Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 40

Dominic’s POV

The great hall felt different when I called the council.

Smaller and more divided. The chairs that had once been filled now held visible gaps. Three empty seats. Warriors who’d chosen to leave rather than sit with an Alpha who’d bonded with a Solarii .The message was written in absence.

I took my place at the head of the council table and waited for silence.

It came slowly. Warriors settling. The air thick with tension.

“We have intelligence,” I began without preamble. “Solari movement on the southern border. Supply lines. activity that suggests preparation for military action. We need to discuss our response.”

Vex, one of the oldest warriors on the council, leaned forward immediately.

“The situation is untenable,” he said. His voice was steady but carried the weight of someone who’d been thinking about this for a long time. “You’ve divided the pack, Alpha. Warriors requesting transfer. Supply lines being questioned. Recruitment halted. Half the younger warriors don’t know if they’re supposed to follow you or prepare to challenge you.”

“They follow me,” I said. “Because I’m the Alpha.”

“No,” Vex said quietly. “They follow you because they respect you. And that respect has limits. Those limits exist because they question your judgment. And they question your judgment because you’ve bonded with a Solari girl.”

I felt the words land like physical blows.

“My mate IS the pack’s stability,” I replied. My voice was harder now. More cutting. “Her power, once fully awakened, will be more valuable to this pack than any politics or tradition.”

“If she awakens it,” Rowan interrupted. He was young, one of the few openly supporting me. “If she doesn’t lose control and burn us all. If the Solari don’t come and take her back. If a lot of things go exactly right instead of the natural way things go wrong.”

“There’s intelligence,” Silas said from his position near the wall. He’d been unusually quiet throughout the council, watching more than speaking. Now his silver eyes moved across every face at the table. “Scouts report movement on the southern border. Solari supply lines. The kind of activity that suggests preparation.”

The room went completely still.

“How long until they move?” I asked him directly.

“Unknown,” Silas said. “But the pace is accelerating. I’d estimate weeks, not months. Maybe two weeks. Maybe three. But definitely imminent.”

“Then the decision is simple,” I said. “We prepare for invasion. We strengthen our defenses. We train every warrior to readiness. And we ensure that when the Solari come, they find a mountain they can’t break.”

Vex stood.

“And the girl?” he asked. His voice was careful but the question was a weapon. “What’s her role in this preparation? Do we put her on the front lines? Do we ask our warriors to die defending someone they believe is a threat? Do we ask them to trust that the bonding that’s divided them will somehow unite them when soldiers are actually dying?”

The silence stretched. Every warrior in the council was watching me. Waiting to see if I would acknowledge what Vex was pointing out—that my decision to bond with Vivian publicly had created an impossible situation.

“She trains,” I said finally. “Like every other warrior in this pack. We don’t hold her back because of her status. We don’t hide her because of her origin. She becomes part of our defense.”

Vex closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, there was something like sadness there.

“Then I’m stepping down from the council,” he said. He stood slowly, carefully. The movement was deliberate. Final. “I can’t serve under an Alpha who would gamble with the pack’s survival by putting a girl with untrained power on the front lines. I can’t sit here and pretend that this is a defensible decision.”

He moved toward the exit.

“Sit down,” I commanded. My Alpha voice, the one that came from the wolf. The one that demanded obedience.

Vex paused for one moment. Then kept walking.

“I’m leaving,” he said. “And I won’t be the only one.”

Two other warriors followed him out.

The council chamber felt colder with them gone.

I looked around the table. Rowan was still there, his young face set with determination. Kade was present but his expression was unreadable. Silas watched everything. And the remaining council members—the ones who’d chosen to stay—sat in varying degrees of discomfort.

“Anyone else?” I asked the silence.

No one moved. But I could feel it. The fracture was real. The division was settling. The ones who would stay were staying. The ones who would go were already mentally gone.

I felt Vivian through the bond. She was in the tower. She could sense my conflict. My anger. My certainty that I’d made the right choice warring with doubt I wasn’t letting myself fully acknowledge.

“Dismissed,” I said.

The council filtered out. Kade was the last to leave.

He lingered after the others had gone. His massive frame seemed to fill the space.

“That went well,” he said quietly. His voice carried no sarcasm. Just observation.

“Don’t,” I said.

“You’re making enemies of warriors who should be allies,” he continued anyway. “The pack can’t afford this division when the Solari are preparing to attack. Every warrior you lose is a position that won’t be defended. Every faction that forms is a weakness that can be exploited.”

“The pack will follow where I lead,” I said. “Even if they don’t like where that is.”

“Will they?” Kade asked. “Or will they follow until you ask them to die for a girl they’ve been told is dangerous? Until you ask them to risk their lives for someone they’ve been convinced will burn them?”

I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know. I genuinely didn’t know if I could ask that of them. If they would do it.

“Fix this,” Kade said. He moved toward the door. “Not for her. For the pack. Because when invasion comes, you need warriors who believe in what they’re dying for. And right now? They’re dying for you. Not for the pack. Not for survival. Just for you.”

“And what would you have me do?” I asked. The question came out harder than I intended. “Reject my mate? Renounce the bond? Prove to them that I can be controlled by their opinions?”

“No,” Kade said. He stopped at the threshold. “I’m saying that you need to show them why she matters. Not because she’s your mate. But because she makes the pack stronger. You need to earn their acceptance, not demand it.”

He left before I could respond.

I was alone in the council chamber with the empty chairs.