27.You hate him

Elle

Dominic watched me cross the roof.

There was nothing courtly in the way his gaze moved from my bare legs to the knot of my robe. The king could hide behind stillness when ministers challenged him. His wolf had no interest in pretending I did not affect him.

“You didn’t give me much space,” I said.

“I made it to the roof.” His attention returned to my mouth. “That was the best I could do.”

I let the robe fall.

His fingers curled at his sides.

The black swimsuit covered enough to be decent and did nothing to make the look on his face decent. Heat moved through me before I touched the water.

I stepped into the pool and swam toward the middle. The capital spread below us, part ancient stone and part glass, with moonlit roads threading between pack shrines older than the Crown. Somewhere beyond the eastern wall, my family carried Franz home. Somewhere inside the palace, Rosalie was learning her seal no longer answered to her.

For the first time all day, no one needed anything from me.

Dominic remained at the edge.

“Are you planning to stand there all night?”

“I am attempting restraint.”

“How’s that going?”

He entered the water without answering.

The pool was built from dark stone that held the heat, and silver symbols moved beneath the surface whenever the water shifted. Dominic told me the first royal family had used the roof to meet foreign Alphas where no walls could hide an attack. The old wards still recognized dominance. They brightened around him and flickered uncertainly when my wolf pushed close to the surface.

“They don’t know what you are,” he said.

“Neither do I, apparently.”

He stopped close enough that the water carried the heat of him against my skin. “You are not uncertain.”

“That sounded convincing.”

“It was meant to.”

His fingers brushed the bruise on my jaw. The tenderness lasted one second. Fury followed it.

“I should have killed him when he drugged you.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I knew he had hurt you.”

“And if you had torn his throat out in that hotel, we might never have learned what he did to Franz.” I caught his wrist before anger pulled him away from me. “I don’t want Soren dead before I understand him. I want every lie stripped off him while he’s alive to watch.”

Dominic studied my face. “You hate him.”

“Yes.”

There was no grief beneath the answer. No old love asking to be remembered. Soren had murdered me in one life and tried to force my body into obedience in this one. Hatred was the cleanest thing he had ever given me.

“Good,” Dominic said softly.

“That’s a very kingly response.”

“No. The king would advise evidence, patience, and an orderly hearing.” His hand settled around my waist beneath the water. “The man wants to help you ruin him.”

My wolf leaned into his touch.

“And what does your wolf want?” I asked.

Gold moved through his eyes. “You already know.”

His honesty hit harder than any practiced seduction could have. Dominic did not tell me I was beautiful or pretend he had control. He stood in front of me with one hand shaking against my waist and admitted wanting me had become a problem he could not solve.

I moved closer until my breasts brushed his chest.

“Say it.”

His thumb pressed into my hip. “He wants you under my roof, wearing my scent. He wants every wolf who comes near you to know they answer to me.”

“Possessive bastard.”

“You asked.”

“And the man?”

Dominic’s gaze dropped to my mouth. “The man keeps trying to remember you signed a contract because you needed protection, not because you promised him anything tonight.”

The difference mattered. It mattered enough to make the ache inside me sharper.

“What happens tomorrow?” I asked.

Dominic understood the question beneath it. His hand remained at my waist, but his grip eased. “I take you home. Franz receives the best physician in the kingdom for as long as he needs one. Rosalie answers to me for what she did.”

“And us?”

His eyes held mine. “Tomorrow does not take tonight away from you. Neither does the contract. If you want me to stop, I stop. If you want to leave, every door in that house opens.”

He gave me the promise without making it sound generous. It was simply the truth as he understood it, and that stripped the last of Soren’s shadow from the choice in front of me.

I took his hand from my waist and guided it beneath the water, over the curve of my stomach, then up to my breast.

“The woman is getting tired of waiting for him to understand she can make her own decisions.”

His palm closed around me.

“Elle.”

My name came out scraped raw.

“I’m not drugged. I’m not frightened. Franz is safe, and Soren has no claim on me. I know exactly where I am.” I pressed closer until the hard length of him met my stomach through his shorts. “Do you need me to make it clearer?”

Dominic’s other hand slid behind my neck. “No.”

He kissed me.

There was no careful beginning. His mouth took mine as he drove me backward through the water, one hand behind my neck and the other holding me against him. I opened for him, tasting rain and chlorine while his control came apart in pieces.

His hand stayed at my waist, waiting even while the rest of him demanded more.

I caught his wrist and pushed it beneath the edge of my swimsuit.

He tore his mouth from mine. Gold had swallowed most of the gray in his eyes. “Tell me.”

“Touch me.”

His fingers moved lower.

The first stroke made me swear. Dominic watched my face while his thumb worked over me, slow once, then harder when my hips chased his hand. Two fingers pressed inside me and curled.

Pleasure tightened fast enough to steal the air from my lungs.

I reached between us and closed my hand around him through his shorts. Dominic’s forehead dropped to mine. His breath broke against my lips when I stroked him, and his hips drove once into my palm before he dragged himself still.

“You keep doing that,” I whispered.

“Doing what?”

“Stopping.”

“Because if I stop thinking, my wolf starts.”

The old wards beneath the water had brightened. Silver symbols climbed the pool wall around us, answering something in our joined scent. My wolf rose, not frightened by his but pushing toward it with an urgency that made my skin feel too small.

I should have been terrified by how right it felt.

Instead, I tightened my hand around him. “Maybe I want to know what happens when you stop thinking.”

Dominic made a sound low in his throat. His fingers moved faster, dragging pleasure through me until my knees weakened.

I clung to his shoulders. “Get out of the water.”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you stopping?”

“I’m getting you somewhere I can do this properly.”

He laughed, rough and unguarded.

He lifted me onto the pool’s edge and climbed out between my knees. Water streamed from his body while he kissed me again, slower this time but no less hungry. A stone pool house stood beneath the canopy, its open front facing the city. Inside, a wide cushioned lounge waited beneath the old royal crest.

Dominic carried me toward it.

My legs were shaking, and I liked that he refused to put me down.

He set me on the lounge and reached for a towel. I caught the waistband of his shorts instead.

“Protection,” he said, the word strained.

“Get it.”

He returned from the changing room with a condom. I had my swimsuit off before he reached me, and his steps slowed.

I spread my knees and held out my hand.

Dominic stopped between them, breathing hard, the wrapped condom caught in one fist.

His gaze held mine. “Still sure?”

I pulled him close enough to bite his lower lip.

“If you walk away now, I’ll throw you off your own roof.”

His smile was brief and hungry.

He tore the wrapper open.