Chapter 52
Dominic POV
I didn’t hear a single word in class.
My thumb kept brushing the gauze on my hand. Almost healed, but still stinging, while my brain replayed the same two images: Vivian crying on the ground… and Ellie walking away without even blinking.
It twisted something in me.
Because none of it made sense.
Ellie could act like she didn’t care, sure, but she’d never been cruel. Not to Vivian. Not to anyone. She was the girl who tried too hard, not the girl who who smirked at her sister while she was down.
So what the hell was that? Was Vivian right? Had Ellie been bullying her this whole time? Was I missing something? Had she just dropped the mask?
My eraser tapped the desk until Marcus shot me a look.
“You good? You’re gonna snap that pencil.”
I blinked. “What? Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”
I wasn’t. My head was already halfway across campus.
Every time I pictured Ellie in that crisp Healer Academy uniform, distant and unreadable, something inside me pulled tight.
Enough.
After class, I made it my mission: I was talking to her.
But, shocker, she didn’t make it easy.
She dodged down hallways, ducked into classrooms, jumped into bushes again.
I was done with that.
So I went to the office, sweet-talked the woman at the front desk, and after a few, “No way, forty? You look twenty -one,” I had Ellie’s schedule.
She’d pass the pavilion at two.
Perfect.
I waited behind a dark wall, still and ready, until I finally saw her-walking fast, head down, guard lowered.
My hand moved before I even thought.
I reached out from behind the wall, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her into the dim storage room.
She yelped, stumbling as the door slammed behind us, but before she hit the shelf I caught her. One hand on her waist, the other braced beside her head, trapping her between me and the wall.
“There you are,” I growled, annoyed from chasing her down through half the damn building. “Do you have any idea how hard you are to—”
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I stopped.
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Because Ellie looked up at me with wide eyes, pupils blown, lips parted. And every angry thought evaporated.
She was pressed against me, warm, breathing fast enough that her breath brushed my throat. Her cheeks flushed. Her lashes trembled. She smelled like strawberries and heat coiled low in my spine.
Her gaze flicked to my mouth. Just for a second. And I swallowed dry.
Then I noticed the mark Lucas left on her neck, and reality hit me like a brick.
I leaned in with a snarl, close enough to feel her heartbeat. “Ellie…” My voice came out rough. “I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you’re pissing me off.”
She pushed at my chest, her glare wavering between fury and something that twisted in my ribs.
“Let me go,” she snapped, nose brushing mine. “I’m two seconds from screaming for campus police.”
I rolled my eyes, my body still shadowing hers. “You do that,” I murmured. “But if you keep yelling, I’m covering your mouth.”
Her hand cracked across my cheek.
I didn’t even flinch. “Ow?” I rubbed my jaw.
“If that was a threat-Dominic, you are a future alpha, not a king. You can’t just drag me into closets or other students into closets without consequence!”
“It was barely a kidnapping,” I scoffed. “And I only drag you in, so feel special. Plus, you didn’t even fight me. And
“I shouldn’t need to?! You’re just ignoring the word ‘no’ and my boundaries like a psycho! And why a closet?! What are you, some kind of pervert? Actually, wait-yeah, you are!” She jabbed my ribs. “I’ve seen it firsthand!”
“What?!” I snarled, insulted even though I couldn’t exactly deny what she was accusing. I exhaled hard. “Look- fine. Sorry for pulling you in here. But you’ve been avoiding me.”
“Obviously! I don’t like you!” Her voice broke with it. “I’m mad at you and what you gone! Poof! Out of my life!”
“Yeah, yeah I get it. But you won’t let me explain anything.”
“No, you just want to justify being shitty. You don’t listen to me anyway! Clearly!”
“Hold on, you don’t try to begin with!” I stepped in closer. “You ran, and here I am, trying to talk, so-”
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