Page 28 of What a Wolf Demands

Her expression didn’t change.

“I didn’t mean to yell.”

The anger in her gaze told him what she thought of his apology. The wariness said she might be entertaining concerns about his sanity. Unfortunately, he couldn’t disabuse her of that notion without admitting that he’d just engaged in a mental argument with his wolf.

Or letting her know that, for some inexplicable reason, his wolf insisted he protect her.

Meanwhile, she still watched him, obviously waiting for him to say something.

He tried to make his tone gentle. “Even if Max was willing to grant you sanctuary, he’d lose the respect of the other Alphas if he did.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“You’ve been accused of murder. If every wolf charged with a crime could just run to another territory and hide, our laws would be meaningless.” Werewolf packs weren’t democracies. Alphas didn’t hold titles, but they might as well be kings. They ruled over their wolves with absolute authority, and they considered it an act of war for another Alpha to usurp that authority.

“I’m not asking anyone to hide me,” Lily said. “I’m willing to face a trial.” She moved her hand from the door as if to demonstrate how compliant she was. A gleam entered her eyes. “All I want is a fair trial, and I won’t get that in Bon Rêve. In the human world, courts move criminal cases to other jurisdictions when they think the locals might be too biased to fairly judge the accused.”

Surprise flared inside him—followed by a surge of admiration. How many bartenders could pull a change of venue argument out of their back pocket like that? Clearly, there was more to Lily Agincourt than met the eye.

But her argument had a fatal flaw. “We’re not in the human world.”

The light in her eyes faded.

And regret was like a fist squeezing his heart.

Because his words had smothered a bit of her fire.

She looked through the windshield, at the vacationers and business people tugging wheeled luggage across the pavement. Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I know.”

Silence filled the car. In his head, Dom could almost hear Remy sigh and mutter, “Dominic, you are such an asshole.”

But what good would it do to give her false hope? Max was an honorable male, and she was correct that he welcomed latents into his territory. Many accused him of being too welcoming. He was a good Alpha, but his first priority was his pack. He wasn’t going to jeopardize his people’s security for one latent—especially one charged with ripping out a male’s throat.

No, Dom couldn’t lie to her. He’d learned a long time ago that pretending didn’t make reality any easier to bear. It didn’t stop things from falling apart. It just made broken things harder to put back together.

“So we’re in the wolf world,” Lily told the windshield. Then she looked at him. “You said you’ve never had anyone admit guilt.”

She hadn’t made it a question, but he answered anyway. “That’s right.”

“And did the Trackers who heard their cases clear their names? Were any of them found innocent?” Her gaze was steady. Direct.

He knew where she was going with this. He could refuse to answer, but that would just be pretending again, wouldn’t it? He returned her stare. “No.”

“What happened to them?”

“They were sentenced to death.”

“And were they executed?”

“Yes.”

She had a tiny mark on her mouth where his fang had caught her lower lip as he kissed her. Just a dot, really. Like the fairy dust freckles on her face.

“Who killed them?” she asked.

He pulled his gaze from her lip and gave her the answer she already knew.

“I did.”

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