Chapter 108

Mira

“Why are you telling me this?”

The sound around me returned to normal, after a moment deafening ringing in my ears as the shock rolled over me.

Malachi shrugged. “We are both people of science, medicine, facts,” he said to me. “And I think you deserve to know the truth about the family you’ve married into.”

I stared at him, trying to keep my face steady and my heart from leaping out of my chest.

“So what are you saying, exactly? That Dominic’s mother was killed by her own people?” I felt spit fly from my mouth as I spoke. “That seems like a convenient story from the one accused of the same crime.”

“I made my fair share of mistakes, I don’t deny it,” Malachi said, his voice taking on a richer tone than I’d heard before. It was like for the first time he was using his diaphragm to protect sound. “I have paid dearly for my sins. But I am not the only one to bear the guilt of her death. I may have been the cause, but others did nothing to prevent it.”

My head was swirling with information and corresponding conspiracies and I needed to close my eyes for a moment. I felt a hand on my upper back, right between my shoulder blades, over my heart.

“Luna,” Wyatt’s voice was close in my ear, “we don’t have to stay here and listen to this. You’re torturing yourself with this man’s wild stories.”

“I’m alright,” I whispered back. I looked back up at Malachi. “What do you want me to do with this information? Are you trying to take down the Grey’s? Has that been your plan all along?”

The doctor smiled. It was a smile that made me feel small, simple, insignificant in someone else’s higher plan.

“I simply want to do what is best for our race, not just one Pack or another,” he said. “I see the potential for a great force, great power and control in this area and beyond. Imagine an entire world made for us, for our kind— what would you give to live without boundaries?”

His voice had a comforting lilt again, almost like he might start to hypnotize me at any moment. Maybe he already had.

“That’s…impossible,” I said, shifting my gaze on him slightly. My eyes wandered to Jeremiah, leaning against a pillar since we had stopped walking. What could an army of wolves of his size accomplish? “There are laws, societal and natural. You sound like Prometheus, testing the good will of the gods.”

“Now,” he said, amused, “I’d never thought of it that way.”

Malachi chuckled to himself, then started walking again. It seemed I wasn’t going to get a response. I followed him, and soon he stopped again at a blank wall with an unmarked door in the center. The only signage in sight was one on the door that said “Not An Exit.”

“I’ve told you before, and I still mean it,” Malachi said, “I could use you on my team. There is something special about you, Mira. And let’s just say, I owe it to you after what I did to you when you were young.”

I grimaced, and he looked almost sad.

“Come work for me,” he said, his hand reaching out unseen and taking mine. “We can create a new world together.”

He pressed his pale lips to the top of my hand, and a flash of power surged through me and out the top of my head. I swore my hair must’ve been standing on end.

“Follow your Fate, Luna Mira.”

He let go of my hand and walked to the door, opening it while looking back at me. Jeremiah went first, ducking under the doorframe, then Malachi followed after. When the door shut, Wyatt walked over and tried the handle, but it was locked.

We rode back in silence, besides the occasional grunt about directions. I did not question that Wyatt would keep this outing a secret, but still felt uneasy as we made it back to the Pack. I had him drop me at the hospital, making up important tasks that I had to accomplish.

In reality, I had nothing to do but snoop around, and I wasted no time. It wasn’t hard for me to find Dominic’s medical records, but they only proved more confusing. I knew his mother’s files were removed years ago, but Dominic’s own portfolio felt thin.

I found his birth certificate, confirming his blood type as matching mine: A negative. It didn’t confirm everything, but it also made everything more likely. But if Malachi was telling the truth, what did that mean about my family? Had the former Alpha or the elder Council really allowed Simone to die?

I put my head in my hands as I considered what it all meant, feeling lost and slightly afraid. I knew I had to talk to Dominic about it, but the thought of facing him felt nearly impossible at the moment.

After all, he was the reason I lost my wolf.

Dominic

I had dinner on the table when Mira got home, knowing that her day was an emotional one. There were flowers on the table, simple call lilies that the gardener pulled from the greenhouse for me.

Somewhere along the way I had become a man who wanted to dote on his wife. Six months ago I was still hardened to my emotions and desires, focused only on my duties to the Pack. Now, I longed to be a husband, a lover, and a father.

I thought back to the morning, rolling in the sheets with Mira. I smiled, fantasizing of doing something similar the minute she walked in the door. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and splashed some cold water on my face for good measure.

Mira came home looking weary. I let her deposit her bag and shoes, then she joined me in the dining room. She slumped down into a seat as I was bringing food in. I kissed the top of her head, and I felt her jump in her skin.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, fine.”

When she said nothing more I continued my tasks, eventually sitting down next to her. Mira pushed her food around on her plate, but drank nearly her whole water glass in one long gulp. When she didn’t start up any conversation, I decided I would pry her open a bit.

“How is she?” I asked. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she looked up at me. “Rae?”

“She’s…yeah, she’s good,” Mira said. “Just needed some girl time.”

“Did she say anything else about Julian?”

“No, not really,” Mira said, looking at the mush she was making on her plate. “She misses him, she’ll keep trying to reach him…”

She trailed off like she was falling asleep, so I didn’t push the matter. After dinner, she washed up and got ready for bed. No reading, no discussion of our days, no planning for tomorrow. She had her light out and was curled facing away from me by the time I made my way into the bedroom. My first reaction was to feel hurt, rejected, disrespected and ignored.

It was clear that something more had happened today, but Mira would only tell me when she was ready. I crawled in next to her, inching over to wrap my warm body around hers. It would be enough just to hold her.

But when my fingers touched her skin she flinched and shuffled away, whispering over her shoulder.

“Not tonight.”