She apologized to her customer and got back to work. I set Macie down, but she put her little hand in mine and tugged, leading the way to the back room.
We sat in the two chairs across from Olivia’s desk. Macie crossed her legs and then her arms.
My leg bounced up and down. “I feel like I’ve just been called to the principal’s office.”
“Well you’re the one that threw us to the dogs. Now we’re both going to be in trouble. Way to go, Baine. You certainly aren’t going to earn Father of the Year at this rate.”
I groaned. Father? I couldn’t be a father.
Olivia
Chapter 8
My heart was racing and I struggled to concentrate. There were a million questions going through my mind. My customer was a regular, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name. My brain was a jumbled mess and my anxiety made me jumpy.
I finished with her as quickly as possible and then locked up behind her. I only had two more appointments for the day and, thankfully, my cousins would understand.
I put up the closed sign, something I never did during business hours, and took a deep breath.
Slowly I walked back to my office. A part of me thought maybe I had hallucinated it all simply because I was terrified of Baine finding out about Macie.
I heard them whispering back and forth before I saw them. They were sitting across the desk from my office chair.
“This is all your fault, you know,” Macie said.
“And you won’t stop reminding me of it either.”
“Why’d you have to bring me here?”
“You’re skipping school. That’s kind of something your mother needs to know about.”
“She wouldn’t have found out if you hadn’t dragged me in here.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m still in shock. I’m trying not to freak out here and just do what’s right.”
Hearing them bicker made my heart feel a little lighter. Emotions I kept hidden away welled up in my chest.
I cleared my throat and walked inside, sitting behind my desk.
“I’m sorry, Mom. We shouldn’t have bothered you during business hours.”
“Do you want to tell me why you’re not in school when I know for a fact Uncle Killian dropped you off there this morning?”
I watched my daughter cringe. “I faked a tummy ache and told the nurse that Uncle Killian was going to pick me up.”
“Why? Macie this isn’t like you. What’s going on?”
She shrugged and wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Baine nudged her. “Tell her.”
She rolled her eyes at him, a habit she’d gotten into lately that drove me nuts but was somehow endearing when she wasn’t aiming that look at me.
“Fine. I overheard you talking last night. I just wanted to see him.”
My brain went through the previous evening’s events and I gasped. She heard me tell the others that Baine was her father. My eyes flew to him.
“Is it true, O?”
No one had ever called me O except Baine. My nickname had always been Liv or Livy, sometimes even Olive, but never O unless it was coming from him.
I wanted to play dumb, but I couldn’t. He deserved to know he had a daughter, and I suspected he already did.
“What did she tell you?”
“Oh, you mean the part where I fathered a smartass seven-year-old?”
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. Served him right because she had most definitely somehow inherited his personality.
“I should thank you for that. She’s pretty amazing.”
There was a look of shock in his eyes. “So, it’s true?”
“There’s never been anyone else, so you’re pretty much the only candidate here,” I confessed.
His eyes darkened. “Never?”
I bit my lip and shook my head. “I’ve had my hands full as a single mom, going back to school, and opening my own business.”
“You’ve done an amazing job,” he surprised me by saying. His jaw clenched and I knew he was fighting back emotions. “I didn’t want to leave you.”
“I know.”
“They didn’t give me a choice.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t know. I would have rather faced the death sentence your father issued than leave you if I’d just known.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Killian had confessed how and why Baine had been excommunicated, but I hadn’t realized just how much I needed to hear he didn’t want to leave me.
“I know,” I finally managed. “I had just found out and was struggling to accept it. I was on my way to tell you when I ran into Killian. He was so mad and I didn’t understand why. Then he told me you had left and weren’t coming back. I thought he was mad because of that. I never suspected he was the cause of it. I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? It was my screw up. I trusted him. I told him I was planning to take you as a mate as soon as you came of age. For some stupid reason, I thought everything would be okay, but it wasn’t.”
“That’s why you left?” Macie asked. “Uncle Killian made you?”
“Sweetie, this was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter anymore,” I told her.
She gave Baine a look like she was secretly communicating something to him. He gave her a small smile that melted my heart.
“I see what you mean,” he whispered to her.
“I told you. No one ever remembers the kid in the corner of the room.”
“We’ll talk about this later when little ears aren’t around,” he said.
My eyes flew to Macie as she squirmed in her seat under my scrutiny.
“I’m sorry Mom. I heard you talking last night and I just wanted to see him for myself.”
“So you skipped school to do that?”
My daughter nodded.
“But why, Macie?”
“Because I wanted to meet my father.”
I took in a sharp breath.
“You heard that?”
She shrugged. “You said I have his eyes. Grant thinks so too.”
I covered my face with my hands. She’d just confirmed my suspicions. She’d heard everything. There was no keeping her from this. He was going to leave again as soon as the plane that brought him here was fixed. How was I supposed to shelter her from the pain and heartache that was going to come when he left and never returned?
“Who’s Grant?” I mumbled.
“He’s the team medic. And his mate, T, she’s a real-life spy. She said maybe someday I could join the Force and be a spy too. Isn’t that cool?”
“Chatterbox, enough. You’re freaking out your Mom,” Baine said.
“Well at least I didn’t tell her I might want to blow sh-“ Baine shot her a look and her eyes widened. “Stuff up. You know, like you do.”
I glared at him. He told her he blew shit up for a living?
“It slipped. I’m trying to fix it.”
“She’s seven.”
“I don’t really know any seven year olds. I don’t know what to do here, O. Is there some sort of manual or something you could give me?”
“Kids don’t come with a manual, Baine.”
“Well they should,” he argued. “Ben’s got a couple of ankle-biters, but they’re still little. Otherwise, I haven’t really been around kids since you were one.”
“Who’s Ben?” Macie asked before I could.
“Ben is our…” His voice trailed off and I could see he was searching for the right word. “He’s just a brother of the Force.”
“But what does he do on the Force?” she persisted.
“He watches our backs. We call him the Eagle.”
“So he’s a sniper? Cool.”
Baine raised an eyebrow at me. “She knows what a sniper is?”
I sighed. “Lots of little girls play with Barbie’s and dream of white dresses and babies. Mine is infatuated with G.I. Joe. Fourth of July is the worst. I have to frisk her for firecrackers
.”
His face lit up. “You like to blow shit up too, short stuff?”
“Baine!”
“Stuff. Sorry. Stuff. Don’t worry. I’ll get the hang of this shit eventually. Stuff. Right. Hell, this is harder than I thought.”
Macie giggled. “Just takes practice,” she said patting him on the arm.
What worried me the most was the fact that Baine would be leaving again. I didn’t want Macie to hurt the way I did. I needed to talk to him about it sooner rather than later, but not with little ears around.
He looked down at his watch and I already felt like the perfect bubble containing just me and my favorite two people in the entire world was about to burst.
The thing that should have scared me the most was how easy it was to be around Baine again. I had been upset for a long time, but I had never truly been angry at him. It had always felt more like mourning. Now it was like he was back from the dead.
I was happy to see him, but I had to remind myself to guard my heart because I couldn’t get my hopes up that he’d be sticking around. I couldn’t exactly blame him for that either after everything I’d learned last night about why he really left. If I was pissed at anyone, it was my brothers. They’d done this to us.
I knew I’d forgive them both. It wasn’t in my nature to hold grudges, but for the moment, I was mad.
“Sweetie, why don’t you go play in the other room and let me talk to Baine alone.”
Macie looked over at him. “This is your chance. Don’t blow it.”
“My chance for what?” he mumbled.
“To get her back.”
“Hey. I will always care about your mom, short stuff. You too, now that I know you even exist, but I’ve been gone a long time. We were both forced to grow up a lot in that time.”
“So you’re not even going to try? What are you a wimp?”
He frowned. “No. I just don’t want to hurt you, either of you,” he said looking up at me. “Don’t get your hopes up on me. At the end of the day, when Silas says it’s time to go, I have to leave. I don’t get to stay.”
“But you can come back, right?”
“Nothing and no one could keep me away. Shoo and let the grownups talk, okay?”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Okay.”
I knew my daughter better than that, she was up to something.
“Good try, but remember you’re playing with the big boys now,” Baine told her and pulled a small device from his pocket.
“What’s that?” I wanted to know the answer to that too.
“This is called a dampener. It’s a device used to guarantee nosey little chatterboxes can’t eavesdrop on important conversations.”
Macie’s jaw dropped. “No way.”
“Go play and you’ll see.”
“Do I get one?”
“We’ll see. Put it on your Christmas list.”
That mischievous look was back in her eyes. “Oh yeah. You have a lot of birthdays and Christmases to catch up on, huh?”
He groaned. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”
“Yup,” she said as she happily skipped out of the room.
Baine plugged the device into the wall and then shut the door. It felt like all the air was sucked out of the room. I was all alone with Baine. Just the two of us. I should have been nervous, but my mind went to naughty places it shouldn’t have. It had been a long time, too long, since he touched me, since he made love to me, since…
My thoughts drifted off as I realized he was staring at me.
Since he was standing, I rose too. He was only an arm’s length away. I could reach out and touch him. I wanted to touch him.
He smirked. “I really hope you’re thinking of me with that look on your face.”
I was embarrassed and completely caught off guard. Of course, he was right though.
“You wish,” I said, then awkwardly punched him in the arm.
It felt like a lightning bolt jolted right through my hand. My body warmed all over; my heart raced; and a sudden awareness consumed me. Mate, my bear roared.
Baine stared at me in equal shock. “Olivia,” he said in a deep raspy voice that sent shivers down my spine.
Baine
Chapter 9
This had to be wrong, yet it felt so right.
Mine, my bear growled in my head.
The second Olivia touched me, a bond was created. We weren’t like the wolves or the gorillas who could sense their mates were nearby. Bears might be more drawn to a likely mate, but we required touch to activate the bond.
“Baine, say something.”
I nodded. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “You do know what just happened, right?”
Yeah, the freaking love of my life, the forbidden one that I couldn’t have, was my one true mate. Talk about karma being a bitch.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m okay,” I assured her, much calmer.
“I’m not sure I am. This is insane. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re taking it this well, and not just this, but Macie too. I always imagined what it would be like when you returned and how I’d tell you about her. I thought you’d freak out. Why are you taking everything so well? This is so much bigger than that.”
“I’m not,” I admitted. “Pretty sure I’m in shock, or just dreaming. That happens a lot.”
She studied me hard like she was trying to decide if I was serious or kidding. “You dream of me?”
I nodded slowly. “I tried so hard to walk away and forget you, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I know you probably think I’m insane, but I still love you, Olivia, and that’s not this bond talking. I’ve always loved you. Only you. And maybe I am just dreaming all of this, but if not, that’s the most important thing I want you to know. I never wanted to leave you.”
Olivia started to cry. It was my Achilles heel. I couldn’t stand to see that woman shed even a single tear and I would always go out of my way to stop it.
“Don’t cry. You know I can’t handle it when you do that.”
I held out my arms and held my breath. She didn’t hesitate to walk right in and wrap her arms around my waist. Just like that, my entire world realigned as if it had been off its axis for a long time, well, for the last eight years at least.
I let myself kiss the top of her head and absorb every ounce of comfort and happiness of having her back in my arms.
“What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t kidding when I told Macie I have to leave when the team rolls out, O. But I’ll be back. I would have struggled to walk away from the two of you as it was, but this changes everything. You are mine.”
She sniffed into my shirt. “I always was,” she whispered.
I looked down at her. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. As I leaned down to kiss her, I heard Macie say very loudly, “Mom’s busy Uncle Killian. Don’t go in there.”
I groaned and Olivia dropped her head onto my chest in equal frustration just as the door opened.
“What is going on here? You swore you weren’t going near her, Baine,” Killian yelled.
I whipped around, shielding Olivia with my body as I gave a growl in warning. Killian stepped back in surprise.
“Things changed quickly after we spoke.”
“Wait, you two actually talked?” Olivia asked hopefully.
“It wasn’t exactly a friendly conversation,” I admitted.
Killian ignored me. “Why isn’t Macie in school?”
My little girl squeezed by him and came to my side as she reached up and took my hand.
“It’s not his fault. I’m the one that skipped school. I just wanted to see him.”
Killian took a step back. “Why?”
“She knows, Killian,” Olivia said. “She heard us last night. She knows everything.”
His eyes quickly sought mine and I nodded.
“Yup, she told me.”
He looked
like he was going to be sick. “Why aren’t you angry?”
I shrugged. “Still in shock. I’m sure I’ll get around to it. But make no mistake, Killian, I may have once considered you a brother, but I know the difference now. Come between me and my family again and you will have to kill me this time, if I don’t kill you first.”
Macie looked up at me with those big gray eyes that looked exactly like mine. I winked at her, letting her know it was going to be okay.
She smiled. “He does blow stuff up for a living. I’d be careful if I were you, Uncle Killian.”
Olivia stepped out from around me and a roar started rumbling up through my chest.
“Don’t,” she warned. “No one is killing anyone. Am I clear?” She looked at her brother until he nodded and then to me. I smirked and shrugged. “I mean it. You both mean too much to me to be at war with each other the rest of our lives. Killian, I love you, but you don’t get to protect me anymore.”
“Because that’s my job.”
Olivia smacked me across the chest. “I’m being serious here.”
“I was too,” I grumbled.
“Why? He’s been gone eight years, Liv. You had to raise your daughter all alone. Where was he all this time?”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
My mate huffed.
“You can’t just welcome him back with open arms like nothing ever happened. Be sensible here.”
Olivia calmed. I could feel it and it made me smile even bigger that our new bond was strengthening quickly. “Actually. I can. I’m not a kid this time, Kill. I’m a grown woman and I have a child, and a mate to protect now.” She stepped to my other side and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“You took my sister as a mate? When? How?”
“Not yet. But I will. She’s my true mate, Killian. This time you can’t do anything about it. By your own rules, both Olivia and Macie are excommunicated from the Clan because they are mine. Bet you never thought about that? Because I sure as hell did and it took everything in my power not to come back here and claim her then.”
Olivia looked up at me with a hundred questions in her eyes, but first turned to her brother. “Is that true?”
Collision Course Page 6
