by Jennise K
“Awwww! I love you, too!” I sob, leaping on him. My legs wrap around his waist, and I snuggle my face into his neck when he lets out a chuckle and wraps his arms around me.
“But Rome…I hope it didn’t take you all night just to decide what to say.” I giggle.
“Shut up,” Romanov grumbles, giving me a playful smack on my backside.
“Okay.” I tease. Knowing how embarrassed Romanov must be looking right now, I keep my face snuggled into his neck.
“Okay,” Romanov groans. “Maybe Alex helped a little.”
The laughter that escapes my lips probably has the audience downstairs traumatised, but in this moment, the only thing I can do is laugh.
Romanov joins in when we hear people downstairs laughing as well.
And then Grandma Liz yells, “Dinner time! Please come back downstairs, kids!”
~
“Can you pass me the coleslaw?”
“Sure!” I smile at Fin, passing him the coleslaw across the table.
“How’s work going?” Dominic clears his throat, avoiding me when I glance at him.
“Filled with the sick and recovering, just as always,” Grayson comments between bites.
“Too damn hectic to be honest.” Matthew sighs, taking a sip of his wine.
“It’s been well.” Theia smiles at everyone before taking a bite of her pizza.
“More than twenty years and I still feel like killing myself in the mornings,” Uncle Rulph says, and the whole table chuckles at that.
“I agree with Rulph. Work’s crazy tiring.” Alexander nods.
I watch as Victor and Derrek tip their glass.
“By the way, Liv, Bryce and I have decided to have a trip around Germany alone, but only if you’re still into taking care of the kids. Please?” Theia reaches for my hand and covers it with hers.
“Of course! Everyone is here to take care of them. Don’t you both worry! When are you planning on leaving, though?”
“Thank you so much, Liv! The morning after tomorrow actually.” Theia grins at me, already looking excited.
Theia seems like a very bubbly but well sorted out woman. Sometimes I find myself wondering what sort of a teenager she was.
Truthfully, I’ve asked Romanov that question once.
He replied with something along the lines of “Absolute nightmare. Every dude wanted her, and I bet all the girls who knew her hated her.”
“Oh, and she was obsessed with showering.” Matthew smirks at his best friend. She, on the other hand, rolls her eyes just as I do.
“Only people who have an issue with hygiene consider bathing once to twice daily an obsession,” Theia retorts, her amused eyes meet mine, and I nod.
“Right! It’s a subjective opinion, but I believe it’s better than bathing every other day or once a week. I completely agree with you.”
“We bathe, too. We’re not dirty, okay?” Grayson huffs, shoving another piece of bread into his mouth.
“Yes, of course you may be. We never said that you’re dirty.” Theia smirks at Matthew, and I can’t help but grin.
I nod dramatically. “Yeah! All were saying is that we’re cleaner!”
Sensing a war, Uncle Rulph quickly clears his throat loudly and turns towards Jay, Aby, and I. “How’s university, guys?”
“Great!” I reply immediately. “We’re getting easier course options, so it’s good so far.”
“I think it sucks.” Jay shrugs, shoving another piece of sausage into his mouth. Both Aby and I watch him with disgust as he continues to shove another sausage inside right after clumsily chewing and gulping the previous one.
“It’s fine if the professor is cute.” Abigail grins. The sausage falls from Jay’s fork and onto the plate. He turns towards her with narrowed eyes. “I hope you’re talking about female professors, Aby.”
“Would that really lower the risk, Jay?” Grayson asks him teasingly. I give his arm a sharp smack. “Ow!”
There. Serves him right for trying to rile things up every chance he gets.
“Oh, did I tell you I’m having a fashion show here in Germany this time!” Aunt Meryl suddenly says.
I smile at her excitement. I’ve gotten used to seeing her so excited when it comes to her work. Fashion designing really is something that’s made for her.
“That’s great, Aunt Meryl! What’s the collection about?” Charlotte asks, looking very interested as she leans forward on the dining table.
“Oh, I knew you’d be the most excited, dear!” Aunt Meryl beams at the woman, moving forward in her chair as well. “It’s actually for my latest spring collection, and I want all of you to come if you can!”
“Am I…am I invited as well?” Uncle Rulph asks hesitantly. The whole table turns quiet, all of a sudden watching the scene before them.
Well, I’ll be damned. How did I not notice this?
Aunt Meryl clearly blushes in front of us. Her fingers fumble between the fork and spoon before she quickly gives up on them and grabs her glass of red wine, taking a large gulp from it.
“Well…yes.”
Uncle Rulph turns to Romanov and grins. His eyes then find Grandma Liz. He smiles when she winks back at him in approval. I, on the other hand, sit a little surprised at all the happy couplings occurring today.
Love is in the air.
“While on the topic of love, I have an announcement to make.” Aunt Prue stops. Beside her, Victor reaches for the hand she has rested on the table. “We’re getting married!”
“Oh my God! Congratulations!” I gape at the beaming couple. I’m sure Victor and Aunt Prue’s love story is something I’m going to hold close for a long time. Two childhood friends-turned-lovers-turned husband and wife. So beautiful!
“Wow! First Romanov’s artistic surprise, then Aunt Meryl and Uncle Rulph’s blossoming romance, and now Victor and Prue’s marriage announcement! Love really is in the air!” Abigail exclaims dreamily while Jaydin throws an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her shoulder happily.
Congratulations and hilarious remarks from the single folks are thrown at the happy couple, and we all let ourselves bask in the warmth of happiness and light-hearted mood.
The ring of the doorbell goes unnoticed around the table. I, however, turn towards the doorway, trying to see the main door, but Marsha has already beaten me to it.
“Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Welshnit’s dinner at their relative’s place got cancelled?” Viktoria suggests, probably noticing the curious look on my face. Instantly, my face lights up. I really do want them included in these family gatherings. I don’t want them to alienate themselves. But if it’s not them at the door, I can pay them a visit.
I decide to visit them tomorrow with Letty. I’ll probably take them some pie as well.
“Excuse me.” Matthew shoots up from his chair, and I watch as he leaves the dining table, the legs of his chair dragging noisily along the wooden floor.
What’s going on?
“Could you please pass me the roti, Luna?” Alpha Lyam asks me, distracting me from my silent curious questioning. My eyes meet his ever observant ones, and this time, I don’t feel the awkwardness I always felt. Instead, I grin at the smiling man and hand him over the plate containing the roti.
“I’m zorry. Butah her name iz notah Luna. Eet iz Olivia, no?” Madame Crawfort frowns at Alpha Lyam, and I grin at the look of panicked shock in his face.
He must have completely forgotten that Madame Crawfort is a human and doesn’t know about us at all. Uncle Rulph and Victor are exempted because they are family.
“It’s a nickname some of my friends call me even though I ask them not to, Madame Crawfort. Just like how we call you Madame Bonbons sometimes.”
“You people col me Madame Bonbon?”
“Oh, come on! Olli!” Abigail groans, resting her face on her hand.
“I thought that would be a secret!” Fin hisses at me.
“Madame’s always in the same room when you call her that. You can’t blam
e Olivia for telling her. By how we go about it, she’s going to find out sooner or later anyway.” Adyl immediately shoots back in my defence, and I send him a grateful smile.
“That’s true.” Aby sighs, looking at Madame Crawfort with a sheepish smile. “It’s because of your love for bonbons, Madame,” she explains to the still stunned older woman. This seems to bring her back to reality.
Her eyes twinkle, and she winks at Aby. “I never zed I deed notah like zee nick nem, did I?”
I think I saw Aby let out a sigh of relief.
“However, I really do need to go to zee loo, excuse me!”
I blink while Madame Crawfort elegantly gets up from her seat and with the help of a maid, quickly rushes in the direction of the washroom.
You did good, keeping extra toilet papers, Olli! That was coming sooner or later!
Underneath the table, Romanov’s hand finds my knee, and he gently gives it a comforting squeeze. My eyes snap to his, and I quickly lean my head on his shoulder in reply before straightening in my seat and digging back into the food.
“Rome! He’s back! He’s awake!”
All heads snap to Matthew’s just as another man, dressed completely in black and red, strides into the room to stand beside Matthew. Undeterred by the occasion or the audience, his head turns towards Romanov, Derek, and Alexander, and he grins.
Then his gaze snaps to mine, and I freeze. My fork and knife fall onto the plate in front of me with a loud clatter just as a number of shocked gasps sound around the table.
He stands tall—very tall—and proud with a very well-built physique. The sharpness of his facial features creates an edgy dangerous aura to him, while he exudes charm with his bright, teasing smile. Something tells me that is his most dangerous feature.
Still, his most striking feature are his eyes. One orb was a bright blue like the never-ending sea, and the other was completely brown.
This man standing before me is a man I’ve known for years. And yet he’s a complete stranger. He doesn’t look anything like the man I once knew. And yet he looks everything like him.
“Greetings! Since three of the most powerful alpha kings in the world are present together tonight, I thought I should make an appearance to announce my long-awaited arrival. How long has it been? Two hundred years? One?” The man chuckles. “Regardless, Prince Adam Ohalm at your service!”
I can’t help it. Despite my blurring eyes, I find myself standing up. I’ve known this man for years and years. How can I not recognise him? It’s him! It is.
“River…”
Can’t get enough of Olivia and Romanov? Make sure you sign up for the author’s blog to find out more about them!
Get these two bonus chapters and more freebies when you sign up at jennisek.awesomeauthors.org
_____
Here is a sample from another story you may enjoy:
CHAPTER 1
Done finally!
Packing had never been my forte. In fact, I absolutely detested packing. Maybe it was because the amount of books and other things I possessed seemed impossible to place in tons of boxes.
Slapping duct tape across the box, I picked up a marker and marked it as Theia’s Books #3.
When the box was pushed aside carefully, I finally let out a sigh of relief as I wiped away a layer of sweat that had accumulated on my forehead. I lived in the warm state of California. It was summer. So naturally, the heat was killing me.
A single thing one should always know about me—I was not much for heat.
When my dad came home one afternoon and declared that we were moving from California to a cold city just near the outskirts of Seattle called Peidmond, I was actually very excited.
Well, that was until I realized that I had to attend a new high school in the middle of the year and leave my best friend, Casey, behind. And since it was senior year, with prom and all, well, it sucked.
Had I been in my old school, Stinson High, I would have at least had my best friend to accompany me. The thought of being home, all alone on prom, only helped me sweat more.
We were a small family—my dad, Arthur Anderson, a professor of history and literature; my mom, Maia Anderson, a designer and entrepreneur; and me, Theia, currently a senior student in high school and hoping to become a criminologist or psychologist—whatever came first. I also had a very strange fascination with history.
I guess Dad’s genes rubbed off on me that way.
Another soft huff of sigh left me as I lazily picked myself off the floor and dragged myself towards the bathroom. I only had two hours before we were to load everything and leave, and I knew, in this heat, I would need every minute of it.
Minutes later, as I stood under my cool shower and slowly observed my bathroom for the last time, I let a few stray tears flow with the water as I washed the tiny ache in my chest away.
It seemed like a day had passed when I found myself scrubbed and fresh, walking out into my bedroom in a towel.
A loud yelp left my lips when I suddenly found myself on the floor and a heavy weight on me.
“Don’t go!” Casey cried hysterically against me. I would have cried too, but the fact that I was currently sprawled on the floor with a towel on and my hundred-something-pound best friend was on top of me was a little suffocating. Especially in my part, I was merely five feet after all.
“Need…to…breathe, Casey!” I managed to gasp as I writhed under her, trying to escape her deadly grip. Immediately, Casey stilled above me.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” She apologized hurriedly, blushing beet red as she got off me, and stood. She gave me her hand and helped me stand up.
On my feet, I sighed as I brought her in for a hug. “We will talk every night on Skype or FaceTime, and then there is Messenger! We will always talk. It’ll be like I’m not even away, I promise.” I assured her as I pulled away. Losing my towel, I pulled on my clothes.
Casey sighed a little heavy and a little scared. “What if we don’t?”
I smiled a small, broken smile. My hand found Casey’s again, and I gave it a comforting squeeze. “No matter what happens, whether we talk every day or not at all for months, when we do talk or meet, we will always be the same best friends.”
A small tear dropped down Casey’s cheeks, and she nodded, chuckling.
“You better tell me everything when you get there!” she blurted out, smiling a bit as she folded and placed my towel inside a plastic before packing it into my suitcase. My room was nearly empty. It was literally stripped bare except for the built-in bookshelves and a few boxes and suitcases that were still lying around waiting to be hurled into the moving truck.
Smiling, I nodded and pulled Casey in for a final hug. “We’ll visit each other during breaks. I’ll miss you, you know.”
Casey nodded. “I’ll miss you too, Thi.”
The loud stomping noises alerted us both of someone coming up the stairs, and soon enough, there was a knock on the door. “Theia, are you done?”
“Yeah, Dad, come in!” I replied as I picked up my jacket—just in case it got cold—and slipped into my flip-flops, which seemed like an irrational choice considering the two contrasted each other, but I wouldn’t need my shoes in the car, anyway. I’d probably just tuck them under me throughout the ride.
The door opened instantly and in walked my dad with two bulky men. Smiling at me softly, they strode towards the boxes and picked them up.
Again, Casey and I stood in my empty room—a room we had dozens of sleepovers in, a room we played doll in, a room we gossiped, planned, and plotted in, and a room we did our homework and fangirling in. I sighed.
“I think we should go now…”
“Uh-huh.”
Casey and I walked downstairs hand in hand. I took a deep breath as I stood in the living room.
The place had a lot of my memories. I grew up in this area. Well, that was until I turned sixteen and got the television setup in my own room. My eyes were closed. I let out a deep breath and whispered,
“I’ll miss you, home. Goodbye.”
“Theia, sweetie!”
My mom’s voice rang out to me like a fire truck’s siren. I instantly opened my eyes and walked out of the threshold, letting Dad lock the door and hand over the keys to our real estate agent, who had managed to sell our home for a very, very reasonable amount.
The day outside was bright and happy, vibrant and warm, yet the heat suddenly didn’t bother me anymore. I looked around my neighborhood and smiled. I would be taking all the good memories as I went. But as much as I was sad, truth be told, I was also secretly excited.
I didn’t know what it was, but I felt like something was waiting for me in Peidmond. An adventure was waiting to be lived—maybe a mystery waiting to be unraveled. The little knowledge about the new feeling in me was all the more alluring, and somehow, secretly, I couldn’t wait to reach Peidmond.
“Bye, Cas. I’ll call you when I reach there okay!” I muttered, suddenly holding back my tears as I was pulled into a hug.
“Uh-huh, we will always talk! And if we can’t, we will at least message when we can.” Casey assured me as she hugged me back.
Smiling slightly, I pulled out of the hug and with a final wave, climbed into our SUV, watching my best friend stand in my yard and my neighborhood for the last time as my dad drove off.
It felt like I was leaving a part of me here. But then again, I was going whole.
~
“Are you excited, darling?”
Mom suddenly asked me, cutting the silence that had been building up since we left seven hours ago. The ride from California to Peidmond was fifteen hours and thirteen minutes, and already in these seven hours, we had stopped twice to fuel up the SUV and buy some snacks for along the way.
“Yeah, Mom, are you?” I murmured back, knowing well that both my parents were extremely excited for this “new chapter” in their life. Dad would not stop talking about the amount of brilliant literature his new university had, not to mention the immense raise in wage and position. He was ecstatic. For Mom, her boutiques and salons around California were still running. And although she would have to fly back and forth occasionally, her excitement with opening a new boutique and salon in Peidmond was especially overwhelming.