Chapter Seventeen
Dominic
He was surprised that he had been able to drift off to sleep at all with the tension still coursing through his body. But the instant shifting that he’d been going through was enough to make even the most alert wolf shut his eyes for just a moment.
Without knowing when he’d fallen asleep it was hard to know just exactly how long he’d been out of it but Dominic woke suddenly, his heart thudding loudly in his chest. What had it been that had startled him so much? Was it something in the house? Was it Olivia moving around?
Dominic sat up and listened closely but the inside of the house was still and silent. Still, the tiny pin pricks on the back of his neck wouldn’t stop tingling and Dominic couldn’t relax. Something was there, something had woken not only the human but the wolf.
The cabin was dark inside but Dominic had no problem adjusting to the light. His instinct was kicking every part of his senses into high gear. Ever so quietly he stood from the couch, preventing even the tiniest groan from the old cushion springs.
Tentatively, as to not make a sound, he walked to the back of the house to check on Olivia. He berated himself with every step he took. How could he have let himself fall asleep? How had he been so careless? With the attack so close he should have followed through with the plan he’d had in the morning and shift to stand guard on the porch all night.
But it was too late. If the poachers were there then they’re aware of his presence. He’d failed to guard the grounds and now he was going to have to search for them instead of being ready for them.
He cracked the bedroom door and saw that she was sleeping under the pile of blankets, peacefully. It had taken everything he had to not stay in the bedroom with her, close them both off from the world, and just let fate take over. Even after her confession about how stifled she felt in her life, even after how much he’d been trying to push her away, Dominic knew deep down that both of them wanted whatever was happening between them. As complicated and impossible as it seemed
He had refused to stay with her in that bed because he knew it was his responsibility to guard her and the pack. But somewhere between the weary feelings in his bones from the amount of times he’d shifted in the last couple of days and the complete confusion that Olivia brought to his life, things had become messy inside of him. He never thought he’d be wrapped up with a woman like this, and he was more twined around her finger than even he knew yet.
And he’d only known her for a couple of days.
Dominic shut the door again and walked back through the cabin.
He was torn. Should he stay inside and make sure that Olivia was safe, or should he step out into the dark of the night and protect the pack?
If he went quickly then maybe he could do both. He should wake Atticus, tell him that he had a feeling that something was out there. Of course, Attics being the Alpha probably already knew and was out patrolling himself. So, maybe Dominic should just trust in Atticus and go in the opposite direction. Just a few paces, not straying far from where Olivia slept. He would be back well before she even knew he was gone.
Dominic left the house, making sure to make no noise. Carefully he scanned the outside, though in the dark it was hard to see much. His senses were stronger as a shifter than a human’s would normally be, but they were even better when he was already shifted. With a last look at his own cabin’s door, he took a few steps off of his porch and down into the soft earth.
It would still be possible to go to another’s cabin and knock on the door, just to make sure there was some backup in case his suspicions were true. But then a twig snapped just ahead of him, in the woods mere steps from where he was, and Dominic knew there may not be much time. But if he could find these poachers, surprise them and stop their game he can prevent more murders of shifters.
Quickly, Dominic’s body shuddered, releasing the wolf inside of him. He stretched his legs, feeling his muscles prepare for what the animal was going to need to do next.
With each step he made toward the trees where he’d heard the sound, his heavy paws made their mark in the dirt. A breeze blew and he let himself stop and sniff into it, trying to find any scent that he didn’t recognize. If people were lurking around as he suspected, then the unfamiliar scent of them would hit him quickly.
His nose found something and Dominic stopped and froze. What was it? Where was it coming from? There were many new scents lingering in the air, too undefinable. He kept walking gingerly, avoiding any fallen branches and trying to keep the crunch of leaves to a minimum. Luckily with the amount of rain they’d been experiencing, things were soggy and easy to move through quietly.
Tingles started to chase up his spine and instinct was telling him that they were getting close to the cabins or he was getting close towards them. He knew that with his fighting skills he could take at least a few of the poachers on, but if there were too many he was going to be in deep trouble. Maybe if he could at least stop enough of them from attacking the cabins, the rest would get scared off.
Dominic’s eyes darted around in the dark, every shadow that moved he felt himself tense in preparation for a brutal fight. Flashes of the last fight he’d been in, the most brutal one he’d ever had, where his brother had lost control and let his wolf release after he’d caught Dominic with Cherise together.
Ronald had let out a blood curdling growl and his wolf ripped out of him. Flying across the room in attack, ready to kill his own twin, Dominic had barely had time to shift in defense of his brother’s attack. But once he did, Dominic immediately overtook him, his strength far outweighed his weaker brother’s. By the time the fight was over and Ronald had crawled to the corner to nurse his wounds, there was blood, wounds, and a frightened Cherise cowering in the corner.
Dominic was never able to be sure if it was that he had charmed Cherise away from Ronald or that he’d torn at him so badly during the fight that had caused his parents to send him away. Since then he’d thought about the fight often, secretly ashamed at his behavior, but in the moments while he was slinking through the woods on high alert and ready for an even bigger brawl, he was glad to know that he had that kind of aggression in himself.
After all, if he could so ruthlessly attack his own twin brother, someone he’d once not only shared a castle with but also the closeness of a womb, then he could certainly do far more damage to someone who was attacking his new pack. Especially someone who was threatening Olivia.