Chapter 21 - Dominic #2
Layla’s tears spilled over. “Your mistake, Dominic,” she said, “was always thinking that any kind of strength different from your own is automatically a weakness. Maybe you can’t stand the fact that had magic been allowed, had I been permitted to be who I actually am, to learn from those like me, that maybe I might have been strong? Maybe I still could be! Maybe I am! ”
He stared at her, chest rising and falling too fast. His anger was cracking apart at the seams now, revealing something messier beneath. “You really think you could go against me? That you have a hope in hell of overcoming me? I’ll show you exactly who the strongest person in the room is.”
She lifted her hands slightly, eyes glinting half-wild. “Why don’t you just try.”
He considered her a moment, the static crackling at her fingers, the savagery in her snarl.
And he laughed.
“And this is what magic truly is,” he said, waving his hand at her. “Thank you for reminding me.”
She blinked, hands dropping, horror dawning on her face. “I didn’t mean to…” she said, “I didn’t think—”
“No,” he said, “you didn’t need to. You’ve shown me who you really are. I should thank you.”
Layla flinched as if struck.
Dominic turned away again, one hand pressed to the windowpane, his reflection blurring in the light. “You saved me a lot of heartache. Better I find out now. If you’d have told me, if you’d have just trusted me, perhaps things might have been different.”
Her voice broke. “You would have hated me.”
He didn’t answer because that was the worst part. She wasn’t wrong.
Layla’s shoulders sagged. The room was too quiet again. The bond between them throbbed faintly, carrying her grief like a heartbeat.
Dominic could feel it, but he couldn’t look at her.
When she finally spoke, her voice was raw. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
He closed his eyes, the words cutting deeper than he wanted them to.
But when he turned, his face was hard again, the Alpha’s mask restored. “Go,” he said.
Layla stared at him. “What?”
“Leave,” he said. “Before I say something I can’t take back.”
She didn’t move.
“Layla.” His tone left no room for argument.
Her eyes shimmered, wide and wet, “Dominic, please-”
“Go.”
The word came out in a snarl.
She flinched once, then turned. Her breath hitched, but she didn’t look back as she ran from the room. The door slammed behind her, the echo ricocheting off the walls.
Dominic stood in the silence she left behind, chest heaving, every muscle trembling with restraint.
The room still smelled of her, the faint trace of salt and smoke, the warmth of her magic he now knew it to be, and it made him sick.
He pressed his hands to the desk, bowing his head as if to pray, but no words came.
How could she?
How could she have looked him in the eye, spoken vows under Lunarion’s name, all while hiding the one thing that could destroy everything he’d built?
He paced the length of the study, each movement too sharp, too quick.
He had wanted to trust her, to believe in her. Against his own instincts, against the warnings of everyone who’d ever doubted her place at his side.
And now—
A soft knock cut through the storm of his thoughts.
Dominic’s head snapped up. “What?”
The door opened slowly, the hinges groaning. Julian stepped inside, expression grim.
He didn’t bow, didn’t hesitate. Just entered with the same quiet confidence that made lesser men instinctively step back.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “Did you know?”
Julian watched him carefully, taking in his flexing muscles, the set of his jaw. “I suspected.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Dominic roared, slamming his hands down on the desk.
Julian didn’t flinch.
“Everything I do,” he said quietly, too quietly, “I do for the pack.”
They stared at each other, the silence stretching. Faintly, Dominic knew he was just looking for someone to blame. Somewhere to throw his rage. But something cut deeper than that, slicing far below the skin.
Julian hadn’t told him his suspicions. And it wasn’t like Layla was just some random member of the pack.
She was his mate.
He swallowed, focusing on the pounding of his heart, the roar of blood in his ears, anything to ground him and stop him from launching himself over the desk and lunging for Julian’s throat.
Alpha or no, Julian would not go down without a fight. And he would be a formidable enemy.
Dominic’s head was too jumbled, his nerves too raw, to make that kind of decision now.
“Why are you here,” he snarled, his wolf thrashing in his chest.
Julian stepped further into the room, folding his hands behind his back. “I’m here because we’ve found something.”
Dominic’s pulse still thundered in his ears, his anger too raw for measured thought. “Unless it’s a way to undo the last few hours, I’m not interested.”
Julian ignored that. “We examined the hybrid’s body,” he said, “the one from Aurora Peak.”
Dominic’s attention snapped to him despite himself, “And?”
“There was coal dust under its claws. Beneath all the blood.”
“Coal dust?”
Julian tilted his head slightly. “There are mines all up and down the mountain range. But some run far deeper than others. We killed the hybrid before it had a chance to go and cover its scent trail. Take three guesses to where it led.”
Dominic sighed, scraping his hand through his hair. “Voskresen.”
“Voskresen,” Julian echoed, “I had some scouts do a preliminary sweep of all the major arteries of the old mining tunnels weeks ago, but they found no trace. But those systems go for miles. There’s no telling how deep beneath the earth the hybrids are hiding.”
Dominic’s hands clenched at his sides. The weight of it hit him, another threat, another danger crouched at the borders of his home, waiting for weakness.
And weakness was exactly what he’d just shown them.
The pack would know. They’d smell the tension, hear whispers of him collapsing. Leonid would hear before dusk.
Dominic turned sharply toward the window, staring out at the gray sprawl of the forest beyond the bay.
“I want every scout recalled,” he said. “Double the patrols near the mine. We go out at first light.”
Julian’s voice was even, but his gaze was sharp. “You want to hunt them.”
Dominic didn’t look away from the window. “We’re done waiting for them to come to us.”
Julian was silent for a long moment. When he spoke again, his tone was careful. “You’re angry.”
Dominic let out a breath that was half a laugh, half a snarl. “I’m always angry.”
“Not like this.”
Julian’s words landed too neatly. Dominic turned, eyes narrowing. “Choose your next words carefully.”
Julian didn’t flinch. “You’re still recovering.”
“I’m fine,” Dominic let out a bitter laugh, “Layla saw to that.”
“About that,” Julian said, “I’m not sure she did.”
Dominic spun round with a snarl. “What? You think she was trying to—”
“No!” Julian said quickly, holding up his hands, “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m sure she was just trying to help. I’m saying she might not have needed to.”
“Explain,” Dominic said, voice rough.
Julian walked towards him carefully, eyes alert for any hint that Dominic might attack. “Do you feel any different?”
Dominic scowled, “In what way?”
Julian’s head cocked, “More powerful. More…attuned to something.”
Dominic went to snarl at him, but something made him pause. Did he feel any different? He had felt strange after waking up, a skittering over his skin, but he’d assumed that was just the aftermath of Layla’s…attentions.
The pain had hit him square in the chest when it had struck, and a hollow, ringing ache still remained. But that was just the aftermath of collapsing, surely.
He turned to Julian, “You don’t think…”
“It’s just a theory,” Julian said, jaw working, “true matings are so rare. But there are reports that the power, the gift from Lunarion, doesn’t always wake so easy.”
“Well, whatever power it is,” Dominic growled, grabbing his coat, “it better manifest itself quick.”
Julian nodded cautiously, folding his arms, “Maybe we should wait—”
“We hunt at dawn.”