Chapter Four

OLIVIA

My room was located at the far end of the hall. It was huge and the bed was wide. I had never had a room this big in my entire life, but I couldn't sleep.

I kept tossing and turning because each time I closed my eyes to sleep, I kept seeing a pair of smokey grey eyes boring into me, unblinking, patient, like he had all the time in the world to wait me out.

I wondered what he and mom were doing right now, probably banging the hell out of her, and the thought alone sent something hot and unwelcome curling low in my stomach.

I pictured his strong body, so hard underneath his clothes, and his...

I caught myself just in time. "Holy shit, what are you thinking Olivia?" I whispered to myself, my face burning in the dark, irritated at my own train of thought.

What he was doing with my mom was certainly not my business. Besides, I had a boyfriend whom I loved already.

Gael was sweet and didn't spell danger like my new daddy. Plus, Gael was human like me, not some random animal called wolf.

Tomorrow was Gael's birthday. I had to think of what I'd do to make it special for him. Yes, I should focus on that thought, not on grey eyes, not on the low rumble of a voice that had no business living rent free in my head.

I finally managed to sleep, only to wake to a knock on my door. It was Clara, my new maid.

She peeked her head inside, "may I come in ma'am?" she asked, and I rolled my eyes at how she addressed me. We looked like agemates for crying out loud.

"Olivia will do, thank you." I said dryly, and she came inside, her gaze skeptical.

"You are our Alpha's daughter now..."

My stomach clenched hard at the reminder of him, a tight, traitorous pull, and I glared at her like she'd done something wrong.

"If you want us to get along, address me by my name and treat me normally." I said, and she smiled at that.

"Alright, I just came to tell you that breakfast is ready and everyone is waiting for you downstairs."

"Everyone?" I echoed. My pulse jumped. "Y...you mean Alpha Xander is there too?" I asked, and swallowed tightly.

Clara stared at me quizzically and nodded, "Usually, pack members eat together, but since our Alpha now has his family, he's eating alone with you and your mother, that way..."

"Tell them to eat without me." I said. There was no way in hell I was going down there to sit across from the man who had tormented my dreams all night, not with my body still humming from things I refused to name.

"What! The Alpha won't be happy." Clara said, and I noticed she'd gone pale, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to give in.

Clara left and I sighed. I had to get ready for college, to escape this house, to escape him.

Oh yes, I was a college student, majoring in graphics design. I didn't have classes today but who cared, I'd still go just to put distance between myself and those stormy grey eyes.

I quickly took my bath, made myself presentable, then headed downstairs, my heart already picking up pace before I'd even reached the last step.

Only mother was in the kitchen when I got there and relief flooded through me so hard my shoulders dropped.

"Olivia, why didn't you come for breakfast this morning, don't tell me that you're still..."

"Don't worry mom, I'm not." I interrupted her, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

She was going to say I was still avoiding her husband. Well, of course I was, but she didn't have to know that.

"Mom, there's something I need to tell you, and that's the reason I didn't come for breakfast."

She fixed her eyes on me, listening, and I suddenly couldn't meet her gaze. My hands twisted together, but I was done stalling.

"Actually, today is my boyfriend's birthday and..."

"What! Certainly not, you are not allowed to have a boyfriend just yet."

I felt a spark of anger flare hot in my chest. She'd just married the sexiest man I'd ever seen, living her life freely, and I wasn't allowed the same.

"Why? I'm not a kid anymore mom."

Mom paused and looked at me straight in the eyes, "Break up with him."

I gasped, exasperation clawing up my throat, "I certainly won't mom."

"You should listen to your mother." That deep voice sounded suddenly, and every nerve in my body sprang to life before I even turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs.

"This doesn't concern you Alpha, and I am not breaking up..."

He was in front of me in a flash. My breath caught, stolen right out of my chest, and that was when I got a good look at his expression. Every comeback I had prepared died in my throat.

He grabbed my chin, just a little force, and forced me to meet his stormy grey eyes. My whole body went rigid, awareness crashing over me in a wave I couldn't fight down.

"The next time you speak to me in that tone, I'll whip your ass pretty hard princess." He clenched out, and my stomach quivered violently at the thought, heat flooding somewhere low and shameful. He looked dangerous as hell right now, and I couldn't dare think of contradicting him.

"I am tired of your tantrums, and you also do not get to talk to your mother like that. Understood?"

My knees were shaking so bad, threatening to give out beneath me, and my tongue was suddenly tied.

Alpha Xander could easily snap off the head of a fellow werewolf. Snapping a human neck like mine would be nothing to him, a flick of the wrist, and my body seemed to understand that on some primal level even as it betrayed me with heat instead of fear.

I nodded. Damn, he was fearsome. No wonder Clara had gone pale earlier when I told her I wasn't coming down to breakfast.

"Use your words Olivia." My name rolled off his tongue, low and deliberate, and I felt it everywhere, my middle going hot, molten, my breath shallow.

"Yes, Alpha Xander." I whispered, my voice barely holding together.

He released his grip on my chin and leaned close, so close I could feel his breath fanning against my face, warm and unbearably near.

"It's daddy to you." He murmured, and I pressed my thighs together without meaning to, desperate for any relief from the pressure building in my middle.

I looked at him straight in the eyes and swallowed hard, my heart thudding so violently I was sure he could hear it, and whispered, "Yes daddy."

I heard the hitch in his breath, saw the flicker in his eyes before they went back to normal, and something in me thrilled at having caused it. He straightened abruptly, looking down at me, his expression suddenly cold again, like a door slamming shut.

"You are not allowed to have a boyfriend until I say so Olivia, and henceforth, you are not allowed to miss any meal." He paused and stared right into my soul, and I felt it in my bones, in the pit of my stomach, in every place I didn't want to admit.

"Or you'll get punished." He finished, then turned and walked away as if he hadn't wrecked any havoc on my insides, as if my whole body wasn't still trembling from the weight of him being that close.

It took all of my willpower to keep standing. My breath came out ragged, my legs unsteady beneath me.

I now understood why he was the most feared werewolf in the city. I understood it in my head. My body, traitorous and burning, understood something else entirely.

"It's for your own good Olivia." Mother was saying, "Xander is responsible for us now and you must obey everything he says."

I looked at her for a moment, my chest still heaving, and then, without another word, I ran out of the house.