Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Caspian finds me in the library two days after the chapel meeting.
I'm buried in a History textbook when his shadow falls across the page.
I look up and he's standing there with three of his Dominion lieutenants flanking him.
Every conversation in the surrounding area goes quiet.
Students lean back in their chairs, pretending not to watch while absolutely watching.
"Dominion meeting tonight at eight." His voice carries enough that nearby students can hear, making it public and impossible to refuse. "Dominion headquarters. Your presence is required."
My stomach drops. Required. Not requested. The Dominion doesn't ask.
I close my textbook slowly, keeping my hands steady even though they want to shake. "What's this about?"
"You'll find out tonight." His voice has dropped into something that isn't quite human. The bond between us pulls like a fishhook in my chest but it's not complete yet. I can feel the pull but not his thoughts, not his emotions. Just the relentless drag toward him.
One of his lieutenants, a dark-haired male I recognize from Combat Training, watches me with cold assessment. Judging. Calculating. Seeing if I'll refuse.
I won't give them the satisfaction. "I'll be there."
Caspian nods once and leaves, his inner circle following. The moment they're gone, whispers explode around me. Everyone wants to know what the Dominion wants with the pack less nobody. Everyone has theories.
None of them are wrong.
The Dominion meeting room is in the oldest part of campus, a stone building that predates the Academy itself.
I've never been inside before and walking through the heavy wooden doors feels like stepping into pack history.
The air smells different here - old wood and smoke, leather and dominance.
Centuries of Alpha decisions soaked into the stones.
The room is circular, high ceilings with exposed beams carved with pack symbols I don't recognize.
Windows look out over dark forest and the moon is just visible through the glass.
A large table dominates the center, dark wood polished to a shine, and eight males sit around it.
Caspian at the head. His inner circle flanking him on both sides.
All of them turn when I enter and the weight of their attention makes my skin prickle. These aren't students playing at hierarchy. These are the males who will inherit packs, who will shape shifter politics for the next generation. Power radiates from all of them but especially from Caspian.
His eyes find mine and the bond between us pulls so hard I have to fight not to step toward him.
He stands and the movement draws every eye in the room. "Close the door."
I do, and the sound of it shutting echoes.
"Come here." He gestures to the empty space in front of the table.
I walk forward and stop a few feet away, hyperaware of how outnumbered I am. Eight dominant males and one pack less female. The power imbalance is staggering.
Caspian's eyes track over me and I feel the bond between us pull tight. Not complete yet but getting stronger every day. "Your assessment period is over."
Silence. Every male at the table watches me.
"You came to this Academy as an unknown," Caspian continues, voice carrying authority that makes my wolf want to bare her throat. "No pack. No family. No status. We tested you to see if you were worth protecting or if you'd break under pressure."
One of his lieutenants, a dark-haired male I recognize from Combat Training, leans forward. "Most break. You didn't."
"You endured trials that would have destroyed weaker wolves," another adds. Blonde, scarred jaw. "You survived what we designed to break you."
My hands clench at my sides. They're talking about the bullying, the torment, the systematic cruelty like it was a test I passed instead of torture I survived. Rage builds in my chest but I force it down.
Caspian goes still in the way that precedes violence. "And then we discovered what you are." He pauses. "Silverpelt. Last of a bloodline that was supposed to be extinct. Rare. Powerful. Hunted."
The word hangs in the air. Hunted. By the Council. By Chase. By everyone who sees Silverpelt as a threat.
"The Dominion recognizes what you are," Caspian says, and something in his tone changes.
Less formal. More personal. "And I am formalizing the protection claim I already made against a Council enforcer in the woods.
Under ancient Dominion pack law, that claim is now absolute.
Nova Bardot stands under Jett Pack protection, uncontested, permanent, and binding on every pack that answers to this council. "
The room goes completely silent.
Protection rights. That's not just Academy politics. That's pack law. Ancient and binding. It means I'm under Jett Pack authority and anyone who wants to take me has to challenge the pack itself.
It also means Caspian is publicly declaring I'm his to protect. Not just as Dominion Alpha. As future Alpha of his pack. The implication is clear to everyone in this room.
The dark-haired lieutenant speaks carefully. "You're claiming her? A Silverpelt?"
"I'm claiming protection rights." Caspian's voice is steel. "What comes after is my business and mine alone." His eyes find mine across the table. "Unless you object."
He's giving me a choice. In front of witnesses. I can refuse this. Walk out. Keep fighting alone.
Or I can accept and gain armor against Chase, against the Council, against everyone who wants me isolated and vulnerable.
The bond pulls between us and I feel his certainty, his determination, his possession barely leashed.
"I accept your protection." The words come out steady despite my racing heart.
Caspian's expression changes. Satisfaction. Heat. Possessiveness so intense it makes my breath catch. The bond flares and I feel his wolf surge to the surface, recognizing the acceptance as permission for more than just political protection.
"Then it's done." He looks at his inner circle. "Nova Bardot is under Jett Pack protection effective immediately. Anyone who harms her answers to me. Anyone who threatens her challenges this pack. Understood?"
Agreement ripples around the table. Some reluctant. Some calculating. All of them accepting.
"You're dismissed," Caspian says to them.
They file out silently and then it's just us. Alone in the circular room with pack history pressing down from the walls.
Caspian moves around the table toward me and every instinct I have screams to either run or submit. I do neither. Just stand my ground while he closes the distance.
He stops close enough that I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. "You're not unknown anymore. You're Silverpelt, and you're mine to protect."
"Protection." I force the word out. "Not ownership."
His hand comes up fast, wrapping around my throat. Not squeezing. Just holding. Possessive. "For now." His thumb brushes over my pulse point and I know he can feel how fast my heart is racing. "But we both know where this is going."
The bond thrums between us and I can't deny it or pretend this is just political maneuvering. He's staking a claim and I'm letting him.
"Everyone will know by morning," he says quietly. "You'll have status you didn't have before. Protection. But it comes with expectations."
"What kind of expectations?"
"That you're mine." Simple and direct. "They'll expect you to defer to me in public. To accept my authority. To behave like you belong to Jett Pack."
Heat floods through me at the possessive language but I push it down. "And if I don't?"
"Then you make me look weak. And I can't protect what I can't control." His voice drops to something with an edge under it. "But I don't think you'll fight me on this. You're too smart. You know you need what I'm offering."
He's right. I hate that he's right.
"What about Julian?" The question slips out before I can stop it.
Caspian's expression goes hard. "What about him?"
"You agreed to mutual respect. To secrecy about his relationship with me."
"I did. And I'll keep my word." His hand releases my throat. "But make no mistake, Nova. In public, you're mine. Everyone sees you as mine. If he has a problem with that, he can take it up with me privately."
The territorial dominance in his voice makes my stomach clench. This is what an Alpha claiming looks like. Possessive. Absolute. Unwilling to share the appearance of ownership even if the reality is more complicated.
"I need to go." I step back and he lets me, but his eyes track the movement like a predator watching prey retreat.
"Tomorrow morning," he says. "Everyone will know. Be ready for that."
I nod and leave before the bond can pull me back to him.
News spreads faster than I expected.
By the time I walk to the dining hall for breakfast the next morning, whispers follow me like shadows. Students I pass stop mid-conversation to stare. A group of freshman girls actually move out of my path, eyes wide with something between fear and awe.
I'm not nobody anymore. I'm Silverpelt. I'm under Alpha protection. I'm Caspian Jett's.
The change is visceral and immediate and I hate how much relief mixes with the resentment.
I'm almost to the dining hall entrance when Sera Whitlock steps into my path.
She's not alone this time. Three other high-status girls flank her, all of them daughters of powerful packs, all of them dressed in expensive clothes that broadcast their breeding.
Designer training gear that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.
Perfectly styled hair despite the early hour.
Sera stands in the center wearing a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
"Congratulations." Her voice drips false sweetness. "You got what you wanted. Caspian's protection."
I stop walking and meet her gaze. Up close I can see the strain around her mouth, the tightness in her shoulders. She's barely holding it together.
"Is there something you want, Sera?"