The Almighty Dominance (by Sunshine) novel Chapter 725

The second round took longer than the first. Cost more, too.

By the time Alex pulled the last needle free, the sky outside had gone from black to thin grey.

Vesper's breathing slowed, steadied.

His eyes opened and tracked the room until they found Wren — the way a bond always finds the person it trusts most — and something in that huge head finally let go.

"He's stable." Alex sat back on his heels. His arms had stopped being reliable ten minutes ago. "Not going anywhere."

Nobody cheered this time. The relief came out quiet, worn thin by what it cost to get here.

Wren stayed until the staff checked Vesper twice over. Then she caught Alex at the gate before he could slip out.

"You're not just walking out of here." Not a request. A fact. "House Calder owes you. Twice now. A thank-you doesn't cover that."

"It's fine—"

"It's not." She pressed something cold into his hand before he could argue — a signet, House Calder's mark stamped into old silver. "That gets you through any Calder gate, any Calder holding. No questions asked. This isn't payment. It's the start of one. Don't lose it."

"And you're not walking home." She waved a groom over before he could argue that too.

"Garrick knows these roads better than either of us, and after tonight I'm not sending anyone from this house out alone." Something almost sheepish flickered across her face before she buried it. "I'm riding partway with you."

He didn't have the energy left to fight her on any of it.

Within the hour a plain black car idled at the gate, a broad-shouldered driver named Garrick behind the wheel, and Wren already sitting across from him like the matter had never been open for discussion.

The road back cut through low hills the district never bothered lighting. Garrick stopped the car hard, no warning, both hands leaving the wheel before Alex even understood why.

"I'm sorry—" The words tumbled out fast, his eyes fixed somewhere past the windshield.

"They said they'd burn the depot down with my family inside if I didn't stop here. I'm sorry—" He was out of the car and running before anyone could grab him, boots slapping dirt until the dark swallowed him whole.

That's when the ambush hit — men breaking from the treeline in a line too clean for opportunists, weapons already drawn, beasts fanning out to ring the car before a single word was spoken.

"You the healer?" The one in front said it like the word tasted bad. "House Vayne doesn't forget a man who wrecks a year of planning in one night."

His eyes slid past Alex. Landed on Wren. Something like delight crossed his face.

"Well. Isn't this a bonus." He grinned at the others. "Came for one problem. Looks like we get two. A Calder heir's worth a fortune alive."

Wren went very still beside Alex.

"Five seconds," Alex said. "Then this stops being a conversation."

The man laughed and waved a hand. The whole line surged forward at once — fifteen men, fifteen beasts, closing fast.

Alex stepped out of the car, and ten blades tore free from nothing, spinning out around him in a blur of steel. They cut through men and beasts alike. Nobody who went down got back up.

By the time the last man hit the dirt, Wren was staring at him — no fear left in her face, only disbelief.

"You didn't even use your hound." Her voice had gone strange. "You used sword? Nobody does that. Nobody can do that. Not against that many, not without a beast—"

"Didn't need him for this." Alex was already crouching over the one who'd spoken first.

He hauled the man up by the collar. Wren was there half a second later, a short blade from her sleeve pressed flat under his jaw — steadier than her voice had any right to be.

"Who sent you."

"House Vayne doesn't answer to—"

"House Vayne just watched its whole raid crumble in one night." Wren cut him off.

"Your poison source is dead. Your field manager's in a Warden cell. You don't have the coin or the men left to try this alone — everyone in the district knows Vayne's been bleeding out for years. So who's paying for this one?"

His jaw worked. The blade pressed harder.

"Talk, or die here."

Doubt flickered in his eyes. Wren's blade found his thigh instead. He screamed.

Alex looked at her. Pretty, sure. But he'd turned down prettier for a quiet room and an empty bed. "My bed's better company than you are. I'm not coming."

"I'll always find a way to drag you out anyway." Jennifer smiled. "The more you play hard to get, the more I want to play back."

"Warden-Commander." A man strode up, calling to Jennifer before he'd even reached her. "It's been a long time. Why do you keep refusing my invitations?"

"Busy, Jerome. Like always." Jennifer didn't slow down. "Whatever brought you here, my staff can handle it. Excuse me — I need a word with this man."

Jerome's eyes found Alex, and his smile turned thin. "I don't believe we've met. Not district-born, are you."

He said it light, the way a man says something he wants heard as a joke and understood as an insult. "Outsider. Poor. Uneducated, I'd guess. Odd company for a Warden-Commander to keep so close."

"Jerome. That's enough." Jennifer's voice had gone flat.

"I mean it kindly." He didn't. "Can't be comfortable, standing next to a man with nothing behind him. No house. No line. No real beast, from what I hear — some half-dead stray he picked up because he couldn't afford anything better."

His warhound shifted beside him, purebred, tiger-sized, twice Grim's bulk, groomed to a shine that cost more than most citizens saw in a year. "Wouldn't want anyone mistaking charity for company."

"Careful," Jennifer said.

Alex said nothing. Better that than watching Jennifer's face if he snapped back in her own office. He let the insult sit there and die on its own.

Silence bothered Jerome more than a reply ever could.

"Let's settle it, then." His smile sharpened. "A match. My Ashgard against your hound. Public, so everyone sees exactly what the Warden-Commander's been keeping close."

He wore the look of a man who'd never lost a bet in his life. "Make it interesting — you lose, you kneel to me in front of the whole district and serve out a year in my household. Signed. No walking it back."

"And if I win?" First thing Alex had said the whole time.

Jerome laughed like it was the best joke he'd heard all week. "Then I suppose you won't have to." His eyes glittered. "I wouldn't waste time imagining it."

Jennifer's eyes cut to Alex — sharp, unreadable, the look she got right before something happened that she'd enjoy far more than she'd ever admit.

"Take the bet." Then, to Jerome, flat and cold: "And if you lose, you stay away from me an him. This whole thing is disgusting."