Chapter 38

Dominic

I sat at the head of the conference table, my hands steepled in front of me as the low murmur of conversation filled the room. Renee sat to my left, stiff and silent, Arielle posted protectively at her side like a coiled snake waiting for the excuse to strike. Across from us sat the Mountainhowl pack’s lawyer, a sharp-eyed man in a tailored suit, and beside him, Renee’s mother’s estate lawyer. He looked just as displeased with me now as he had in the courtroom.

On the table between us were printouts of the images. They were terrible. Vile, and so obviously photoshopped, it was ridiculous. Seeing them laid out like evidence only sharpened the knot of anger sitting low in my gut. Yet who else could I blame? Based on everything I would have been able to gather, these photos had come from within Brightclaw, within my own pack, when I was supposed to be protecting her.

I had failed her in the worst possible way. Just like I had failed Hazel.

A headache started to pound at the back of my skull. I couldn't think about her right now. The scent of blood still lingered in my nostrils. The cry of Vivian as a baby. The desperation and fear. This was nothing like that. I looked up at Renee. Renee was still alive. She wasn't in danger of death. She was here. I could fix this.

Instead, Arielle. Well, if I was allowed to fix it.

I cleared my throat and forced my voice steady, professional. “I’ll be launching a formal investigation through the Judicial Panel.” I met each pair of eyes around the table. “It will be handled properly. Thoroughly.”

Arielle leaned back in her chair, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth. “And what exactly do you think that’s going to accomplish, Dominic?” she asked, her voice dripping with thinly veiled contempt. “You’re investigating your own people, people who have everything to gain from tearing Renee down, and you have a lot to gain by not revealing exactly what kind of evil, despicable people are within your own pack. It would certainly be the blackest mark on your record, wouldn't it? I don't think I can really trust that it's going to be as thorough as I would like.”

Her words were a slap I hadn’t been prepared for. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. I didn’t flinch, but it took everything I had to keep my expression neutral. I had expected it. She had basically already said that she didn't trust me or my ability to handle this.

She went on, sharp and unrelenting. “Brightclaw’s leadership compromised. You want to claim you can be objective, but look at the facts. Tyler’s family has been a pillar of your pack for generations.”

“There's no guarantee that this was Tyler's family's doing.”

Arielle tilted her head. “Are you being obtuse on purpose or is that just your natural setting?”

I glared at her. “You do not have to insult me.”

“You don't have to insult me, let alone Renee. Who else would they be from? Who else would be behind them? But the people who have been embarrassed by their own son’s, lack of integrity? From what I can understand, he had already started making the insinuation when he got caught at the Confirmation Ceremony.” She cocked an eyebrow. “ Unless you know who's underwear he had in his breast pocket? We could go after her if you'd like. But there is no way that your gamma and his family will not be implicated in this.” She narrowed her eyes. “There is no way for you to get out of this without your leadership coming into question. Your ability to control your pack as well. You might not want to admit it, but you’ve lost control of your pack in a big way. So put your fucking pride aside, acknowledge it, and offer something that makes sense before you actually start to piss me off.”

I bit down on the first dozen responses that rose in my throat. She was arrogant, abrasive, and utterly insufferable. I didn’t like her. I didn’t like the way she talked down to me or the way she acted like she had all the answers. I especially didn't like the fact that she was fucking right. I glanced at Renee—really looked at her.

She sat frozen in her chair, her hands curled tightly into fists on her lap, her face pale. There was no spark left in her, no fight, just the raw wound of betrayal and fear. Disbelief. She looked haunted like she was looking at her own death.

I exhaled slowly, forcing myself to swallow my pride. This wasn’t about me.

“What do you want, Renee?” I asked, my voice gentler than I intended. “What would put you most at ease until this mess can be resolved?”

The whole room turned to look at her.

Renee blinked, clearly startled by the question. She hesitated, glancing at her cousin, then at the two lawyers, as if trying to gauge whether it was even safe to speak. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, her voice small but steady when she finally answered.

“I want... I want to know it’ll stop. That it won’t happen again. That they can’t just ruin me and walk away without consequences.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “I want to feel safe. I want someone to actually do something about it.”

The simple heartbreak in her words settled heavily on my shoulders.

I nodded slowly, feeling the weight of what I was about to promise. “You’ll get that. I’ll make sure of it.”

Arielle smirked again, this time less maliciously. “I'll give you a week before I step in. Out of courtesy.”

She said it with all the weight of a threat, but I didn’t rise to the bait. If anything, a small part of me was relieved. Maybe Brightclaw’s leadership needed to feel a little pressure. Maybe I did too. Had I been that complacent? That removed? Looking at Renee, it certainly felt like it.

Renee

I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the table again. Every time my gaze slipped, I caught another glimpse of the photos. They were so explicit it made my stomach turn. My skin crawled under my clothes. I’d never worn anything more revealing than a modest one-piece swimsuit with a wrap in this life or the past one, much less what those fake images suggested. It didn’t matter that they weren’t real. It didn’t matter that they were obviously manipulated. The damage was already done, and I knew so many wouldn’t care.

What had Dominic's said? I was basically a rogue, having broken away from Frostborne? I gripped the edges of my chair to keep my hands from shaking.

When Dominic had asked what would put me at ease, it had thrown me off. I wasn’t used to anyone in Brightclaw asking me what I wanted. Still, deep down, I knew a promise wasn’t enough. Not anymore. I have been promised so many things and had been delivered so few.

“An investigation is a good start,” I said tightly, my throat raw, “but... it’s not enough. And Arielle is right.”

I forced myself to reach across the table and tapped one of the printouts. It was the most damning of them all, turning my hatred of Tyler from a flame to a raging inferno.

“This one," I said, voice wobbling before I forced it steady, "was based on a real photo. I sent it to Tyler.” My mouth twisted bitterly. “It wasn’t like this, though. It was a normal picture… I’d been trying on a dress i–in—” I swallowed and took a deep breath, blinking back tears. “It was just a normal dress.”

And I was infinitely glad that I hadn’t bothered to buy it. I’d have to burn it.

A heavy silence fell.

“Do you recognize any of the others?” Dominic asked.

I nodded. “But they’re mostly from my social media… T-Tyler was the only person I ever sent photos of myself to.”

Most of them were in public. All of them were completely innocent. The one that I had been in a dress in was the only one of my full body and any sort of provocative pose, and it was hardly that. A hand on my hip, camera aimed at the mirror.

Dominic’s expression sharpened, something cold and resolute flashing in his eyes.

“That’s good enough for me. I’ll need to access your phone, make a clone of your messages with him for legal records.”

I nodded and offered him the phone.

“You can keep it,” Arielle said. “ Should be issued a private mountain hall phone number from today on.”

Dominic nodded, took the phone, and slipped it into a plastic bag, writing on it before pressing a button on his call.

“Chief, have Tyler brought from detention to an interrogation room. Send a unit to bring his father in for questioning as well. I’ll need your forensic team to run…”

I blinked, thrown by the speed and certainty of his voice as he kept giving a stream of orders to whoever was on the line.

“Have the whole family removed from the Brightclaw Estate within the hour. Inform them that it is the start of reparations.”