Chapter 29 Bloom

Morning brought no relief after the stormy hours I’d spent alone behind my locked bedroom door. If anything, Cassian’s oppressive presence only followed me into school.

In the hallways and classrooms, he tried to surround me with those darkened blue eyes, tracking every move I made like a shadow that refused to leave.

But he had forgotten something.

I knew how to turn boundaries and threats to my advantage. I had no intention of surrendering to his unpredictable jealousy or his constant attempts to control my life. So I ignored the nearly black eyes fixed on me all day, and when the final bell rang, there wasn’t a trace of hesitation in my steps.

I slung my bag over one shoulder and walked into the courtyard. Dominic was waiting exactly where we had agreed to meet, standing beneath the old sycamore near the front gates. The moment he noticed me, a warm, boyish smile spread across his face, and somehow, it was enough to ease some of the heaviness I’d carried since the night before.

When I reached him, he held out one of the two steaming coffee cups in his hands. “I’m glad you didn’t forget our plans,” he said, his warm brown eyes watching me over the rim of his cup. “I feel pretty lucky that you managed to make time for me with all those responsibilities of yours.”

“I gave you my word, Dominic, and I keep my promises.”

I accepted the coffee, smiling as the warm cardboard heated my palms.

“Come on. Let me show you what this small, gloomy town looks like through my eyes.”

We started walking through the quiet, tree-lined streets of the older part of town. A piece of my childhood lived in every cracked sidewalk and weathered wooden house. As we walked, I showed him the old town square, the tiny secondhand bookstore my father and I used to visit, and the boundary trails lined with ancient oak trees I had loved climbing as a child.

Dominic matched his steps to mine without even seeming to think about it. He listened closely, watching me with a quiet admiration that never felt invasive. Along the way, he told me more about his past and how deeply he longed for an ordinary life.

“You know, Bloom,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee, “all I ever wanted was to live like a normal person. To wake up without wondering what might happen to me the next day.”

His expression turned distant.

“I realized too late that normality might be the greatest luxury in this world.”

Talking to him brought an unfamiliar sense of relief behind the thick walls I had built around myself. For the first time in a long while, the weight of uncertainty, rootlessness, and the Alpha bloodline hanging over my head didn’t feel quite as crushing.

Dominic was good for my soul. When I walked beside him, I was simply Bloom. I wasn’t alert. I wasn’t preparing for the next threat. And that feeling was priceless. But peace never lasted long in this town. It was as fleeting as a wolf’s breath.

We stopped at a small outdoor café on a quiet back street where the town ended and the forest began. We were still talking across the wooden table when the familiar scent of blueberries and juniper reached me.

My body instantly tensed.

The dense Alpha energy hanging in the air was impossible to miss. Without making it obvious, I turned my gaze toward the opposite side of the street. And found the shadow we had almost managed to forget.

Cassian’s massive black SUV was parked at the curb across from us. The engine was still running, faint exhaust curling into the air. Behind the windshield, his blue eyes had darkened nearly to black and were fixed directly on our table.

Mostly on me. This time, he didn’t get out. He didn’t storm over or cause a scene. But the suffocating aura rolling from him, along with the way he watched us without blinking, sent a message more clearly than words ever could.

I’m watching you. Every step. Every breath. I’m right behind you. Dominic noticed the vehicle and the crushing pressure surrounding us.

But instead of shrinking away, he took a deep breath and looked away from Cassian’s SUV. Then he turned back to me.

His hands moved closer to mine on the table. The boyish expression disappeared from his face, replaced by something serious and intense. When he brought the conversation back to the wolf trapped inside him, his entire tone changed.

“Bloom,” he said quietly, though the weight of his words felt like an avalanche, “remember when I told you I can’t fully reach my wolf? That he’s locked somewhere inside me?”

I nodded slightly.

“That part is completely true. But ever since I came to this town—especially since the moment we looked at each other in the hallway yesterday—something strange has been happening inside me.”

My brows drew together.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m deeply drawn to you, Bloom.”

He didn’t look away, as though he were trying to read straight through me.

“My wolf is there. I know he is. But I’ve never been able to reach him.”

He drew in an uneven breath.

“Whenever I’m near you, he starts moving through my veins like he’s desperate to break free. He reaches for your scent. Your presence wakes something inside him.”

Dominic leaned slightly closer.

“That wild part of me—the part I’ve felt but never been able to touch—only fights against those locked doors when you’re around.”

His voice softened.

“I think you’re my fated mate, Bloom.”

The words detonated inside my head. I stared at him in shock. I had wanted to escape Cassian’s endless games, allow myself new opportunities, and open another door in my life. But I had never expected anything this serious.

This permanent. His fated mate?

It was the most sacred bond in our world. I quickly pulled myself together and placed that distant mask back over my face.

“Dominic, that’s... impossible.”

I made sure my voice didn’t shake.

“If something like that were true, wouldn’t I feel it too?”

I shook my head firmly.

“And it definitely can’t be true. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

I held his gaze.

“I’m a hybrid.”

His expression didn’t change.

“I don’t have a wolf inside me. I never have. I was born without one.”

I sat straighter, trying to keep my thoughts from spiraling.

“A fated-mate bond is sacred and mystical because it exists between wolves. How could your wolf possibly recognize a wolf that doesn’t exist?”

My voice hardened.

“You’re wrong.”

Dominic didn’t retreat beneath the certainty in my response. Instead, an unsettling, knowing smile touched his lips—the kind worn by people who understood far more about the legends of this town than they admitted.

He leaned closer over the table and lowered his voice.

“Listen, Bloom. I’m not as ignorant about the wolf world or this town’s history as I’ve made myself seem.”

A mysterious light flickered in his eyes.

“Yes, I’m alone. But I’m not stupid.”

His gaze briefly swept around us.

“I couldn’t come here and immediately reveal everything I know before I understood the other wolves or knew whether I could trust them.”

He paused.

“But I’m going to give you one very important piece of advice.”

His eyes shifted toward the SUV across the street. Toward Cassian. Then he looked back at me.

“About being a hybrid... and about the absence of your wolf...”

His voice dropped even lower.

“You should ask the people beside you who claim to protect you for the details.”

The smile disappeared.

“Especially the higher-ranking bloodlines.”

His words slipped into the most guarded room in my mind and planted a seed of suspicion.

“What are you trying to say, Dominic?”

I leaned forward.

“Speak clearly.”

“Just think about what I said, Bloom.”

His expression remained calm.

“Go ask them.”

Then he checked the time and offered a faint smile, as if trying to loosen the tension between us.

“I think that’s enough of the town tour for today. Thank you for spending time with me.”

By the time he stood, my thoughts were in ruins.

We said goodbye politely, but as I watched him walk away, the suspicion growing inside me spread through my entire body.

The absence of my wolf. The mystery surrounding it. The legends and truths the pack, Alpha Ronan, and perhaps even Cassian had buried in the dusty pages of this town’s history.

It was long past time I learned the truth. They had to trust me by now. Otherwise, they never would have invited me into the pack. I turned toward the SUV across the street and shot it a hard glare.

For a long moment, I stared directly into Cassian’s watchful blue eyes, silently challenging him. Then I turned away and started walking toward the pack house with grim determination.

My walls were still standing. But this time, what waited behind them wasn’t a shield. It was a savage storm determined to rip the truth from anyone who tried to hide it from me.