After Rejection Divorced Luna Becomes A Famous Doctor (Hailey and Dominic) novel Chapter 264

CHAPTER HUNDRED-NINETYSEVEN

HAILEY

“She worked with vampires?” I managed to whisper, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. “Yasmine?

But… why?”

The question hung in the air, thick with disbelief. Yasmine’s vanity, her desperate attempts to get Domini attention, were well known pack gossip. But treason? That was a leap into a darkness I hadn’t considere She was a witch, born and bred of this territory, with the forest’s magic in her veins. To turn to those…

things… was an inversion of her very nature.

Dominic’s face was a carved mask of fury. He looked from the photos to the text message, then to Giovanni. “Power,” he said, the word a clipped, bitter shard. “It’s always about power. She wanted to be m mate. I refused her, repeatedly. She must have seen an alliance with the vampires as another path. A wa to… supplant Hailey. To create a scenario where I had no other choice.”

His gaze shifted to me, and for a split second, I saw not the Alpha, not the ruthless leader who had just exiled members of his pack, but a man drowning in guilt. “This is my fault. Her ambition, her obsession… was a poison I should have rooted out long before it had a chance to spread.”

I moved to him, placing a hand on his arm. The muscles were locked, rigid as steel. “No, Dominic. You can’t blame yourself for her choices. She was an adult. She made her bed.”

A dark, humorless laugh escaped him. “And she tried to pretend like she had any ounce of humanity in her.” He turned back to Giovanni, his expression hardening, all traces of vulnerability gone, replaced by a glacial calm that was more terrifying than any outburst. “You said this changes everything You’re right. This is no longer an internal matter. This is an act of war. Vampires. They pretend like they are in a good relationship with us, but what they do behind our backs… This won’t stand.”

Giovanni nodded grimly, pulling out another sheet from the file. This one had a name typed in boid retters at the top. “We traced the unknown number Yasmine texted. It was a burner phone, of course Disposable But we were able to pull records of who bought it. A cash transaction at a convenience store on the edge

of their territory”

He slid the paper across the dresser “The name is probably an alias, but it’s a start. The name given was Taric” He or she might also be a vampire

I’ve never heard of him, Dominic said, his eyes scanning the name as it trying to burn it into his memory “But that doesn’t mean anything. They keep to themselves. We only ever deal with their leader, which leads us to Tricia’s mom He pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture of pure exhaustion that I rarely saw “Cecilia swears her clan honors the treaty Shes maintained that for twenty years if one of her is operating

rogue on our land

“Then she either knows and she’s lying. Giovanni finished, his voice hard as stone or she’s lost control of his people. Either scenario is unacceptable

CHAPTER HUNDRED NINETYSEVEN

+25

The room felt suddenly too small, the sweet scent of the flowers cloying and oppressive. The peace I had felt just minutes ago, with the first kick of our baby and the warmth of my husband’s arms, had shattered

like glass.

We were standing in the middle of something vast and terrible. Not a petty squabble over rumors, but a conflict that could engulf both our species in bloodshed.

“We need to be smart about this,” I said, my voice barely a whisper, yet it cut through the tension. Both men turned to look at me. “We can’t just march onto their land. Not on the word of a dead traitor and a burner phone. They’ll call it an act of aggression. They’ll use it as a pretext for a full scale war. We need to know who this Tariic is. We need to know what Yasmine promised him. We need a stronger lever.”

Dominic looked at me, a slow, proud smile spreading across his face, transforming the harsh lines of anger into something else. Admiration. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against him “She’s right,” he said to Giovanni, but his eyes were locked on mine. “My Luna is right. We move with caution. We move with proof.”

He turned back to his brother. “Gio, I need you to dig deeper. Use your contacts. Find out everything you can about this Tariic. Where he lairs, who he runs with, what his relationship is with Cecilia. And find out if Yasmine had any other contacts. Anyone else she might have been meeting with. I want a full profile. I want to know his favorite brand of blood.”

He then turned to me, his expression softening. “And you,” he said, his thumb gently stroking my cheek. “You rest. You’ve been through enough. Let me and Giovanni handle this. Focus on our son. And our little fighter.” His hand drifted down to rest on my stomach, a protective touch.

“But what if Tariic tries something else?” I asked, the fear a cold knot in my gut. “He’s out there. He killed Yasmine. He might be the one who…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it. To say the words that had been haunting the edges of my consciousness since Liam’s accident. The idea that it wasn’t an accident at all. That it was a deliberate, calculated attack.

A distraction. Or worse.

Dominic’s eyes flared, the wolf in him rising to the surface, a flash of gold in their depths. He knew what i was thinking. He had been thinking it, too.

“He won’t get anywhere near you,” he growled, his voice a low, dangerous promise. “I’ll double the guard No one gets in or out of this house without my say so. You and the children will be safe. I swear it

He looked at Giovanni “Until we know more, we operate under the assumption that this is a coordinated attack. That Yasmine’s and the stripper’s murder was the first move, and whatever happened to Liam was the second. We don’t breathe a word of this to the pack. Not yet. We don’t want to cause a panic. We keep this circle tight. You, me, Hailey. That’s it.”

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