Chapter 4
He was exactly as I remembered — and nothing like Alaric.
Where Alaric was golden and cold, Dominic was dark and intense. Black hair, sharp jaw, steel-grey eyes that locked onto me like I was the only thing in the world worth seeing.
He was tall — taller than Alaric — and moved with the quiet control of a predator who never needed to prove his strength.
He stopped three feet away. His eyes swept over me — not appraising, not judging. Just... seeing.
"You've been crying," he said. Not a question.
"No." My voice held. "I stopped crying hours ago."
Something flickered in his gaze. The ghost of approval.
"Good." He extended his hand. "Then let's begin."
---
His grip was warm. Steady. Nothing like the cold that Alaric always carried.
I climbed into his car without looking back. The convoy turned south, and just like that, five years of my life shrank to nothing in the rearview mirror.
Dominic sat beside me in silence for the first twenty minutes. Not awkward silence — the kind that said *I'm not going to push you.* The kind I'd never once received from Alaric.
Finally, I spoke. "You know this is political."
"Everything is political."
"I mean — I don't love you. I barely know you."
He turned his head, those grey eyes studying me with unsettling calm.
"I'm not asking you to love me, Selene. I'm asking you to let me be the man who stands beside you — not behind you, not above you. Beside."
I searched his face for the lie. The angle. The manipulation.
I found nothing but steady patience.
"My father told you about my bloodline," I said. "That's why you agreed to this."
"Your father told me many things." Dominic leaned back, crossing his arms. "He told me about the healer gene. The alliance value. The political leverage against Blackwood."
He paused.
"Then he told me what Alaric did to you for five years. And that's when I said yes."
My breath caught. "Don't pity me."
"I don't." His voice was firm. "I respect you. There's a difference."
The car moved through the darkening forest. Outside, his territory was beginning — I could feel it in the air. Warmer. Wilder. Alive in a way the Blackwood lands had never been.
"There's something you should know," I said, before I could stop myself. "Before we go further."
Dominic waited.
My hand moved to my stomach — barely a conscious decision.
His eyes tracked the movement. And I watched his expression shift — not shock, not anger, not the disgust I'd braced for.
Understanding.
"Blackwood's?" he asked quietly.
"Yes."
Silence. The road hummed beneath us.
Then Dominic Ashford, the most feared Alpha on the continent, said something I will never forget.
"Then I'll raise it as mine. And I'll kill anyone who tries to take it from you."
I didn't cry. I'd promised myself I was done crying.
But something inside me — something that had been clenched tight for five years — finally, finally loosened.
"Why?" I whispered. "You don't even know me."
He looked out the window. When he spoke, his voice was low, almost private.
"Because my mother was a rejected mate too. And no one stood for her. I watched her die alone in a cold room while my father paraded his chosen around like a trophy."
His jaw tightened.
"I swore I'd never be that man. And I swore that if I ever had the chance to protect someone the way she deserved — I wouldn't hesitate."
The convoy passed through iron gates. A vast estate sprawled before us — stone and ivy and warmth glowing from a hundred windows.
"Welcome to Ashford territory," Dominic said. "No one touches you here. Not Alaric. Not his wolves. Not anyone."
I stepped out of the car and looked up at the house that would become my home.
For the first time in five years, I felt something I'd forgotten existed.
Safe.
Where Alaric was golden and cold, Dominic was dark and intense. Black hair, sharp jaw, steel-grey eyes that locked onto me like I was the only thing in the world worth seeing.
He was tall — taller than Alaric — and moved with the quiet control of a predator who never needed to prove his strength.
He stopped three feet away. His eyes swept over me — not appraising, not judging. Just... seeing.
"You've been crying," he said. Not a question.
"No." My voice held. "I stopped crying hours ago."
Something flickered in his gaze. The ghost of approval.
"Good." He extended his hand. "Then let's begin."
---
His grip was warm. Steady. Nothing like the cold that Alaric always carried.
I climbed into his car without looking back. The convoy turned south, and just like that, five years of my life shrank to nothing in the rearview mirror.
Dominic sat beside me in silence for the first twenty minutes. Not awkward silence — the kind that said *I'm not going to push you.* The kind I'd never once received from Alaric.
Finally, I spoke. "You know this is political."
"Everything is political."
"I mean — I don't love you. I barely know you."
He turned his head, those grey eyes studying me with unsettling calm.
"I'm not asking you to love me, Selene. I'm asking you to let me be the man who stands beside you — not behind you, not above you. Beside."
I searched his face for the lie. The angle. The manipulation.
I found nothing but steady patience.
"My father told you about my bloodline," I said. "That's why you agreed to this."
"Your father told me many things." Dominic leaned back, crossing his arms. "He told me about the healer gene. The alliance value. The political leverage against Blackwood."
He paused.
"Then he told me what Alaric did to you for five years. And that's when I said yes."
My breath caught. "Don't pity me."
"I don't." His voice was firm. "I respect you. There's a difference."
The car moved through the darkening forest. Outside, his territory was beginning — I could feel it in the air. Warmer. Wilder. Alive in a way the Blackwood lands had never been.
"There's something you should know," I said, before I could stop myself. "Before we go further."
Dominic waited.
My hand moved to my stomach — barely a conscious decision.
His eyes tracked the movement. And I watched his expression shift — not shock, not anger, not the disgust I'd braced for.
Understanding.
"Blackwood's?" he asked quietly.
"Yes."
Silence. The road hummed beneath us.
Then Dominic Ashford, the most feared Alpha on the continent, said something I will never forget.
"Then I'll raise it as mine. And I'll kill anyone who tries to take it from you."
I didn't cry. I'd promised myself I was done crying.
But something inside me — something that had been clenched tight for five years — finally, finally loosened.
"Why?" I whispered. "You don't even know me."
He looked out the window. When he spoke, his voice was low, almost private.
"Because my mother was a rejected mate too. And no one stood for her. I watched her die alone in a cold room while my father paraded his chosen around like a trophy."
His jaw tightened.
"I swore I'd never be that man. And I swore that if I ever had the chance to protect someone the way she deserved — I wouldn't hesitate."
The convoy passed through iron gates. A vast estate sprawled before us — stone and ivy and warmth glowing from a hundred windows.
"Welcome to Ashford territory," Dominic said. "No one touches you here. Not Alaric. Not his wolves. Not anyone."
I stepped out of the car and looked up at the house that would become my home.
For the first time in five years, I felt something I'd forgotten existed.
Safe.