Page 157 of The Beta's Blind Date

I give him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Has he said anything else?”

King Malachi shakes his head. “We haven’t gone back inside the room. We were waiting for you. Alpha Wesley insisted you be here to hear what he has to say.”

I nod and pinch my lips together, glancing at Reid. “Is he… is he healing?”

“He is, but at a much slower rate than it should be,” Dr. Russo says. “The wounds were self-inflicted, as Levi thought, and he wasn’t healing because he’s been dosed with a concentrated wolfsbane concoction that was mixed with something else—something the lab is still working to identify, but I’m guessing is liquid silver. The combination and level of poison in his system effectively stopped his healing. Which means either the rogues left right before you all got to Silver Ridge, or he dosed himself and then gave himself the wounds right after. But the poison is working its way out of his system. Slowly. He’ll be fine.”

I swallow and bite back my next question. I already know what the response will be, so I save myself the trouble by not verbalizing it. “What’s the plan?” I ask instead.

“Dr. Russo and I will be in the room with King Malachi, just in case something happens and Dominic escapes his restraints. He shouldn’t,” he adds, glancing down at a worried Haven, “but if he does, I’ll be prepared to restrain him with King Malachi so Dr. Russo can sedate him.”

“Let’s get on with it then,” Reid says, putting his arm around me and walking us closer to the window.

We stand in the center, Haven and Nolan on my right and Sebastian on Reid’s left. Sebastian presses a button near the glass that turns on the speakers in the room, and I glance at Haven. She moves closer to me, smiling and linking her arm through mine, releasing some of her bubbly, friendly, starlight aura and wrapping it over me like a blanket.

“Where’s Taryn?” Dominic says as soon as the door closes.

“She didn’t want to speak to you,” Wesley says, crossing his arms and standing up taller. “And honestly, I don’t blame her.”

Dominic’s nostrils flare and his fists clench. His focus shifts from Wes to the king, and his lip curls. “I won’t answer any questions unless you let me speak to Taryn first.”

Wesley laughs and King Malachi breathes in, drawing himself up to his full height and displaying his strength and dominance. We can’t feel it through the wall of the hospital cell, but Dominic flinches against the power of the king’s aura, almost cowering in the bed. “Yes. You will,” King Malachi says, the alpha command clear in his voice.

Dominic grits his teeth but bares his neck, submitting to the only male who is of a higher rank than him. My lips twitch, and my wolf preens with vindication as I watch him, forced to submit against his will, forced to bare his neck and present himself as lower, powerless against the commands and aura of the alpha king.

It’s what he deserves. To know how it feels, to receive a taste of his own medicine, to have his abuse of power used against him to uncover the truth of his nefarious actions.

“Name,” Malachi says, staring straight at him.

“Dominic Sterling Rivers,” he says.

“Rank?”

“Alpha of Silver Ridge.”

“How long have you been alpha?”

“Almost ten years. I took over when my father died.”

“Where were you on Saturday evening?” Malachi asks, his alpha command still flowing through his words and aura.

As Dominic answers, he turns his head straight to the mirror, dead in the center. He can’t see me, but my breath catches in my throat as his eyes land right where I’m standing and lock onto me, unblinking. “At Alpha Wesley and Luna Haven’s wedding with Taryn, my future luna.”

Wesley scoffs and shakes his head, and Reid growls, his hand squeezing into my hip and his arm drawing me closer into his side. I turn my head and kiss his upper arm. “I’m yours,” I remind him, resting my cheek against his shoulder and inhaling his scent. “He can’t take me from you.”

He nods but continues holding me tighter, kissing the top of my head.

“Did you alpha command Taryn to leave the wedding with you, and did you alpha command your beta, Dawson Chambers, and his date, Blake Hawkins, to not tell anyone about it?”

“I did,” Dominic says, shrugging. “I was ready to leave with my date, and she was acting a fool, ditching me for some lowly, man-whore beta who wanted to use her. She wouldn’t see reason, so I had to be the reasonable one.”

Reid stiffens and releases another short growl. Wesley shakes his head and his jaw clenches, but he says nothing, leaving the questioning to King Malachi.

“Was she in danger?” he asks.

Dominic’s gaze snaps away from the glass and he frowns. “What?”

“Was she in danger? Was her life at stake? Or was there some other threat at Crescent Lake that required you to explicitly alpha command her to leave the premises with you?”

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