Page 35 of Retribution

“I’m okay being your fixation,” Oliver says with a small smile. “I have some experience with those, and sometimes it’s your mind pushing you to accept something you don’t know you need. For example, I’ve been messaging Alesso and Lucas for the past three months about random things. I kept telling myself I should stop, but I couldn’t. My fixation was the universe telling me that I needed to pull our pack together. The joke’s on the universe though, because you’re the one who is going to do that.”

“Doubtful, but that’s a pretty thought,” I muse, beginning to pull apart the knots on the rope around me.

“Leaving already?” he asks, not looking at me.

Glancing up, I see that Alesso and Lucas are at the back door looking for him.

“They’re already missing you,” I notice. “Maybe you’re right about solidifying your pack. They don’t know I’m out here, so I don’t know if I’m a factor here.”

“You’re a factor,” he grunts. “Every one of us had a physical reaction to being away from you. Drop your alphas a line later today, Kitten. We’d appreciate knowing that you’re safe as well.”

It takes me a moment to process his words before he closes up his thermos and hands it to me.

“I don’t know how you take your coffee, but there’s plenty of sugar and cream inside this. Have a good day, Isolde.”

Oliver clips a carabiner to the tree and drops back. My gasp is almost inaudible as he bounces down the tree trunk, and a flickof his wrist releases the clasp of the carabiner once his feet hit the ground. His swagger as he walks away is unreal.

It’s the loudest mic drop in the world while not making a sound.

“How…”

His ass is on point as he walks too, and I allow myself the indulgence of watching. Opening his coffee thermos, I take a small sip and hum in appreciation. It’s exactly how I like it.

I’m going to say this is happenstance, because there’s no way that he could know how I enjoy my coffee. Just a series of very odd events that somehow make sense.

Getting comfortable again, I watch as Oliver greets Alesso and Lucas, though I scowl as he points me out in my tree.

That’s just rude. Alesso isn’t wearing a shirt, and he scratches his stomach lazily as his gaze rises up to find mine. His lips spread into a smile as he sees me, and I squirm from my perch as he kisses three fingers and raises them in my direction. The three of them are gorgeous by themselves, but I lose my ability to think when they’re together.

Lucas purses his lips as he sees me. He’s already dressed for the day in a suit, and his long legs begin to eat up the path between the back door and my tree.

“Shit,” I squeak, closing up the thermos and putting it in my backpack. It’s mine now, and I’m technically trespassing in his woods.

I checked: they definitely are part of his property.

Pulling the rest of the knot apart that’s around my waist, I coil it up and drop it toward the ground before I put on my backpack. Twisting around to face the trunk of the tree, I find a foothold and begin to climb down.

“Isolde, please don’t fall out of the tree,” Lucas calls out, coming closer.

“Don’t distract me then,” I suggest, continuing to pick my way down.

“Watching you is going to give me heart palpitations,” he growls.

“The cute kind, or the ones where I should be concerned about your health?” I ask, smirking.

My boot slips, and I gasp as I reach up and catch myself on a lower tree limb.

“Goddamnit, darlin’,” he curses. “Hold on, I’m almost there.”

“There for what?” I ask, twisting to look in his direction.

“Pay attention and hold onto the tree,” he says. I can hear the edge of panic in his voice, even as he attempts to hide it.

Falling is going to suck. I originally climbed really high up this tree in an attempt to get a good view of the house, and while I achieved that, I didn’t expect everything to be so wet and slippery this morning.

My hands begin to slip, and my eyes close as I lose my purchase of the tree limb. Air displaces around me as I fall, but instead of the hard ground, I’m caught by strong arms. Inhaling deeply, I lean into the scent of teak, cedar, and oranges.

“Isolde, open your eyes,” a rumble insists.