#Chapter 50 Down By The Sea

Olivia’s POV

The water is crystal clear and drips off of my swimsuit as I squish my toes in the sand and head for shore. My body is being pushed carelessly by the currant and I need a break with my new friend. Celine has spent most of her time on the beach towels, turning over back and forth like a flopping fish out of water—desperate for a honey-glow tan.

I take a seat beside her, letting the sand attach to my wet body and tangling in my long, knotted hair. The sun kisses us both but I lower my sunglasses, threatening to take a nap out here, even while on this beautiful, secluded beach vacation.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Celine groans, tapping my shoulder with her warm, oily fingertips. “If I fall asleep too then we will both burn to a crisp out here.”

I force a chuckle, my mind elsewhere. She notices.

“Talk to me, Olivia,” she hums, using my real name and causing a tremble through my achingly tired body. “What’s on your mind?”

“Everything,” I admit, disappointed by that truth. “The moon goddess, Alpha Herold, my brother Reese, and of course, that argument I had with Gabriel before we left for this trip.”

She nods, understanding as good as she can. I haven’t told her much about that fight. I don’t think I can relive it without feeling like I’ve made a horrible mistake.

“Well, that is a lot to think about,” she says. “But let’s be real here, Olivia. What is it that truly matters? What di you come back to life for? Was it to deal with Alpha Herold and forgive him? Was it to be married to Gabriel? You have to recenter your focus, wherever it may be.”

“That’s the problem,” I huff. “I came back for so many reasons, I don’t know which ones are worth fighting for anymore. Of course I will always protect Reese and I want to make sure he gets better, but to throw in the drama with Eugene, Gabriel and Alpha Herold—" I throw my hands in the air, releasing the frustrations in my head. “Fuck, Celine. I don’t know.”

“You do know,” she hums. “You’ve just been confused about it.”

I nod, playing along for now. Maybe, just maybe, she could be right about that.

“Let me explain,” she hums, turning on her stomach and resting upright with her weight pressed into her arms and elbows. “You told me that you didn’t want to love Gabriel and how you still despised Herold. And that doctor, Eugene, you said you just wanted to be friends, right?”

“Yeah, that’s all right.”

She nods, tapping her tan cheek with her long, manicured nail. “Alright, so tell me this, Olivia. Do you still feel that way, about all of them?”

I think carefully over question.

My breath catches as I reply, “Y—yes—”

She shakes her head. “Even though your soul isn’t Rebecca’s, I know my best friend is lying to me, no matter who is in her body. Come on, Olivia. Tell me the truth. Do you still feel that way about it all, or have they each, in their own way, changed.”

I grumble now. “It might be a little different, but it’s all very similar, still. I hate Herold for what he’s done but I can’t imagine breaking him down anymore. I don’t feel like I should punish him—he’s doing that just fine on his own. And Eugene. After he lied to Gabriel, it’s clear he wants them out of the way to make his move.

“I don’t know if I would necessarily push him away, either,” I admit. “It’s confusing. Eugene has always been a comfort to me, but as a friend. What if it’s more about comfort now than friendship? It’s confusing,” I groan, pressing my hands over my sun-kissed cheeks.

“Mhmm,” Celine hums like an overpaid therapist on a couch. “And what of our King Alpha, Mr. Gabriel himself?”

“What about him?” I growl. “He is either trying to please me, to comfort me, and then in the next moment he wants to lay claim over me like a dog peeing on a tree to mark its’ territory. It’s frustrating and weird and ever changing and—”

“And it’s what guys do,” she says casually.

“What are you talking about?”

She clears her throat. “He loves you, Olivia. He loves you like he never loved Rebecca. I think on some levels, he knows that, too. He’s scared of that feeling and to compensate, he is being possessive and nervous and worried that you will leave him now that he has these eminence feelings of passion and love for you.”

I take my sunglasses off and sit up, eyeing her with a skeptical look. “What are you talking about, Celine?”

“He may have talked to me about some of this,” she gusts, holding up her palms like I’ve got a dagger pointed at her. With my harsh glare, I may as well have. “Hey now, hear me out, Olivia. I didn’t tell him a thing about what I’ve talked to with you. I wouldn’t go back on girl-code like that. But, I will admit, Gabriel came by to vent one day and I gave him some mild advice on the topic.”

“Tell me what was said,” I snap. “Everything, please.”

“Well, it was a short conversation but he came by the night when you didn’t come home. He assumed you were at the hospital with Reese and Eugene still, but he was talking about how he wanted to run away with you.”

“Run away with me?” I repeat. “What does that even mean?”

She leans forward, her eyes compassionate in this moment.

“With Rebecca, he submerged himself in work to escape his unhappy marriage to my best friend. It was his escape, per say. Now, with everything that he has seen in you lately, he mentioned that he never wants nothing to come between you two again. Nothing.”

My wolf whines at that admission.

“He said if he were to tell you he wanted to leave with you, to run away from this life of politics and power and distraction, as he called it, would you be okay with a life that focused on matehood and growing a family,” she continues.

I shake all over at that claim. “What did you tell him?”

She pauses, the suspense eating away at me viciously. “I told him that it might be what you need, but not what you want.”

I can’t blame Celine, and I don’t hate her a bit for offering Gabriel a solution to his issues, but I can’t continue this vacation any longer. Celine hangs back to enjoy the place to herself and I head home at once.

My thoughts are running, like my beating, hectic heart, as I walk through the palace doors and know what I have to do. I follow Gabriel’s scent upstairs and peer into his office, seeing him busying away with work until he looks up, as if by chance, and grins gently at me.

“Hey, what’s going on? I thought you and Celine were coming back tomorrow?”

I walk into his office, my steps uneasy as I come closer and closer until I’m opposite of the desktop, my hands shaking behind my back. “You act like you’ll do anything to make me happy; to fulfill my life. Is that right, Gabriel?”

“Of course, my dear. I’d do anything at all to make you happy.”

I press the paper between us that has been tucked behind my back. His eyes fall on the sight of the sheet, signed at the bottom with my name in elegant cursive.

“I want a divorce."