Chapter 20: Daddy Desires to Hold Him

"My feast is nearing its conclusion. Deploy your skills and soothe his wolf a fragment longer."

"Oh, by the ancestors, my precious girl, I have exhausted every high-tier tactic within my arsenal; otherwise, I would never have breached your telepathic network at this hour. Furthermore, the pack medic strictly decreed that we must abstain from aggravating his psychological barriers, or it could compromise the stabilization of his bloodline allergy..."

Hearing the fragment, Dominic snapped to his feet within a single breath, his hand locking around the runic keys tucked deep inside his heavy winter coat. "Transmit the coordinates."

Clara felt a massive migraine threatening to shatter her focus; within her calculations, it seemed she now carried the burden of managing two volatile males simultaneously.

"Abstain. I shall command my ally to escort him straight to our perimeter."

Forced into an absolute tactical retreat, she finalized the transmission, sending the dining lounge's location data straight to Hazel.

She added a strict, covert instruction commanding her to fire an alert the exact second her transport breached the outer perimeter, allowing Clara to slip outside and intercept Leo independently. She fiercely rejected the concept of Hazel witnessing her sharing a table with Dominic Vance, lest her ally’s romantic obsession ignite another wave of ridiculous bards' tales!

During the suspension interval, Dominic actively summoned a dining attendant to his side, subjecting the staff to a ruthless interrogation regarding the popularity of their juvenile feasts, while pivoting to probe Clara regarding the specific prey Leo's wolf usually favored.

"Platter A is entirely toxic to his system; erase it from the ledger," Clara interjected smoothly, her eyes catching a specific item as she issued the mandate to the attendant. The selection contained a high concentration of almond-infused pastries.

Dominic’s amber gaze drifted down to evaluate the parchment along her tracking line, yet his human senses detected zero anomalies within the text.

His dark brows knit slightly in silent calculation, keeping his baritone sealed as he gestured for the staff to execute Clara’s commands to the letter.

Before twenty minutes had trickled through the hourglass, Hazel transmitted a brief pulse, confirming her vanguard had breached the outer gates.

"Grandmother, forgive my temporary exit; I must step into the perimeter to retrieve my pup."

Matriarch Evelyn offered a regal nod of approval, her eyes half-closing as she directed a sharp command toward her grandson. "Allow Dominic to escort your path. His frame carries immense physical strength, perfectly forged to cradle a young pup."

Dominic’s inner wolf had been pulsing with raw, frantic anticipation for this exact moment. The second the Matriarch finalized the decree, he abandoned all hesitation, rising to his full, imposing height and striding toward the threshold before Clara could even clear her seat.

Staring at his towering back, which projected far more frantic urgency than her own, Clara felt a wave of profound bewilderment. Why did the supreme Alpha King appear so desperately starved to look upon Leo's face?

An impossibility. It had to be a pure illusion of her senses!

Beyond the reinforced glass gates of the lounge.

"Dad... dy!"

While still securely anchored against Hazel’s shoulder, Leo’s sharp eyes captured Dominic’s advancing silhouette, and his small legs instantly began to flail in a desperate struggle to break free and descend to the floor.

The impenetrable ice wrapping Dominic’s chiseled features dissolved instantly, replaced by a devastatingly deep, unedited warmth.

"I have assumed custody of the pup. Gratitude to your vanguard's service."

Hazel’s expression shifted through a lightning-fast sequence—traveling from deep suspicion to absolute shock, flashing with brief political anger, before finally stabilizing into a highly secretive, wicked smirk.

"Your aura is intertwined with Clara’s tonight?"

Dominic found the female lawyer's tracking line somewhat erratic, yet his dominant pride merely offered a flat, slow nod of affirmation.

"Magnificent. Then my presence shall no longer compromise your pack operations; I shall withdraw."

"Hazel, transfer Leo to my embrace; I have him," Clara articulated rapidly as she finally breached the outer perimeter, her breathing fractured.

Yet, executing a flawless, wicked hand-off, Hazel bypassed her entirely, burying the little pup straight into Dominic’s powerful chest. She directed a sharp, deliberate wink toward Clara. "An urgent litigation demands my attention; my form is departing! Furthermore, should your tracking lines fail to navigate back to our den tonight, it carries zero disruption; simply transmit a pulse to warn my guards!"

A thick line of pure deadpan fury crossed Clara’s face; Hazel’s romantic obsession had undoubtedly constructed an elaborate history of long-lost fated lovers reunited by the stars.

"Leo, re-align your form with Mom. Let me hold you."

But the little pup, bundled tightly in his sage-green hooded traveling garment, projected an expression of absolute, stubborn resistance.

Through the mind-link, he had mapped the truth:

Daddy desires to hold him!

He intensely craved the security of his father’s powerful embrace, yet his brilliant intellect was fully conscious of the reality that Mommy harbored a fierce, protective hatred toward the Alpha King’s orbit.

He could not calculate how many future cycles would grant him access to his father’s scent.

Consequently, whenever a vulnerability manifested, he had to seize the advantage, maximizing his proximity to the supreme male.

Because even though his inner wolf harbored a deep, instinctual adoration for his sire, within the absolute ledger of his loyalty, the supreme entity ruling his soul would eternally be his Mommy.

Regrettably, Clara’s consciousness was entirely locked out of her pup’s complex psychological warfare.

Within her perception, Leo was merely throwing a chaotic toddler tantrum, aggressively binding his scent to Dominic Vance.

Concurrently, her striking features darkened into an expression of severe, cold displeasure.