by Kali Argent
“Good morning, tava. I wasn’t sure I’d see you today.”
Zade hadn’t thought anything or anyone could tame his brother, but Olivia seemed to have the surly male well in hand. No one crossed Axton, and most people gave him a wide berth when he strolled through the station. With Olivia, however, the big, bad alpha was a complete sap, as soft and gooey as the center of a warm marshmallow, and it amused the hell out of Zade.
“You mean because I snuck out this morning?” Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, Olivia wrinkled her nose and exhaled audibly through her kiss-swollen lips. “I’m sorry about that. Old habits and what have you.”
“You’re here now,” Zade reminded her, leaning across the bar to skim his lips around the shell of her ear. “That’s what matters.”
“Does this mean you’re going to stay?” Axton asked. “No more running?”
Olivia’s breath caught, and she tilted her head to the side, giving Zade more room to explore. “I guess that depends on you. I’d understand if you’ve moved on, or if you want me to go. I wouldn’t blame you.”
A growl rumbled through Axton chest, the sound loud enough to draw the attention of several nearby patrons. “You are mine.”
“Ours,” Zade corrected with a growl of his own.
Breathlessly, Olivia chuckled as she wrapped her arms around Axton’s neck and leaned back into Zade. “So, I should stay?”
And she called them distractions. Zade couldn’t think straight, and all rational thought left him any time Olivia walked into a room. “You should definitely stay. Or don’t. We’ll follow you anywhere.”
Without warning, Olivia pulled away from them and scrambled down to the floor. Her actions must have finally caught up with her, because she paused at the end of the bar and turned to look at them with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry. Rain check, okay?” She jerked her head to the left, indicating the young woman sitting alone in the dimly lit corner. “I have to see a scroll about a thing.”
“She’s impossible,” Axton grumbled as they watched their intended walk away.
Grinning like an idiot, Zade bobbed his head. “True, but admit it, you wouldn’t want her any other way.”
Axton rolled his eyes as he leaned against the bar with his arms folded over his chest. “I admit nothing. She’s an obstinate little she-devil with a bad temper and a short fuse…and those are just a few of the things I love about her.”
Zade grunted his agreement. “She’s perfect.”
With his eyes still fixed on Olivia, Axton nodded several times in a slow, steady rhythm. “She’s perfect for us.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Winding her way through the tables, Olivia ducked into the shadowy corner nearest the bar and plopped down in the chair across from the young woman in her sparkling green dress. “Hi there,” she greeted, leaning back in her seat and casually crossing her ankles under the table. “I’m Olivia Jacobson, Commander of X21. I want to ask you a couple of questions, if that’s okay.”
With her gaze fixed squarely on the black tabletop, the girl chewed her bottom lip and nodded. While she clearly came from wealth and prosperity, she wore the same dress Olivia had seen her in earlier that week, and concluding a quick study, she realized the scroll didn’t possess a wrist unit, either. She looked so scared, as if she expected Olivia to carry her through the space station and drop her onto the next ship headed to Earth.
Sympathetic, Olivia folded her hands together in her lap and softened her tone. “What’s your name?”
“Isla,” the girl whispered.
“Last name?”
Isla shook her head and continued to stare down at the table. “I…I’d rather not say.”
“Isla, look at me.” She waited patiently, keeping her posture relaxed and open. “It’s okay,” she assured her when Isla finally peeked up at her through impossibly long lashes. “You’re safe here.”
“Blevins. Isla Blevins.” She winced as though the admission had caused her physical pain.
“Okay, that’s good.” Olivia spoke slowly, quietly, and she kept her movements to a minimum as if trying to coax a frightened kitten out of its hiding place. “Honey, how old are you?”
Her bright red hair and icy blue eyes made her look so young, and the smattering of freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks added an air of innocence to her youthful appearance. If not for the inky darkness of the scroll tattoo at the corner of her eye, Olivia would have guessed Isla was still in the Academy.
“I, uh, I just turned twenty-two,” Isla answered, her voice meek and nearly inaudible.
“Where are your parents?” A pretty scroll dressed in an expensive gown surely had parents who wanted her home.
“My dads died when I was nine.” Her shoulders shook when she sniffled, and a single tear trickled down her pale cheek. “My mom passed recently.”
Olivia wasn’t prone to emotional outbursts, and she rarely cried, but listening to Isla speak, hearing the despair in her voice, she couldn’t stop the moisture that gathered in the corners of her eyes. Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter and linked her hands together on the tabletop.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you have any other family?”
“Not really. Just my stepdads.”
Olivia furrowed her brow and frowned. “Did they kick you out?” Another, more horrible thought occurred to her. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, they didn’t hurt me, but I couldn’t stay there.”
It was evasiveness at its finest, but Olivia didn’t push. She needed the woman to keep talking, and clearly force wasn’t the way to make that happen. “Just a couple more questions, okay?”
Isla nodded, but she seemed reluctant. “O–Okay.”
“Can you tell me how you got here?”
“After my mother died, I went to her friend, a Krytos female named Sadayka Tavish. She owns a sanctuary on the edge of Jade City in the Northeast Quadrant. Sadayka helped me secure transportation off the planet, and she said I’d be safe here.”
Olivia pursed her lips as she shifted in her seat, turning to stare daggers at Axton and Zade. Not only had they known who the female elite was, they’d been expecting her. Since their parents had passed, and they had no other siblings, she could only assume Sadayka was the cousin from Earth Zade had told her about earlier. She also thought it likely that said cousin had contacted them about Isla’s arrival on the station well in advance.
Pushing away her annoyance, she deliberately turned away from the two Krytos males and snapped her least intimidating smile into place. She’d deal with her guys later, and when she finished, they’d think twice about keeping things from her again.
“Isla, this is very important.” Olivia paused, thinking of how to phrase her next questions without frightening the scroll. “Did something happen in Jade City? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“I…uh…” Her gaze strayed to some point over Olivia’s shoulder, and her already ivory skin drained of all color. “I have to go.”
Turning, Olivia looked over her shoulder to find the source of Isla’s distress, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. A group of Reema sat in a corner booth, and several Krytos—mostly members of the Tavish pack—roamed around the bar. Three elite officers entered the sanctuary and made their way to a four-top table in the center of the room. As far as she could tell, no one looked in their direction or paid any mind to her and Isla.
“What happ—”
Slumping back in her seat, Olivia sighed. She’d turned her head for only a few seconds, but it had apparently been long enough for Isla to make her escape. The girl would be safe at Asylum for the time being, but Olivia made a mental note to look into Isla Blevins after the opening ceremony. Her heart bled for the orphaned scroll who had lost her family, but more than sadness and grief had clouded Isla’s eyes. Something had happened in Jade City, something that scared her, and if trouble hadn’t already followed her to X21, it couldn’t be far behin
d.
“Hey, Commander,” a pretty Krytos female with short, black hair, and obsidian eyes greeted as she plopped down in Isla’s vacated seat. “What can I get for you?”
Olivia grinned. She couldn’t help it. Shay just had that effect on people. “Information would be nice. Do you know that girl? Isla?”
Shay nodded slowly. “She’s a guest here.”
“Do you know why she’s a guest here?”
“I’m sorry, Commander, but that’s not really my story to tell. I will say this, though. She’s in trouble, and you know as well as I do that Axton and Zade wouldn’t grant her sanctuary unless they truly believed she deserved it.”
Olivia thought it over for a moment, and concluded Shay made a good point. She trusted her males, and if they trusted Isla, well, she’d let the matter rest for the time being. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t be digging deeper into the matter, but for now, it was enough.
“So, how about that drink?”
Thinking about her speech—or lack thereof—Olivia sighed and shook her head. “I’ll take coffee if you have it.”
“Oh,” Shay feigned a rather convincing pout. “Are you sure you don’t want something with a little more kick?”
“Actually, I’d love nothing more, but I have to give some stupid speech at this opening thing, and as of right now, I pretty much have squat.”
“I could help.” Sitting up a little straighter, Shay pushed her bangs away from her eyes and smiled expectantly. “It’s kind of dead in here right now, and besides, if I get in trouble, I can just blame it on you.”
“I heard that!” Axton shouted from behind the bar as he cleaned one of the glasses. “Get your ass back to work.”
“I am working!” Shay yelled back. “I’m helping the commander. Civic duty and all that.”
“Yeah,” Olivia joined in, “you’re not the boss of her.”
Zade started to laugh, followed quickly by Case and Sylon—two of Shay’s three mates—who stood watch at the entrance of the sanctuary. Dressed all in black, her other mate, Doran, stepped up behind her and bent to place a kiss on the top of her head.
“Are you causing trouble, my love?”
“Me?” Shay pressed her fingertips to her chest in feigned innocence. “I would never do something like that.”
Doran chuckled, the sound deep and filled with love. “I know better, mate.”
Great galaxies, the foursome were so adorable together, it gave Olivia a toothache. She figured no one had any right to be that happy. It just wasn’t natural. As she looked across the bar and caught Zade and Axton staring at her with much the same expression Doran wore, she figured it might not be natural, but she could definitely get used to it.
In the past two days, she’d been happier than she’d ever been in her entire life. Ivy was right, and nowhere in the bylaws did it say she had to choose between duty and love. Just because she couldn’t have children didn’t make her undeserving of love or the chance at a future with two males who thought she’d hung several moons and all the stars.
It had taken her too long to realize it, but now, it all seemed so clear. While she still wanted to prove herself worthy of her position, she didn’t have to sacrifice everything to do it. Axton and Zade had been far more patient than she had any right to ask, but they wouldn’t wait forever.
“Can I ask you guys something?” Leaning across the table, she lowered her voice so as not to be overheard. “What does tava mean?”
Shay’s eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open before splitting into a huge grin. “Where did you hear that?”
“Axton,” Olivia confessed, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer when Doran began to laugh so hard it shook his massive frame. At first, she’d thought her language converter had malfunctioned, but upon further research, she could find no mention of the Krytos word. “It’s bad, isn’t it? I knew it was bad.”
“No, no!” Reaching across the table, Shay grabbed Olivia’s hands and squeezed affectionately. “It’s just that, well, it means ‘alpha mate,’ but to be Axton’s alpha mate would mean that—”
“Axton is claiming his role as alpha,” Olivia finished, finally understanding the joke.
“So, it’s true, then?” Shay’s eyes lit up, and she squeezed Olivia’s hands harder. “Olivia, I’m so happy for you, and don’t you dare repeat this, but Axton and Zade deserve to be happy, too. So, I guess…welcome to the family.”
“Nothing is official.” Yet. There hadn’t been time to discuss the future or intentions or anything like that, but Olivia knew what she wanted. “Theoretically, if I were to mate with them, would that make me alpha as well?”
“Of course, why do you ask?”
“So…they’d have to listen to me?”
When Shay finally caught on, she threw her head back and laughed loud enough for the entire bar to hear her. “Oh, absolutely.”
“Good to know.” Finding her males at the end of the bar, she waited for them to notice her before grinning deviously. “Good to know.”
For the next two hours, Shay helped her come up with a speech that wouldn’t bore people to death, but that would also satisfy Regent Marks. Considering she’d ditched out on her meeting with him earlier, she figured she’d pushed the regent enough for one day. As predicted, no one interrupted them or tried to make Shay return to her duties as a server. Everyone might pretend it was because of Olivia and how the Tavish brothers felt about her, but she knew better. Shay and the rest of the pack were family, and while they might disagree occasionally, family always came first at Asylum.
Once she had her speech finalized, Olivia ordered a third cup of coffee and was just sitting back to enjoy it when Axton sauntered over to the table and sat down beside her. “We should go if you’re going to give that speech you worked so hard on, tava.”
Olivia grinned at the endearment but didn’t comment. “You’re probably right. What time is it anyway?”
“The ceremony starts in fifteen minutes,” Zade answered, coming to stand behind her. “Don’t be nervous. It’ll be over before you know it, and we’ll be there the whole time.”
“I’m not nervous.” Olivia saw a big difference in being scared to do something and just not wanting to go through the hassle. “Shay is much better at this than either of you. I think you should give her a raise.” She lifted her hand in the air, high-fiving Shay as the female passed by the table.
Axton bit the inside of his cheek to keep the smile threatening to form at bay. If either female ever discovered how amusing he found their antics, they’d only use it against him. “Come on, female, let’s get this over with.”
Before he could stand, Olivia reached across the table, linking her fingers with his, and reached up with her other hand to cover Zade’s where it rested on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re going to be there. Thank you.” Looking over her shoulder, she graced Zade with a soft smile. “Both of you.”
Obviously, she didn’t get it yet, but she would. There wasn’t anything in all the universe he and his brother wouldn’t do for her. Attending some Alliance party just to help her feel more comfortable barely even ranked.
It took a bit more coaxing to finally get her up from the table, and for a moment, Axton thought he’d have to forcibly carry her to the ceremony. Finally, he and Zade managed to get her out of the bar and escort her to the lifts that would carry them to the observation deck on the uppermost level. When the door slid open into a gleaming and polished reception area, Axton realized he’d never actually been to that part of the station.
The staircases that led down to the lower floors, he understood. “Where do those go?” he asked, pointing to the curving staircase that climbed upward from the lobby.
“Balconies,” Olivia answered, adjusting her uniform and making sure her hair was tucked into place. “There were supposed to be boutique shops up there as well, but obviously, they’re empty now.” Taking a step back, she held her arms out slightly to the side and tilted her h
ead. “How do I look?”
“Beautiful,” he and Zade answered together, earning them a quick grin and a long eye roll.
“Okay, you boys behave. I’ll find you as soon as my speech is over.” Bouncing forward, she gave them each a kiss, then hurried though the double doors that led inside the observation deck.
Silently, he and his brother followed, only at a much slower pace. Axton had no desire to listen to people he didn’t know talk about things that didn’t concern him, but he was having a hard time letting Olivia out of his sight.
“Should we go up on the balcony?” Zade asked, jerking his thumb upward. “We’d be able to see her better.”
Axton liked the way his brother thought, but he didn’t want to be that far away. Not that he expected anything to happen in a room full of elites, but then again, his emotions weren’t exactly rational when it came to their mate. Realizing he did indeed think of Olivia Jacobson as their mate didn’t surprise him in the least. Maybe they hadn’t made it official yet, and perhaps he was being premature, but that didn’t change the way he felt. However long he had to wait, whatever he had to do, Olivia would be theirs.
“Isn’t that Regent Marks?”
Axton looked to where his brother pointed on the raised dais set in front of a massive dome-shaped window that comprised almost half the room. The impeccably clear glass stretched from the floor and reached all the way up to the balconies overhead. It truly appeared as though he stood in the vastness of space, and it made him feel small, insignificant.
He didn’t like it.
“It’s a regent,” he answered with a shrug, recognizing the black uniform with red sleeves. “I don’t know which one.” He thought he vaguely remembered the male from their meeting in the Capital, but most of his attention had been on Olivia at the time, so he couldn’t be certain.
“He looks pissed.”
Indeed, he did, and his anger seemed to be directed at their mate. Growling, Axton took a step forward with every intention of climbing the dais to teach the regent some manners. Unfortunately for him, but lucky for the regent, Officer Hannah Blake introduced Regent Marks to the waiting crowd, and he stepped up to the podium to deliver the longest, most banal speech Axton had ever had to endure.
