Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Olivia running and he hoped she was getting back to his cabin and locking the door to ensure her safety, but he was certain that she was too stubborn just to run away. But he couldn’t turn to see where she was going, he had too many men to fight off.
Atticus was fighting hard but the old Alpha couldn’t do nearly the damage that Dominic could do. And the poachers seemed to know that it was Dominic that was the threat. The game may have been to capture and kill the Alpha, but they weren’t going to be able to do anything unless the destroyed Dominic first.
Man after man jumped him, wielded their knives, sometimes striking him but often missing him. Thankfully, though, even when they did catch him with a knife or a good punch, Dominic barely felt it at all. His adrenaline was coursing through him and he was sure that he could handle anything that those men could do. There was no chance he was going to lose the fight, not when it came to protecting his pack. But most importantly, protecting Olivia. He’d let her get captured and nearly killed once, he wasn’t going to let anything happen again.
Suddenly there was even more commotion from the circle and Dominic didn’t need to look to know what Olivia had done. Once she’d gotten free she’d gone to the other cabins and rounded up the rest of the pack. The fight had become poachers versus an entire pack of angry shifters.
As far as anyone knew, there wasn’t a pack who had wholly survived. It hadn’t even seemed like those packs had even had much of a chance at a fair fight. But this pack had a chance. They lived on the outskirts of the kingdom for a reason. At one point they were all fighters, intense, strong, and wild. They may have been getting on in age, but it was clear from the snarls that were coming out of the shifters and the screams from the men, that the pack was winning.
Dominic flung one man off his back and heard the body land with a hard thud. That man would be off of him for a while, he knew, and moved on to the next who had just ran full force into his rib cage. The hit knocked Dominic off balance and the world toppled over and landed on his side. It didn’t hurt but the scene before him did.
Being pulled up on to the porch, the body looking lifeless was Atticus. Olivia was talking to him, murmuring comforting words.
“Please, Daddy, you’ve got to be ok. Stay with me ok? I’m going to get you cleaned up. Please, Daddy.”
Dominic felt his heart shatter, not only for Atticus and what he feared was the Alpha’s death. But he’d never heard Olivia so vulnerable, not even calling him Atticus but ‘Daddy’ instead. He wanted to go to her and comfort her. He wanted to know that Atticus was ok.
But while he was distracted, the leader of the ring came at Dominic on the ground and was able to get the knife to slice between Dominic’s ribs.
He let out a howl that ripped through the night.
Suddenly Dominic felt a monster come out of him, just like the fight with his brother. Blinded by rage Dominic flipped the poacher onto his back and clawed at him, ripping clothes and skin, blood seeping into the earth below them. He didn’t know if it was his own or the poachers, but it didn’t matter.
Everything about his life spun through his mind. Being the lesser twin and therefor the lesser prince, not being named the next king, the fight with his brother, seeing Olivia with the knife at her beautiful throat, and now Atticus possibly dead a mere few feet from him.
This was his life and it had never turned out the way he wanted. It wasn’t fair. And this poacher was going to take all the pounding he could handle.
It wasn’t until one of the shifter came over to Dominic, and put a hand on his shoulder. Dominic stopped for a moment and looked around him.
The poachers were gone and the shifters had mostly gone back to their human form. They were ragged, out of breath and many were bleeding. The poachers had abandoned their leader who Dominic saw was severely injured but still alive. He looked down at the man, his eyes wide with fright.
“If any of you ever touch a pack again, I will personally come and kill you all. Do you understand?” he growled.
The man underneath him nodded wildly, words of pleading burbling out of him. For good measure Dominic gave him one last swipe against the man’s chest before letting him up off the ground. As fast as his injured body could take him, the final poacher hobbled out into the night.
Exhausted, yet exhilarated that they had won, Dominic looked around again and saw that all of his pack was intact. Everyone except Atticus, who was still lying motionless on the floor of the porch.
Olivia was laying with Atticus’ head in her lap and she was still pleading with the Alpha to be ok. Out of respect, most of the pack stayed on the ground while the closest neighbors ran for supplies to stop the bleeding.
Everyone but Dominic who made his way up to the porch, still to riled up to shift back to human form. Instead, he lay on the porch next to Olivia like a faithful dog.
“Please Dominic, do something,” she begged him
Dominic knew he would do anything in the world for Olivia. He would have died trying to save her if he had to. But he watched Atticus on the wooden porch floor and saw there was still a little breath left inside of the Alpha. Though it was shallow, it was there.
He nodded to the pack below and they followed Dominic’s lead, hoisting the man in their arms and taking him inside. His wolf was calming and he as he changed back to being Dominic, he quickly threw on his clothes from his pack and followed them inside.
Atticus hadn’t yet had the strength the make the change back so they carried his wolf inside and set him in his own bed, pulling the blanket around him. When Dominic walked into the man’s room, his pack was gathered, his daughter at his side, all prepared to say goodbye to their Alpha.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Olivia
The moment that the poacher let go of Olivia she knew she had to go get help. If she could have stayed and been of any use to Dominic and Atticus she would have done anything she could. But those men were too strong and ready for a fight. Without being able to shift and fight with them, there was nothing she could do except get help.
Cabin to cabin she ran as fast as she could, pounding on the doors, though so many of them were empty, gone to help other packs. The exhausted ones that were left she woke with her incessant pounding. She didn’t need to even say a word to them as they came flying out of their cabins, their wolves springing into action at the wild sight of her face. She was terrified, not just for herself but of what may be happening to Atticus and Dominic while they tried to stand their ground on their own. There was only the two of them to protect the pack.
After the first few cabins, the commotion became so loud that the other shifters emerged without her loud knocking. When she saw that everyone was coming, the wolves were racing to the ring in front of Atticus’ cabin, she raced back as fast as her feet could take her. If only she could do something, if only she could fight!
By the time she got back to the pack and the poachers, there was such chaos that it took her a moment to find everyone. Dominic was larger than the rest of the pack and he held such a presence that her eyes traveled right to him. He didn’t know she was there but she watched as man after man attempted to attack him, only to be thrown off of his golden fur and attacked by a back-up wolf. She hated to watch him fight but was instantly impressed by his skills. She could see why he took such care to keep himself restrained from his fighting but it was clear why he’d been sent to the protector’s pack.
Seeing that Dominic was safe, she continued to search the fray to find Atticus. But try as she might, she couldn’t locate him. Sickness turned in her stomach as she knew what that might mean. If he wasn’t up on his feet fighting, that could very well mean he was down on the ground hurting. Or worse.
On instinct, Olivia dropped to the ground, searching between the scrambles of feet and the bodies that kept hitting the ground during the fight. One of the poachers stood from the ground to rejoin the fight and it was then that she saw him. Atticus was lying on
the ground, not moving. From where Olivia was, she couldn’t even tell if he was still breathing.
“Atticus!” she screamed.
No one even turned toward her, the shouts and growling were far too loud for anyone to hear her.
Without thinking she ran straight into the mess and dropped to her father. Tears were pouring out of her as she pleaded words she didn’t even understand as they dripped form her lips. He couldn’t be dead, he had to be ok.
She put her palm on his chest and continued to beg and cry, urging him to be breathing. She just needed to feel the tiniest movement from him, anything at all to tell her he was still alive. Though she saw the blood that had seeped out and coated his fur, she didn’t let her mind realize it. She just kept her palm there, aware that at any moment a poacher could kill her in an instant, yet also aware that until the very end she was not going to leave Atticus.
Then at least, a breath. It was small, almost imperceptible—but it was there.
Frantically, Olivia knew she had to get her father out of the fight. With every ounce of strength she had, she lifted the front of his body and began to drag him up the porch. Step after step, Olivia exerted all of her energy, sweat now mixing with her still falling tears.
This time when she pleaded with him, there was more hope inside of her. Atticus was still with her, he was still there, and he was fighting his own fight.
A sudden sharp slice went into Olivia’s ribs and she fell backwards from her father’s side. She looked down at the pain, certain that she was going to see that a poacher had finally realized that she was there, but there was no wound. Confused she looked back up at the fight and saw it was not her but Dominic who had been struck with a knife.
Terrified she froze in place as she watched the wolf she knew she was destined for lay on the ground. She couldn’t lose both of them in one night, could she? Life wouldn’t be that cruel would it?
But then she saw a scene that she’d never forget. The wild rage that tore through Dominic was visible as he clawed and beat the poacher.
The men watched the danger and the fury from Dominic and ran screaming back into the woods, hiding in the night. But Dominic didn’t stop. Not until Ernest tapped his shoulder, reminding him gently that shifters were not allowed to kill a human.
Dominic reluctantly stood, blood covering him, and let the man weakly disappear into the night. It didn’t matter to her if that man lived or died, but she was certain their pack wouldn’t be bothered again. Not when Dominic was there to protect them.
She turned her attention back to her father, numbness filling her body and mind.
They carried his limp, nearly lifeless body to his own bed and covered him up. Atticus’ body was calming but he was still in wolf form, not enough left in him to shift back to himself.
Olivia sat next to him, patting his fur, crying more than she’d ever remembered crying in her life.
“Please, we have to do something,” she told the pack.
They stood their solemnly around his bed, no one able to do anything. She turned to Dominic. He had to fix this, someone had to fix this. But Dominic’s sad eyes only looked at her and took Olivia’s hand in comfort. She was going to have to say goodbye.
Olivia threw herself on top of her father’s body, sobbing long heaving sobs of pain, the tears wetting his fur, seeping into his skin. She didn’t know how long she laid there like that, crying on top of her dying father, but she was aware that she had soaked him completely with her tears.
“Olivia, look.”
It was Dominic’s voice she heard, possibly the only thing that could have pulled her from the misery she was feeling inside. But she looked up at him anyway and with an expression that can only be considered mystified, she followed his gaze to where her father was opening his eyes.
“Daddy?”
Olivia almost never called Atticus that, but in the moments of his near death she felt like a vulnerable child again.
“Olivia,” he said, relief in his voice.
Atticus fingered the injury to his side, a large gash that had caused him to not only bleed but also damage him on the inside. Olivia’s eyes traveled to the wound where moments earlier it had seemed much large. In fact, the longer she watched the more his body begin to heal itself.
“What’s…what’s happening?” she asked.
The pack watched in fascination and she looked at Dominic who wasn’t watching the wound but Olivia instead. His jaw looked as if it had come nearly unhinged.
“Are…are you a healer?” he asked. Dominic’s eyes were wide in surprise and she was feeling the same as he looked.
Olivia had no clue if she was a healer or not. Being a healer was an extremely rare quality and she had never known she possessed the ability. But it seemed hard to deny as his wound ever so slowly continued to heal.
“I don’t know,” she shook her head in disbelief though the proof was right in from of her. “I guess I must be?”
They said a healer’s powers didn’t begin to show until there was a maturity in the healer, a strength that would allow her to pass on to others in order to help them. Maybe it was meeting Dominic and giving into her fate or maybe it had been the strength she needed to break away from the poachers, or even risk her life to save her father’s, but her soul had decided she was ready.
She may not be a shifter and that would never change, but Olivia knew now that no matter what, she belonged in this world.
Epilogue
Dominic
Dominic knew what Olivia had done. Healing Atticus had been nothing short of amazing. She wasn’t a shifter and she never would have those abilities, but she had something far more amazing. Olivia was a healer and in all of the miles of the kingdom, Dominic knew he’d never seen anything like what had happened in Atticus’ bedroom. He’d never met someone like Olivia and he couldn’t believe that he was the lucky shifter she was fated for.
Though she had saved Atticus’ life, and the pack was eternally grateful, he wasn’t quite the same. The injury took a lot of strength from Atticus and his near death had left him drained and fragile. The pack had felt lost and empty without a strong Alpha to lead them. But Atticus felt there was only one man who was ready to step up to fill his shoes and that was his soon to be son-in-law.
So it was decided, until Atticus was well enough to take care of his pack, Dominic would be the Alpha. But as the days turned into weeks and then into months, it became clear that Atticus was never going to be the Alpha that he used to be so as it happened, Dominic’s new position became permanent. The pack sees that Dominic’s strength and ability, not to mention the lengths he would go through to protect his pack. They felt secure in the decision.
Dominic felt secure about it too, even though the responsibility was far greater than any he’d been given before. But he was ready to be a leader and in command. It was the opportunity that had passed by him when the king had decided he wasn’t the right twin to wear the crown. Atticus, the pack, and his fated mate all did see him fit to be everything they needed him to be, and he took that honor with pride.
News of the assault and Dominic’s dominance spread throughout the shifters of the kingdom and it wasn’t long before Dominic came to be known as a hero of the kingdom. The attacks had all but disappeared as his threat had been taken seriously by the poachers.
A knock at his door one day showed him exactly how much he had changed.
Olivia opened the door and Dominic watched as she immediately curtseyed. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes because he knew exactly who was at the front door.
“Mom… Dad,” he greeted.
They both opened their arms simultaneously to Dominic and he gave them a small hug in return. Suddenly their cold demeanor to him was filled with warmth that was always reserved for his brother.
Always full of business they cut right to the chase of things.
“We think it’s time that you come back to the castle,” his mother began.
“Yes, pe
rhaps I was too hasty in naming Ronald to be the next king.”
His mother looked around the cabin, her face showing pure disgust. While his father stayed near the door, looking ready for an escape back to the fancy castle. Dominic smirked as he remembered that feeling well, the feeling that the small cabin in the woods wasn’t enough for him. But Olivia sidled up to Dominic and he put his arm around his girl— his fiancé actually.
He looked down at her, even more gorgeous than the day they had first met. When she had annoyed him to no end and he had barely been able to contain himself. Of course, he still found it hard to contain himself most times when he was around her, she had a way about her that just drove his wolf wild inside. But now he knew what that feeling really was: love, fate, and everything a wolf could desire.
“I think I’m right where I belong,” he answered his parents.
“You can’t be serious,” his mother protested. “This isn’t fit for a prince of your stature.”
He was still a prince, this was true, even if he no longer lived in the castle with all of its shiny objects. But being a prince didn’t mean what it used to be to him. He thought royalty meant everything to him, that being able to tell anyone that he was a prince was the most important thing.
But being known as the mighty Alpha of the protector pack, the ones who guarded everything that he held close in that castle, seemed to mean more. And to have Olivia beside him, a remarkable woman, a healer, and the only person he was ever going to need, was the most important thing in his life.
Dominic was an Alpha, a prince, and most importantly, the one that would love Olivia forever.
Tornado_A Paranormal Romance Page 38
