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“Sounds perfect.”
~
A few nights after the visit to Freeport, Olivia traveled with both Luther and Zane to Camberlaune Realm. Luther had done his due diligence and had researched her bloodline. He’d found her biological father, Ivor, living in a rundown neighborhood in one of the larger cities and not exactly thrilled to learn he had a daughter.
He lived alone, and his one-bedroom apartment showed it.
He had her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her nose and Luther must have known exactly who she was, who her father was, the moment he saw her.
Having been in Ivor’s home for fifteen minutes and having listened to his ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ recounting of the night he met her mother, Olivia was not hopeful for a future relationship with the man. He confessed to having bedded her mother that same night, but he’d subsequently returned to Camberlaune shortly after with no intention of seeing her again.
His story had been laced with enough indifference to sink Olivia’s spirits. Though his attitude had clearly had another effect as well, since Olivia now sat between one pissed off shifter and a vampire in about the same state.
She was pretty angry herself.
Luther sat on her left while Zane was on her right, arms crossed over his chest.
These two men, bless them, had become her champions in her new Swanicott life and each radiated a fair amount of disgust at the man who’d spawned her.
A shifter with a beer belly.
&nbs
p; The setting wasn’t pretty either.
Her biological father had at least a dozen empty whisky bottles lined up on his kitchen counter. A couple of decades ago, he’d served as a leader in one of the Camberlaune shifter packs. But when his wife and young son had been killed in an Invictus attack, he’d lost the will to do just about anything.
Olivia could sympathize, but she still felt a strong measure of distaste that he hadn’t gotten on with his life in a meaningful way.
Luther asked, “And are you telling us you didn’t know about Olivia?”
Ivor glared at Luther. “Of course I knew I had a daughter, but she was half-human. I thought it would be better for her to be raised by her mother in the States. And it was just a Goddess-be-damned one night ride anyway.”
Both men growled, muscles tense.
Olivia didn’t even have time to be angry for herself. She worried now that what had begun as a civil meeting between child and blood-parent would turn into a brawl.
She stood up and clamped a hand on each massive shoulder, holding the men in place. “Stand down, both of you, or I’ll go Zephyr in this room.”
The men bristled but remained seated.
She addressed the man who had sired her. “But I needed pack involvement.” She waved her hands, showing her fur. “You should have known that, Ivor. And I fault you for not thinking that far ahead.” When he still remained unmoved, she knew she needed a slightly different tack. She debated sharing her recently discovered secret, but maybe it was what Ivor needed to knock him out of his doldrums.
She once more glanced at the whisky bottles. “However, I am open to seeing you again, to seeing if we might establish some kind of father-daughter rapport. But you’ll have to start attending one of the Camberlaune AA meetings and maybe some grief counseling. You’re a mess. And by the way, I’m pregnant. So if you want to know your grandchild, you’ll have to get your shit together. I suggest sooner rather than later.”
Ivor stared at her hard, lips compressed. “You’re having my grandbaby?”
“Yes. Your grandbaby.”
“Olivia?” Zane’s voice brought her attention riveting to him. She felt a sudden swell of sensation from the man beside her. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out this way; Zane didn’t even know. Yet somehow the moment had seemed right to her.
Zane stood up and turned her physically toward him. “You’re pregnant? You’re having my baby? Our baby?”
She blushed. “Dammit, I am. And I should have told you first but I wanted to give Ivor a shake-up. I think he needed one.”
Zane took her in a warm embrace. It doesn’t matter. I think you did the right thing. It might just be what the shifter needs to start fighting for a better life for himself.
He kissed her afterward, a lingering touch of his lips to hers that as always threatened to become so much more in no time at all.
