CHAPTER 48: TRAPPED WITH MY SECRET II

The dark intensity in Alpha Dawn’s eyes was evident as he spoke those words—"Because I know who the person is". And the words, I realized, weren’t a boast or a threat; they were a cold statement of fact. He really knew. My heartbeat, which had only just started to slow, slammed into a dead stop, then restarted in a fast motion.

My throat felt constricted, and for a long, quiet moment, the only sound was the thundering of blood in my own ears. I stared back at him, forcing my eyes to remain wide and innocent, trying to conceal the panic that was tearing through me.

He knows. He knows it was me. He knows about the massacre. The thought was paralyzing. Traumatising.

"Who?" I managed to croak out, stopping my lips from quivering. I needed to know if he meant me, or if this was just another layer of his calculated game.

He held my gaze for another beat, his pupils dilated in the brightened light of the study.

"That, little doe, is not for you to know," he replied, his voice still low, but now mixed with a frustrating finality. He leaned back again, breaking the intense eye contact just like that. "The culprit will step forward. They will confess. Until then, it remains confidential."

I swallowed, the lie I’d told him about the brunch traitors suddenly feeling stupid. Had he known from the moment I told that lie about needing his protection? His words were a direct challenge to me. He wants me to confess.

"You... you expect the killer to simply walk up and confess to the Alpha?" I asked, trying to sound genuinely bewildered. "After such a brutal thing? That seems... naive, Alpha. Isn’t that something you would investigate discreetly?"

Dawn picked up the pen again, his focus returning to the documents scattered across the mahogany desk. "I have my own methods, Bambi. Methods that ensure the person is given the chance to show remorse and integrity before they are publicly outed and dealt with. It is a gesture of mercy that few in my position would offer."

The pressure of his gaze might have been gone, but the pressure in my mind intensified. Mercy. What did Dawn’s mercy look like for a wolf who hadn’t just killed five rogues, but had felt a terrifying, almost sexual satisfaction doing it? Freya’s warning screamed in my mind again: He will use it to lock you up.

I was about to speak again—perhaps to press him, perhaps to take the terrifying leap and confess, hoping his protection would outweigh his Alpha duty—when a sharp, serious knock sounded on the door.

Before either of us could respond, the heavy, ornate wood was pushed inward, and Luna Odessa stepped inside.

Her composure was, as always, immaculate, but her eyes were immediately drawn to me, seated on his sofa. The sweet, practiced smile that she had clearly arrived with dissolved instantly into a tight line of annoyance on her lips when she registered my presence.

Alpha Dawn, however, didn’t react to her abrupt entrance. He merely raised a single, questioning eyebrow at her from behind his desk.

"Odessa," he acknowledged, his tone flat, absence of warmth or annoyance. "You didn’t wait for an invitation."

Odessa cleared her throat, forcing her attention back to her mate. She managed to smooth her expression into something that resembled concern, though her eyes kept flickering back to me.

"I heard you abruptly adjourned the Council Chamber," she began, her voice careful as ever. "They said you left due to a pressing issue. Naturally, I came to check on you."

Dawn gave a curt nod, his pen already moving across a document. "Yes. I did."

"And what was this ’pressing issue’ that pulled you away from the Foreign Alphas and the North Border crisis?" she pressed.

Dawn’s eyes did not lift from the page, his nonchalance felt like a calculated cruelty in that moment. "Bambi had something she needed to tell me. A private, urgent matter, she said."

Odessa’s glare, full of sharp, undisguised hatred, swung back to me, pinning me to the sofa. I felt my skin prickle under the scrutiny, but I kept my gaze down, unwilling to engage her.

She faced Dawn again, her voice now dripping with a practiced sweetness. "Right. Well, I have news that might actually be of strategic importance to the Pack. My father dropped by, and he extended a formal invitation. His good friend is hosting one of the biggest Alpha and Luna events of the century. It’s a crucial political gathering."

She paused, allowing the information of the social event to sink in between them. "He is expecting both of us. It is vital for us to attend as a united front, Dawn."

Dawn stopped writing, but only to place the cap back on his pen with a precise click. He didn’t look up. "I decline."

Odessa’s face tightened. "You decline? Dawn, you can’t! The optics of this—"

"I am busy, Odessa," he interrupted, his voice dismissive. He gestured vaguely at the paperwork. "This border crisis is more important than your father’s dinner party. Send Christopher and his mate in my stead"

Her composure cracked. Her voice rose in a rush of frustration, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "Busy! You are always busy! What exactly takes up all your time, Dawn? You neglect your duties as a mate, you neglect me! We have not been intimate in—"

She cut herself off, but it was too late. The words were already out: "—We haven’t had sex for months now!"

I shot to my feet. I couldn’t bear to witness this raw, humiliating outburst. It felt too invasive, too real.

"I... I apologize, Alpha. Luna. I believe I might be interrupting a private conversation," I stammered, already taking a tentative step toward the door. I needed to get out, to breathe.

"Bambi!"

Dawn’s sharp and immediate voice cracked like a whip,bouncing off the room. My hand froze on the doorknob.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, his chair scraping back as he stood up, his towering presence suddenly dominating the room.

I turned back, trembling slightly. "To give you and the Luna some privacy. I’m excusing myself."

"I have not given you permission to leave," he stated, his dark eyes narrowed and burned with a mix of displeasure and that all-too-familiar, possessive command. "You are right where I told you to be. You interrupted my day’s work for your supposed urgent message. Your punishment is to remain here until I dismiss you. You will watch me work, and you will not leave this room until I take you out of it myself. That was the agreement, was it not?"

Odessa stared at me, then at Dawn, her face masking shock and an impending anger at this public display of my ’punishment.’

"I’m sorry, Alpha," I whispered, my voice filled with my own desperation. "I truly am. But I really must go. Please."

Dawn took a slow step from behind the desk, his hands resting lightly on the polished wood. "Don’t push your luck, little doe. Sit. Back. Down."

He paused, letting his gaze travel from my face down to my hands, and back up again, his expression hardening into the one of cold warning.

"Unless you would prefer I use the handcuffs again this time," he suggested. His voice was a husky promise that made my cheeks flush with heat as the memory of that night—from the cold metal to the terrifying excitement—flashed through my mind.

"And if I do," he continued, his tone ruthless, "I won’t be listening to the safe word, ’Ice,’ no matter how many times you say it."

Odessa’s head snapped toward him, her lips slightly parted in confusion and alarm. She didn’t understand the intimate, dangerous history those few words carried. But I did. And the blush on my cheeks deepened, mixing shame with a traitorous feel of arousal.

I dropped my hand from the door handle and slowly and defeatedly, walked back to the sofa. I sat down, my whole body shaking. I was trapped between an enraged Luna and an Alpha who clearly knew more than he was letting on, and who was now using the most intimate memory we shared to enforce his will.