“Olivia? What are you doing here? Did you get my message?” Micah heard his own voice break and felt torn between his desire to sweep Olivia into his arms and his anguish over losing Talia. Turning to the judge, he began to speak again.
“Your Honor, I’d like you to meet my-” But another voice rang out.
“Pack, Your Honor. He’d like you meet at least part of his Pack. I am Gareth Volpe, this is Pete Standing Elk and his mate Margie and we represent the forty-seven members of the Wild Haven Lodge Pack from Howard, Wisconsin.” Gareth paused to stare straight at Micah, standing with his head up and not trying to hide his scars or the patch over his eye in any way. “We’re Micah Keeps Vigil’s Pack.”
Micah swallowed hard, nodding at Gareth standing unflinching in front of his former Pack as the room filled with whispers. Pete and several other members of the now named Lodge Pack stood at Gareth’s back, all of them smiling at Micah and Olivia. Olivia put her arm around Micah and turned him back to face the judge as angry voices erupted from the room. The Compound Pack shifters stood to challenge the strangers in their midst. The judge bellowed over everyone until order could be restored. The burly were-bear judge glowered around the now-silent room. “Another outburst like that and I’ll shred the lot of you. No one does that in my courtroom, do you hear me? No one.”
At the thundering echo of his roar every shifter in the room managed to find their seat. Even Micah swiftly sat, pulling Olivia into his lap. She tucked her head under his chin and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Micah.”
He silenced her with a kiss. A cough from the front of the room reminded him where he was so he raised his eyes to the judge.
“Given the overwhelming last-minute evidence, Mr. Keeps Vigil, I must reconsider my lone wolf statement. For you are certainly overwhelmed with Pack for a so-called loner.” The judge leveled a cold look at the compound’s lawyers. “I suppose there is a good reason for that vicious accusation?”
Only stuttering and stammering came from the compound side with Frank snapping at his legal help, his smirk nowhere in evidence now. Even when they pulled it together and tried to regain their momentum, it was clear that the judge’s favor was for Micah. Though the judge retired to another room to deliberate, the decision came as a surprise to no one when he named Micah guardian. However the Compound Pack was given visitation rights which did not make Micah happy but he knew he would deal with that as it came.
Finally the moment came when Talia was released from the room she’d been held in. Her tear-stained face nearly broke Micah’s heart as she flung herself into his arms. She leaned from his arms to Olivia. Olivia returned the fervent hug with whispered promises to never leave again.
“Livia? Will you be my new mommy?”
Olivia stared at her for a moment then swallowed. “If Micah still wants me, yes, baby, I will. I will try to be the best parent I can be, but you will have to help me, okay?”
Micah shook his head. “As if there were any question about that, Liv. You belong with me, we all belong together. We’re a family.”
Sniffling, Talia nodded then paused. “Livia? Are you gonna have a boy or a girl?”
“What?” More than one voice exploded on that question.
With careful questioning and Julia’s equally sensitive nose, Olivia’s pregnancy was quickly confirmed. Wrapping his arms around his mate and his child, Micah tipped his head back and let loose a howl of pure joy.
It didn’t take long for the courtroom to empty. Though Tony and Carly offered the new family their guestrooms, Micah opted to take his mate and child somewhere he knew they could all be alone for a bit. He and Olivia had some unfinished business, something he intended to take care of as soon as he could get her alone.
They returned to his hotel where Micah upgraded his room to a suite with two bedrooms. Eating their first meal together as a real family, Olivia and Micah kept touching one another’s hands or faces while Talia sat safely between them, talking a mile a minute about what she wanted to do as soon as they got home. Micah felt his heart swell as he realized he would soon be taking both his mate and his daughter home-to stay. It didn’t take long for Talia to start yawning and for Micah and Olivia’s glances to become more yearning. As soon as the child’s head bobbed for the second time, Micah scooped her up into his arms and carried her into one of the bedrooms.
Tucking Talia safely into one bed and waiting until he knew she slept deeply, Micah watched his mate and his daughter. He couldn’t believe Olivia had come back the way she had. He had a feeling he owed a debt to a certain surly shifter-or more likely, that their slate was now even. Catching Olivia’s gaze, he nodded toward the other bedroom.
She took his hand as they walked into the other room, closing the door behind them. Olivia turned to face him and Micah smiled slightly. “Liv, sweetheart, we really need to talk.”
“Micah, honestly, you talk more than any man I’ve ever met in my life! You want talk, okay, I’ll give you talk. I’ll start. I was wrong. It was stupid of me to run from you, from what we had-or what we almost had. But you were wrong too. You were wrong not to tell me what it meant when I marked you. You were wrong not to tell me what that meant for you when I left you.”
Olivia punctuated each of her statements with a finger to his chest. Micah backed up as she took the initiative, tossing words at him like knives, each sentence cutting across his senses. When his back hit the wall, Micah grabbed Olivia’s fingers to keep her from drilling into his chest any more.
Pulling her unresisting body into his arms, he stopped her tirade by kissing her. Olivia opened to him immediately. Yanking her hand out of his, she wrapped both arms around his neck and stroked her tongue across his. Micah slid both hands down her back to her ass, pulling her close and lifting her so that her pussy rested right against his suddenly raging hard-on.
“We’ll talk later.” Olivia’s laughter filled his heart as he quickly stripped her of her suit then removed his own clothing. Dragging her down onto the bed with him, Micah stroked his hands and his mouth over her skin, drawing her scent into his lungs and his heart.
Olivia’s hands streaked across his shoulders, her nails curling into his skin, scratching up his neck. She tugged at his braid until she had his hair completely loose then stroked his scalp. “I missed you so much, Micah.”
“I know, love, I know.” Micah opened his mouth over her breast, sucking her nipple deep, savoring her taste. She arched under him, holding his head tightly to her. Micah ran his hands over her stomach and down to the curls on her mound. Stroking his fingers through the dampness, he parted her with his fingers, sliding across her clit and just pushing the tip of one finger inside her. Olivia spread her legs immediately, holding tightly to his head as he continued to nip at her breasts.
Bringing some of her own body’s moisture out to ease his path, Micah pushed his fingers deep into her body then out to tease across her rapidly hardening nub. Olivia pulled hard on his hair, yanking his head up so she could kiss him.
“Micah, I need you. I need you so much.”
“Not as much as I need you, Liv. You’re mine. Mine now and forever.” Without waiting any longer, Micah drove his cock deep and hard into his woman, his mate. She grabbed his ass, digging her fingers in and pulling hard on him.
“Yes, yours. And you’re mine, all mine, now and forever.”
“Forever.” Micah withdrew then drove in hard again. Olivia lifted her hips, taking his thrusts, meeting them with her own ardor, wrapping her legs around his to hold him against her body.