“Don’t do anything stupid. The forests aren’t safe at the moment. If you had been planning on venturing up to Aurora Peak, I’d forget those plans. You don’t need to prove yourself to me. And if you do insist on going, at least let me go with you. Understood?”
“Understood,” she said, hands trembling.
He fixed her with a hard look. “I mean it, Layla. Warn me first.”
“I’ll warn you,” she said, her voice small. “I won’t go alone. I promise.”
He nodded, seemingly satisfied. Then he climbed the rest of the steps and was gone, the door closing softly behind him.
Layla stood in the quiet that followed, her pulse still pounding in her ears. Her hand shook as she picked up the notebook again.
Her sketches stared back at her, the progression of an undulation, the storyboard clear.
She exhaled hard enough that a nearby candle extinguished.
Chapter 15 - Dominic
The collar lay coiled on his desk like a serpent. Silver, polished, its edges etched with the traditional curling patterns. The faintest trace of Leonid’s scent still clung to the velvet box, a mix of expensive cologne and savagery.
He had read the note once. That was enough.
May she wear it well.
Four words, written in his cousin’s elegant, lazy hand. Four words that had been burning a hole in his mind all afternoon.
Dominic sat back in the chair and stared at the gift until the light outside the window dulled to gray afternoon. The study had grown cold despite the fire, the scent of smoke clinging to the drapes, mingling with the sea salt that always found its way into the office. He hadn’t moved in an hour. He’d tried to read reports, tally supplies, check the border patrols,anything, but his thoughts returned again and again to that damnable silver thing glinting on his desk.
A leash and a collar. Leonid’s idea of humor.
The insult wasn’t just for him, of course. It was for Layla, for the entire Volkhov Pack. A reminder that the Alpha of Skymist had bound himself to a woman born low, unshifted, unsuitable, a Luna whose weakness would drag them all down.
Hundreds of years ago, when the world was far more savage than it was even now, when alphas couldownas many females as they liked, it was customary to collar the low-ranking ones. The slaves and concubines who sat below themate.
Dominic flexed his hand once against the desk.
He should ignore the insult. Forget it. It was nothing more than a childish attempt to get under his skin. He refused to let it work.
And yet.
The whole point of choosing Layla, of mating her, was because Arthur had gotten it into his head that Layla was histrue mate. The one who would lead to gifts of strength and war bestowed by Lunarion himself.
He never should have been so foolish. He had no special powers, no more than before. Instead, he was dealing with stupid insults like this one.
Not to mention, she was avoiding him. He could feel it in the distance of that mating pulse, in the way it dimmed whenever he reached for it. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to mute him, yet somehow, she did.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, forcing his breath steady. He was Alpha of the Volkhov Pack. His control should be absolute over his temper, his instincts, even his mate. But for the past week, everything felt out of step. His temper frayed too easily. His command rang hollow. His wolf stirred under his skin like an animal trapped in too small a cage.
And through it all, Layla.
Every thought circled back to her. Every restless hour of sleep was full of the sound of her voice, the scent of her hair, the memory of her standing in candlelight at the mating ceremony with the same look she had given him that night so many years ago. Half fear, half disbelief.
All desire.
He kept his promise not to touch her. He hadn’t so much as laid a hand on her since. But it was costing him.
The restraint burned. It wasn’t just want; it was something deeper, heavier. The bond wantedcompletion. His body wanted what his mind refused.
He pushed to his feet suddenly, the chair scraping against the floorboards. The motion startled a few embers from the hearth; they fell and died before they could touch the carpet. He paced once across the room, then again, hands tight at his sides.
