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I threw his hand off, but thespotwas already exposed. “I am his mate. Marked or not.”
“He has not claimed you. You hold no authority until he does,” Rafael snarled. “Don’t spout shit you know nothing about. It only makes you look foolish, bloodsucker.”
I squared my shoulders, peering down my nose at him. “Your need to resort to insults tells me you fear me. You fear the position I have with your brother, and you fear the authority I will have. You don’t mask it well.”
I didn’t know if Dominic would ever claim me in their way or if the mark and bond wolves shared with their mates would even work on my kind. There were too many what-ifs. But I knew the regard he held me in. Denying the quickening was enough. The rest would come with time, and I would assert my authority when I needed to.
“Your need to pretend you will ever be above me is laughable, but I actually don’t care about that. What I care about is making sure my brother doesn’t choose death for you.”
“All of this is moot,” Dominic cut in, silencing us both. “I’ve made my decision. There won’t be any changing it. I love him. I tried living without him, and I was miserable. If death is the choice, I’d rather go with dignity and face my fate than remain a husk of myself and deny myself any shred of happiness.”
“You can have him. No one denies you a life with him. We don’t even complain that he’s basically moved in. What I’m asking is that you don’t offer yourselves to the fucking wolves.” The rage in Raf’s eyes when he looked at me was palpable, but I had to ignore it.
Nothing good would come of fighting with his brother before we started a civil war.
“I can’t have him and continue to be what you expect of me. I nearly killed myself preventing anything from coming of the quickening in years past. I can’t do it again.”
Rafael turned to stare at him. “What did you do?”
“Does it matter?” Dominic sounded exhausted.
“It does matter if you broke our laws.” Rafael’s upper lip raised, disgust dripping from his words.
“I broke no laws.” Dominic wouldn’t. He didn’t have it in him. He cared too much about doing this right. If anyone knew how close he followed the laws, it was me. It had kept him away from me for years.
“What. Did. You. Do?” Rafael demanded again.
“I don’t see that it’s any of your business…but I made a deal with a witch.”
Rafael coughed, his eyes bulging. “What did you give her? What did she give you?”
“I traded a piece of myself for the ability to prevent giving myself that night,” Dominic said, and I believed his words were cryptic on purpose.
I bit back a snarl. I would be asking him later what he traded and how I didn’t know about it if his brother could pull it out of him. I did not like the prospect of a piece of Dominic handed over to that type of person. A deal with the devil never worked the way anyone intended. I’d seen too many of them.
“What the fuck did you give her?”
“It’s done. Why are we fighting about it?” He was so matter-of-fact about it. So curt and cold.
Rage built in my chest. The longer Dominic wouldn’t say it, the worse it sounded. But it wasn’t wholly aimed at him. Part of this was my fault. Dominic had gone to her because I wasn’t at his side to aid him, and there might now be long-lasting consequences from his choices, but I put that out of my head for the moment. We had a bigger problem to face in the days ahead.
“Because I want to know. Why didn’t you talk to me?” Rafael seemed equal parts hurt and betrayed. That made two of us.
“Because to you, it’s only a woman. A willing woman at that. I’m sure you don’t care how many of your offspring are out there, but I can’t live like that. I don’t want children.”
“You’re the fucking alpha.” Raf threw his hands in the air. “You have to have an heir.”
“I don’t need one. I will do what I can, and then whoever takes my place can mess with such things. Heirs only end up second on the chopping block.”
I winced. He was right, as much as it turned my stomach. If someone challenged him and killed him for his position, any offspring would be next to go. No one liked children of an old alpha coming back to stake their claim. A barbaric way to live, but it was the way of the world. Much like the quickening, it was their way of life, and they all accepted it.
“Dominic…” Raf’s tone turned to pleading.
How could he have been raised with Dominic and not know that once his mind was made up, there was no turning back? Dominic would withstand any tide.
“It’s done, Raf. I told you to decide. Are you with me or against me?”
They stared at one another. Not a sound passed for a full minute.
