Chapter 5

What is Dominic even doing? Why is he so hellbent on Dante being his Beta to the point of using the Alpha command on him?

Even if Dante yields to it, he will never serve him from his heart, it will be out of plain old duty. Is that really the kind of Beta he wants?

Dante drops to his knees, visibly fighting the command, he shakes his head violently in a spas. Blood begins to leak out of his ears and nose from how hard he’s fighting but he refuses to yield.

I can tell it’s a battle between his will to disobey the command and that of his wolf to obey it and seeing him in so much pain hurts, it hurts so much that I grab Dominic’s arm despite the strong aura pushing against me.

“Stop this Dominic, you can get someone else to be your Beta!” I yell.

He shrugs me off, not taking his eyes off Dante.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way brother but we both know that you should have been the Alpha, not me, I don’t even have Alpha training like you do, I’ve never joined dad in any of the council meetings, something you excel at, I need you by my side and as a wise woman said to me yesterday,” Dominic looks at me, a sudden soft look of affection in his eyes, “we have a duty to our people and that duty must come first, no matter how we feel.”

My brows crease and I internally roll my eyes at his hypocrisy. How dare he use my words about duty when he threw it away yesterday?

Did he forget that when he was marking Mira?

‘You can stop looking at me like that,’ Dominic’s voice barrages my mind via the mindlink, ‘I didn’t mark her. She left.’

My heart pounds and my eyes gape in shock. I didn’t wait to see the end yesterday, once he bared his canines and inched towards her neck, I stormed out.

‘Was this your idea?’

The angry growl of Dante’s voice fills my head. I look at him and his eyes are full of cold hatred as they stare back at me.

Wait. He thinks I asked Dominic to do this, to force him against his will? He’s got it all wrong.

‘No. I—’

He blocks me off the mindlink and stands to his feet, no longer fighting Dominic’s command.

“Very well brother, I’ll serve as your Beta,” he replies in an icy tone but he’s not looking at Dominic, he’s looking at me, his eyes holding a look that makes my heart throb.

Dominic smiles, his eyes holding a bit of mischief, “so now that we have that out of the way, what unfinished business were you two talking about?”

I gulp, looking from Dante to Dominic, my heart beginning to race. If anyone knows how I feel about Dante, Dominic certainly does but he also knows how Dante feels about me. I guess that’s why he’s not so bothered.

I wonder if he would feel the same if he knew we were mates. He doesn’t have to know, does he?

“That’s none of your business— Alpha. Except you plan to abuse your power again and force it out of us,” Dante replies, a smugless look on his face.

Dominic smirks and puts his hands up, as if surrendering, he walks away from the table and towards the special exit reserved for the Alpha before he turns back to face us.

“Well whatever it is— she’s my Luna now, do well to remember that,” his curt voice is directed towards Dante, “The real council meeting is in two hours, I expect you both to be present.”

Dominic shuts the door behind him and the hall falls eerily silent when it's just me and Dante, the tension so thick that it suffocates me and I can hardly breathe or focus.

I know what is coming next and no matter how much I try to prepare my mind and heart for this, the pain will shatter me, this much I know.

“Before you reject me, I have a question,” I blurt out impatiently the moment I see his lips move. I just want to know why he hates me so much when all I have ever done is love and adore him.

He scoffs and then smirks, “whoever said anything about rejecting you?”

What?

My eyes bulge and my heart rate spikes up. He doesn’t want to reject me, what changed?

“Don’t give me that look Elora. It’s not like you want me to reject you. It’s why you put Dominic up to the stupid stunt he just pulled, right? ” he says in a sarcastic tone or maybe it’s my hearing but my heart cannot stop racing nor can it stop clenching from his misunderstanding of this whole situation.

“I didn’t put Dominic up to anything, I had no idea he was going to force you to be his Beta,” I reply, trying to keep my voice as firm as I can despite the turmoil in my heart.

“Of course you didn’t,” he smirks sinisterly, showing he clearly doesn’t believe me. “