Chapter 5
Samantha’s POV
Was he here because of the twins? The thought struck me like a physical blow, and I gripped the glass in my hand so tightly that it almost shattered. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.
Had Dominic found out? My gaze locked onto him, and everything around me blurred into an indistinct haze of panic. He stood near the entrance, exuding authority and undeniable power, and yet I felt stripped bare under his stare, as if he could see right through every carefully constructed lie I had built around my life.
I swallowed hard, trying to push down the terror rising inside me. It’s impossible, I told myself desperately. There was no way he knew. I had gone to such lengths to protect my children—to hide our identities. I had changed my last name, changed their last names, and buried every trace of our past. Even to the twins, Dominic was nothing more than a ghost, a father I had lied about, saying he was dead.
But why was he here? Why now? The meeting was not supposed to include the Silver Crescent Pack. I had checked the guest list a dozen times, and made sure he was not meant to be anywhere near me before the printout of invitations.
And yet, there he was, looking more commanding, more... devastatingly handsome than I remembered. My wolf stirred uneasily inside me, a traitorous whisper of longing and need that I immediately silenced. ‘No. I will not fall for that again.’ I reminded my wolf whom I had just received when I gave birth to my twins.
Seeing Dominic today, he seemed taller somehow, more mature, like the years had added something I had not anticipated. I hated myself for even noticing. Anger and resentment twisted in my gut, but there was something else too—an attraction I could not ignore, an attraction that had only grown stronger since I gained my wolf. It was confusing, maddening even, to feel this pull, and I shoved it away, focusing instead on the rage that had sustained me for years.
He tore his gaze at me and they landed on Killian again, who stood close beside me. I watched as Dominic’s eyes narrowed, darkening in a way that made my breath hitch.
Was he assuming that Killian and I were together now?
The idea sent a jolt through me, and I instinctively tried to inch away, even though I knew how it might look.