Chapter 56
But Lucas…
Lucas was a menace.
His grin sharpened the second he spotted Dominic across the ballroom. A spark lit behind his eyes. trouble, mischief, and chaos personified.
“Lucas,” I muttered, “don’t start. They just got here, can we just—”
He slid his hand lower on my waist.
“Lucas.”
“What?” he murmured, leaning in until his breath brushed the edge of my cheek. “I’m just keeping the night interesting. And let’s be honest, he’s had me on his shit list since the mate seminar. A little payback won’t kill him.”
My eyes shot across the room before I could stop myself.
Dominic was staring. Not casually. Not passively. Not with his usual future-Alpha cool detachment.
No-his eyes were locked onto me.
Like a wolf tracking prey.
I forced myself to look away, jaw tightening. “Lucas,” I hissed, “I didn’t agree to be your weapon. I thought we came to have fun? Not start a war?”
“We are having fun,” he insisted, voice low and teasing. “But come on, Ellie. He’s being a prick. I’m just nudging the bear.”
“Nudge him again and he’ll tear your arm off.”
Lucas chuckled. “Occupational hazard.”
I elbowed him lightly. He laughed harder.
And then-
He leaned in close. Too close. His lips brushed my ear and his teeth grazed my skin in a quick, mischievous nip.
“Alright, alright,” he whispered. “Relax, I’m done. We’ll dance, grab food, and bail early if you want. I’m done- oh.”
He froze mid-sentence.
“What?” I whispered.
Lucas’s eyes flicked over my shoulder. He winced. “Yeahhhh… whoops.”
It didn’t mean anything.
But I didn’t have to turn around to know who saw it. Ugh, gods.
Dominic.
Everything went to hell in less than a heartbeat.
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Across the ballroom, Dominic’s expression didn’t just shift. It snapped.
His jaw clenched, eyes darkened, and shoulders squared and rolling back with a predator’s intent.
The kind of anger that made the air around him feel electric.
“Ohhhh, that’s not good,” Lucas whispered.
“You think!?” I hissed. “Lucas, I swear to the Goddess-”
But it was too late.
Dominic stormed across the ballroom – practically a thunderstorm in human form.
Couples stepped aside as if gravity itself shoved them out of his path.
I put out a hand, “Dom. Relax, he was just teasing-”
Then Dominic was there.
One second Lucas’s hand was on my waist.
The next-
Dominic grabbed us and tore us apart like ripping Velcro, burning with fury.
The room fell silent.
Music. Voices. Breath.
Gone.
Only Dominic remained, chest rising and falling, jaw tight enough to shatter!
And every eye in the ballroom turned to us. I was frozen. He was…angry then I thought he would be. Even Lucas seemed frazzled.
“Enough.” Dominic voice was thunder-sharp, furious. An Alpha, enough to stop everyone. “You win, Ellie. I’m done pretending.”
My stomach dropped twenty floors. Huh? HUH? Win what?! “What are you talking-?”
But Dominic wasn’t looking at me. He was staring past me, toward the entire ballroom, as if sick of being quiet.
And then he did the one thing I never expected.
The one thing that snapped the world in half.
He stepped forward, lifted his voice, and announced to the entire hall:
“Ellie is my fated mate-hear me and my future Luna.”
The ballroom froze.
Gasps echoed like breaking glass.
Glasses slipped from hands. Music faltered. Someone choked on their drink in the far corner.
Vivian’s face went blank-then crumpled. Whispers exploded like wildfire.
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“Did he just-Confirm it?”
“Ellie?”
“The Alpha heir’s Luna? Isn’t she in the Medical Academy now?”
“Oh Goddess, Vivian must be-”
My breath left me in a painful rush.
No. My heart slammed into my ribs. He didn’t. He-he didn’t just-
But he had and the entire ballroom watched.
He…had done this in my last life. Only it was our official engagement announcement. But it was much less of a show. Spectacle.
But all I could think was-
This cannot be happening.
Not again.
G
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