Chapter 23

Philip staggered back, swaying on his face clutching his face, shock rippling through his features as he fell to one knee. Blood dribbled out of his mouth and nose, and the way he cupped his face made me think that Dominic had broken his jaw. The lawyer hummed, a little impressed sound I hadn’t expected of him, given how much he didn’t like Dominc.

“You don’t touch her,” Dominic growled, towering over him. “Ever again.”

Philip’s eyes were wide, like he couldn’t believe someone had actually hit him.

I could, and I’d never seen anything more satisfying.

“Get up,” Dominic warned. “Get up, and I’ll drop you again.”

Philip scrambled back, snarling something incoherent, but he didn’t try to touch me again. Not with Dominic standing there like a shield between us.

I almost laughed. He looked seconds away from pissing his pants.

Dominic turned to me, his voice gentler now. “You okay?”

I looked down at my wrist where Philip’s handprint was already blooming red. Then up at the man who hit him for me.

“Yes.”

Philip was still on the ground, cursing as his face started to swell when Dominic reached for his phone.

“I want an enforcement detail at the front steps now,” he said sharply into the receiver. “Charge Alpha Frostborne with attempted assault of a ward of Brightclaw.”

My eyes widened. “Wait… what?”

He didn’t look at me. “You’re under my guardianship. Which means you’re under my protection. And he just laid hands on you.” He glared at Philip. “I am being kind and not challenging him, but only because death would be too kind.”

My gut clenched. My heart fluttered, and heat rose up through me. I never thought of myself as a lover of violence; I think that was probably the sexiest thing I had ever heard a man say in my life, former or current.

Within moments, two uniformed enforcers appeared. Dominic didn’t even need to explain. They grabbed Philip by both arms and hauled him up.

“What? Wait!” Philip barked, trying to pull free. “This is a misunderstanding! I’m her father! You can’t tell me — I didn’t even hit her!”

Dominic stepped closer to him, voice calm, almost bored. “I didn’t say you did this time. And perhaps in your next life, you’ll learn to act like one.”

“Dominic—” Philip’s voice cracked. “Please. Don’t do this. I don’t deserve this! W–We were— Frostborne was going to be a subordinate pack! You can’t throw that away over a stupid child!”

Dominic snarled at him. His eyes flashed with a bright, bloody red light as his teeth started to change. His skin rippled as if he would shift right then. I put my hand on his shoulder. He whipped around to look at me.

As our eyes met, I could see the anger start to drain out of him. The tension eased in his shoulders, and he turned to one of the enforcers.

“Pull the building’s security footage. Start at the moment court adjourned. You’ll find everything you need.”

They nodded briskly, already moving.

Philip was still pleading as they dragged him down the courthouse steps, ranting and thrashing like some aging villain in a second-rate drama. The fact that the enforcers didn’t so much as flinch meant they were used to handling worse.

I didn’t look away until he was out of sight, stuffed inside of a squad car and zooming away, still screaming.

There was something beautiful in the finality of it. I wasn’t deluded enough to think it was over—not really. But watching him be escorted off like the disgrace he was?

I let myself feel the glee. Just for a moment.

I turned to find Dominic watching me—not with his usual cool detachment or that unreadable alpha mask he wore like armor. No, he was studying me. Curiously. His eyes still glowing blood red and hot with desire, I could feel pooling in my gut. I thought back to that kiss, felt my lips tingling and my whole body thrumming as if it could call him closer to me.

His eyes dragged over me. His nostrils flared, and the heat in his gaze burned brighter. By the Goddess, could he smell that I was aroused?

“Wh-What?” I asked, more squeaked. It earned another curious expression. “You’re looking at me like I sprouted a second head.”

His lips twitched into something that might’ve been the start of a smile. “Just surprised, is all.”

“By what?”

His gaze didn’t leave mine. “By how ruthless you can be.”

I tilted my head, giving him a slow, pointed smile. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

A low rumbling, growl shook the air, he took a step forward before turning away from me. He took a deep breath as his body started to shake. I could almost feel how much restraint he was exercising over himself.

Did he… Did Dominic want me?

The thought sent a thrill through me that I tried to squash. I didn’t have time to think about it or entertain it, especially now that he had more power over me than ever. The traitorous, much younger part of me that had harbored a crush on him was rearing her silly, naive head, and that just wouldn’t do.

She was the same reason I’d ended up married to Tyler believing the best of him despite all the big, glaring, neon, red flags he’d shown me.

He turned back. The heat had been toned down, but there was something almost… admiring in the way his expression shifted. Like I’d just revealed a card he hadn’t known I was holding and he’d rather I hadn’t.

Wasn’t that interesting?

“We have things to discuss,” he said. “I’ll have your lawyer join us in my chamber. I assume that you have nothing planned for the rest of the day?”

I shook my head. He turned and gestured ahead of him. “Shall we, Ms. Caldwell?”

His Judicial Court chamber was quieter than I expected. Smaller, too. More intimate and more dangerous from the way his heat and scent filled the air. It was all dark stone, high ceilings, and a single table that had probably seen more treaties and disputes than I’d had birthdays. Dominic ushered me inside with the estate lawyer at my heels.

We settled in and I waited for Dominic to start. He opened the file on my case, added another sheet and pulled out a pen.

“Let’s start with what you want,” he said. “And what you need.”

I blinked. “I… need to finish school. Live… I don’t expect my inheritance to support anything beyond my schooling.”

His lips twitched as he took a note and glanced at the lawyer. “I have no intention of knowing how much it is, so I will work in… general number with full expectation that you’ll handle the fine-tuning.”

The lawyer nodded. Dominic continued to write.

“Have you been managing your own bank account until now?”

“Yes.”

“Credit cards?”

“Pack-issued only.”

He tutted and took another note.

“Do you have any questions about how things will work with Philip?”

“Just… a general question about timing.”

He shook his head. “ If it takes any longer than a few months. I'll be filing an injunction against the Panel for dereliction of duty.”

He rattled off a general idea of what would likely happen when the amount that Philip and Frostborne owed my estate. Depending on the amount, Philip would be conscripted to labor, manual or not, for a long time. I tried to keep my expression neutral as I imagined that son of a bitch slaving away under the hot son.

Then Dominic cleared his throat and leaned forward. “You don’t have to pretend that the idea doesn’t please you, but I do want to talk to you about your options.”

My spine straightened. “Options?”

“I think you should consider structured repayment,” he said calmly. “Something that allows Frostborne time to recoup. Sudden financial collapse would hurt a lot of people who had nothing to do with Philip’s decisions.”

I stared at him, unsure if I’d heard correctly. “You want me to be lenient?”

His expression didn’t change, but his voice was softer. “I want you to think about the other wolves. The pack members. The families depending on that infrastructure. A full penalty delivered all at once could destabilize the region.”

I blinked. Then laughed, sharp and bitter. “Let me get this straight. You think I should go easy on him? The man who siphoned money from my mother’s estate for years, lied about it, forged receipts, and abused me?”

I scoffed. “Do you know he never once considered naming me heir? That all this time, even knowing I was the reason his pack had any political standing, his grand plan for me was to marry me off to the next desperate alpha looking for a fertile wife with a fat inheritance?”

I saw a flicker of something in Dominic’s gaze. Maybe guilt. Maybe understanding.

I leaned forward, voice cold. “He doesn’t deserve leniency. And he wouldn’t need it if he’d had a shred of integrity to begin with.”