Chapter 31 Olivia
THIRTY-ONE
Olivia
The days dragged by like sloths on Xanax.
I’d lost count of how many it had been, but I knew it was enough that Inez the witch had needed to refresh our protective spells twice already, and we were on the way to a third.
The good news was, the shielding spells seemed to be working, since the ODL hadn’t pounced on us as long as Bri stayed inside.
The bad news was, I was sick to death of hiking the various patches of wilderness around Toronto, of the way my pack mates kept giving me little hugs and sad smiles, all of it.
Done. And all the while, Lucien kept his distance, even while we lived under the same ugly pink roof. Again. It was downright insulting.
Infuriating was the word that came to mind.
Frankly? I was sick of it all. I wanted to light something on fire and watch it burn.
I scrubbed at an already clean plate with enough vigor, I was worried it might crack. But if I didn’t get some kind of physical release for all the aggression that was building up inside me, I was going to go shout at my stubborn-ass mate, and that would only push him further away.
I dropped the plate into the empty side of the sink to be rinsed and braced myself on the edge of the counter, letting my head hang as I took a series of deep, slow breaths and tried to shake it off.
We were leaving in five minutes to go searching again, and I couldn’t very well go out looking for trouble without having my head on straight. Someone would get hurt.
“Hey, girl.” Elodie floated into the kitchen with the lithe grace of a dancer. “I’m feeling a little under the weather today, so I’m going to hang back.”
I straightened up, narrowing my eyes at her. “Do you want me or Bri to check you out? I’ve got my herbalist kit. I’m sure between the two of us, we could get you feeling better in ten minutes flat.”
She waved the offer away. “Nah. I just need a good day in bed and some trashy TV, and I’ll be right as rain tomorrow. Promise.”
Her smile was a little too bright for someone claiming to be ill.
But you know what? I couldn’t blame her for wanting to get out of what was starting to feel like the world’s dullest vacation.
Maybe tomorrow I should fake being sick and watch some trashy TV of my own.
There would be fewer bug bites that way.
“All right. Feel better,” I said with enough sarcasm to make my feelings on the matter clear.
“Oh, I will.” She whistled as she strode out of the room, the picture of feminine health.
I quickly rinsed the last plate and put it aside to dry with a weary sigh. It could be worse. At least Fiona and Reed were good company, and they never made me feel like a third wheel.
I was lacing up my new tennis shoes when the others arrived to get going.
“Where to today?” I asked Reed, as he’d been meticulously mapping and tracking every area we’d checked so we didn’t double up.
“Ah, new plan. We’re going a little farther south, toward Niagara Falls.
It’s farther from Toronto, but we’ve pretty much covered every wild area around here and gotten not even a whiff of goblin activity.
We’ve been focusing on less populated areas, but so far, we’ve got nothing.
So… today, we’re playing totally out of left field.
Worst case scenario, we get more nothing. ”
I bobbed my head. Couldn’t hurt, beyond some new blisters.
“Sounds good to me. Elodie’s taking a sick day, so we’re down a man.
Woman. Whatever, you know what I mean.” I finished with my shoelaces and straightened.
I really was going to play hooky tomorrow and stay in bed the whole day, eating cookies and watching reality TV. I’d definitely earned it.
He nodded, then shot a wary glance at Fiona before reaching up to fiddle with a shirt collar that wasn’t there. Instead of his usual button-ups, he’d switched to outdoor gear to blend in better. “About that.”
“You three ready to go?” Lucien stepped up to our group, giving me the same polite smile he would a stranger, making me want to punch him in the process.
“You’re coming with us?”
“Yep. Kane told me Elodie wasn’t feeling well, so…” He shrugged as if it was no big deal, and I growled.
I shocked myself in the process, but it was a downright decent growl.
Fiona’s eyes widened, and she looped her arm through mine a second later. “We’ll let the guys ride up front today. What do you say?”
“Good idea.” The words were said between gritted teeth, and I couldn’t stop myself from glowering at my obtuse mate.
Who was acting like nothing was wrong.
But before I could go off on him, Fiona dragged me out the door to our waiting SUV and pulled me into the back seat.
“Is this some kind of setup?” I turned to Fiona and snapped the second the door was hastily shut behind us.
“Okay, look, it’s not a bad thing, I swear to God. Goddess?” She shook her head. “My point is, you’re both miserable, and we’ve all been tiptoeing around both of you, and it’s ridiculous. Me and the other girls might have been talking last night, and Elodie volunteered to hang back, so…”
I groaned, dropping my head back against the back of the seat. “So, you all decided to what, Parent Trap us like unsupervised children?”
“More or less. Please don’t hate me. It was ninety-seven percent Leigh’s idea, and she’s scary pregnant right now.”
I couldn’t disagree there. Leigh had her own gravitational pull at this point, and she was shamelessly using it to get her way, as was the feminine tradition.
Before I could respond, though, the men climbed into the front seats, and we were on the road.
There was a conspicuous silence in the car as we made the drive south, but no one seemed eager to break it with idle chitchat. Eventually, Reed flipped on a jazz radio station, and the crooning of saxophones kept us company.
Eventually, we pulled up at a very touristy-looking visitor center, and I resisted a groan. This place was thrumming with people, and I could already tell this would be a fruitless day of tramping through—admittedly beautiful—woods in uncomfortable silence.
My anger at Luce was still simmering below the surface, and I slammed the SUV door just a little too hard. He arched an eyebrow at me but said nothing—his favorite party trick. His most infuriating party trick.
Reed rubbed his hands together, then pulled out a red marker and the paper atlas he’d been using to track our travels.
“Okay, there are two main areas here, and I think we can safely split and cover the whole area today. Fi and I are going west, and I’d like you two to cover the eastern side of the park.
It’s going to be a little harder to get off the beaten track here, but as soon as you find a quiet area, get off the tourist trails and see what you find. ”
He glanced up, only to find stony stares in response. Their little trap had been effective enough thus far, but did they really expect Lucien and me to spend the entire day alone in the woods together without a buffer after two weeks of polite indifference and not start an international incident?
“Okay, then. When do you want us back here?” Lucien asked in an agreeable tone, shocking the socks off me. I snapped my gaze his way, but he looked completely unbothered.
“Let’s do a check-in midafternoon. Say, three?”
Lucien nodded, accepting the bag of supplies from Fiona with a polite nod.
I was so sick of him being polite. Where was my virginity-stealing asshole who pushed things too far and didn’t apologize to anyone for being exactly himself?
But I kept that question to myself as we branched off, stomping ahead onto the western trail in pointed silence. If he could ignore me, I could ignore him. It was as juvenile as could be, but frankly, if I said something to him right now, I’d regret it later.
Maybe.
Maybe I’d enjoy telling him off.
We did as Reed suggested, hiking along the marked trail for a while, until we naturally paced ourselves out of sight of any other hikers. Finding a good spot in the brush, we used a little bit of shifter speed to gain enough distance to be out of sight from anyone continuing along the main path.
That was when the quiet truly set in. There were nearly no forest sounds except the wind, because the small creatures all knew there were predators in the forest today. They could sense our wolves, even if the humans couldn’t.
Underbrush tugged relentlessly at my pants and shoelaces, nearly tripping me a half dozen times before a moss-covered branch succeeded in sending me tumbling. I would have face-planted into a bush if Lucien hadn’t grabbed me around the waist, stopping me midfall.
“Whoa, there. Do you want me to go first for a while?” He set me back on my feet and backed up as if the simple touch had burned him, though you’d never know it by his casual tone.
“Sure, why don’t you go first, right over the nearest cliff.” I was fuming, we were well and truly alone, and I was done hiding my feelings.
He blinked at me in shock, and I resisted the urge to scream out my frustration.
“Whatever. Fine. I’m staying in front, though.” I turned and managed two furious stomps away before he snagged me by the arm, effortlessly turning me back his way.
“Please don’t be mad at me.” The expression he wore was sincere, but nearly a minute passed as I waited for more, which didn’t come.
“That’s it? You take my virginity, you have one attack—which I help you with, again—and then ice me out for weeks, and all you have to say for yourself is please don’t be mad?
Well, good news for you, bucko, I’m not mad.
I’m fucking furious! We are mates. This isn’t a faucet you can just turn on and off whenever it suits you!
I deserve better than that, and if you’re over me, at least have the balls to say so!
To my face, preferably.” I crossed my arms, staring him down and daring him to say something, anything.
I was spoiling for a fight, and we weren’t leaving these stupid woods without one.