*Omario POV*
Four months later….
“Missing the sunlight?” Terrence asks when he finds me staring at the sunset. He returned from Palmland three months ago and him and I have gotten even closer.
“What?”
“Thin as a skeleton but a million dollar smile that lights up the castle,” he teases. He is still convinced that Abi is my mate and I have stopped arguing with him on it.
“I hope that she is okay,”I confess. He is the only person I can talk to about her. I could try to find out how she is but that would be too risky. With Pious always lingering around, I am pretty sure that one of his missions is to find her.
“She is a fighter. Of course she is okay.”
I don’t know if Terrence is trying to convince me or himself, but I hope he is right.
“Are you okay?” The concern on his voice is unmistakable. He is almost a brother I never had, but an irritating one at times.
I shrug my shoulders. I just feel down a lot lately. With Brenda back in the castle, dad is completely under her spell and mom is miserable again. Our plan to get Sophia out of here failed because dad now has guards watching her. The guards would never hesitate to hand her over to me despite dad’s orders but that would be signing their deaths. I feel like I am suffocating here.
The servants are also having the worst time, working non-stop under inhumane conditions.
“I hear that you have set your union date,”Terrence says and I already know how this conversation is going to end.
“I know that you don’t approve. Keep it to yourself,” I say sternly, not that it works on him.
“You are making the biggest mistake of your life,” he says, ignoring my instructions.
“I said keep it to yourself!”
There’s the irritating part of him.
“Fine. You don’t deserve her.”
“Excuse me?” My sharp voice doesn’t do much to him either.
“If you won’t even fight for her, then maybe you deserve to be without love and miserable.”
“I love Oli and I am not miserable.”
Maybe I am not over the moon like I thought I would be when I was younger but I am definitely not miserable. Oli is absolutely beautiful and has a lot of good attributes.
He shakes his head. “You liked her as a friend until Frode said you were mates. Nothing changed after that, absolutely nothing. I bet you don’t feel anything, nothing even close to how you felt with Abi. You are familiar with her but you don’t love her. Titan hates her and it’s selfish and stupid to make him spend the rest of his life without his mate,” Terrence preaches to me a sermon I know too well because he preaches it every damn time we speak about this.
“I will pretend that you did not just call me selfish and stupid.”
I should get used to my Gamma’s lack of regard for my rank but I understand him better now that I know who he is. I never asked him if he knew his identity to avoid opening a can of worms that would definitely lead to another massacre.
“Have you ever wondered if maybe that’s why Nina hates you?”
Terrence just won’t quit. He knows that I have been trying to stop thinking about Abi and her wolf and focusing on my future with Oli instead, but he won’t let me.
Oli and I have been getting along very well lately. She has really tried her best to make it up to me. As soon I consciously stopped comparing her to Abi, our relationship became so much better. Getting out of the kingdom and traveling to places we liked made me realise just how much we have in common.
Yes, she has a temper and she makes mistakes, but I do too.
Yes, I don’t feel her but I love the intimacy between us and the way she screams my name when we are together.
Titan used to like Oli, I am sure that he is just acting out and will come around eventually.
“Just shut up!” I snap at him. I can’t take his bold statements today, not a few days before my union with Olivia.
“Accept a fake bond with Olivia and you will not only have Nina hating you. Your wolf will hate you too. Your dad is an asshole but at least he is not depriving his wolf of it’s mate.”
I can’t believe he just said that! I walk away from him to avoid punching his stubborn face. I have accepted that him and I will never agree on this subject but him comparing me to my stupid dad is crossing the line and getting on my nerves.
He fails to appreciate that Oli is now twenty-one years old. I have delayed our union as much as I could from the day Frode announced that we were mates. I am now at crossroads. As per our custom, I have to either commit or reject her and let her go to find a second mate. I am not willing to reject her for something I have no proof of.
Three days later, the day of my union with Olivia has finally arrived. It’s not as formal as the human’s wedding day. It’s usually a few close relatives and friends who come to witness the union, but it’s different with me because I am the future Alpha. The castle is buzzing with dignitaries and representatives from other packs and kingdoms. Mom has been up since dawn making sure that everything is perfect and everyone is taken care of. She and dad have been acting like perfect host and for once in months dad is not flaunting his mistress around.
“Today is our day. You better behave,” I link my very quiet and distant wolf.
To accept the bond I will have to shift and mark Oli. I need him on board for this.
Silence.
I can’t help but panic a bit. It would be a disaster if Titan pulls his usual stunt on me.
“Remember the deal. I got Abi out, now you fulfil your part,” I remind him. It’s the only thing I can use to get him back in line.
With that taken care of, I walk into the courtyard to find familiar faces singing, chatting and eating. While some are my and Olivia’s acquaintances, to my displeasure, most are dads gamma friends. I pay my respects to the elders and leaders from other packs before approaching my Gamma. Everyone here is chatting happily but he has been standing alone in the corner not even attempting to speak to anyone. I insisted that he comes, otherwise he would have preferred serving the guest like other servants.
“It’s a beautiful sunny day,” he says, flashing me his fake smile.
To everyone listening in, his comment sounds appropriate, but I know better. He always refers to Abi as the sunshine and he sees nothing beautiful about this castle since she left. His statement is the exact opposite of what he usually says to me.
I embrace him. “Thanks for being here. It means a lot to me.”
I mean every word. He could have disobeyed me and not attended, but he didn’t. I also know that he feels out of place with everyone here because to most he is still just a slave. Only if they knew….
“Are you okay?” his concern always get to me. No matter how much he does not approve, he still cares.
I nod and force a smile. It’s a big step that I am taking. It would be nice if everything was so straightforward. He leads me to the small room and I can guess what’s coming.
“And Titan?” he asks with the same tone.
“Don’t go there. Not today, please,” I plead.
“I am not, I swear. You will need him on board today,” he says sincerely.
“He is.”
Well, I hope so but I can’t tell Terrence that.
He nods and leads me out of the side room back to the courtyard, where Oli and her entourage have just arrived.
She looks absolutely stunning in a golden satin long dress that fits her like a glove. Her cleavage and tinny waist is well accentuated and the slit up to her knees, expose her perfect legs. The strapless feature is most likely designed for the ceremony when I mark her. The thought of that gets my palms sweaty.
Oli is breathtaking, with a radiant smile I hope I will maintain forever. I am the luckiest man on earth, right?
Why do I feel more nervous than excited then?
Titan’s silence is also getting to me. Was Terrence right that Titan will hate me if I do this or will he really come around like I hope he will?
“Let’s get you hitched then,” Terrence says, leading me to where Oli, Loyd and the rest of the entourage is. Unfortunately, Brenda is also there acting like the typical mother of the bride.
I take a deep breath so suppress the anger brewing inside me and tell myself that today is not about her. She’s Oli’s aunt and has to be here. Besides, we all don’t choose our relatives.
Frode instructs everyone to settle down like he usually does before every ceremony. It’s now I, Oli and him who are left standing. This is it.
Frode starts chanting something about the significance of mates and how the bond works but I can’t hear a word. I am trying my best to but I can’t concentrate on anything else but the infatuating scent that is pulling me out of here. My whole body is tingling and I can’t breathe. What the heck is this?