Page 50

I walked into my empty room, both relieved and sad to shut the door on the rager that was still going on in the courtyard. I wasn’t the first to leave, but when Fiona had brought gentle showers to soak the dance floor, I’d gotten cold and decided to call it an early night.

As happy as I was for the two of them, I truly didn’t feel like celebrating. Not because they weren’t wonderful; even thinking about their joyful expressions tonight brought tears to my eyes. Part of it was happiness, of course. I loved them both.

But the other part—the larger part?—was loneliness.

One by one, I watched the people in the inner circle of this pack find love. It was like dominoes. Bang, bang, bang, each one tumbling knocked the next one down.

Meanwhile, my little tile was standing alone, apart, and it was starting to feel like it was always going to be that way.

The painful truth was that I didn’t really belong with them. I wasn’t a member of Pack Blackwater or Caelestis. My palm might bear a shining omega seal, but without a mate, I wasn’t in any danger of birthing an omega any time soon.

I was a lonely she-wolf, with weird gifts and no obvious use to them. And now, with them about to embark on the next chapter of finding the remaining pieces of the omega stone, my bondless state would only slow them down.

Leigh had been attacked. Fiona had been attacked. If I left this enclave to go anywhere but to Alaska or the currently uninhabitable pack castle, I would be hunted by any male wolves within a hundred-mile radius.

There was only one obvious solution. I needed to get out of their way, pack myself off to Alaska where I would be safe, and not inconvenience anyone.

I was going to shower to get warm and then go find Kane. I couldn’t wait another minute to tell him that I wanted to leave, now that I’d decided, and rushed through my shower with no primping. I washed away the makeup I’d put on for the wedding, leaving myself natural, the way I was most comfortable.

Shrugging into my warmest clothes, I ventured back out into the courtyard, carefully sticking to the overhang along the building because Fiona was still making it rain as she and Reed twirled around on the dance floor, laughing together.

The sight sent a pang of sorrow through me, and I looked away, ashamed. What was wrong with me? To feel sad at such a happy occasion? I was a selfish bitch, and I didn’t deserve them.

I wasn’t fit company for these wolves, certainly not now, probably not ever. It was only by a stroke of fate that I got this mark at all, and now my entire life felt like it had been pulled out of tune.

Straightening my shoulders, I scanned the crowd for Kane. I found him and Brielle at a low table near the far corner of the courtyard and braved the drizzle to get there more quickly.

My appearance at their table was so abrupt, Brielle started, looking up with concern. “Oli! Is everything okay?”

“No, it’s really not. I think it’s time I was honest with myself and both of you about my place with the pack.” I risked a glance at Kane before darting my eyes away. I didn’t want to offend the powerful high alpha, but I also wanted to make sure he knew how serious I was about what I was about say. “I think it’s time that I?—”

“Kane! High Alpha!” Dakota, the maiden who was often on gate duty, skidded to a halt next to the table, a wild look in her eyes. “There are two men at the gates, both of them bloody and in really bad shape. I didn’t catch their names, but they asked for you. Please hurry. I’m afraid if we don’t get them a healer quickly, one of them might die right on our doorstep.”

Kane was on his feet in a flash, Brielle and I chasing after him. She kicked off her heels mid-stride so the two of us could run faster, though we had no hope of beating his longer stride.

Kane was already hollering for someone to open the gate when we caught up to him. Sure enough, two bloodied, broken men. One swaying on his feet on the flagstones outside the gate, the other in an unconscious slump over his shoulders.

“Who is that?” Brielle asked. “No one knows we’re here, except— Oh, Goddess. Lucien and Samuel.”

Lucien .

The name was a fresh lance of pain through my heart, even though it was stupid. He was stunningly handsome and far too experienced for me. Yet still, when we’d been in the pack castle, I thought there had been something between us, an attraction, if nothing else. I was too shy to act on it, but still, I’d noticed him and harbored a secret hope that he would notice me too.

But the only person he’d noticed had been the housemaid, Gabby, who I’d seen sneaking out of his room one morning with her panties and shoes under her arm.

The memory still made acid burn the back of my throat, and I shook my head to clear it as the gate creaked open. It wasn’t as if the maid had been special to him; he’d slept with no fewer than three during his visits.

No, they weren’t special, but I wasn’t even enough to catch his eye to begin with, and I had no room to judge.

But when it all boiled down, it didn’t matter that he didn’t have feelings for me. There were two men here in dire need of medical attention. This was my only purpose to the pack, and I could do it one more time before I left. Healing, I was good at.

As soon as there was a gap we could squeeze through, Kane and Dakota raced through it to grab Lucien from Samuel’s shoulders, to carry him inside so that Brielle and I could work on the two of them.

It took painstaking minutes to get them to the infirmary as Samuel leaned heavily on my shoulder, but some healer’s intuition told me they were both still alive. When finally they were stretched on twin tables, and the others stepped back, Brielle and I rushed forward, each of us assessing a patient.

Samuel—the man I didn’t know until ninety seconds ago—lay on the table in front of me, his consciousness thready, but his pulse even despite its speed. “Lucien’s bad off. See to him first.”

To my surprise, the words were laced with an alpha bark I wouldn’t have thought him capable of, as weak as he seemed. But nonetheless, the words propelled me away from him and toward Lucien, who Brielle was scanning with her powers, both hands placed on his chest like defibrillator paddles.

I reached for Lucien’s wrist, checking his pulse and making a mental note of all the visible wounds, of which there were many. The worst of which was his face, his handsome, perfectly sculpted face, where a large, jagged scar now rent through his right eyebrow, down over his cheekbone, and ended beneath his jaw.

The sight of it, and the pain it must have caused, brought unwelcome tears to my eyes that I couldn’t afford to indulge in. He needed my help, even if he’d never wanted it. Done with checking his pulse, I turned to grab a pair of scissors so we could cut away his clothing and assess if worse wounds were hiding underneath. But I hadn’t made it a single step away when an iron grip closed around my wrist, rooting me to my spot.

I looked down, confused to see his filthy, bloody hand locked around my flesh when he’d been unconscious not a second ago; a silver, carved cuff was on it, a nasty-looking burn beneath as if he’d been wearing it for quite some time.

But when I looked up, Brielle had stepped back, and Lucien’s eyes were open, glowing orange with his wolf. My side began to burn, as if I’d been struck by a brand with just one look.

His voice was guttural, more wolf than man when he spoke.

“Mate.”

One word, but the entire room tilted on its axis around me.

Mate.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading Fated to the Wolf Billionaire! Reed has been demanding his story be told for quite a while, and I’m so glad it’s finally his turn! But now, Olivia is in the hot seat. She’s a sweet, shy healer, but she’s ready to grow into her own, as the pack continues to work through their issues. But is Lucien really ready for a mate?