Chapter 14
Dominic
The thing about the whole case was that I couldn’t help but be surprised. Surprised. Impressed, and a bit turned on. When I thought of my own daughter and how she would have reacted to all this, it was hard to compare them.
Vivian would have been screaming across the aisle. Wild, out of control, crying.
Renee didn’t even look like she was emotional.
Vivian would have cried and looked at me to save her, to defend her, and coerce the rest of the Panel to her side… She also probably wouldn’t have bothered coming with a full defense.
But Renee, as much as I did and didn’t want her to, didn’t even look at me–not once–not even as Philip sputtered beside her, red–faced and indignant, trying to claw back some shred of control.
“That’s ridiculous! I’m— that’s not — she can’t prove anything.”
Renee didn’t react to what he was saying. She didn’t even flinch. She stood in front of the council like she didn’t need our validation. Like she already knew what the outcome would be—because it was owed to her, because she knew, more than anyone, that the panel couldn’t deny the evidence.
And gods help me, l’admired her for it. She had dragged out every dark day of her entire childhood in front of a room full of wolves who didn’t want to hear her. Some of them didn’t even care, but were oath bound in the position to do something about it. She did it with surgical precision. Not a tear in sight. No dramatics. No emotional appeals to our better nature—which, let’s be honest, few of us had left.
Cold, hard facts. Ruthless and unyielding.
My wolf rumbled, pleased, watching her carefully. I went still feeling him shifting around in the back of my mind, rumbling contentedly in a way that he hadn’t in decades.
Smart. Ruthless. Beautiful.
I tried not to think about the emphasis he placed on the last word, but the other two were not any better. Hazel… my first wife had been smart, ruthless, and beautiful, but where she had a softness to her, a beguiling sort of vulnerability, Renee had an inner strength that she hadn’t.
Renee always had. It caught me off guard when I’d looked up one day and the young woman who had saved Vivian’s life was this curvy, beautiful, wildly intelligent being cutting through social nonsense with ruthless precision.
The thing that made me set my jaw and grind my teeth with barely restrained fury was that the hard edge in her tone, the rigidness in her posture wasn’t an act. It was real. Everyone was capable of being ruthless, but this was different.
This edge to her? I knew exactly where it came from. No one built armor like that, had proverbial daggers and swords like that unless someone taught you how much it hurt to bleed.
I didn’t need the records to know that she was telling the truth. It was evident now that I knew to look.
I kept waiting for a crack in her armor, yet, somehow… she made it look effortless.
i
It shouldn’t have stirred anything in me. I told myself it wouldn’t. She was young, for starters. Too young for the thoughts that tried to creep in when she locked eyes with me–just for a second–when she thanked me.
Gratitude shouldn’t have felt like a spark.
And yet my mind went back to that kiss, the desire that had burned so hot and bright I felt we would catch fire if we’d carried on.
I leaned back in my chair, arms folded, trying to act unaffected. I could feel the other councilmen glancing my way, gauging my reaction, waiting for me to speak or object or–hell–do something. But I stayed silent, seeming to simply be considering the situation. The truth was I didn’t know what to say.
I didn’t want to interrupt her, eager to see what else she would say and do. She was commanding the room in a way most Alphas twice her age never could even though she should have felt the most vulnerable right now, laying out years of abuse like this.
No one else spoke, likely because they couldn’t. I knew Renee personally, but Philip and had only ever been cordial. Some of the member of the Panel were good friends of hit or at least closer associates.I Had only ever been cordial. Some of the members of the panel were good friends at place, orland’s closer associates. They spent time at the Frostborne House. They should have been catching this. Renee didn’t have to say it for us all to know it was true. They should have been doing something about all of it. About the abuse. About the power Philip had misused. About the way the Panel members who knew him had stood there, silent, complicit, when he forced her to the altar like some livestock being paraded before her buyer.
And now? She was calling them out ruthlessly. It was just enough of a threat to make them do something. Because no one–not even these bitter old dogs–could argue with criminal charges, And it would be to work with nothing to make these charges public and stir up speculation. A lot of
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Chapter 14
packs across the continent were already experiencing unrest. If the Judicial Panel got caught up in this, it would be a nightmare.
The public might actually call for a restoration of the monarchy as crazy as that felt.
Luckily, Renee’s case was ironclad, making it impossible for them to even consider trying to get out of it. Not when the financials could be traced. Not when the compulsion left paper trails in her medical file.
She had built her case like a kill shot.
Fuck. I wanted to pull her into my chamber and put her on my desk, picking up from where I’d stopped that night. I hated myself for it. Hated that I found her more attractive by the second, and my wolf agreed wholesale. If it was just physically, I might have been more forgiving of my own instincts. She was a beautiful woman and it had been so long since I had even looked at a woman sexually. But no. It was her mind that was the most attractive to me right now.
I had seen her once before, curled up in her mother’s arms during a diplomatic visit to Frostborne, barely ten years old, still clinging to innocence like it might save her. And now… now she was standing toe to toe with the Panel.
My wolf stirred again, restless and itching to reach out to her. I shoved the feeling down.
Too young, I reminded myself. Too soon. Too dangerous.
Not for long.
I swallowed a curse at that thought. Goddess help me, I’d never been one for the safe choices.
Renee
“I’d like to request that the estate lawyer present the financial documentation now,” I said calmly.
He gave me a small nod and stood without fanfare and began to speak like someone who didn’t fear anyone in this room–not even Philip.
“I am contracted by her mother’s family, paid directly from the estate. I have here the compiled documentation requested, alongside full financial records from three different banking institutions and signed, notarized letters from all three confirming that account access to Ms. Caldwell’s personal and pack–affiliated accounts were frozen upon request from Philip Caldwell as retaliation.”
He laid out the documents one by one on the table, but no one asked the bailiff to step forward take them. It was a line–by–line breakdown of the estate. These include the endowment established in my for my education, wellness, and housing until the age of twenty–five, as well as my mother’s final will and testament. The misappropriation of funds began within mere days of her death and continued until the present day.
I tried not to think about how much money had walked away over the years.
Philip lurched to his feet. “That’s absurd! I’ve done no such-”
“The vast majority of the provided receipts were forged,” the lawyer cut him off without even looking his way, his voice as dry and unimpressed as ever. “I had the originals examined by an independent forensic specialist and tracked down the originals.”
The counci! chamber remained deathly quiet for a moment before the leading judge spoke again.
“Whether or not Ms. Caldwell is granted emancipation, the violation of fiduciary duty here is not only cause for removal from estate stewardship but, frankly, from his position as alpha of a pack altogether per the law.”
That got their attention.
The lead judge, the one who hadn’t looked me in the eye since I walked in, cleared his throat and adjusted his spectacles. “This is… extensive. And damning.”
Philip sneered. “You can’t take her word over mine! She’s just a child, trying to destroy her own father-”
“You’ve done that quite well yourself,” my lawyer replied flatly, returning to his seat.
“The Council will not rule on the emancipation at this time,” the leading judge said, his voice level but heavy with meaning. “However, given the
gement
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