doors drew her attention.

“Liv, can you see who that is? God, if Gage was here, he wouldn’t have let the second knock land. He’s so protective of Jade. It’s funny,” April muttered.

“Jade’s not the only one he’s protective of,” Olivia threw over her shoulder, heading to the door.

She opened the door, scowled when she saw who it was, and tried to slam the door in their faces.

Hugh moved so fast he was a blur. He had the door out of her hand before she could blink. “Hey, what the fuck? You can’t come barging in here. It’s not even your room.”

“We have orders to take you to the dining room for the evening meal. You are to dine with us, as well as Tony Kial, in the presence of our Alphas,” Hugh commanded.

“Liv, what the hell have you been up to?” April called from across the room.

“Nothing,” Olivia replied over her shoulder, puzzled. She swung her head back to Hugh, pinning him with her eyes. “Has this got anything to do with him changing and then chasing me?”

“Did I hear you right? Tony changed to his beast and chased you?” April asked with indignation, rising from the bed with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah. What’s up with that?” she asked.

April stared at Olivia for a moment. Olivia could practically see the cogs turning in April’s mind.

“Ah, Liv, did you happen to notice if his eyes were flicking from his normal eye color to gold?”

“Yeah, what is with that?”

“Oh, girlfriend, it looks like…”

“April, what are you doing out of bed?” Ben called, hurrying into the room.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Ben. I gave birth, I’m not sick. Women have been doing it since the dawn of time. I’m sick of you, Gage, and Saxon coddling me.”

“Olivia, we must hurry to join the evening meal. We cannot dismiss a direct order from our Alphas,” Cedric stated, reaching for Olivia’s hand as Hugh took the other and led her from the room.

Olivia dug her heels in, not wanting to have dinner in a room full of shape-shifting strangers. She had a sinking feeling in her gut. She just knew she wasn’t going to like whatever it was Cedric and Hugh were trying to hide from her. And from the scowls on their faces, they didn’t like it either. She was still mad at them, too. How did they think she would feel waking up after a wonderful night of sex, cold and alone? She was already full of self-doubt, and to find herself alone this morning was enough to give her low self-confidence another battering.

“Please, Olivia. We cannot dismiss a direct order from our Alphas,” Cedric said gently as he looked down at her.

“As if you care,” Olivia spat back.

Cedric and Hugh stopped so suddenly, she nearly fell on her ass.

“What do you mean by that?” Cedric asked, frowning at her.

Olivia hadn’t meant to blurt that out. She’d become so adept at lashing out with her tongue when she was hurt or insecure, it had become natural. She lowered her eyes to the floor, giving a negligent shrug of her shoulders.

“You will answer, mate,” Hugh commanded, raising her face up to them, using a firm but gentle thumb and finger to hold her head in place.

Olivia could see by the steely determination in their eyes they weren’t going to let her get away without answering. She had nothing to lose anyway, as far as she was concerned. She was going to find a way to leave and get back home if it was the last thing she did. She didn’t belong in this world.

“Well, you certainly didn’t hang around this morning,” Olivia spat belligerently.

“We had duties to attend to. We didn’t want to leave you, sweetheart, we had to,” Cedric replied gently.

“You thought we didn’t care for you after we claimed you last night?” Hugh asked incredulously. “How could you think we didn’t care for you? You’re our mate. We want to be at your side always, but we have duties we need to do. We have just been given a week free from our duties. We will be able to spend the next week by your side every minute of every day.”

“Careful what you wish for,” Olivia muttered beneath her breath, seeing the irony of her contrary thoughts. She had spent so much time and put so much thought into trying to get away from them and keeping them at arm’s length, it had become a habit. Now, she was going to spend the next week in their presence and them in hers.

“What did you say?” Cedric asked.

“Nothing. We’d better get to the dining room before we upset the oh-so-exalted ones,” Olivia stated, walking away.

Hugh took a few long strides, caught up with her, and placed his hands upon her shoulders. He turned her body around and tapped her on the ass. “Your sense of direction is terrible,” he said with a chuckle.