Chapter 55 A Night Under His Roof
Dahila’s POV
“The child should not leave your sight tonight, Alpha.”
The healer’s voice was steady, but I could see the unease behind his eyes.
Dagnoth stood across the chamber, tall and unreadable, shadows cutting across his face from the dying torchlight. Liam had fallen asleep against my chest again, his fever reduced but not gone. His small fingers still clutched my tunic.
“For safety,” the healer continued carefully, “I advise that Liam remain with you.”
My heart dropped.
“With him?” I asked before I could stop myself.
The healer nodded. “The reaction was strongest in the Alpha’s presence. If it surges again, he will be the only one strong enough to contain it.”
Contain it.
They spoke about my son like he was a storm.
Dagnoth’s jaw tightened slightly. “And the seer?”
“We should summon her,” the healer replied. “But she will not arrive before dawn. Tonight… proximity may prevent another awakening.”
Silence stretched.
I felt my wolf stir anxiously inside me.
No.
Dahila this is too dangerous, he will see. My wolf spoke in my head.
I swallowed.
“I’m not comfortable with that,” I said, my voice firm even as my pulse raced.
Dagnoth’s eyes moved to me slowly. “Comfort is not the priority.”
Anger flared. “He is my son.”
“And he is under my protection while inside this pack.”
His tone wasn’t cruel. It was worse.
It was final, it left no room for argument
My wolf paced inside my mind.
We need to leave.
Maybe tonight dahila, before the seer comes.
What if the truth is dragged out of us.
I tightened my hold on Liam.
I had secrets buried deeper than this pack’s foundations. Secrets that would not survive the seer’s sight.
The healer cleared his throat. “Alpha… if the child resists separation from his mother, it may destabilize him further.”
Dagnoth’s gaze flicked briefly to Liam.
As if summoned by the words, Liam stirred.
His eyes fluttered open.
“Mummy?” he whispered weakly.
“I’m here,” I breathed immediately, kissing his forehead.
His fingers tightened. “Don’t go.”
My chest cracked.
Dagnoth stepped closer. Too close his cologne was enough to distract but not as much as his gaze. The heat from his body brushed against my skin.
“I am not taking him from you,” he said quietly.
I looked up sharply. “You just agreed to it.”
“I agreed he would stay with me,” he corrected. “Not that you would leave.”
My breath hitched.
The healer blinked. “Alpha?”
“If the child reacts to me,” Dagnoth continued calmly, though something flickered in his eyes, “then we remove the risk of distress. They both stay.”
“With you?” I asked.
His gaze locked with mine.
“Yes.”
The word settled heavy between us.
My wolf growled softly inside my head.
Dangerous.
Too close.
You react to him.
I did.
That was the problem.
Standing near Dagnoth made my body feel aware in ways I did not like. My skin felt too tight. My breathing too shallow. There was a pull that was low and steady that I kept trying to ignore.
“I don’t think that is appropriate,” I said carefully.
A corner of his mouth twitched faintly. “You are concerned for propriety?”
“I am concerned about boundaries.”
His voice dropped lower. “You think I will cross them?”
My pulse jumped.
“I think,” I replied evenly, “that you are used to taking what you want.”
His eyes darkened.
“And you,” he said softly, “are used to running.”
The words hit too close.
Liam whimpered again. “Mama… stay.”
I looked down at him, torn.
If I refused, suspicion would grow.
If I agreed, I risked everything.
The healer bowed slightly. “It is only for the night.”
Only for the night.
One night under the same roof as the most powerful male in the pack.
One night of him watching.
One night of me trying not to break.
“Fine,” I said at last. “We stay.”
His chambers were larger than I expected, but not warm. Dark wood. Stone walls. A fire burning low in the hearth, It was not the usual
chamber I knew and that was alone to make a chill run down my spine.
It smelled like him.
Clean steel. Smoke. Something darker beneath.
I tried not to notice.
Dagnoth closed the door behind us. The sound echoed louder than it should have.
Liam shifted in my arms again. “Don’t like it here,” he mumbled.
Dagnoth stepped forward slowly. “You are safe here.”
Liam looked at him.
Not afraid.
Studying.
That unsettled me more.
“There is a smaller bed near the hearth,” Dagnoth said, gesturing. “He can rest there.”
I hesitated before laying Liam down. He clung to me.
“I need my mommy,” he whispered.
My heart twisted.
Before I could answer, Dagnoth spoke.
“Then she stays beside you.”
I looked at him sharply.
“And where will you be?” I asked.
His gaze held mine without wavering. “Here.”
Of course.
This was his room.
My wolf shifted uneasily.
Too close. Too intimate.
I sat beside Liam, brushing his hair back gently. Slowly, his breathing evened out.
Silence filled the space.
Heavy. Aware.
I could feel Dagnoth watching me.
“Stop,” I said quietly.
“Stop what?”
“Looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you are trying to read my thoughts.”
He stepped closer.
“I don’t need to read them,” he murmured. “They’re loud.”
My spine straightened. “You know nothing about my thoughts.”
“I know you are planning something.”
My stomach dropped.
“I am planning to protect my child,” I replied evenly.
His eyes searched mine.
“From me?”
“If necessary.”
The fire cracked softly between us.
He crouched slightly so we were eye level. Too close again. My breath caught before I could control it.
“You think I want to harm him?” he asked quietly.
“I think,” I whispered, “that you fear what you cannot control.”
His jaw tightened.
“And you?” he countered. “What do you fear?”
The seer.
The prophecy.
You.
“I fear losing what little I have left,” I answered instead.
Something shifted in his expression.
Not softness.
But understanding.
“That makes two of us,” he said quietly.
The admission surprised me.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
The firelight flickered across his face, softening the hard lines. He looked less like an Alpha carved from stone… and more like a man carrying too much.
My body betrayed me.
Heat spread slowly under my skin.
I stood abruptly. “I will sleep beside Liam.”
“There is a larger bed,” he said.
“I am not sharing it.”
“I did not offer.”
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly again.
I glared at him, but my heart was racing.
He moved to the far side of the room, removing his outer tunic. I looked away quickly, but not before catching the outline of muscle beneath fabric.
Annoying male.
“Relax,” he said calmly. “If I intended to cross a line, I would not wait for permission.”
I stiffened. “That is not comforting.”
His low chuckle surprised me.
“Sleep, Dahila.”
The way he said my name—
Quiet. Controlled. Almost careful.
It did something to me.
I lay beside Liam, pulling a blanket over us.
But sleep did not come easily.
Because even with distance between us… I could feel him.
Aware and watching and fighting something just as hard as I was.
Somewhere in the dark, my wolf whispered again.
'If we stay… the truth will surface.'
I stared at the ceiling, then I made a silent vow.
At dawn, before the seer arrived, I would find a way to leave this pack. Even if it meant walking away from the pull that felt dangerously close to fate.