Viola's Risk (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 2) Read online

  “Sage, just put me down,” Viola said, worried things would escalate into a fight between the two guys.

  “Nah, it’s not like you’re heavy or anything. I’ve got you. I promise, you won’t get hurt up there,” Sage said with a smirk.

  Dominic growled and stomped his way over to Sage as Viola began to shiver from how cold the room was getting to be from his rage. She could see her breath in the air, it was that cold.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll warm you up sweetheart,” Sage said with a wink as he used his powers to warm up the area around the small group.

  “Great, can you do something about this head rush I’m getting from hanging upside-down?” Viola snapped at him.

  “Well, if Dom here will let us be on our way, I’ll gladly get you back on your feet,” Sage said with a grin.

  “PUT. HER. DOWN. NOW.” Dominic roared from right in front of Sage.

  “Man, why do you care so much? You’re the one denying she’s your mate,” Sage said the words he’d been holding off asking.

  “I care because she is my mate and I won’t tolerate anyone treating her in any way other than she deserves to be treated. Now put her down,” Dominic shouted at the room.

  “About time you admitted it,” Sage said and put Viola back on her feet with a grin. As Dominic reached for Viola to help her gain her balance, so she didn’t fall over from all of the blood that had rushed to her head, Sage walked around the couple and left the training center with Cora and Liam hot on his heels.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Once they were all alone, and Viola’s head had stopped spinning, she continued to lean on Dominic, because the feel of his body against hers made her feel safe for the first time in a while. Plus, she was afraid if she pulled away from him now, he’d go back to being a complete moron.

  “Are you alright? He didn’t hurt you did he?” Dominic asked, worry dripping from his words.

  “I’ll be okay. He was just playing around,” Viola said as she brushed her sweat dampened hair back from her face and looked up into his smoky eyes.

  “He’d better never treat you that way again. I have a lot of respect for Sage, but not if he’s going to be disrespectful to you,” Dominic told her, anger coming back into his tone now that he was assured she was really okay.

  “Relax Dominic. He didn’t hurt me and he wasn’t being disrespectful. Please, calm down,” Viola said, smoothing her hand down his muscular arm and loving how his bare skin felt against her fingers. He was wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt that she was rather enjoying seeing him in.

  “Seeing him holding you like that, hearing you telling him to put you down and him ignoring you, just pissed me off. You should never allow anyone to do things like that against your will,” Dominic said as he smoothed her hair down a bit, cherishing how she felt in his arms.

  “I’ve missed you Dominic,” Viola whispered, afraid that by saying that, it would set him off back down the road he’d been before.

  “It sure didn’t look like it,” Dominic said, hurt in his voice.

  Viola raised her eyebrows in response. “Were you jealous?”

  Dominic shrugged and tried to look everywhere but at Viola, without saying a word.

  With a gentle touch, she reached up and grabbed his chin with her fingers and forced him to look her in the eyes.

  “Dominic, were you jealous?” she asked in a soft voice.

  “I…uh…I guess you could say that,” Dominic stuttered, looking embarrassed.

  “Nobody’s ever been jealous over anybody else for me before,” Viola said, touched.

  “I find that hard to believe Beautiful One. I’m sure you had guys lined up to date you,” he said, disbelief in his voice.

  “Nope. Cora and I were always outcasts. She had one guy she dated off and on, who was a total sleazeball. I pretended for Cora’s sake, but there really wasn’t anyone I was into until I met you,” Viola admitted, feeling a bit embarrassed herself.

  “Then all of those people were total fools, especially the guys.” Dominic said with a grin.

  “Hey, where would we be if things hadn’t turned out the way they did? We wouldn’t have met and definitely wouldn’t be standing here like this,” Viola said with a twinkle in her eye as she brushed her fingers across his jawline.

  “That is true,” Dominic admitted.

  “I want you to know Dominic, I think you’re a great guy who’s had a crappy life with not many things to look forward to, just like me. I want you to be a part of my life and no matter what you think, I get a say in the matter too. You need to stop trying to make decisions for me, that’s one thing I won’t tolerate,” Viola said with a hard stare into his eyes, as if daring him to argue with her.

  “Viola, I was just trying to protect you from who I am,” Dominic told her.

  “First of all, who you were, not are. Second of all, I don’t need you to protect me. I need you to stand beside me as an equal. I am not some wimpy little girl who can’t hold her own. I have been fighting all of my life and I’m not gonna stop now.” Viola said, pushing back just a bit so she could look him square in the face.

  “I am still that person Viola,” Dominic objected.

  “No, you are not. You haven’t been that person since you decided to stand up for what is right and give information to my dad about what Anna was up to. You may still have done things you didn’t want to do, but that was self-preservation. Anna is a cruel, sadistic woman, believe me, I know quite well,” Viola said with a shudder.

  “What did she do to you?” Dominic asked for the first time.

  “I think that’s a conversation for another time. I don’t want to get into that right now. I just want to enjoy this moment right now,” she said, gazing up into his eyes, just as her stomach rumbled so loud that she had to laugh.

  “How about we get some food into you?” Dominic asked, laughing with her.

  “That sounds like a plan,” she nodded as he wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her out of the training center and back to her room.

  “I’m going to go get cleaned up and dressed for dinner as well, I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes,” he said with a grin.

  “Take your time. I still need to shower. Sage was right, I am starting to stink,” Viola said with her nose scrunched up.

  “Nah, you smell just fine Beautiful One,” Dominic said, pulling her in for a kiss. They lingered in the hall outside of her bedroom door kissing for a few minutes, before Viola’s stomach rumbled again. Laughing, Viola slipped into her room as Dominic headed for his own.

  Grinning from ear to ear, Viola rushed through her shower, dressed, blew dry and did a quick brush through of her hair. Looking at herself in the mirror, she wondered if she should get it cut. The length had been Anna’s decree and the longer she was away from the vile woman, the more she wanted to cut it.

  Hearing a knock on her door, she dismissed the thought for now as she rushed to the door and threw it wide open with a smile on her face from ear to ear.

  “Were you expecting someone else?” Sage asked, looking around.

  “Uh, yeah, Dominic’s supposed to meet me so we can go to dinner together,” Viola said with a grin.

  “Ah, so it worked huh?” Sage asked, puffing his chest out. “What did I say?”

  “Yeah, yeah, so you were right,” Viola said, shoving his shoulder with her hand. “You don’t have to get all cocky about it.”

  Sage laughed. “I guess I’d better get out of here before he finds me here. We don’t need any more problems between you two,” he said as he ducked out of the door.

  “See you at dinner Sage. Thank you for everything.” Viola said as she gave him a quick hug.

  “Not a problem Little Sis. What is family for?” he said with a shrug and headed down the stairs without waiting for her to answer.

  Viola closed the door and just stood there for a few minutes thinking over Sage’s off-handed question. “I’ve never had a family other than Cora. She’s
the only one who would have ever done anything like that for me before now,” she said out loud to the empty room in answer to his question.

  Thinking of how much she was enjoying being a part of a larger family, she walked over to the window and looked out over the vast estate, while she waited for Dominic to come and get her.

  It was only a few minutes later that there was another knock on the door. When she opened it, there stood Dominic looking more handsome than she’d ever seen him. He was holding a huge bouquet of flowers she recognized from the garden Sage had shown her just this morning.

  “They’re beautiful,” Viola said, surprise and joy lighting up her face.

  “Not as beautiful as you are,” Dominic said. “Man, I still have my doubts about being good enough for you, but seeing you like this makes me think of how much of an idiot I’ve been.”

  “Well, I won’t argue the idiot part, but I’m getting tired of telling you that you are perfect for me, so will you please stop making me say it?” Viola asked, feeling like taking the bouquet of flowers and beating him over the head with it.

  “Okay, okay, I got it. Shall we go get some food into you?” Dominic asked her as he offered her his arm.

  “That sounds fantastic,” she said, hooking her hand on the crook of his elbow and holding the flowers he’d given her in her other hand as they headed down the staircase, her rumbling stomach making them both laugh and hurry a bit faster as well.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Everyone was already in the dining room when Dominic and Viola arrived and they all let out a huge cheer seeing the couple walk in together, arm in arm. Thomas and Angelica came over and wrapped the two in a huge group hug that lasted for a couple of minutes.

  “Glad to see you wised up son,” Thomas whispered in Dominic’s ear right before they pulled away.

  Dominic just nodded at Viola’s father. He knew he’d have to confess about his trip down to the prison level, but also knew this wasn’t the time or the place. That would have to be done in private without Cora or Viola around to overhear the conversation.

  “Can we eat now or what?” Cora asked impatiently from her seat at the table. Cora’s stomach rumbled at the same time as Viola’s, making everyone burst out into laughter.

  “I guess we’d better before they start behaving like animals and eating with their hands,” Sage quipped drawing another round of laughter as everyone took their seats.

  The meal proceeded with lots of chatter and laughing. This time, Dominic was right there in the thick of it, preferring to leave his worry over the consequences of his actions until after dinner, when Viola had gone to bed for the evening.

  He caught Sage’s curious glances whenever the guilt over what he’d done against orders surfaced, but chose to ignore them knowing Sage wouldn’t confront him in front of everyone. He found he couldn’t be mad at Sage for the earlier incident with Viola either. After he’d gone back to his room and thought about it, he realized what the other guy had been doing and ended up being grateful to him instead of angry, although when he pictured Viola hanging over the guy’s shoulder the way she had been, that still sparked a bit of anger, but he pushed that down.

  When dinner was finished, Thomas cleared his throat which usually indicated what was coming next was business related and everyone present had better listen up.

  “Tomorrow your training starts bright and early girls. You need to get to bed and get a good night’s rest. As per your request, Sage, Liam and Dominic will be the ones training you. You need to stay focused during the training periods or I will reassign your trainers,” Thomas warned all of them with a pointed look in each of their directions. Each of them nodded their understanding in return.

  “Girls, after what happened with Viola’s powers, you both need to keep a tight rein on your emotions, since they are tied to your powers. Individually, you are both too powerful to let your emotions take control of you and your powers. You could do some major damage or even kill someone. Together, you would be unstoppable, by anyone short of an army. Sage, Dominic and Liam have been instructed to push you to your emotional limits to help you learn to control them so you don’t fly off the handle anymore,” Thomas continued as the girls nodded their understanding. Viola was very frightened of how much rage had flowed through her body that day and how much damage she’d done to Anna because of it. She was very thankful Sage had talked her down before she’d hurt him.

  “I have a question though. Why didn’t what happened to Viola happen to me when I went after Anna when she was hurting Liam?” Cora spoke up to ask.

  “All we can come up with is that half of your powers were bound then. That made it so your body was only used to having the Solarian powers running through it without having to counterbalance the Lunarian powers as well,” Thomas responded.

  “But sir, she used both on Anna even though she was bound,” Liam objected remembering what Sage had told him in his medical room after being read the riot act for taking off the way he had.

  “We know, but we don’t have a concrete answer for your question other than that,” Angelica responded, sounding a bit worried.

  “Maybe it was because both of them had accepted each other as their mates and that gave Cora a balance Viola didn’t have, because they hadn’t both accepted it yet?” Sage asked, curiously.

  “That’s a possibility. We may never know what caused it. It may have just been the raw heat from her fury that brought forth only her Solarian powers,” Thomas responded with a shrug. “We just have to be careful in the future so we don’t have a repeat situation. That was too dangerous.”

  Everyone nodded their agreement, but didn’t throw out anymore suggestions, since the tone of Thomas’ voice told them the subject was closed for the moment.

  “Now, one of the first things you’re going to have to do is to get into good physical condition. I’m glad to see you all did not waste today and got in a good workout. I like to see that level of commitment. Now, I suggest you all go get a good night’s sleep so you will be ready to work in the morning,” Thomas said, making his dismissal obvious. For once, Cora and Viola weren’t offended by it, they just scooted their chairs back from the table and headed out of the room with each of their mates by their sides.

  Dominic walked Viola up to her room and held her for a few minutes, loving the feel of her in his arms. He didn’t know what would happen next when he went back to talk to her parents, but he was going to cherish these moments holding her in his arms right now.

  He pulled back a little and lifted her chin with his finger while leaning down to kiss her with as much passion as he could convey to her in the very public hallway. He wished they were already mated so they didn’t have to sleep in separate rooms, but he would not disgrace her by suggesting anything improper happen between them before their official ceremony, if it was even allowed to happen after he confessed to Thomas about what he’d done. He’d be lucky if he wasn’t facing charges for disobeying direct orders.

  Viola gave a soft little moan as she leaned further into him and that made his heart beat faster. He had to stop this before it went too far.

  He broke off the kiss and put a bit of space between them without releasing his hold on her. “You need to get some sleep Beautiful One. I will see you in the morning at breakfast.”

  “I wish you could stay,” Viola whined a little, which brought a wider smile to his face.

  “Soon enough Beautiful One, soon enough. Get some rest,” Dominic said, dropping a quick kiss on the tip of her nose before pulling out of her arms and opening her bedroom door for her. She sighed and entered the room, slowly closing the door behind her as he headed back down the staircase to the first level.

  He knew Sage had to have reported to Thomas the feelings he’d been picking up from him and wanted to clear the air tonight. If he and Viola were going to have an honest chance to make things work, it couldn’t be with a shadow hanging over their relationship.

  Following the sounds of
voices, he headed towards Thomas’ study and found Thomas, Angelica and Sage sitting and discussing the training that was scheduled to begin the following morning. The door was open so he knocked and stuck his head inside.

  “Am I interrupting anything?” Dominic asked, giving them the opportunity to tell him to leave, but they didn’t. Thomas waved him in and he took a seat in one of the chairs with the group.

  “Is there something on your mind?” Thomas asked with an eyebrow raised. Dominic knew in that moment Sage had already relayed his emotional readings to Thomas and he was being given one chance to explain himself.

  “Yes sir, there is,” Dominic said and readjusted himself in his seat, nervousness making him uncomfortable.

  “I should be going sir. I will give you my report of the first day after training has finished,” Sage said, standing and preparing to exit the room, but Thomas held his hand up to stop him.

  “I would prefer for you to stay,” Thomas said before turning back to Dominic. “Please say what you have to say.”

  Sage sat back down without another word. Dominic lifted his chin higher and looked at the man before turning his eyes to Thomas.

  “First, I have to apologize. I have been a fool since I have been here. I know that is no excuse for what I have done, but it is the truth,” Dominic began, but found he was having a difficult time coming right out and admitting what he’d done.

  “Dominic, what is it you’ve come here to tell us?” Angelica asked in a gentle voice that made him feel even guiltier.

  “I disobeyed a direct order sir. I felt like I had to prove my worth of being Viola’s mate so I went down to the prison and did some surveillance towards the goal of eliminating them permanently. I apologize for my actions and will accept any consequences you see fit to hand me,” Dominic said looking Thomas square in the eyes.

  “What has you curious about that trip?” Sage spoke up and asked before Thomas could speak earning him a look Dominic would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of.