Chapter 566

Olivia

I rapped my knuckles lightly on the door to Nathan’s office. A moment later, his voice called out, “Come in.”

Stepping into the room, I placed my hands on my hips upon seeing the scene in front of me: Nathan was standing in front of the mirror, his shirt still untucked and his tie loosened. His desk was a mess of papers and folders, and it was clear that he had been checking over his notes last-minute before the press conference.

“The news vans are already arriving,” I said, shutting the door behind me. “We don’t have much time.”

He turned to face me, his hands fumbling with the knot of his tie. He was nervous; I could tell. “Yeah, I know,” he grumbled. “I’m just… having a little trouble here.” A sheepish grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, although I knew he was just trying to hide his frayed nerves with a bit of humor.

Crossing the room, I batted his hands away from the tangled mess and set to work smoothing out the wrinkled silk. “Here, let me. Just tuck in your shirt.”

We stood in comfortable silence as I deftly unknotted and retied the strip of fabric, securing it in a neat windsor knot against the collar while he tucked in his shirt. My fingers lingered perhaps a beat too long, straightening the collar and allowing my touch to skim along the strong line of his freshly-shaven jaw.

“There,” I finally murmured, giving the tie one final adjustment and taking a step back. “You’re all set, Alpha Ford.”

Nathan caught my hand as I began to pull away, holding it firmly against his chest. His gaze was soft yet firm in the dimly lit office, a myriad of emotions swirling in the depths of his blue-green eyes.

For a moment, neither of us spoke and I was glad for the beat of peace and quiet. I caught our reflections in the nearby full-length mirror; I had chosen a simple black matching skirt and top, as well as low black heels.

We had both gone for black outfits, as we had decided that it was best to keep our colors somber to represent the weight of everything that had happened. But we looked good together. Nathan looked strong and poised, like a true Alpha, and I felt as if I had finally had a bit of confidence injected back into me.

“This is really happening, isn’t it?” Nathan finally said, turning to look at us together in the mirror. “All of this—the press conference, laying everything out for the entire region to see…”

He trailed off with a heavy sigh, and I felt his hand trembling ever so slightly against my own. Moving closer, I laid my free palm against the steady thump of his heartbeat.

“It’s a lot, I know,” I acknowledged. “But Nathan, when have you ever been one to back down from a challenge?”

A wry chuckle slipped out of his lips. “Is that what you think this is? Just another challenge to tackle?”

“Well, isn’t it?” I challenged. "”You’ve given countless briefings and interviews just over the past year. This is just… on a slightly bigger scale, that’s all.”

Nathan sighed. “Liv, this goes so far beyond anything we’ve ever had to deal with before.” He shook his head, his eyes appearing haunted. “I mean, we’re talking about major media outlets here—hell, this is probably going to draw national coverage at this rate. Next thing we know, we’ll be starring in our own damned reality show for all the world to gawk at.”

“So?” I lifted one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “Let them gawk, then. We’ve got nothing to hide, no skeletons left in our closets.” I stepped even closer, near enough that I could feel the warmth emanating from his body. “All we have is the truth—the good, the bad, and everything in between.”

Slowly, hesitantly, Nathan nodded. His free hand came up to cradle my cheek, his thumb stroking lightly over the curve of my cheekbone.

“I guess you’re right,” he breathed, leaning down to rest his forehead against mine. “As always, you’re absolutely right.”

“Get used to it,” I teased.

For a long while, we simply stood there in the quiet of his dimly lit office, our mingled breaths the only sound filling the space. I focused on the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my palm, letting it anchor me in the moment.

Eventually, though, Nathan drew back slightly, his brow furrowed in deep thought once more.

“How did you do it?” he asked abruptly. “That night… when they took us… and everything went to hell.” He swallowed hard, as though he were steeling himself. “When Montgomery’s men had that gun pressed against the back of your head—how did you keep it together?”

I stiffened at the memory, a phantom ache flaring to life at the base of my skull. Even now, more than a month later, I could still feel the chilling press of metal, smell the gunpowder and the scent of freshly-dug earth. It haunted me every night, even though I tried to drown it out with thoughts of other things, like my mother, the twins, my friends, my pack.

I knew the answer immediately, though. Through it all, through the blind, gut-wrenching terror that I had felt during those moments, only one thing had kept me grounded.

“You,” I said simply, giving Nathan’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “You, and the twins. My family. The thought of not making it back to you three was… it was unbearable. So I told myself that no matter what, we would return to each other. Somehow, some way. And that was a comfort.”

Nathan made a soft, wounded sound low in his throat as he pulled me flush against his chest, wrapping his arms around me in a hug that crushed the air out of my lungs. I clung to him just as fiercely, burying my face in the solid warmth of his neck and biting back the tears that were threatening to come.

“You know, when I was alone in the cell where they were beating me within an inch of my life…” His words were muffled against my hair, but I could feel the reverberation of them through his chest. “When I could barely catch my breath through the beatings, could hardly see through the blood in my eyes…”

He drew back slightly, cupping my face in his palms and holding my gaze with scorching intensity. He still had one small mark on his forehead where one of the cuts had been too deep to not least a scar. It was hidden by his hair, but I knew it would never fully disappear.

“You were also the one thing that kept me going,” he continued hoarsely. “Just picturing your face, your smile… it was like a lifeline, pulling me back from the brink every time I felt myself start to slip away. And it was no different from all those years we were apart.”

I felt like I might cry at his words, and I almost did. But I managed to hold the tears back, instead cupping his face in my hand and pressing a warm kiss to his lips. “Never again,” I said softly. “We’ll never be apart again.”

He let out a low chuckle. “If anything tried to tear us apart again, there’d be hell to pay—”

Suddenly, a sharp rap at the door made us both start.

“Nathan? Olivia?” Levi’s voice echoed through the door. “The press conference will begin in five minutes.”