Chapter 54

Dominic’s POV

I kept telling myself I was just doing what needed to be done. That’s how I justified it, anyway.

Mira’s warning chewed at me nonstop, like those thoughts you can’t shake no matter how many times you tell your brain to shut up? That. She had said... Elora’s tangled up with both brothers, she’ll ruin you. Dramatic, sure, but the words just kept looping in my head.

So I decided to test her.

Kicked off in the council chamber. I lobbed questions at her, stuff with no clean answer. Each one, a little trap. Nobody else in the room had a clue, which was sort of the point.

The place reeked of old smoke and metal. The big debate? Winter rations. East side villages, tight with Dante’s people, were all out of supplies. My gut reaction...let them starve. Weakness needs consequences in my book.

But then, I cut straight to Elora. Didn’t let it simmer, either.

“Elora,” I said, just tossed her name into the middle of their babbling. Heads turned, she looked unbothered, hands folded, calm as ice. “Your call. Do we split up our stores, or let the east deal with their own mess?”

No right move, really. Show mercy, she’s Dante’s puppet. Be tough, she’s a monster, plain and simple.

She didn’t even blink. “We divide the reserves,” she answered, firm as hell. “If we let folks starve, they’ll hate us. Hungry people don’t stay quiet, they rebel instead. Feed them, you buy loyalty.”

The whole chamber started buzzing. I leaned back, trying not to scowl. She didn’t pick Dante. Didn’t pick me. Just… the pack.

But, you know, anyone can get lucky once.

So I set more traps. She wasn't going to convince me that easily.

At the next meeting, another impossible choice was lobbed her way.

I knew her thoughts didn't really count as long as I said something, it stands. I am the Alpha anyway.

“Southern patrols are short. We move guards from the palace and risk the capital, or we leave the border wide open. Decide.”

She clenched her jaw, thinking. “Reassign from the palace guard,” she said. “If rogues get in, villages burn. Better for the palace to be a little shaky than for the whole pack to get wiped out.”

And again, she picked the pack.

I pushed her. “That means I’m less protected. What if an assassin gets through?”

Her eyes flickered, nerves maybe, but she didn’t back down. “Then I’ll protect you myself.”

That one actually hit me in the chest. Probably just meant to play in the room, keep up the act. But her voice, something real in there. It didn’t feel fake.

It didn’t stop me though. I wasn't going to let her through just because she said something sensible twice. She might have practiced it or something.

Every day, new tests. Which favors to grant, which debts to erase, which wolves to cast out. Always, every single damn time, Elora went with the pack. Never herself. Never Dante. Not even me.

And honestly, it rattled me. Because maybe Mira was wrong. Maybe the one person I had doubted way too much was actually the only one who hadn’t let all this power crap get to her head.

Maybe all this ugly suspicion? That was on me.

And that stings. Because if Elora really was loyal, then I had been the bastard all along.

Elora’s POV

Honestly, at first? I didn’t even clock what Dominic was up to. The stuff he tossed my way just looked like the usual council headaches. Tough calls, sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then hit after hit, third question, fourth, fifth, one more impossible mess after another. That’s when it clicked. He wasn’t asking.

He was testing.

Testing me.

That realization? Cold. It's really cold. Made me want to check over my shoulder. Every time he singled me out, it wasn’t to get my input or anything, he just wanted to see if I would trip up. If I were to slip, show my hand, spill that supposed disloyalty Mira has been hissing in his ear.

And let’s not even start on the council, all of them staring. Felt like a pack of vultures waiting to see if I would fall flat on my face.

But here’s the thing... I didn’t.

Not once.

None of those choices was about Dominic. Or Dante, for that matter. It wasn't about me, either. I did it for the pack. For the regular wolves stuck outside these fancy rooms, the ones who’d actually pay the price for our posturing and politics. The folks nobody here bothers to listen to.

So yeah. Every time, I chose them. Even when Dominic clenched his jaw so hard I thought he would crack a tooth. Even when I saw that tiny flicker in his eyes, the hesitation, before he slapped suspicion back up like a mask.

Part of me wanted to just lose it, shout him down, demand to know what the hell more he needed to see. Didn’t he get it? I was spilling loyalty all over the floor in front of him. But I kept my mouth shut.

Because, deep down, I got it. The Alpha has been burned before. Family, friends, destiny. He’s learned to see betrayal hiding behind every smile. Trust? That’s a risk he can’t take.

So maybe... maybe if I kept standing, kept doing the right thing no matter what hurdles he threw at me, he would finally see. See that I was with him, all the way.

But it stung. Every test felt like a blade across the skin. Every doubting glance, another little slice I had to hide.

Still, I stood there. Shoulders back. Voice solid. Because someone had to hold it together.

For the pack.

For the Alpha, who still couldn’t see, I was in his corner.

Even if proving it guts me every single time.