Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 37

Vivian’s pov

Elara dressed me in silence.

The indigo silk moved like water against my skin. She’s been braiding my hair for nearly an hour now, not speaking, just working with a focus that suggested she understood what was about to happen.

“They’re gathering”,

She finally said. “The whole pack . Something’s shifted. Even the ones who hate you are showing up”.

“Because they want to see me executed”, I said. “Maybe”, Elara said. “Or because they sense that everything is about to change and they don’t want to miss i.

She turned my face to the mirror. The woman looking back wasn’t the servant who’d arrived at the Citadel weeks ago. The crescent mark on my neck, Dominic’s mark made that impossible to deny.

“Silas is downstairs,” Elara continued. “He’s been talking to warriors. The ones who understand bonds. The ones who’ve seen what happens when an Alpha finds his true mate.” She paused. “He’s also been very quiet about something. Worried. Like he knows something the rest of the pack doesn’t.”

Through the bond, I could feel Dominic. His certainty. His readiness. His absolute conviction that whatever came next, we would face it together.

The corridor was thick with tension.

Warriors and servants lined the walls, their expressions shifting as I passed. Not all of them were hostile. Some looked curious. Some looked afraid. And some, the older ones, the ones who remembered bonds and the power they created looked like they understood exactly what was happening.

Rowan stood near the great hall entrance. When he saw me, he nodded once. A gesture of support that would cost him with the traditionalists.

The great hall was packed.

Every position of power was occupied. Silas stood with his back against the wall, his silver eyes tracking the crowd like he was calculating probabilities. Kade was near the platform, his massive frame a silent promise of protection.

Elara moved to stand with the other servants, but her eyes stayed on me.

Dominic waited in the center like he owned the world.

“I called you here,” he said, his voice carrying across the stone without shouting, “to tell you about the poisoning. About what happened. About who was responsible.”

The hall quieted immediately.

“Someone poisoned the water barrels,” he continued. “A deliberate act designed to sicken our warriors and frame an innocent person. This act of sabotage was meant to destabilize the pack and turn you against someone who never committed this crime.”

He turned slightly, his eyes finding a figure I hadn’t noticed before.

Greta.

The head cook stood at the edge of the crowd, her face already pale. Already resigned.

“Greta,” Dominic said. “Step forward.”

She did, moving like someone who’d already accepted her fate.

“You hired the servant Talia,” Dominic said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, Alpha,” Greta said quietly. Her voice was hollow. “I did. I was threatened. Someone told me my son would die if I didn’t help frame the Solari girl. Someone said if I cooperated, my son would be spared. I… I believed them.”

The confession hit like a stone.

I felt it immediately that this was wrong. Greta had been involved, yes, but she hadn’t orchestrated anything. She was a pawn being sacrificed.

Through the bond, Dominic felt my realization.

But he continued without pause.

“Greta will be exiled from the pack,” he said.

“She will leave by morning. She will take supplies and gold enough to start a new life elsewhere, but she will not return. Her crime was severe. Her manipulation of a servant. Her willingness to poison her own pack for personal fear.”

Greta’s shoulders sagged. Exile was a mercy. It could have been execution.

“However,” Dominic said, turning to face the entire hall, “the one who truly orchestrated this conspiracy the one who threatened Greta, who hired Talia, who orchestrated the poisoning that person acted to frame someone else. That person acted out of obsession and jealousy and a fundamental misunderstanding of what I want from my pack.”

He took my hand.

My power flared.

Violet light bloomed across both our palms, and I saw the moment the bond became visible to everyone in the hall. A shimmer of silver and violet light that connected us so completely that denying it would be denying reality itself.

“This is my mate,” Dominic said. His voice carried absolute conviction. “Vivian Valerius. She is innocent of all charges. She is under my protection. And anyone who questions this can challenge me directly.”

The silence that followed was the sound of a world shifting.

I could see older warriors understanding immediately. I could see younger ones processing, their minds working through what they’d believed versus what they were seeing. I could see the division that had started weeks ago now becoming a chasm.

But I also saw something else.

In the corner, partially hidden by shadow, I saw Vespera.

She was smiling.

Not a smile of defeat. Not a smile of acceptance.

A smile of someone who’d just watched a carefully orchestrated plan succeed exactly as intended. A smile that suggested Greta taking the fall was precisely what she’d wanted all along.

Through the bond, I felt Dominic’s sudden realization. He saw it too. But it was too late to change course without looking uncertain to the pack.

Greta was led away.

Dominic pulled me close and brought his lips to my forehead in a gesture that was both intimate and final. A statement that this matter was closed.

But as I looked over his shoulder, I saw Vespera slip toward the back corridor.

And I saw something else.

A warrior I didn’t recognize stood in the shadows watching her. Not Shadow Clan. The sigil on his chest, a sun with rays extending downward marked him as Solari.

He was waiting for her.