He didn’t bow, didn’t hesitate. Just entered with the same quiet confidence that made lesser men instinctively step back.
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “Did you know?”
Julian watched him carefully, taking in his flexing muscles, the set of his jaw. “I suspected.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Dominic roared, slamming his hands down on the desk.
Julian didn’t flinch.
“Everything I do,” he said quietly, too quietly, “I do for the pack.”
They stared at each other, the silence stretching. Faintly, Dominic knew he was just looking for someone to blame. Somewhere to throw his rage. But something cut deeper than that, slicing far below the skin.
Julian hadn’t told him his suspicions. And it wasn’t like Layla was just some random member of the pack.
She was his mate.
He swallowed, focusing on the pounding of his heart, the roar of blood in his ears,anythingto ground him and stop him from launching himself over the desk and lunging for Julian’s throat.
Alpha or no, Julian would not go down without a fight. And he would be a formidable enemy.
Dominic’s head was too jumbled, his nerves too raw, to make that kind of decision now.
“Why are you here,” he snarled, his wolf thrashing in his chest.
Julian stepped further into the room, folding his hands behind his back. “I’m here because we’ve found something.”
Dominic’s pulse still thundered in his ears, his anger too raw for measured thought. “Unless it’s a way to undo the last few hours, I’m not interested.”
Julian ignored that. “We examined the hybrid’s body,” he said, “the one from Aurora Peak.”
Dominic’s attention snapped to him despite himself, “And?”
“There was coal dust under its claws. Beneath all the blood.”
“Coal dust?”
Julian tilted his head slightly. “There are mines all up and down the mountain range. But some run far deeper than others. We killed the hybrid before it had a chance to go and cover its scent trail. Take three guesses to where it led.”
Dominic sighed, scraping his hand through his hair. “Voskresen.”
“Voskresen,” Julian echoed, “I had some scouts do a preliminary sweep of all the major arteries of the old mining tunnels weeks ago, but they found no trace. But those systems go for miles. There’s no telling how deep beneath the earth the hybrids are hiding.”
Dominic’s hands clenched at his sides. The weight of it hit him, another threat, another danger crouched at the borders of his home, waiting for weakness.
And weakness was exactly what he’d just shown them.
The pack would know. They’d smell the tension, hear whispers of him collapsing. Leonid would hear before dusk.
Dominic turned sharply toward the window, staring out at the gray sprawl of the forest beyond the bay.
“I want every scout recalled,” he said. “Double the patrols near the mine. We go out at first light.”
Julian’s voice was even, but his gaze was sharp. “You want tohuntthem.”
Dominic didn’t look away from the window. “We’re done waiting for them to come to us.”
Julian was silent for a long moment. When he spoke again, his tone was careful. “You’re angry.”
