6. Paid escort

Elle

“Eleanor Whitmore,” I said. “My father is Alpha Mason Whitmore of the Moonlight Pack.”

Dominic’s fingers left my chin.

The change was immediate. Minutes ago, nothing mattered more than getting closer. Now his face gave me nothing. He stepped back, putting the table between us, and the loss of his heat left me cold.

The disappointment that hit me was sharp, stupid, and completely unwelcome.

I hadn’t fought my way into the royal suite so the king would keep looking at me like that. I had come to stop Soren taking my father’s pack. My wolf disagreed.

“Mason Whitmore has one daughter,” Dominic said. “A daughter who was supposed to be celebrating her engagement tonight.”

“The celebration ended early.”

“Apparently.” His gaze flicked over my swollen mouth before turning cold again. “Why should I believe you?”

I held up the folder. “My father’s signature is on the withdrawal.”

“A signature can be copied. A document can be stolen.”

“Then call him.”

Dominic did not reach for the phone. “You entered a secured royal floor under a false identity after someone drugged me. You lied to my guards and secretary, then made sure we were alone before admitting it.”

Put that way, I sounded like an assassin with terrible planning skills.

“I didn’t drug you.”

“That is exactly what a woman who drugged me would say.”

“And if I had planned to hurt you, I probably wouldn’t have stopped you from taking off my dress.”

Something moved behind his eyes, hot and fast, but his expression stayed controlled. “You stopped me after kissing me.”

“I never said my decision-making was flawless tonight.”

His mouth almost changed. For one second, I saw the man beneath the title. Then someone knocked, and the king returned.

“Your Majesty?” James called. “I have the Registry notice.”

“Come in.”

James entered carrying a black folder. His eyes went to Dominic, then me, then the open bedroom.

I became painfully aware of my tangled hair, slipping dress strap, and swollen lips. James thought he had delivered a paid escort to the king. Right then, I looked as if I had earned every dollar.

Dominic snatched a dark coat from the sofa and dropped it over my shoulders, pulling it closed until my dress disappeared.

The coat smelled like him, and my wolf settled so quickly that I wanted to swear at her.

“Put your arms through,” Dominic said.

There was no softness in his voice, but he blocked James’s view while I obeyed. The sleeves covered my hands and the hem reached my thighs. Only after I was hidden in black wool did Dominic turn. I had not realized how exposed I felt.

“Do you know this woman?” Dominic asked.

James looked at me more carefully. “Eleanor Whitmore?”

Relief loosened something in my chest. “Yes.”

“Alpha Mason called after she left Moonlight territory,” James said. “He warned me she might try to reach you before morning. I did not realize she was the woman at the elevator.”

“Because she told you she was Lily.”

James’s jaw tightened. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And you brought her directly into my private suite without checking her identification.”

“Lily had already been cleared by the agency, and she matched the description.”

Dominic did not raise his voice. Alpha power filled the room until even my wolf lowered her head.

“Your mistake put an unidentified woman in the room with a drugged king,” he said. “You will make sure it is never repeated.”

“Understood.” James handed him the folder. “Alpha Mason’s written withdrawal reached the Crown Registry ten minutes ago. The call was placed from Moonlight’s secured line, and I confirmed his identity. He asked that the succession petition be suspended immediately.”

Dominic glanced at me. Some of the suspicion left his face, although not nearly enough to make me comfortable.

Dominic glanced toward the bedroom. “Secure the glass beside the bourbon. Send the physician up and hold every staff member who accessed this floor.”

James’s face tightened. “At once.”

Still fighting the drug, Dominic had already turned his attention to the real threat.

“Leave us,” Dominic said.

James left. The lock clicked, and the suite fell quiet.

“You believe me now?” I asked.

“I believe your name.” Dominic opened the Registry folder. “I have not decided what I believe about you.”

Fair enough. I had lied my way into his bedroom, kissed him, then asked him to change my pack’s future.

He read Dad’s notice while I stood across from him, hands hidden in his sleeves. The cold king should have been easier to face than the man who held me against the wall. Instead, I remembered his mouth at my throat and wondered if he could smell what it did to me.

“Sit,” he said without looking up.

I sat. The coat pooled warm around me while Dominic remained across the table.

Packs usually passed leadership through blood. An Alpha’s strongest child inherited, though strength also meant intelligence, loyalty, and the pack’s confidence. Crown law allowed women to lead, but old councils still preferred a man—especially when an Alpha’s daughter had a powerful mate.

That was how Soren had entered the picture.

Because Soren was not Moonlight blood, Dad’s nomination required royal approval. Once sealed, removing him would mean challenging a Crown-approved Alpha. Enough of those challenges had ended in blood for the Registry to move slowly.

I needed to stop the seal before it touched the page.

Dominic set the notice beside my folder. “Your father submitted a formal succession request this morning and withdrew it before midnight.”

“Yes.”

“That does not happen because everyone had a difficult engagement party.”

“It wasn’t difficult. It was a fucking disaster.”

His eyebrow lifted.

“Sorry.” I pulled my hands out of the sleeves and gripped the coat in my lap. “Actually, no. I’m not sorry. Soren stood in my home and acted like I owed him my future because he arrived with a ring. I told him no. Now I’m making sure he doesn’t walk away with my pack anyway.”

There was no ache when I said his name. Only the clean hatred keeping me upright since I woke three months before my death.

Dominic studied me. “The Crown does not reverse a succession because an Alpha’s daughter ends an engagement.”

“My father is the current Alpha. He is asking you not to replace him.”

“And every wolf in Moonlight will want to know why the man their Alpha praised yesterday is suddenly unfit today. If I interfere without cause, I make your pack look unstable and the Crown look corrupt.”

I hated that he had a point. A royal seal mattered because packs trusted it. If Dominic reversed petitions whenever someone changed her mind, every ambitious Beta and rejected heir would weaponize the Registry.

“Then suspend it,” I said. “Do not approve Soren while we investigate him.”

“Investigate what?”

The answer crowded behind my teeth: murder, poison, conspiracy, and whatever he was doing with Dominic’s daughter. I could prove none of it. If the king confronted Soren or Rosalie now, they would bury every call, payment, and accomplice.

I was weak, not helpless. I had three months and knowledge of what they could do. I would uncover Soren’s allies and drag the truth into the light before he struck again.

“I found out he has been lying to us,” I said carefully. “I don’t know how deep it goes yet.”

“That is not evidence.”

“I know.” The admission scraped on the way out. “I’m not asking you to punish him on my word. I’m asking you not to hand him Moonlight while I’m finding the evidence you need.”

Dominic’s gaze stayed on me long enough to make the silence uncomfortable. “Why was he chosen in the first place?”

I looked at Dad’s signature. “Because of me.”

“Explain.”

“Dad did not choose Soren for his bloodline. Soren is the son of Silver Claw’s Alpha and a maid, which gave him little chance of inheriting his own pack. Dad nominated him because he was supposed to marry me.”

“Supposed to?”

I forced myself to meet Dominic’s eyes. “Soren is my fated mate.”

A growl rolled out of him.

It was low enough that another human might have mistaken it for a breath, but my wolf heard it. She rose inside me, suddenly alert, and the room seemed to shrink around the man standing across from me.

Dominic placed both hands on the table. “He is your mate?”

The disgust in his voice surprised me. “That is what everyone believes.”

“I asked what you believe.”

He came around the table.

The earlier coldness vanished with every step. By the time he reached my chair, gold had begun to bleed into his eyes again. My wolf pressed toward him, and I had to lock my knees together to keep from rising.

Dominic stopped close enough that our breaths mingled. His hand lifted toward the side of my neck, hovering over the place his mouth had touched without quite making contact.

The drug should have been wearing off.

Looking into his eyes, I was no longer sure the drug had anything to do with this.