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

  After a few awkward minutes of eating in silence, Cora and Liam started chatting with each other in soft voices, Angelica and Thomas did the same and after a few more minutes, the conversations all blended to everyone talking, eating, laughing and enjoying their meal together. Viola’s clouded emotional state even cleared a bit with the lighthearted meal, which eased Sage’s worry some.

  A nagging feeling in his gut made Sage look up at the entrance to the dining room just as Xavier filled the doorway, with an almost evil look in his eyes. He was still blocked from Sage, but there was no doubting the look on the other man’s face as he raised his hands and prepared to attack everyone seated at the dining table.

  Chapter Four

  Viola’s head jerked up as Xavier was preparing to attack and screamed, “Get down now!”

  She jumped out of her seat and threw her own attack towards the doorway, pushing Xavier back into the hall. Not knowing how to control her powers made her attack stronger than it needed to be and sent him crashing through a table in the hall and smashing several priceless antiques.

  It took Viola a couple of minutes to calm herself down enough to stop the attack. She looked around to make sure everyone else was alright before racing out of the room to make sure Xavier wasn’t preparing to attack them again.

  As she reached him, guards came flooding into the halls and lifted the barely conscious man from the debris and carried him away without saying a word.

  Viola stood there watching and breathing heavily. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and her heart was pounding loud enough to perform in a marching band. She jumped when Thomas’ hand landed on her shoulder.

  “Those were good reflexes. I’m proud of you. I can’t wait to see what you can do once you learn to control your abilities,” Thomas told Viola, pride showing in his eyes.

  “Wow Vi! You really don’t hold back do you?” Sage said as he walked up and put his arm around her. “Remind me never to get you mad at me.”

  Viola rolled her eyes. It seemed to be the one thing she was doing the most of today and it was getting pretty annoying. She knew he was only trying to calm her down by teasing like an older brother would do, but it wasn’t working.

  “Why did he try to attack us?” she asked Thomas. “What is going on?”

  “He was not happy that I removed him as your trainer, but that much I knew already. I didn’t think he’d take it this far,” Thomas said, uncertainty in his voice.

  “Sir, I noticed during our training session this morning that his emotions were blocked from me, and they never had been before now. I was going to try to do some investigating to figure out what had changed, before all of this happened,” Sage informed Thomas.

  “Blocked? How?” Thomas asked without a pause.

  “I couldn’t tell anything of how he was feeling. Every mission I’ve ever worked with him, prior to this, he was an open book. It was very weird. It takes a lot of practice to learn to block your emotions like that, unless he had help,” Sage replied, keeping an eye on Viola to gauge her reaction to his extra powers.

  “Wait, what are you two talking about?” Viola asked as if she were just joining the conversation.

  “Sage can sense other people’s emotions Vi,” Cora responded, moving to her sister’s side.

  “Why am I just now hearing about this?” Viola asked, feeling hurt and left out of the loop.

  “I guess it hasn’t come up before now,” Cora responded, sensing Viola’s irritation.

  “So how did you find out about it then? Did Liam tell you?” Viola snapped at her twin.

  “No, Sage did when we were trying to find you. He told me when the mating bond with Liam kept pulling me in that direction, so he could help me focus on the bond between you and I. After we found you, I didn’t think about it again,” Cora said, feeling defensive.

  “So I should be thanking Sage more than you for finding me?” Viola accused.

  “It’s not like that at all,” Cora told her sister.

  “Viola, you need to calm down,” Sage said in a warning tone.

  “Why should I?” Viola asked, putting her hands on her hips. Anger and hurt were seeping from her pores towards the group surrounding her.

  “Darling, you are still new to your powers and your emotions affect them. If you don’t calm down now, you’re likely to hurt someone,” Angelica said in a calm voice as she stepped toward her tumultuous daughter. “None of us were trying to hide anything from you.”

  “Whatever,” Viola said, and stalked off toward the room she now had to herself. She was upset, but didn’t want to hurt anyone she cared about because of her anger.

  Cora moved to go after her sister, but Sage stopped her with a shake of his head. “She’s got to work through this on her own. Things are chaotic for all of us, but she still has to come to terms with all of the changes like you have.”

  “I can help her,” Cora said, feeling helpless.

  “You’ll only make it worse. I wish you could help, my love,” Liam said, wrapping his arms around Cora’s waist and pulling her close.

  At the top of the large staircase, Viola listened and watched the others. She saw and heard Sage and Liam hold Cora back from coming after her and was furious with her twin for allowing them to do so. Not even Cora was there for her when she needed her anymore.

  Feeling like punching something, she turned and entered her room, ran over to the gigantic bed and began punching the pillows and mattress. Without realizing it, she began screaming and cursing everyone and everything as she wore herself out.

  When she had nothing left, Viola flopped down onto the bed, breathing hard from her exertion. She didn’t want to admit it, as silent tears made their way down her cheeks and onto the heavy comforter, but she felt better after her violent explosion. She’d finally released a lot of the pent-up tension that had been filling her since all of this began just a few days ago.

  As she closed her eyes, the face of the stranger who’d taken her from her bed at one of their parents’ other houses, floated into focus behind her eyelids. She felt that she must be dreaming as his hand came up to stroke her face and it felt to her like it was happening in reality.

  “Who are you?” Viola asked him in her mind.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he responded to her surprise. His deep voice making her sigh with longing.

  “It matters to me. I can’t get you out of my head,” she pleaded.

  “We can never be together. I’m not good for you. You need to stop thinking of me. I can feel it when you do,” he responded with sadness in his voice.

  “Why? Why can’t we be together? Please, tell me your name at least,” Viola begged for answers he seemed reluctant to give her.

  “You know why we can’t be together, Beautiful One. There’s no point in telling you my name because then you’ll look for me and I can’t have that. It’s too dangerous,” he told her, his pain-filled voice breaking her heart.

  “I will look for you anyway,” Viola told him in her usual stubborn way.

  “Please, let it go. If you try, Anna will catch you,” he said, and this time there was fear in his voice.

  “Let her try. I’d love to get my hands on her,” she said, hatred dripping from her words.

  “Stop Beautiful One. You are in my thoughts and heart as well, but it can’t be,” he tried again to convince her.

  “Tell me your name!” she shouted across their mental connection.

  “You are a persistent one aren’t you?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “And you are just mean making me ask so many times,” Viola huffed out.

  “Mean? Nah, I’m just trying to protect you,” he said, trying to soothe her.

  “I don’t want to be protected. I want to know your name,” she replied in a sulking tone.

  “What good will it do you to know my name?” he asked her.

  “I will at least know who I am dreaming of,” she responded.

  “Do you think you’re dreamin
g?” he asked her.

  “Aren’t I?” she asked, confused.

  “No, Beautiful One, you’re not dreaming,” he responded in a longing voice. “I just wish we were together having this conversation.”

  “If I’m not dreaming, how is this happening?” Viola asked, wishing she knew what was going on.

  “Only mates can communicate telepathically like this Viola,” he said in a soft voice.

  “So, if you’re my mate, why won’t you even tell me your name?” she asked again.

  “Because we can never be together,” he said. She could hear how much it pained him to tell her that.

  “Let me figure that out. Tell me your name and I will find a way for us to be together,” Viola persisted.

  “How do you think you will do that?” he asked her skeptically.

  “You don’t know me very well if you have to ask that question,” she responded in her typical smart aleck style.

  “The fact that I work for Anna makes it so we can’t be together Viola. There’s no changing that,” he sighed.

  “Do you believe in what she’s doing?” Viola asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.

  “Not at all. It’s much more complicated than that,” he told her, anger filling his voice.

  “Then let me help you. Tell me your name and we will find a way,” Viola said, getting tired of the circle their conversation was going in.

  “My name, Beautiful One, is Dominic,” he said, the name rolling off of his tongue, like his nickname for her did, and sent a tingle up her spine.

  “Dominic. I like that. Let me see what I can do,” she said and popped her eyes open, breaking their connection, as a loud banging started on her bedroom door.

  She jumped off of the bed and ran over to the door. She knew Thomas was the one she needed to speak to, but didn’t know how to bring it up to him.

  As she threw open the door, her breath caught in her throat and her jaw dropped in shock. Standing in the doorway to her bedroom, was Dominic himself.

  Chapter Five

  Viola stood in the doorway, with her mouth hanging open in shock. Dominic grinned back at her in such a way that made her want to punch him in either the gut or the face, maybe both.

  “Aren’t you happy to see me?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Are you crazy?” Viola whispered as she tried to recover from her shock.

  Just then Sage made it to the top of the stairs and looked at the two of them.

  “Ah, so the two of you have met,” he said as he leaned on the wall beside her bedroom door.

  “What are you talking about Sage?” Viola demanded, feeling like she was being left out of the informational loop yet again.

  “This is Dominic. He’s our man inside of Anna’s operation,” Sage said, eyeing the two of them with intense interest.

  “Oh, we’ve met,” Dominic said with a smirk.

  “Yeah, we met when you were carrying me from my bed and delivering me to Anna!” Viola yelled at him.

  “I had to do what I had to do to keep my cover from being blown. There was no way I would have allowed anything to happen to you Beautiful One,” Dominic told her, a fierce protectiveness making his smoky eyes almost blaze with heat.

  “So did you know about this?” Viola asked, coming close to accusing Sage.

  “Not at all. I can assure you, your parents had no idea what was going on either. We just found out about what happened five minutes ago, when he arrived here looking for you,” Sage told her. “Cora came close to killing him.”

  “That I can believe. I’m surprised they didn’t have to take you to medical,” Viola said and let out a bitter laugh. “Although, if she’d have done that, I would’ve had to beat the living crap out of her.”

  Sage’s eyebrows almost hit the ceiling at Viola’s blunt statement. “Really? Now why is that?”

  “Because I am her mate,” Dominic said with pride, and stepped close to Viola’s face. He reached up and stroked her face the way he had in their mental communication. As much as she wanted to fight it, she knew it was true. No matter how angry she was at him for delivering her to Anna, she knew it would fade in no time.

  “Please tell me he’s joking Vi,” Cora’s bitter voice came from behind Sage.

  Viola didn’t say anything. She looked up as her sister stepped into view and begged her to understand with her eyes.

  “You told me, us, they carried you out of there kicking and screaming,” Cora accused. “I have beaten myself up over and over for not being there to protect you. I have lived with the guilt of not sensing where you were because of my bond with Liam since you were taken, and come to find out, your mate is the guy that delivered you to Anna practically gift wrapped.”

  The pain in Cora’s voice broke Viola’s heart, but she didn’t know what to say.

  “Leave her alone,” Dominic said in a warning tone, and stepped in to block Cora’s advance on Viola in a protective manner.

  “Cora, calm down. Let’s go sit down and we can all talk about this,” Liam said coming up behind her. “Come on my love. Viola didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “She didn’t? She knew I blamed myself for this whole thing. She should have told me what was going on,” Cora yelled, having had enough.

  “When was I supposed to tell you anything Cora? When you were telling me all about how wonderful it was finding Liam as your mate? When we were chasing Liam down to save him from Anna’s torture? When you were sleeping in his arms while he was down in medical? What about when we were being unbound and fighting to keep our powers, then Liam died, you brought him back, mated him and moved in with him without even asking me how I was doing with all of this? Tell me Cora, I’d love to know when I was supposed to tell you anything,” Viola screamed at her sister, moving Dominic out of the way so she could get right in Cora’s face. “So far it’s been all about you.”

  “So, this is all my fault?” Cora screeched back as Liam held onto her for dear life.

  “I never said that. I just asked when I was supposed to tell you anything. Don’t blame me if you’re feeling guilty,” Viola sneered. Dominic grabbed her as she went to lunge for Cora.

  “Liam, get Cora out of here now. Dominic, get Viola in her room now. Both of them need to calm down before they level the house. Their emotions are getting way too high and volatile,” Sage shouted orders over the girls screaming war.

  “What is going on up here?” Thomas roared as he reached the top of the staircase with Angelica close behind.

  “I’ll fill you in as soon as we get them separated sir,” Sage said in a clipped voice, while helping Liam force Cora back. He gave Dominic a stern look over his shoulder and was glad to see that even though she was fighting him, he was doing his best to force Viola into her room. Thomas went over and helped him, seeing how much of a handful his daughter was being.

  “No, you’re not taking me anywhere,” Cora screamed and kicked Sage hard in the stomach. “We’re going to finish this now.”

  “No, you’re not. You are going to go cool down and talk about it like adults later,” Sage replied, grabbing hold of her ankles and lifting them off of the ground so he and Liam could carry her down the stairs without much trouble. He heard Viola’s door slam shut when they were about halfway down the stairs.

  Chapter Six

  Once the door closed behind them, Viola turned on Dominic.

  “How dare you get between me and my sister,” she screamed at him. She was angry at everyone and everything right now. Nobody was safe from her wrath.

  “Are you kidding me? You two were getting ready to not only kill each other, but all of the rest of us too,” Dominic exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Viola, you need to stop right now,” Thomas warned in a low growl.

  “Not a chance. I’m sick of every…” Viola started, but cut herself off when she realized everything in the room was shaking like there was a violent earthquake, but the floor was still.

  “Contro
l your temper now Viola,” Thomas told her. He kept his voice calm, but she could hear the underlying concern in it.

  “Am I doing that?” she asked with a shaky voice.

  “Yes, you are. Everything is going to explode if you don’t calm your emotions and pull your power back,” Thomas informed her.

  “I don’t know how,” Viola said, worry creeping up into her voice.

  Dominic walked over to Viola and forced her to meet his eyes. He reached up and smoothed back her hair, which had become a complete disarray with their struggle to get her inside of the room, and down her cheek in a soothing manner.

  “Focus on me Beautiful One. See how calm I am. See how much I believe in you? Believe in yourself. You are not alone anymore,” he said in a calm, gentle voice, which brought her down from her warring emotional high.

  As she relaxed into his soft touch and soothing words, the room itself began to settle. When everything became still, Viola’s legs gave out from under her and she began to slump to the floor. Dominic reached out and scooped her up into his arms and laid her out on the bed, as if she were a priceless china doll.

  Thomas narrowed his eyes as he watched the scene before him play out. Viola was sound asleep, from sheer emotional exhaustion, when Dominic stood and turned to face him.

  “Do you mind telling me what is going on between the two of you?” Thomas asked him as only a dad could.

  “Do I need to tell you or can you see it for yourself?” Dominic responded, positioning himself so he could defend Viola should she need it.

  “When?” Thomas asked, knowing Dominic was referring to him being Viola’s mate.

  “When I took her from you and delivered her to Anna. I knew then,” Dominic responded, and then turned his upper body to look at Viola, as if to reassure himself she was alright before turning back to Thomas.