Chapter 36: Make Your Choice

Chapter 36: Make Your Choice
Josh found her in the small room off his chambers.

Olivia was sitting on her bed with her sewing kit in her lap, not sewing. Just sitting. Staring at the floor the way a person stared at something that was not actually on the floor.

She looked up when he appeared in the doorway.

"Your majesty." She stood immediately.

"Sit down," he said.

She sat.

He came and stood by the window. He did not sit. He was not sure he could sit still right now. He looked out at the garden below for a moment and then turned to face her.

"I told you Lady Seraphine's father proposed a formal pairing," he said.

"Yes, your majesty."

"I want to be clear that I have not agreed to anything."

Olivia looked at him. Her hands were very still in her lap.

"You did not agree," she said. "But you did not refuse either, your majesty."

He opened his mouth.

She continued before he could speak.

"I am not saying it as a complaint," she said quietly. "I understand what you are. I understand the politics and the bloodlines and what the elders expect. I am not blind to any of it." She looked at him steadily. "But your majesty, if you have made a decision, please just say it plainly. Do not let me be the last to know."

Josh stared at her.

"I have not made a decision," he said.

"Then make one," Olivia said. "Be straightforward. Be plain. That is all I am asking."

The room was very quiet.

His wolf, which had been restless since the moment he walked in, chose that exact moment to stop being subtle about it.

Mate, it said. Loud. Certain. As though it had grown tired of being ignored.

"Shut up," Josh said.

Olivia blinked.

"Your majesty, I…" she started, her face falling. "I am sorry. I did not mean to overstep. Forgive me, I…"

"Gosh." Josh looked at her. "I was not even referring to you."

Olivia stopped.

She looked at him.

"Then who were you…"

"It does not matter," he said. He took a step toward her. Then another.

Olivia stayed very still.

He was close now. Close enough that she could see the exact shade of grey in his eyes. That particular grey that looked like a storm that had not yet decided whether to break.

His eyes dropped to her mouth for just a second.

Just one second.

Then they came back up.

He leaned in slowly, the way a man leaned in when he had made a decision and had not yet announced it to anyone including himself, and Olivia's breath caught somewhere in her throat…

Someone cleared their throat.

The sound came from the doorway.

Both of them turned.

Lady Seraphine stood at the entrance to the room, one hand resting lightly on the doorframe, her expression perfectly composed. Her eyes moved from Josh to Olivia and back to Josh with the calm precision of someone cataloguing everything she had just seen and fully intending to do something with it.

"Forgive the interruption, my Alpha," she said sweetly. "Your beta is asking for you in the council room. I offered to come and find you myself."

A beat of silence.

Josh straightened. He glanced down at Olivia's shoulder. Then, with the complete composure of a man who had done nothing whatsoever and had no idea what anyone might think they had seen, he reached out and brushed something from her sleeve.

An invisible something.

"There," he said, as though that explained his proximity entirely.

He turned to Seraphine. "Tell Dan I am on my way."

"Of course," Seraphine said. She smiled. "I will walk with you."

"Thanks but no thanks," Josh said pleasantly. "I know the way to my own council room."

He left.

Seraphine did not move from the doorway immediately.

She looked at Olivia.

Olivia looked at her.

Neither of them said a single word.

They did not need to. Everything that needed to be said had already been said in the space of that long, quiet look – Seraphine's eyes sharp and reassessing, Olivia's steady and giving nothing away.

Then Seraphine smiled, turned, and walked away down the corridor.

Olivia sat alone in the small room.

She let out a very long breath.

Her hand came up slowly and touched her own sleeve where Josh had brushed it. There had been nothing there. They both knew it. Seraphine knew it.

Now, Olivia had never been the kind of person who named things unnecessarily. She did not name the mice that sometimes appeared in the servant quarters. She did not name the plants in the garden even though she visited them every evening.

But her wolf was different.

Her wolf had opinions. Strong ones. She pushed and prodded and commented on everything and had absolutely no respect for timing or privacy. She felt less like a creature sharing Olivia's body and more like a loud, warm, entirely too confident roommate who had moved in without asking.

So Olivia had named her Lisa. Because Lisa felt right for a personality like that.

Mate, Lisa said softly, pulling her back to the present.

"I know," Olivia whispered. "But I would appreciate it if you kept quiet, Lisa. He is not ready to claim us. We are not of the same bloodline as his."

Olivia, baby, Lisa said warmly, he is our mate. We cannot just let him go.

"I said shut up, Lisa," Olivia said out loud.

Footsteps stopped in the corridor.

Seraphine appeared back in the doorway, eyes narrowed. "Excuse me. Were you referring to me?"

Olivia picked up her sewing kit. "No, my Lady."

"Then who exactly are you shouting at?" Seraphine stepped closer, her voice dropping low and sharp. "Are you mad? Talking to yourself like that?" She looked Olivia over slowly. "The Alpha should dismiss you with immediate effect. Who allowed a mad dog this close to him, let alone to serve him?"

Mad dog? Lisa growled inside her. Oh this woman has no idea…

"Lisa, enough," Olivia said quietly.

Seraphine blinked. "What did you just call me?"

"Nothing, my Lady." Olivia smiled. "If you will excuse me, I have unfinished duties to attend to."

She walked out.

Seraphine stood alone in the doorway, staring at the empty corridor.

It was the second time Olivia had walked away from her.

She did not like it one bit.