Chapter 77

Dominic

I stepped into the room slowly, my eyes sweeping over her. She looked looked back at me. She looked more and more fragile by the moment. I cleared my throat.

“How’s your head?” I asked, my voice coming out rougher than I intended.

"My head?"

"They… they said you -- I assume that you fell."

She looked up at me, nodding slowly.

"I don't think I hit my head, but my headache is gone." She nodded at the IV. "I guess it's something in there…" Then her eyes narrowed just slightly. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

“I’m fine,” I said, sharper than I meant to. I cleared my throat, shoving down my guilt as I came around the side of the bed. I sank into a seat. “How are you feeling? Besides the obvious.”

Her gaze lingered on me for a moment, uncertain. “Fine, I guess…"

There was a beat of silence. She tried again, voice gentler this time. “Dominic… how are you?”

I tensed. I didn’t want this from her. Concern. Softness. Forgiveness I hadn’t earned. My jaw tightened.

“I’m not the one who collapsed at work,” I said coolly. “Let’s keep the focus on you… I'm surprised Neil isn't here.”

"He's out of town. Pack business." I nodded. "Vivian was here."

I nodded slowly. "I suppose she was… trying to apologize?"

Her eyes flashed, and I knew I’d struck the wrong chord, and that wasn't at all what Vivian had been here for despite all of my hope.

“Fine,” she snapped. “Then let’s talk about me.”

She shifted upright, wincing slightly, but the fire in her voice didn’t falter.

“Let's talk about all the shit I've been put through since I started and how easy it's been for people at the company to abuse me at Vivian's askance." I swallowed and nodded. "I’ve been harassed, Dominic. At your company. By your people. And for days now, you’ve been too busy playing diplomat or babysitter to stop it."

I opened my mouth, but she cut me off before I could speak.

“Do you know what it’s like to walk into your office and find your badge doesn’t work? To run up thirty flights of stairs just to be locked out of a meeting you needed? To have work pied on you for no reason? To find your food tampered with and your documents missing and no one willing to help you because of who’s pulling their strings?”

I nodded, listening to her. She wasn’t crying. Her voice didn’t waver. But I’d rather she screamed at me. It would’ve hurt less than hearing her sound so damn resigned.

“I had hoped that after Philip had tanked all of my options, that going to your company was a lucky break. That I'd learn and work and get my license. And instead, I got dragged into this twisted power play Vivian is running, the same one she's run for years. And you just watched it happen.”

“I didn’t know—”

“That’s not good enough," she hissed. "It's not good enough because you've known for years what kind of person she was. Spoiled. Selfish. You just didn't want to see it."

“You say you’re not the one who collapsed at work,” she said quietly. “But from where I’m sitting, Dominic, it looks like you’re the one who let it happen.”

She let the words hang there. Heavy. Unflinching. And right.

"I know," I said quietly. "It's not… something I'm proud of, nor is it something I want to continue."

"There are too many people who rely on you for that to ever be good enough."

I frowned at that and looked up. "What?"

"You think I'm the first person Vivian has done this to? You can't think that's true. The damage she's already done to Brightclaw…"

"What?" I blinked at her, stunned. Not because she was angry. Not even because she was right. But because her voice didn’t shake when she said it and because she wasn’t talking about herself. She was talking about Brightclaw.

She was talking about the company. The pack and its reputation. Mine.

Even after everything she’d been through, Vivian’s sabotage, Tyler’s lies, days of coordinated cruelty from people on my payroll, Renee still wasn’t thinking about revenge. Or even justice.

She was thinking about protecting what I should have protected. As if it were still her responsibility. As if she owed me that, too.

And that broke something open in me. It was anger that twisted and turned inward.

She’d collapsed from exhaustion and hunger because I hadn’t acted the way I should have. Because I was drowning in my own grief and most recently my anger.

"Don't worry about Brightclaw or my reputation, or whatever. The only thing --- I meant what I said, Renee. The only thing you should be worried about is getting your credits done, and I'm sorry that my negligence has gotten in the way of it."

"… did you get me this job, Dominic?"

I looked up at her. "Of course not. I didn't know you were working there until I saw you."

Her shoulders slumped a little, and she nodded.

"I can't imagine that it would have brought you any comfort if I had."

She shook her head. "No. It wouldn't."

"Because I could." She turned to look at me. "I could move you to the main company."

She shook her head. "I don't want that."

"Because of Neil?"

She blinked at me. "What?"

I cleared my throat. "I meant working with Neil, people who are familiar to you, must bring you some comfort…"

"I'm not Vivian, I wouldn't put my career and future on the line for a man," she said. "I don't want nepotism."

I nodded, not sure if I should feel relieved about it or not. I wanted to do something, provide a leg up if I could, but it was just like Renee not to want it. I smiled, happy that the person she seemed to be really was who she was.

“You shouldn’t have had to carry all of that,” I said, my voice low. "And you shouldn’t doubt that I believe you very capable."

She looked at me, her expression unreadable. “And you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You shouldn’t have to doubt that I believe that you'll do the right thing."

I blinked and opened my mouth, though I wasn't sure what I was going to say. Then, there was a knock at the door before I could say anything else.

Neil stepped in first, arms full of takeout containers, his brow furrowed with concern. Behind him, a short, incredibly curvy woman swept in, wearing a paint-splattered button-up, plain jeans, and flats. Her eyes went right to Renee and she paled.

"Honey, you look terrible!"

"What are you doing here?" Renee asked. "How… did you even know that I was in the hospital?"

Neil chuckled, setting the bags down.

"George takes his duties seriously, you know? He said you collapsed at work. Apparently, he's the one who found you."

I blinked at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "He forgot something and had to come back…" He turned to look at me. "Alpha Brightclaw."

"Lord Blackfang."

The woman beamed. "Lady Evenstar. Now that we've gone around with the introductions."

Evenstar? I blinked. The name was familiar. Too familiar. It was a witch coven, the biggest on the continent. What was she doing here? With Neil? Then, I looked at the two of them. Really looked. His hair and hers, the shape of his nose--

For fuck's sake, Neil was part witch?

Lady Evenstar rounded the bed and took Renee's hand. "How are you feeling? I brought pasta."

"With extra steak."

Renee wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Neil.

"I'm fine. I feel a little awful, but I'm alive."

"Well, let's see if we can fix that sooner rather than later. Extra diavolo?"

Renee actually smiled a little at that, and I felt something twist in me. Neil was already unpacking the container and set the food down on the tray, shooting me a polite but distant glance.

He didn’t say anything. He didn't have to. I felt the question, the sense of not belonging here prodding at me.

This was his moment. Their moment. He'd brought a relative of some sort. His cousin? His sister? It didn't really matter who, but the fact that Renee knew her said a lot.

I rose to my feet. "I have somethings to wrap up with regards to your case, Renee. Call me if you need anything?" I nodded at Neil and Lady Evenstar. "I'll leave you to it."

"You're welcome to stay," she said. "I brought enough to feed half an army."

I shook my head, my hands curling at my sides. There was a hot knot of something bitter and jealous rising up in my chest, but worse than that was the shame that followed. I had no right to feel either.

"I've visited, and I'd be more useful getting things taken care of. Keep her company?"

"Of course," she said. "I plan to stuff her full of food. She'll be out of here in no time."

“I’ll come by later,” I said, looking at Renee, already backing toward the door.

Renee didn’t stop me, but she looked like she wanted to.