Chapter 17: What Happened (Liv's POV)
After we left the Wolfe house we came back to Silver Crescent's Packhouse. I know Jace is trying to find Oliver. We search their shared floor. Oliver is nowhere to be found. His scent is faint. He hasn't been here since yesterday morning. Was it just a few hours ago that everything was okay?
Jace has barely said a word since we left. I know he is caught up in his own head. He cares for Leigh. But I notice now that it's more than that. As his Queen, he worships her. As someone who was raised as his sister, he is very overprotective of her. He wants to throttle Ollie. So do I, but he is still my brother. Still my twin. I can't let Jace hurt him.
Jace leaves me in our apartment here to go talk to the Pack. I crawl into bed and try to reach out to Ollie. It takes me an hour but he finally responds.
"What Liv." He growls at me.
"Ollie are you okay."
"Did you know?" he asks ignoring my question.
"No, I found out the same time you did." He is quiet for a moment. All I can make out is his heavy breathing. "Ollie are you okay."
"A couple of broken ribs. She hits harder than an Alpha. Fuck."
"Who Leigh?"
"Don't say her name. Please Liv."
"What did you do? What did you say to her."
"It doesn't matter. I did what I had to. I had to break her. It was the only way." He responds in a broken voice, then cuts off the connection.
I lay there until Jace came back. He crawls in behind me wrapping his arms around my waist. I turn over and buried my face into him. "You okay, Angel. I'm sorry I left you for so long. I know this is hard on you too."
"He's so upset. He is hurting so bad right now."
Jace pulls back from me with a frown on his face. "You spoke to him?"
"Briefly. He cut the conversation short."
"Liv, Angel, Do you know what he said to Leigh?"
"I don't know. He just said he had to break her. That it was the only way." Jace rolls onto his back staring up at the ceiling. His jaw taunt. I know he's upset and trying not to take it out on me. "When you find him please don't kill him."
I hear him blow out a long breath of air. "He could have gotten us all killed Liv. You don't understand. If Leigh hadn't had control of Jade, we would all have been smashed to pieces. No explanation just death. I should know. She almost killed me during her first shift."
"Please Jace. He is my brother."
He makes no promises but asks, "If he talks to you again, I need to know what he said to her. I need to fix this. I'm not going to wait four years this time." He kisses the top of my head and relaxes into bed while pretending to sleep. I know he's not but I'm not going to press him right now. I snuggle into his chest feeling his arms tighten on me. Leaving me as his anchor.
He's lost his best friend and his Queen today. What I fail to understand is that as close as Ollie and he were that wasn't the best friend he lost. Leigh has always been his best friend. When he fucked up with me, she was the one there for him. She has been there his whole life and he has been there for her. Even when they weren't friends they were still family.
I awake the next morning to an empty bed. There is a note left on his pillow for me. It says, "I have to find him. I love you, Angel. Thank you for not running."
I make my way of bed. A hot shower and comfortable clothes feel amazing after the stress of yesterday. Walking down to breakfast is the most surreal feeling. As I made my way down the steps the pack members part way and bow. "Good morning" Luna was said by those that I passed. As I enter the dining hall I am directed to the lead seat and my breakfast is already plated for me.
"Anything else for you Luna." Mary, one of the Omegas that work the kitchen, asks.
"No everything is perfect. Thank you."
"It's been a long time since I had the joy of cooking for our Luna. If you have any requests just let me know, but I already have a list of your favorites." I don't know what to say so I just nod while drinking my juice and Mary backs away into the kitchen.
As I am finishing Gamma Raymond, Jace has yet to choose his Gamma, approachs me sitting in the chair to my right. "Good morning Luna. Can I have a word with you?"
"Sure what can I help you with." I have grown up with this man as an authority figure in my life, and now I outrank him.
"As you know my daughter has been locked up by our Alpha. I was hoping you could persuade him to release her."
"Dakota has gotten herself into some mess. I think right now the best and safest place for her is to stay where she is at."
"How can being jailed for unknown reasons be the best for her." He asks cracking just a little under the stress.
"With all due respect, but Dakota knows exactly what landed her in prison. Those reasons are why she is safer there."
"This has to do with your brother, doesn't it. Dakota gets locked up twice and now he is missing. This is all his fault. If he could just keep his dick in his pants, my pumpkin wouldn't be in the trouble she is in now." He growls out from between his teeth.
"Raymond, I'm going to say this one time. Do not mistake my kindness as a weakness. As your Luna, you will respect my decisions. If I say Dakota is safer where she is, then heed my warning. Dakota created this issue herself. I do not pretend that my brother is innocent in this, but you will keep this packs Beta's name out of your mouth. Unless you wish to be stripped of your title early for insubordination. Are we clear?" I finish with my own growl while my words hold their Luna tone.
Gamma Raymond stood before saying, "Yes Luna. I am sorry. I have forgotten myself. You will understand when you have children of your own, how easy that can happen." He bows to me before walking away.
I am done with people already today. I return to the top floor and crash on our bed. I have only been up for a few hours and I already feel exhausted. I keep playing over the Gamma's words in my head. "You will understand when you have children of your own." I can only hope that my children don't turn out to be whores like his daughter. Or my brother for that fact.
That leads me to think of Ollie. I know that whatever he did, it is because he is afraid. He is afraid that he is not good enough. That he doesn't deserve Leigh. I can't say that he does. All he has done is fuck things up every chance she has given him.
She had given up on him Friday night and by Saturday they were right back together. They looked so happy when they walked into the conference room together. You could feel how in love they were. I can't understand why he can't just accept that she is their future Queen.
I know he keeps pushing away because he didn't think the Goddess would allow him to keep her. That an Alpha female would never get paired with a Beta but he is no slack. He works harder and is smarter than most Alpha's. He seems to have accepted her as an Alpha how much more doubt did her being the Queen give him. That's the big issue here his doubt. That's why he did this to her.
Why would he hurt the rest of us? I know Jace is his main target. I remember him saying "So you have been lying to us the whole time. I should have known. All of you knew and let me... SCREW YOU AALL.
The lie. He feels betrayed because they all knew that she will be Queen. They all knew what she will be and still let him fall in love with her. That's why he asked if I knew. He said he had to break her. It was the only way. It was the only way for him to let her go. I'm still rooting for them. I think they will only be happy with each other.
I spend another two hours trying to reach out to Ollie, with no luck, before I drift off to sleep. I wake up hot. Like really, really hot. I throw the blanket off but it is still too warm. I stripe and turn on the shower keeping the water cool but even under the coldest setting, I'm still too hot. Then I feel the pain.
Shit, I'm going into heat. "Jace" I cry out through our mind-link.
"Angel are you okay." He quickly responds.
"It hurts Jace. It's so hot. Help me."
"Talk to me Angel what's happening. I'm almost back to you."
"I need you so much, Jace. Please hurry."
Within moments I hear the door splinter and break into the apartment. "Angel where are you."
I just whimper from where I'm sitting in the shower. The running water must have kept my scent down. He finds me before I can find it in me to make a coherent response.
"Angel what's wrong." He asks as he pulls me into his arms. "You are burning up."
I moan at the contact of his skin with mine. It's what I need. I wrap myself around him before he can ask any other questions. I hear him say "Oh." As if he has just figured out why I need him. Why I am climbing him like a tree and ripping his clothes off. I want to cry as his jeans, that are soaked, won't unbutton.
"Stupid jeans," I mumble as he quickly takes over to remove them for me. I am quickly picked up and pushed against the wall. "Yes," I moan as he enters me.
"Fuck, Angel, you feel so good." He growls as he pounds into me. Then pain is gone. All I can feel is him and how perfect we fit together. I feel him reach up and turn the water off apparently he was a little cold. He never falters once in his stroke though. I could feel a building of pleasure ready to burst at any moment.
"I want to mark you." He groans through gritted teeth.
"Please." I barely get the words out and his teeth are hovering over my spot just after my collarbone on my shoulder. It hurts for a second before it turns into such intense pleasure I can barely withstand it.
"Mark me." He grunts trying to hold on for me to make him mine. He guides my head to his shoulder and I bury my teeth into him as he finishes in me. "Fuck yes." He growls as he is still hard and pumping in me even though he has already finished once.
I'm still seeing stars from the marking, as another orgasm rips through me. He follows me with his own release. Once our breathing calms he carries me bridal style to our bed. "I hope your well-rested Angel because the next few days are going to be long."
"I guess this answers the pregnancy question," I reply as I try to control my breathing.
"Not to worry Angel. You will be carrying my pup after this." He says entering me again. My heat is strong and there is barely a moment in which we are not connected together in pleasure. We stay lock in our room for three days straight. Jace definitely puts forth his best effort to plant his seed in me.
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Two weeks later we find out that Jace did in fact succeed. Jace and I both cried when we get the news. I could see he was happy but I could also see the sadness in his eyes. The one person he wants to tell still isn't speaking to him. The same goes for me too. The one other person I want to share this with is not answering me.
Over the next month, I try to get through to him but he doesn't accept it. I have become consistent with it. By the time we are two weeks from Leigh's birthday, I spend almost every moment that I am awake and not in a coherent conversation trying to contact him.
I wake up and look at the clock. It's two in the morning and I have to pee. Pain in the but pup is already doing tap dances on my bladder. I crawl back into bed and Jace's arms. I can't fall back asleep, so I try to contact Ollie. It has become my favorite pastime.
First I hear a growl, followed by, "What the fuck do you want Liv. I was having a very pleasant dream."
I'm about to cry when I hear his voice. A sob breaks through as I say, "I wanted to let you know you're going to be an uncle. Uncle Ollie. Sounds good don't you think?"
He doesn't respond back for a while. It's been almost ten minutes before he says, "That sounds great sis. You can let them know how much uncle Ollie loves them for me."
"You can let them know yourself." I try to reason with him.
"I can't come back Liv. I fucked everything up. I can't take what I did back." I can hear the plea in his voice.
"I can help you if you let me, Ollie. Just tell me what you did. We can fix this."
"How's she doing? Does she hate me?" He asks avoiding my question.
"SHE... is not talking to any of us. You not only fucked everything up for you, but you fucked it up for the rest of us as well. As far as I know, she refuses to speak to anyone and hasn't left her house. James tried to go a few times and each time ended in death threats from Jade. He came back pretty roughed up the last time."
"I'm sorry Liv." His voice is so flat like he has given up.
"Please Ollie just tell me what you did so we can try to fix this." Please tell me, bro. We all need this.
"I told her it was all a lie." He says still in the same flat tone
"What was all a lie?"
"Everything. Me loving her. Everyone being her friend." What the fuck. You selfish jackass.
"Oliver." He doesn't even growl at me for calling him, Oliver.
Instead, I heard a sob, "That's not the worse part. I was so mad at Jace for lying to me for our whole friendship and mad at her for being who she is. I told her... I told her that Jace orchestrated the whole lie." And now I want to kill him.
"When you fuck things up Ollie, you don't do it half-ass. We can fix this though. We can talk to Leigh together. Make her understand that together. Just come home and..."
"I can't come back Liv. This can't be fixed. I'm sorry. I love you. Good luck with the pup. You will be a wonderful mom." And with that, he is gone.
I buried my face in Jace's chest and cry. I couldn't hold it any longer. I feel Jace stir under me.
"Angel, what's wrong." He asks I can hear the worry in his voice.
"I know." Is all I can manage between sobs.
"What? I'm not awake enough to understand love." He asks while I cry words into his chest that I don't think any sane person could understand.
When I finally calm down, man pregnancy hormones are a bitch, I tell him, "I know what Ollie said to Leigh. I will tell you but please promise me you won't kill him."