Viola's Risk (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 2) (16 page)

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.

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.

“Well, Anna sensed my presence nearby and started calling
for me. Patrick responded and they argued. Patrick ended up giving me a message
for you sir,” Dominic said, interest and confusion in his voice.

“What was that message?” Thomas asked, interested.

“First, he told Anna that he didn’t know what he’d been
thinking letting her talk him into pretending to be her mate so she could get
out from under her parents’ roof and then he told me to tell you he’s ready to
talk,” Dominic informed them.

“And you believe that?” Angelica asked, leaning forward.

“Yes ma’am,” Dominic nodded. “Other than that, I have
nothing to say to excuse my actions, other than I am sorry for being such a
fool.”

“We will discuss this and talk to you again tomorrow. I
expect a full write-up of everything that was said down there on my desk first
thing in the morning. Even if you think the detail is inconsequential, I want
to know it. Understood?” Thomas said in a stern voice. The look on his face told
Dominic all he needed to know about just how serious his actions had been.

“Yes sir,” Dominic said before being waved out of the room.
Now he was really worried.