Hunted by the Wolf, Claimed by Three Bears

Chapter 9

Olivia POV

I stared over the top of my newspaper at Timothy, who was eating breakfast happily and smiling as he played with his toy. I was pretending to read the local news, but really I was checking that my son was okay. He seemed to like it, but I needed to be sure.

“So, Timothy, how was your first week at your new school?”

“Good. I made two new friends, Luke and Ben. I like them a lot.”

“Oh yeah?”

That flooded me with relief. Because we had moved around so much for Brady and his “fishing”—which I was trying my best not to think about anymore now that I knew what that asshole was really up to—he struggled to make friends easily. I suppose there had to be a part of him that wondered if there was a point to making friends if we were going to be gone in a heartbeat.

But now that he knew we were going to be staying here for a while, it seemed that he had let his guard down and met some friends. Thank goodness. The more my son settled here, the happier I was going to be with everything.

He hadn’t asked about his father once. I hadn’t really said anything about why we were running off without Brady, but he just seemed to accept it. I thought it was weird at first, but as time passed, I realized Brady never really showed Timothy any love or attention. He was just there, not really in his life.

That was a shocking revelation for me. How the hell had I missed so many red flags when it came to the safety of my son? What did that say about me? That I was a complete i***t?

If I hadn’t tried to organize that picnic, I never would have known who Brady was deep down, and then he would have become my husband. That scared me more than anything else. To think that I almost got myself really trapped, totally unable to escape. I might have even gone on to be one of his victims one day. Another she-wolf at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

Fuck, don’t get caught up in that, my brain screamed at me, and I automatically reached out for the soothing drink Jaxon had made for me. That man was a genius. The chamomile tea he made for me in the store was one thing, but this was something else. It was almost like it was created to suit me exactly. I wouldn’t put it past that man. He seemed to have a special talent that he was really humble about. It was so sweet.

Because Timothy and I were here now, in Twin Lakes, and there was nothing left to panic about. Brady wasn’t going to be able to find me, I was sure of it.

I looked down at the newspaper and actually read the words in front of me. I couldn’t help but be surprised when I noticed bad news. I didn’t think Twin Lakes was the sort of place that could have bad news. It was so beautiful, so peaceful, and the people seemed extremely friendly. But no place was truly perfect, and I needed to know what was going on if I was going to live here.

There had been a string of burglaries near the lake. I wasn’t sure why, but that made my heart race. Maybe because I knew what happened in lakes. At least when my ex-fiancé was around.

I tried to read the article without thinking about my ex, but picturing someone sneaking around a lake and behaving like an asshole just brought me back to that horrible moment. Me, sitting on the mountainside, watching Brady—the man who had wrapped his arms around me so many times and made me feel loved when no one else could—threw a body into the lake as if she meant nothing. As if she were worthless.

I knew I would never recover from that, because how the hell could I? But if this could trigger me, then who knew how long I would really need to be okay again.

I shouldn’t have been flirting with anyone, even if I knew it wouldn’t go anywhere.

First there was Hudson, who I was supposed to be seeing tonight at dinner, who knew I didn’t want a relationship but had kissed me anyway.

And then there was Jaxon. There had been no outright flirtation with him, nor had he asked me out on a date—just to do some yoga with him—but I felt the surging energy between us anyway. There was something so much more there, and I knew we both felt it.

I hadn’t been here for a very long time, but I already felt like I’d dug myself a hole I wasn’t going to be able to get out of.

As I glanced over at Timothy and noted again how happy he was, I felt terrible because he loved it here. I wasn’t going to allow myself to ruin a place he was really starting to see as home.

I would have to make sure I kept my distance from Hudson and Jaxon so they knew nothing could happen.

And nothing could happen.

Because I couldn’t trust myself and my judgment anymore.

Plus, I still had a lot of healing to do.