Chapter 2

I nodded. "You first?"

He shook his head. "You…. How are you feeling? Adjusting well enough?" He shook his head. "I imagine Arielle has been a whirlwind."

I laughed. "That's a way of putting it." I looked out across the sea. “Honestly, I don’t know if I know how to think beyond it,” I admitted softly. “It feels like it’s been swallowing me whole. Mountainhowl, Arielle, feels like a whole other world and…” I shook my head. "I'm not sure how I'll ever get used to it."

“One step at a time," he said gently. “You’re not meant to live your entire life fighting."

"Tell Arielle that."

He snorted. "Arielle was made to spend her life fighting whatever battle she thinks is worth her time. But you…" He shook his head. "I think your choice of career suits you better."

I frowned. "What… do you mean by that?"

"I think wherever you end up… in whatever pack structure and placement, you'd shine safeguarding the financial and social well-being of that pack."

I blinked. I scoffed. "You're saying I'm not made for fighting."

"Not that you can't, but I don't think that's where you'd find any joy." I looked up at him. "And that's… finding a path to joy should be your focus."

I bit my lip, fiddling with the edge of my napkin. “I used to wonder if… if maybe I had done something in a past life that made this my life…" I sighed. "Now, I just think it was bad luck, I guess."

"A good way to see it. "So how goes your studies? Are you looking to transfer to another company?"

I shook my head. "I haven't thought that far ahead with everything happening. For now my plan is to finish school, eventually work in a higher level of finance. Make my own way. Be independent. I think that's what my mom would want for me."

"What do you want for you?"

I smiled wryly. "Haven't had a lot of time to think about that yet."

He nodded. "I understand."

"What about you?"

He chuckled. "I'm a bit too far down the path to worry about it."

"I don't think so."

"Someone else going to run Brightclaw?"

I grimaced. "Well… aside from that."

He chuckled. "It's fine."

"What would you be doing if you weren't running Brightclaw?"

He blinked. He looked away. "I… always thought I would be in business."

I blinked at him. "More than you are now."

He nodded. "I majored in engineering and business. I thought--- well, if things had been different, I would have gone to study in Mountainhowl."

I blinked. "For… what?"

"Magical engineering." He smiled. "But I've had to put that aside for the sake of the pack."

"You don't think you could… work it in somehow. Maybe… after things calm down."

He shrugged. "I dabble. Tinker, I guess you be the best word for it."

"Are you secretly building cars or something?" He said nothing for a moment. My jaw dropped. "Really? Cars?"

His lips twitched. "Motorocycles actually."

"Is there any chance I could see one of these?"

His eyes widened. "You… would want to?"

"I'm so curious."

His expressioni softened and he nodded. "I'll… put it on the calendar."

"That's so cool," I said. "I can't make anything. Terrible with my hands. Even messy painting is a disaster."

He laughed. "Isn't it supposed to be messy?"

"Yes, but not that messy, I'm pretty sure."

"Maybe you just need more practice."

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I… never got a chance to take any art classes."

"Brightclaw has an art program through the government." He tilted his head. "Look into it if it's something you might be interested in. "Crafting, too…"

"Really?" I tilted my head. "Seems… odd."

"My mother set it up. She was a big fan of the arts."

I nodded. I didn't know much about Dominic's family. I was pretty sure that his mother had died before I was born. His father too… Most of his family honestly. I swallowed, imagining a graveyard full of headstones of people that should have been around to support and help him.

People who might have been able to steer Vivian away from the path she was on, maybe make her a better person.

“You ever feel like… if one thing had been different, just one thing, that your whole life would be unrecognizable?"

His eyes darkened before he nodded slowly. "Often."

"I feel… like I'm at the part right before that moment." He looked up and met my gaze. "Like I’m standing at the edge of something that's going to decide my whole life… And I’m terrified of what happens if I take the next step.”

His hand reached across the table, brushing lightly over mine. The warmth of his touch burned through me, making my chest ache.

“You're not just talking about your career."

I shook my head.

"Sometimes, you know when those moments will come. They're normal. And some times they come out of left field." He met my gaze. "I think… in those moments it's better to recognize that you have no way of knowing the steps after you make the decision, so rather than worrying about it, fretting about it, make the best decision you can. The one you and your conscience can live with."

He'd… said something like this to me in my past life. On that trip that I had ended up saving Vivian from her self.

"The one that won't keep me up at night?"

He blinked, seemingly stunned before he nodded. "Exactly."

The waiter came back. "Are we ready to order, folks?"

I looked up, biting my lip.

"Would you like me to order for us?" I nodded, grateful. I didn't recognize a single thing on the menu.

Dominic ordered and the waiter left. And the somber air of the night started to fade. We talked about books and music. The food came and we laughed as we tried to figure out how to eat oysters on the half shell. It was slimy and I would never eat a raw oyster again, but the little shrimp things and the citrusy salad of what looked like cooked fish was tasty.

It was just Dominic and me, talking about everything and nothing. The food was excellent, the view of the ocean at night even more breathtaking, but none of it compared to the way his eyes softened every time I laughed. By the time we made it back to the little cottage I was sharing with Arielle, my nerves had returned, but for entirely different reasons.

"You said you had a healer's appointment?"

He nodded. "Another one tomorrow. Then, I'll be headed back to Brightclaw… I assume the healer will clear me for getting ripped to shreds in court."

I chuckled as we reached the door. The faint glow of the porch light made his eyes seem darker. The sound of the waves were still audible in the distance. My heart hammered as I turned to face him.

“Would you like to come in?” I asked, my voice quiet but steady.

For a moment, I saw the temptation flicker in his eyes, but he shook his head.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Renee.”

“Because of the court case,” I guessed, not bothering to hide my disappointment.

He nodded, stepping back a little as if to put more space between us. “Everything is too complicated right now. I need you to trust me to do right by you.”

"Speaking of, I want you to know that I’m going to push for a relinquishment of guardianship over you, Renee. I want it severed completely.”

I nodded. "You were… against it before."

He went on, his tone gentler. “It shouldn't have happened in the first place. They should have emancipated you completely. I'm sure Arielle already has plans to rip them to shreds for it, too.”

The way he said it made my chest ache. Not because I didn’t want that freedom, but because if he wasn't my guardian, I wondered how this growing thing between us would fare. if he was no longer my guardian, would that mean he would stop looking after me entirely? Would there be no more dinners like tonight? No more late-night talks or stolen glances?

Would this—whatever this was—just… disappear?

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words tangled. In the end, I simply nodded, even though my chest ached. I understood why it had to be done. The legal ties between us needed to be severed. I needed to be free from Brightclaw’s control, from the complicated mess that was Phillip and Frostborne and whatever machinations Phillip had set up.

Dominic took one last lingering look at me, his expression full of things neither of us could say aloud.

“And… after that? After the guardianship is over. What happens then?”

I dragged my gaze up and went still at the blazing, intense heat in his eyes. The weight of it settled on my skin like a slow burn, making my pulse jump.

His voice dropped, low and deliberate. “As soon as I’m no longer your guardian, Renee—” his eyes traveled over me with a hunger that sent a shiver through my whole body “—all bets are off.”

My mouth was dry, and I stood there, stunned.