Awaiting Fate

by J. L. Sheppard

  “The more on our side the better,” she said, taking a seat.

  “I meant what did you think of him as…a man.”

  Her cheeks flushed. Instead of answering, she said, “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “I don’t need details, Liv,” he warned. “I prefer not to talk to you about this stuff in general, but—”

  “I’m not Drake’s female, Landon,” she interrupted.

  “Oh.” He sounded disappointed. “Well, maybe someone from his pack—”

  “I found my male,” she blurted.

  He straightened. His eyes narrowed as the muscles in his jaw clenched. “What? I thought you said Drake wasn’t—”

  “It’s not Drake.” She paused, squared her shoulders and admitted, “It’s Cain.”

  “What?” He bellowed so loud she thought he’d shattered her ear drums.

  Jocelyn raced into the office. Olivia felt the heat of her eyes on her, but didn’t bother to turn her way. She was too busy watching Landon as he stood, and walked around the desk. Eyes glowing with anger, he stopped inches from her, towering over her.

  She stood to face him, and repeated, “Cain is my male. I love him and he loves me and we’re mating and getting married.”

  “Over my dead body!” he roared. “You’re a princess! The sister of an alpha! He’s a demon and a warrior! You need a man who will take care of you, not leave you every night to fight Malums!”

  “He’s a prince, brother of the king,” she pointed out.

  His face fully flushed with anger, he corrected, “Adopted brother. And he’s not a werewolf, Olivia.”

  “So the new rules apply to everyone but me?” Her voice rose with each word despite her attempts to shield her fury.

  “That’s different!”

  “Landon, calm down,” Jocelyn cut in. “You’re not resolving anything by screaming.”

  “Please explain how it’s different. I’m all ears,” Olivia asked.

  “You are the princess of this pack. You cannot leave your home. This is your home, and he is no longer welcome here.”

  What? That didn’t make any sense. What if Drake had been her male? Did that mean he, as alpha of his pack in Texas, was expected to drop it all to move in with her? “If Joce didn’t live here, would this be your home?”

  “What are you insinuating?” he demanded.

  “My home is with him,” she replied, evenly.

  He shot back, “You won’t survive a day living in the city. You wouldn’t survive a day living on another plane! Where will you shift and run? You plan to shift in front of all those demons? So they can all stare at you?”

  “Cain would never allow anyone to stare at me just as you’d never allow anyone to stare at Jocelyn, and we haven’t decided where we’ll live yet.”

  “You didn’t think it was important to discuss it?” Landon screamed again.

  He had a point, a good point. She and Cain hadn’t thought to discuss those matters, because they’d been focusing on telling her brother first. “My biggest concern was you and with reason,” she snapped, losing her cool.

  Fisting his palms, he turned from her, saying, “Cain? Cain! I can’t believe this shit! Right under my damned nose!” He took several steps, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

  “Nothing happened right under your nose. Cain only recently told me I was his.”

  The next moment, he stood an inch from her, facing her. “When?”

  “After I left, he went after me.”

  His eyes widened, almost to the point she thought they’d pop out of their sockets. “But you’ve known him for months!”

  “Five months. We were just friends until I took the trip,” she informed.

  “He’s lying! You aren’t his. No immortal could wait five months.”

  No, Cain wouldn’t lie. Cain loved her. She knew it, and still, a part of her, that insecure part of her felt her brother had made a valid point because Cain also said she was beautiful, and she knew she wasn’t. Even so, she said, “You waited three.”

  Eyes fully engulfed in yellow, he reminded her. “And it nearly killed me.”

  That was true, too. She couldn’t help but wonder what if Landon was right. What if Cain wasn’t hers? Shaking her head, she pushed the thought away. He’s mine. I’m his, she chanted. Still, her voice shook when she said, “Because you denied her. Cain never denied me. He waited for me to—”

  He slammed his fists against the desktop. The sound of the wood cracking resounded around the room. “Is that what he said? It’s a cute story, but I don’t believe it. He’s saying you’re his to get you in bed!”

  On cue, her face flamed, a blush so deep she felt it as it trailed down her neck and chest.

  He didn’t miss a beat. His glowing eyes widened, his pulse spiking with his anger.

  “You had sex!” he accused.

  She jumped, startled. Embarrassed, shocked and angry, she couldn’t prevent tears from welling in her eyes. She hated to show weakness, especially now, especially in front of Landon who was always so strong. No wonder he treated her like a child. She couldn’t even hold back a couple of petty tears.

  “You’re lucky he didn’t mark you!”

  Toughen up, she thought then took a deep breath. “He didn’t mark me because he didn’t want you to find out that way, but I guess I should’ve let him because there’s no way you’d ever take this well.”

  As if he hadn’t heard a word she’d said, he yelled, “He’s a fucking coward for sending you to tell me!”

  “He didn’t send me. He doesn’t pretend to own me. I told him I’d wait for him,” she said. “I broke my word because I didn’t want you to—”

  “Kill him?” he finished for her.

  “I didn’t want the two of you to fight, and I didn’t want to affect our alliance with the demons, not to mention the Guardians.”

  “You’re not his!” Landon screamed.

  “That’s enough, Landon,” Jocelyn interrupted. Both of them turned to look at her. “Everyone knows Olivia is Cain’s mate.”

  Relief swelled inside her, that doubt gone because Jocelyn knew, because everyone knew. Cain was hers.

  Taking a step toward his female, Landon asked, “What do you mean everyone?”

  “I mean everyone…but you,” Jocelyn said.

  “So he’s been going around talking about my sister? I bet he’s told all his friends how—”

  “No, Landon. He didn’t tell anyone, not even me, but demons are empaths. As for the rest of us, it was pretty obvious.” Jocelyn sighed. “I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. He came here every day with some lame excuse.”

  Eyes blazing, Landon said through gritted teeth, “I thought he was here to see you!” He had a point there, too. Jocelyn and Cain were friends, and Landon, all alpha male possessive, had made it clear he didn’t like it.

  “Yeah, he came to see me, but spent all his time with Liv,” Jocelyn shot back, sardonically.

  “Damn bastard! Wait till I get my hands on him!” Landon rushed out of the room.

  Olivia couldn’t do anything, but race after him.

  Chapter 27

  Cain’s fist connected with the dummy, blood pouring from his blistered fists, staining it red. He didn’t feel it. All he felt was rage. As long as he’d been at it, hours, that rage hadn’t ebbed.

  No wonder. He was disappointed in himself and that, he realized, turned to anger quickly.

  She said she wasn’t upset, but she deserved better than he’d been to her. She deserved much more than a demon mate who took out his frustration on her just because he’d lost all semblance of control.

  Because he was so angry, he’d done the only thing that had come to mind, train. It often appeased him. Today, though, it wasn’t working.

  He heard the elevator doors part, and cursed. He wanted to be alone, so he could stew in his foul mood. That’s where his mind was when he sensed it. The rage surrounding him do
ubled.

  Turning, he spotted Landon barging through. Olivia trailed behind him, panic and fear streaming from her. Before he could stop himself, he took several steps toward her with one thought on his mind—soothing her. He cringed, and halted mid-stride when he remembered he couldn’t. Then he noticed Jocelyn merely steps behind Olivia; she, too, was worried.

  “You!” Landon bellowed, taking menacing steps in his direction.

  Cain crossed his arms over his chest, nonchalantly trying his hardest to hide the anger simmering inside. “How may I be of service?” His voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “You are not fated for my sister!”

  Eyes widening, he glanced in Olivia’s direction, her eyes pleading. For what? He didn’t know. He couldn’t read her mind not until he claimed her. What did she want? Not to fight her brother? Not to be angry with her?

  “We aren’t mated yet, but she is my fated,” he replied.

  “Hell! Fuck! No!” Landon roared.

  Moments later, Lucas holding Jenna materialized near him followed by Benjamin and Jacob.

  Noticing, Cain kept his gaze on Landon. “You learned the hard way. Who we are destined for is out of our control.” He spared another glance at Olivia, realizing then her eyes were red rimmed. She’d been crying. His chest ached then, hating he hadn’t been there to comfort her. Gaze snapping back to Landon, he said, “If I got to choose, I’d still choose her.”

  “This stops here! Whatever is going on between the two of you, stops now! She is my sister. I choose for her, and you aren’t it!” Landon screamed, his eyes burning golden with anger.

  “At least attempt to control your temper around my mate and your pregnant female,” he shot back. He knew it would infuriate Landon more, but he didn’t have it in him to care.

  “She is not your mate! She’s my sister!”

  “She is my mate and your sister,” Cain fired.

  Landon’s hands began to shake, quivering from his anger and need to shift. “You aren’t even man enough to tell me yourself. You send her. You aren’t worthy of her.”

  Landon was right about one thing: he wasn’t worthy of all Olivia’s innocence and beauty. That wasn’t his fault. The fates had fucked up. Because they did, it meant she was his, and because she was his, he’d never let her go.

  “Landon, I explained this to you,” Olivia interrupted.

  Landon turned to face her. “That’s enough, Liv. This is between the demon and me.”

  Cain clenched his jaw as anger coiled around him. Nothing triggered his demon more than his mate being mistreated or threatened. He wanted to kill whoever caused her any pain. But it was her brother. Cursing, at that moment he wished Landon wasn’t related to her, wished Landon wasn’t married to his friend.

  “We decided when the time came we would tell you together,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “Yeah, I guess you both worked out your story,” Landon retorted.

  “It’s not a story,” Olivia interrupted. “I thought it would be best if I—”

  “Liv,” Landon warned, his tone filled with fury.

  Rage, anger, wrath burned deeper. Control, he chanted, materializing an inch from Landon’s face. “Don’t fucking talk to my mate that way!” he yelled for the first time.

  “I’m her brother, and her alpha! I’ll talk to her however I fucking want!”

  Conceited, arrogant bastard. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You’ll treat her with respect.”

  “Landon, that’s enough,” Jocelyn said.

  Landon’s eyes on him, he roared, “No!”

  “I’m moving out,” Olivia said firmly, drawing everyone’s gaze to her. Her features seemed set in stone, grim determination in her eyes.

  Shit. What would Landon do now? Fear making him act, he didn’t think. He moved, materializing in front of Olivia, blocking Landon from reaching her.

  “Get away from her! You think I’d hurt my own blood?”

  No, he doubted Landon would. Despite his temper, Landon was a good man. It didn’t change the fact Landon lost his temper a lot and when he did, he screamed. Cain had stood by and watched it before, his demon begging to avenge his mate, but that was over. He wasn’t going to let it happen again, ever. “From the way you treat her, I can’t say for sure.”

  Olivia’s slim hand grasped his shoulder attempting to pull him away. Reluctantly, he moved, but his arm went around her waist, clutching her to him so her side was plastered against his.

  “If you make me choose, I choose Cain,” she said, her voice steady and firm.

  His chest puffed with pride, a small smile tugged at his lips.

  Shaking his head in denial, Landon’s face paled, jaw dropped. “You can’t—”

  “Yes, I can, and I did,” Olivia cut him off.

  “But where will you—”

  “With Cain.”

  “But you can’t—”

  “I tried explaining things to you earlier. What did you think? That you would come here and fight Cain and I’d forget him? That you would huff and puff and things would go your way?” She shook her head. “Not this time. Not about this.”

  She paused, and that wall she’d built around her emotions crumbled, her expression saddening.

  Cain felt every ounce of it, making his chest clench. Instinctively, his arm tightened around her waist.

  “You have Joce. Other werewolves are now mated to immortals from other breeds. Cain is my mate—”

  “You don’t know that for sure. There could be another, a werewolf—”

  “I don’t want another. I want him.” A tear slid down her cheek. Her voice cracked when she said, “How c-can you not understand when you went through this yourself with Joce months ago?”

  Cain couldn’t stop himself. He cupped her head with the other hand, and pulled her to him until her cheek pressed against his chest. She leaned against him as if for support, and he feathered a kiss on her temple.

  Landon growled, his eyes leaving his sister briefly to glare at him.

  “I’m sorry, but if you can’t accept this then we can’t…” Her words fell away. “You have to accept this…Cain and me, or—”

  Eyes wide, looking and sounding shocked Landon asked, “You’re giving me an ultimatum?”

  “Yes…you accept us together, or you don’t accept me.” Several more tears slid down her cheeks before she pulled away from him and walked away.

  He stared after her, fighting the urge to chase her then he faced Landon. “For what it’s worth, I don’t want you out of her life. Needless to say, she doesn’t either. I want you to accept us. I don’t want Liv to suffer, like she’ll continue to do. But she’s mine, I love her, and I’ll never let her go.”

  With those last words, he materialized in front of Liv. “Darling.”

  Her gaze lifted to his. Then she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He laced his fingers through her hair, gripping the back of her neck as his other arm went around her waist, and materialized them to his room. Lowering his head until his lips were just above her ear, he said, “You shouldn’t have done that, Liv.”

  Pulling away, she angled her face to his. Her puffy, swollen eyes met his. His heart clenched just as she croaked, “What?”

  “You should’ve waited for me.”

  She had agreed to wait, but for some reason changed her mind. He wondered why, then put the thought aside, and focused on wiping away the tears streaking her face.

  “You think it would’ve changed anything? If anything the drive here calmed him somewhat…Actually, that’s not true. It seems the only thing that calmed him was me moving out.”

  He shook his head then released a breath. “You shouldn’t have given him an ultimatum.”

  “Like he would have understood any other way?” she asked rhetorically, her expression torn.

  Running his palm down the side of her face, he pointed out, “This hurts you.”

  “Being away from one another hurt both of us,” she
countered. “Besides, what were we going to do? Did you really want to continue to sneak around until he came around? We would have been sneaking around for centuries. I mean he’ll never—”

  He drew a strand of hair away from her face. “It’s fine, sweetheart.”

  She looked away from him, and her brows drew together. “Do you think I’ve ruined the alliance between the pack and the—”

  “No, darling. You can’t ruin anything.”

  “You aren’t mad that…I kind of just moved here…You didn’t ask me per se—”

  He smiled. “I asked you to mate me and marry me. Did you think I meant to claim you, and live away from you?”

  “No, but we hadn’t discussed when we would tell Landon, or where we would live and…now I feel like I—”

  “Don’t even finish that sentence,” he said then kissed her lips softly. “I couldn’t be more thrilled, darling.”

  ****

  A bit unsettled still, Olivia headed into the kitchen at the demon compound. She preferred to be alone after the confrontation with her brother, but her stomach continued to growl, and she couldn’t ignore it.

  Although Cain had a kitchen on his floor, the pantry wasn’t stocked. Neither was his fridge. She figured he hadn’t been shopping since before he’d gone to Santorini.

  Cain left the compound a little over an hour ago, telling her he had errands to run. He’d attempted to get her to spend some time with Jenna and Ashley, Jocelyn’s two sisters, but she wasn’t in the mood for company. She knew he worried about leaving her alone, but she assured him she just needed some time alone, which she did. She’d left out the guilt tearing her apart. Then again, she didn’t have to say it. He knew what her brother meant to her. He knew she was hurt and probably read it in her emotions, too.

  Landon was the only family she had left, but he’d given her an ultimatum before she’d given him one. He wanted her to end her relationship with Cain—the man destined for her. She couldn’t live without Cain just as her mother couldn’t without her father. She hoped Landon would come to terms with her decision. However much hope she had, she felt it useless. Her brother was as stubborn as they came, and she feared losing him because of it.