CHAPTER 79: SENTIMENT

The door rattled with a knock before swinging open. My Beta stepped in.

I turned my chair to face him. For a tense moment, neither of us spoke.

"So you got your answer," I said.

He nodded carefully. His movements stiffer than usual. "She made herself clear, High Alpha."

My gaze lowered to the bottle still in his hand, then back to him. "So?"

He looked at me, emotions whirling in his dark gaze though his face betrayed nothing. Not a twitch. Not a hint.

In any other situation—where he hadn’t asked permission for that question—the consequences would have been swift. He would have lost his position here.

But the young man wasn’t naive enough to believe I hadn’t been watching his every move.

"Her motivations are solid," he conceded.

"Like I said," I deadpanned.

I gauged his reaction, waiting for the fire from three days ago. After the dance incident, when he’d challenged me in this very office.

You are hurting her with your coldness. He had said. "You will cripple her progress." That had gotten my attention.

I had countered him on that saying she had shown progress without me having to act like I gave much mind to her

He just stood there. Still. Too controlled.

"Say what you came to say, Beta."

He set the rusted flask on my desk carefully.

"Do you know why she’s progressing so fast?"

I raised a brow. "Because she’s a Lunar Crest bearer. Marked. With untapped power."

"Because of sentiment," Dmitri returned

I raised a brow.

"Every breakthrough," he continued, voice measured, "came after someone showed her she mattered. The pellet challenge—I encouraged her. She conquered it. The boulders—you watched her, told her afterwards she was capable. She threw three thousand pounds. According to your own words, you fired your Beta for her sake."

His dark eyes held mine.

"She doesn’t thrive on isolation. She thrives on connection. On feeling valued. She had always craved it."

Silence.

"The Seers said she’d overcome four trials," Dmitri continued. "Guilt. Love. Fear. Rage. She’s already overcoming the first. Guilt. Every time someone treats her like she’s worth something, that guilt cracks. And her Lunar Crest responds."

He straightened.

"If you want her to ascend—Phase Two, then Phase Three—you need to give her reasons to believe she deserves that power."

I stood. Moved to the window.

"I don’t care about her," I said flatly. "She’s a tool. A means to restore the Veil. That’s all. There is no need for sentiments that will lead her astray or blind her."

"I know," Dmitri replied.

No argument. No challenge.

Just agreement.

The bond ACHED.

Sharp. Sudden. Like a knife between my ribs. Punishing me for lying---

I kept my expression neutral.

"Oh, this is RICH," Zver’s voice purred in my skull. "You’re lying to yourself AND your Beta."

I ignored him.

"But," Dmitri continued, pragmatic now, "if you want that tool to function at maximum capacity, you need to stop treating her like she’s disposable."

I turned slightly. "What are you suggesting?"

"Be pragmatic," he said carefully. "Not cold and distant. Pragmatic in a way that uses sentiment as strategy."

His eyes were steady. Calculating.

"She doesn’t need you to actually care. She just needs to believe you do. Show her warmth you don’t feel. Speak her name. Touch her without recoiling. Make her feel valued."

He gestured to the flask.

"She’s developing abilities without knowing it. Phase Two is close, I can feel it. But she’ll only reach it if she overcomes guilt. And she’ll only overcome guilt if she believes she matters to someone."

His voice hardened.

"So make her believe it. Not because you care. But because you need her functional. Powerful. Ready to restore the Veil." There was something he was holding back.

Silence.

"You’re telling me," I said slowly, "to manipulate her emotions."

"I’m telling you to be the pragmatic High Alpha you’ve always been. Use what works." He paused. "The resource is her. The currency is emotion. Her family showed her nothing but disdain. It fueled her guilt over what she was. So you have to undo that tangle, that knot that is standing in way of her and the power she is to wield. You are to marry her. Let that mean something."

I turned fully to face him.

"It’s logical," I said finally. Voice flat.

The ache intensified. Pulsed.

"She’s not a TOOL," Zver growled. "She’s OURS."

I crushed the feeling down.

"A means to an end," I continued.

The bond SCREAMED.

"Exactly," Dmitri agreed.

I looked at the flask.

"And when she ascends? When the Veil is restored?"

"Then she’s fulfilled her function," Dmitri said, voice cold. "You’re no longer obligated to maintain the pretense. You can send her back."

The ache became a BURN.

I said nothing, studying this Beta of mine who seemed to have an odd interest in Lilith.

Then: "Do you care about her?"

The question came out sharper than intended.

Dmitri went still.

Just for a moment.

A HESITATION.

His dark eyes flickered. Jaw tightened.

Then his mask returned.

"I care about the Veil. The realm. The mission."

Not an answer.

An evasion.

"That’s not what I asked," I said quietly.

Silence.

"Elaborate," I ordered.

He took a breath.

"The broken Veil has consequences. The Lunar flux has dissipated in your realm. I’m wolfless because of it, High Alpha."

I raised a brow. "You shifted during the Beta trials. In your own way. Does that not suffice?"

"That was AKELA. My construct. Not my true wolf." His voice was steady. "The Veil fractures suppressed my ability to shift naturally. But I want a wolf. AKELA is temporary."

He paused.

"When Lilith ascends, when she restores the Veil, those affected will be restored. I’ll finally have what I want. My wolf. My true self."

His eyes held mine.

"So yes. I care about her success. Because it means I’ll be whole. I don’t care about the marked hybrid."

I studied him.

The careful neutrality. The too-steady voice. The slightly clenched fists.

"Liar," I said quietly.

Dmitri’s eyes widened. Just a fraction.

Then—

A ghost of a smile.

"That makes two of us, High Alpha."

The words hit like a blow.

Because he was right.

We were both lying.

Him about why he cared.

Me about not caring at all.

I felt my own lips curve. Slightly.

A rare smile.

Cold. Sharp. But genuine.

"You’re an interesting man, Dmitri."

He inclined his head. "I do my best."

I moved closer. Stopped directly in front of him.

"If you betray me," I said, voice dropping low and lethal, "if you do anything that puts her in danger, compromises this mission, threatens Wintercrest or the Veil—I will find every person you’ve ever cared about. Every place you’ve called home. Every dream you’ve had. And I will unmake them. Slowly. Thoroughly. Until there’s nothing left but regret."

Silence.

Dmitri didn’t flinch, he just held my gaze. Steady, our eyes locked in a bloodless, battle.

"Understood, High Alpha."

There was no fear, just acceptance. As though, he’d expected this. Like he’d already decided she was worth it.

I stepped back.

"Good. Then we understand each other."

"Perfectly."

"I like him," Zver purred. "He’s got teeth."