Chapter 292
Ellie’s POV
The guards hauled Colt back, but he kept struggling, bloodshot eyes locked on Vivian. He looked like a man possessed. It seemed my perfume had done the trick after all.
“Wait!” he said again. “Vivian is my fated mate!”
The room went silent.
Dominic’s head snapped toward Vivian. She was still pressed against the wall, one hand clutching her throat where Colt had nearly bitten her. There was no mark. He didn’t do it in time. Good. I never meant for it to go quite that far; just far enough to make Dominic jealous, to prove to myself, to him, and to everyone else what he always intended to replace me with her, anyway.
“Is this true?” Dominic asked.
Vivian’s mouth opened and closed. Her eyes were wide, panicked, darting between Colt and Dominic like a trapped animal.
“No,” she finally said. “No, it’s not-he’s lying. He’s delusional.”
“I’m not lying!” Colt wrenched against the guards’ grip. “We’re mates. She felt it the moment she saw me, just like I did. She’s been avoiding me ever since.”
Vivian shook her head rapidly. “That’s not true!”
“I did what you asked, Vivian!” Colt’s voice cracked. “I delivered your letters. I stayed quiet. And you still won’t even talk to me! What more do you want?”
I straightened. Letters?
Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “What letters?”
Colt looked between them, then seemed to realize he’d said too much. His jaw snapped shut.
Vivian’s face had gone pale. She pushed off the wall, smoothing down her dress with shaking hands. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Please, Vivian,” Colt said. His voice was quieter now. “You promised we could talk. You promised.”
Vivian remained silent.
My mind raced. So Vivian was behind the letters after all; I figured as much. I looked at Dominic, but his expression betrayed nothing. If he was also involved in that whole scheme, then he was doing a damn good job of hiding it right now.
“Why would you ignore your mate?” Dominic asked Vivian. “Finding one’s mate is precious. It’s a miracle at all that Ellie just happened to find him on the side of the road and-”
He stopped mid-sentence.
I watched the realization come over his face. His eyes went wide for just a second before they hardened, and when he turned to look at me, I knew exactly what he was thinking.
“You knew,” he said.
I kept my expression neutral. “Knew what?”
“You knew he was her mate. You brought him here on purpose.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. I folded my arms and shrugged. “It was kismet. Nothing more.”
Dominic stared at me. I stared back.
1/2
+30 Bonus
Vivian was watching us both, her face cycling through about a dozen different emotions before landing on something that looked like fear. But I saw what was really hiding under the surface: rage. Because I’d almost gotten her this time. I was this close. And she knew it.
I turned to her and smiled innocently. “You should be with your mate, Vivian. Be happy.”
Her eyes narrowed.
With that, I turned to leave, already planning my exit strategy from this house, from this pack, from all of it. My ankle protested as I put my weight on it, but I ignored the pain and kept walking.
I made it two steps when something fell against the floor. Shattered beneath my shoe before I could stop myself. And immediately, the air became filled with a potent, unmistakable scent.
Slowly, I lifted my foot to see a tiny vial, the very same one I’d put the perfume in, sitting in shards amongst a puddle of clear liquid.
Everyone froze as the intoxicating scent wafted up from the floorboards. It was sweet and musky, like flowers mixed with delicate sweat. Every wolf in that room went still, then began to bristle, buzzing in the air with an electricity that was undeniably irresistible.
I looked down at my foot. The liquid had splattered up across the exposed skin of my toes and ankle.
No, no, no.
Why did I have to choose today, of all days, to wear fucking sandals?
I turned and swallowed. Dominic’s eyes had gone black.
I barely had time to register the change before he moved. One second he was standing near Vivian, and the next he was so close I stumbled back. My spine hit the wall hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs, and then he was there, caging me in with both hands pressed flat against the wall on either side of my head.
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