Chapter 10: The Luna's Reverence

<Cassandra>

The cold hit me almost immediately, sharp enough to steal the breath right out of my lungs before I'd even made it past the front steps.

"You couldn't have told me to wear something warmer before dragging me out here in nothing but a morning gown?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself as the wind cut straight through the thin fabric.

Dominic glanced back at me with a raised brow, “You’re a wolf”. This much should be nothing.

“I haven’t… shifted, yet.” I muttered under my breath, but I was sure he heard it because his eyes darkened as he stared intently at me.

"You're welcome to go change, if you'd rather waste time." He said, looking away like I hadn't just told him the most embarrassing thing a wolf could say.

'He's impossible.'

I opened my mouth to tell him exactly that, but the head-maid was already crossing the courtyard toward us at a brisk pace, a pair of leather riding boots in one hand and a heavy rider's coat draped over her other arm.

"My lady." She dropped into a small curtsy and held both items out to me.

‘'Of course she was ready.’ I scoffed, ‘Everyone in this house moves like they already know what he's going to do before he does it.'

"Thank you," I said, taking them from her, and I didn't miss the way her eyes flicked briefly toward Dominic, like she was silently asking permission to be dismissed. He gave her a small flick of his wrist, already turning toward the guards stationed near the manor doors.

"Fetch my horse," he called out, and one of them broke into a jog without a single word of acknowledgment.

I sat myself down on the bottom step and pulled the boots on quickly, lacing them with fingers that had gone stiff from the cold, then shrugged the coat over my shoulders and cinched it tight at the waist. 

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked, straightening back up.

"The eastern border." Dominic's jaw was tight, his eyes already scanning the treeline like he was somehow expecting trouble. "I need to inspect the patrol stationed there after what happened to Tomas."

My stomach dropped somewhere around my boots. "You're taking me to a border inspection?"

"Indeed I am."

"I don't…" I fumbled for the right words, my pulse picking up. "I don't know anything about that part of pack life. I'm not a warrior."

"I'm fully aware."

"Then why are—"

"Because I decided to bring you." He said it simply, like that was the end of the discussion, like the reasoning behind it didn't need to exist beyond the fact that he'd willed it into being.

'Insufferable man.' I squinted my eyes to show my anger, but he wasn’t even looking in my direction.

The sound of hooves on stone interrupted whatever biting response I'd been building, and a massive black horse came trotting up the path, led by one of the stable hands. Even from where I stood, I could feel the animal's raw, restless energy.

"Absolutely not," I said, taking an instinctive step back. "I've never ridden a horse in my life."

"You don't need to know how to ride." Dominic took the reins from the stable hand with one hand and closed the distance between us with a single long stride. "You just need to hold on."

"Wait, is there not a carriage we could—"

I didn't get to finish the sentence. His hands closed around my waist, and before I could so much as squeak in protest, he lifted me clean off the ground and set me on the horse like I weighed nothing more than one of Sarah's flower baskets.

"Dominic!" I gripped the front of the saddle so hard my knuckles went white, my heart hammering somewhere up near my throat. "A little warning would have been nice!"

"Noted." He swung up behind me with an ease that made me want to throw something at his smug face, and settled in close enough that I could feel the solid heat of his chest against my back. "For next time."

"There won't be a next time if I fall off and break my neck."

"You won't fall." His voice dropped low near my ear, and something about the certainty in it made my traitorous pulse skip. "I've got you."

Before I could think of a proper retort, he clicked his tongue and the horse surged forward.

I yelped and grabbed the saddle horn with both hands, my whole body going rigid, but Dominic's arm came around my waist immediately, anchoring me against him.

"Relax," he said against my ear, amusement threading through his voice. "You're fighting the horse's rhythm."

"I'm fighting falling to my death." I shrieked.

"You're not going to die, Cassandra."

We broke into a full gallop, and the forest blurred past on either side of us in streaks of green and brown, the cold morning air biting at my cheeks and whipping loose strands of hair across my face. My fear didn't fade exactly, but it turned into something else entirely, something that lit up in my chest the faster we moved.

'This is terrifying.' I thought, gripping the saddle horn.

'But it’s incredible,' I thought a heartbeat later, and meant that one more.

The trees thinned into open fields, and for one dizzying stretch of road, it felt like we were flying. Dominic's chest was solid and warm at my back, his arm secure around my middle, and despite every instinct screaming at me to hate every second of this, I found myself leaning back into him without meaning to.

"Better?" His voice rumbled against my ear.

"Don't get used to it," I muttered, though I didn't pull away.

We rode for what felt like both an eternity and no time at all before the trees opened up again, and I spotted a cluster of wolves gathered near a line of makeshift tents at the border's edge. Dominic slowed the horse to a trot, and my stomach twisted with a fresh wave of nerves.

I recognized Jasper first, standing near the front of the group with his arms crossed, and the moment his eyes landed on me sitting in front of Dominic, his whole expression changed drastically into something between shock and open confusion.

He wasn't the only one.

Every single wolf in that clearing turned to stare, and I felt the weight of every one of those gazes settle over me like a second coat, far heavier than the one I was already wearing.

'They definitely weren’t expecting him to come with me,' I realized, as the thrill of the horse-ride finally died down, my grip tightening on the saddle.

Dominic brought the horse to a full stop, and I felt his arm flex briefly around my waist.

He swung down first, his boots hitting the frozen ground with a solid thud, and then his hands were back at my waist, lifting me down like it was nothing at all. My legs wobbled the second they touched solid ground, and I had to plant a hand against his chest for balance before I could trust myself to stand.

"Careful," he murmured, one hand still braced at my side.

"I'm fine," I said quickly, stepping back the moment my legs remembered how to hold me up.

Jasper appeared at Dominic’s side before I'd even finished straightening my coat, his voice pitched low, clearly meant only for Dominic. "What is she doing out here?"

Dominic didn't so much as glance at him. "That'll be all, Jasper."

"But Dominic—"

"I said, that'll be all." Dominic said again, his eyes blazing yellow with Alpha authority. 

Jasper's jaw ticked, but he fell back a step, his confusion still written all over his face as his eyes flicked between the two of us like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

'Welcome to the club,' I thought. 'I don't know what I'm doing here either.'

"I have a surprise for you," Dominic said, turning to me.

Before I could ask what he meant, he turned toward the clearing and raised his voice, carrying effortlessly across the entire field.

"Border patrol. Attention. Fall in line."

The effect was immediate. Every wolf in that clearing straightened at once, scattered conversations dying mid-sentence as they fell into neat, disciplined rows with amazing speed.

"Second division squad leader," Dominic called out. "Front and center."

There was a shuffle of movement near the back of the formation, and a familiar figure stepped forward, one arm still bound tight against his chest in a sling.

My breath caught somewhere in my throat. I'd only ever seen him bleeding out on the entrance hall floor, his face pale and slack, his shirt soaked through till it turned deep black. Seeing him upright, walking on his own two feet, sent a wave of warmth rushing through my chest.

Dominic clasped a hand briefly to the man's good shoulder. "Selene did excellent work patching him back together," he said, loud enough for the whole formation to hear. "But Tomas is obviously not at full strength, and every wolf here knows it. And yet he chose to come back into the field today, to lead his squad, rather than rest in the Manor like any reasonable man would." His eyes swept over the assembled patrol. "That is what leadership looks like."

A low murmur of agreement rippled through the rows.

"But Selene wasn't the only one who saved his life last night." Dominic's gaze shifted to me, and I felt every single eye in that clearing follow it. "I wanted Tomas to have the chance to thank the other person responsible for the fact that he's standing here at all — The Luna of our pack."

'Oh no.'

I barely had time to process the words before Tomas was lowering himself down onto one knee in front of me, right there in the frozen dirt, his good hand pressed flat against his chest.

"My Luna." His voice was rough, and thick with something that sounded dangerously close to tears. "I owe you my life."

"You don't have to—" I started, my face heating instantly. "Please, get up, it really wasn't that big of a—"

"It was everything to me," he cut in, lifting his head to look at me properly. "I know what it looks like when a wound like that goes untreated. I've seen good wolves die from less. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here to lead my squad this morning." He swallowed hard before continuing. "You didn't just save me, my Luna. You saved every wolf under my command from mourning a leader who bled out on the manor floor."

The clearing had gone completely silent. I could feel dozens of eyes on me, but instead of the usual suffocating feeling I got from people staring at me, this was different. And for the first time, I couldn't find it in myself to shrink away from it.

"Get up, Tomas," I said softly, reaching out to touch his good shoulder. "Please."

He rose slowly, and when he straightened to his full height, something had changed in the way the entire formation was looking at me. It felt, unmistakably, like reverence.

Even Jasper, who hadn't known the full story until this very moment, dipped his head low in a curt bow. "My Luna," he said, and for once, there wasn't a trace of that familiar smirk anywhere on his face.

Dominic let the moment breathe for a little while before he turned back to the formation, his voice dropping into his commanding tone once more. "You are standing today in the presence of your Luna. A woman who saved one of your own with nothing but her own two hands." His eyes swept the rows. "Now, I expect every man here to track down the shifters responsible for yesterday's attack, and I expect nothing less than your absolute best. Not just for your pack… but for her!"

The response was instant and thunderous, a roar of agreement rising up from the formation loud enough that I felt it vibrate in my chest. Within minutes, the squads were breaking apart and moving out toward the treeline with a fresh, determined purpose that certainly hadn't been there when we'd first arrived.

When the last of them disappeared past the border markers, the clearing fell quiet again, leaving just the two of us and the sound of wind moving through the frost-bitten grass.

"I owe you a thank you as well," Dominic said, his voice quieter now, stripped of the commanding edge from moments ago.

I blinked up at him, caught off guard. “Huh?”

“I owe you a thank you, Cassandra.”

“You don't owe me anything.” I replied quickly, already dreading the consequences of an Alpha apologizing to a complete nobody. 

"I do." He held my gaze, and for once, there was nothing cold in it. "The wolves in this pack are my family, Cassandra. Every single one of them. And you saved a member of my family last night." A muscle in his jaw shifted. "The least I can do is say thank you."

'Wait… Does he really mean it?'

Something in my chest loosened for the first time since I'd walked down that aisle. 'He's not a monster like I thought. He's just an Alpha trying to hold his family together the only way he knows how.'

"You're welcome," I said softly, and meant it wholeheartedly. 

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, then it disappeared faster than it had appeared, that I nearly convinced myself I'd imagined it. He offered his hand, and this time, when he lifted me back onto the horse, I didn't fight him for a single second of it.

We rode out to join the rest of the patrol, the wind biting at my cheeks and Dominic's arm steady around my waist, and for the first time since arriving at Blackthorne Manor, I let myself lean back into him, just a little.

We hadn't gone more than half a mile before Dominic's entire body went rigid behind me, his arm tightening around my waist.

"Dominic?" I twisted slightly, trying to read his face. "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer. His eyes were fixed somewhere past the treeline, his jaw locked tight, and every muscle in his body suddenly coiled in alert.

Then I heard it too — a deep growl rolling out from deep within the trees ahead of us, far too menacing to belong to any wolf I'd ever heard.