Chapter 28

The night didn't go by as fast as Lumae had hoped, and they were now back on the long, tiresome road. She felt completely bored out of her mind and tried to start a small conversation. "By the way, Dominic. Why did you react so scared when I passed out? I couldn't see you, but I did hear you screaming and panicking."

Dominic's face instantly dropped. "It's nothing, Lumae, don't worry about it."

"Awww, but I'm bored, and I want to hear how worried you were about me." She was clearly in a playful mood, but she didn't expect the rest of the ride to Mortiferum to turn out extremely glum.

Dominic sighed, "Very well then. When I was around thirteen years old..." His mind started rushing back to everything and he couldn't stop it.

He was just a boy, but his father had business in Mortiferum, and had to leave Dominic and his mother alone with the pack. Dominic wasn't worried at all, because he knew that the pack was strong and that they would always be safe. How wrong and naive he was to think so. He and his mother were busy taking a lovely stroll through the pack's territory.

Everything seemed well, the sky was clear, the sun was shining, birds were singing and flowers were blooming. Nothing made it seem as though a great day could be turned bad entirely. As they were enjoying their stroll, they heard a sound from the bushes, not far from them and immediately Dominic's mother stood in front of him, covering him, protecting him. He just didn't know from what she was protecting him at that moment, but in a split second a snapped rogue, a wolf that had been without a pack for too long and had lost all senses, lashed out at them.

He hooked Dominic's mother on her shoulder with his teeth, partially on her neck, and flung her to the ground beside Dominic. Dominic was now completely shocked, he didn't know what to do, where to go or what to cry out. He froze. The wolf stood there in front of Dominic with hazy eyes and foam all around his mouth, followed by his mother's blood.

The wolf was just about to attack, but one of the beta soldiers managed to tackle him to the ground just before he could get to Dominic. Dominic didn't really care what that soldier did to the rogue, he didn't care how brutally he continued to hit him until he blew out his last breath. Dominic was more focused on his mother. He slowly lifted her head as she was struggling to breath and uttered the words, "Please, please don't leave me mama. I don't know what to do. I don't want to be left alone with him. Please. Please." His mother placed her hand on his cheek and this time he was able to hear her.

"You are not alone and never will be. You are my son, the last alpha-child of the Manu pack and son of the alpha of th Tenebris Lupus pack. Where you go, greatness follows, and I'll always be watching over you with a proud mother's heart." She wheezed in his arms and blew out her last breath, with her hand falling to her side. Dominic was still clutching onto her, he brought her closer to his chest and wept like he'd never wept before. He lost his only stability he had at that time, and he knew that from then on, he'd be through hell.

Dominic then snapped back to reality and realised that they were already back in Mortiferum. He sighed, "I'll just drop you off at your apartment. Work starts tomorrow at the usual time. A meeting will be held again, so don't be late.

Lumae looked at Dominic sympathetically and wanted to comfort him, but decided against it. "Very well then." She noticed that they were busy approaching her apartment.

Once they stopped she sprung out, grabbed her things in the boot and headed to Dominic's window. "I'll see you tomorrow then." She was about to leave, but Dominic grabbed her arm through the window and pulled her closer.

Noticing what he was doing, she leaned down to match his eye level, and he went in for a sweet, tender kiss. Almost as if he was thanking her for not prying any further. She then smiled at him and headed on to her apartment, popping down on her sofa and sighing.
"What a busy few days it was."
After a while, she stood up and made some lunch for herself. She tried to get some relaxation in, maybe even take a midday nap, but she couldn't seem to fall asleep at all. She stood back up and drew herself a bath in an attempt to calm her nerves.

Meanwhile, Dominic didn't go back to his manor, instead he went straight to his favourite club. The Marti club in neighboring city, Vemoso city. That city was known to have the second most largest mafia group, one of Dominic's rivals, the Tinezo Family. Whose leader also owns the club he was heading to.

He went into the club and took his usual seat in the corner, only a few steps away from the VIP area. A server that knew him as a regular walked up to him, curling her blonde hair with her finger provocatively.
"Well, hello there, Mr. Mortez. Would you like your usual?"

"Yes please, Lucinda."

She then walked back, making sure to sway her hips, whilst walking away, but Dominic couldn't be bothered less. Just then, a man with silver hair walked into the club with someone else. Dominic immediately recognised him. It was Julian Martinez, the owner of this club. Lucinda then quickly hurried to Mr. Mortez and handed him his drink as a red-headed woman walked up the bar, followed by Lucinda.

Dominic smelt something fishy about to happen, but not fishy enough for him to leave. He noticed Lucinda handing Julian and his accomplice's order to the red head and meticulously went to the bathroom.
When the red head was left to serve the order, the accomplice started getting touchy with the bartender. He was about to stand up and help, since he couldn't stand men treating woman that way. Just then, Julian and Dominic made eye contact, and he could clearly see that Julian didn't want him to take the win, so Julian stood up instead and placed his hand on his accomplice's shoulder.

Dominic then quickly finished his, stood up and left the club. Moments later, the accomplice rushed out and bumped into Dominic. "Watch where you're going asshhh...", when he noticed that it was Dominic, he immediately tried to take back his words.

"I-I'm so sorry sur. I didn't look where I was going." He then turned around and sprinted off into an alley.

Dominic then grabbed his car key out of his pocket and was about to enter his car, when he suddenly heard Julian behind him. "Dominic. Hey, what're you doing here? I thought you only come to the club when you're in a good mood." He smiled.

Dominic smiled back, "Well, didn't you notice, I'm overjoyed." Julian laughed and smiled cockily.

"Well, anyways, I saw how you wanted to save the damsel in distress earlier and just wanted to remind you that anything you want, I want. And besides, I had my eye on her first.
Dominic chuckled, "Don't worry, Julian. I'm already taken and practically engaged, so your free to have her."

Julian's cocky smile dropped. "Oh, well look who's been getting busy, ay." He nudged Dominic in his arm.

"Why don't you come over to the tower and have a drink with me?"

Dominic shook his head. "No, no. I should get going. I've got a big announcement to make to my co-workers tomorrow."

Julian seemed disappointed, but understood. "Very well then, maybe next time."

Dominic smiled, "Yeah, next time." He then got in his car, with Julian still waiting outside until Dominic drove away. Now all he had to do, was prepare for the big day tomorrow.