Chapter 79
Ellie POV
Getting two future Alphas into a medical bed should qualify as an Olympic sport.
Because at the moment, the teachers are wrestling them to the ground, then, as humans into beds, and the next. The are still arguing.
This had…luckly calmed down, the hospital room luckly all ready considering we were on the Healers campus, but the tension was still clear.
I was helping Lucas-who was very much alive, very much healing, and very much refusing to sit upright-into something resembling a proper position.
“Stop slouching,” I muttered, pushing his shoulder back with both hands.
He grimaced dramatically. “I was not slouching.
“You were sliding off the bed like a dying seal.
“I fought today,” he retorted. “I deserve to slide.”
“You fought Dominic,” I corrected, guiding his elbow so he wouldn’t rip through his bandage again. “Which is not an honorable battle, it’s an act of stupidity.”
Lucas scoffed. “He had it coming for what he did to yu.”
I stared at him, exhausted down to my bones. “Lucas. He almost tore your throat out.”
Lucas’s mouth curved. “A near miss counts as skill on my part.”
I opened my mouth to argue-but the curtain beside us flew open with enough force to qualify as a physical attack.
Dominic lay in the next bed.
Bruised. Bandaged. Furious.
And glaring directly at Lucas like he’d been waiting.
“Why does he get treatment?” Dominic demanded.
“Because I’m likable,” Lucas shot back instantly.
Dominic ignored him. “And I did not have it coming! I didn’t do anything!”
Lucas laugh, then coughed, clutching his rips.
Gods they are lucky they heal fast.
“You are so pathetic!” Lucas sneered.
Dominic looked like he was about to jump out the bed, but I put a hand up. I stared between them, my pulse beginning to throb behind my eyes. Slowly, deliberately, I grabbed the curtain and shoved it all the way open.
“You two,” I breathed, hands on my hips, “are unbelievable, both of you need to shut up and listen because I’m about to kill both of you myself and blame a medical mishap.”
Both wolves stilled.
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“First off, you fight over me. My issues. Never do that again. Next, you shifted and fought on the courtyard lawn – in broad daylight-in front of half the school. You’re supposed to be future Alphas, not feral dogs wrestling during lunch!”
Lucas winced. Dominic growled under his breath.
“I swear,” I continued, “if either of you ever fights over me or around me again, I’m-”
The infirmary door slammed open.
Sarah? A teacher?
No. Of course not.
Vivian.
The blonde burst inside like a storm of perfume and tears, zeroing in on Dominic’s bedside with theatrical precision.
“Dominic!” she wailed, collapsing onto his uninjured side like she’d rehearsed it. “I came as soon as I heard- Ellie tricked you both into fighting, didn’t she? I knew it! She’s always trying to turn people against each other-”
I blinked. Actually blinked.
Before I could scrape a response together, both boys snapped in perfect sync:
“No, she didn’t.”
Dominic and Lucas glanced at each other-surprised, reluctant allies for exactly two seconds of their entire lives.
“We acted on our own,” Lucas muttered, not looking at me.
Vivian froze. Her expression flickered, before melting into a trembling lip.
“O-oh… I just… worry.”
Dominic exhaled, already too tired for this. He put a hand on Vivian’s head, more like one would pat a nervous pet.
“Relax,” he said quietly. “We just had a disagreement.”
Lucas’s eyes rolled so hard I thought he’d detach a retina.
Mine matched his perfectly.
I turned on my heel. Well, they seemed stable enough.
I’d had enough testosterone, bloodshed, accusations, and dramatics for one lifetime-let alone one afternoon.
“Ellie,” Dominic called behind me, voice softer, but I kept walking.
Nope. Still hated you.
Behind me, Lucas muttered, “Think she’s mad?”
Dominic answered, “She forgive you for everything. But she threw me into a wall earlier. What do you think?”
Vivian gasped. “She did what?!”
I didn’t stop.
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If I did, I might scream.
I was three steps from freedom, three steps from escaping the suffocating smell of antiseptic and testosterone when I heard it.
Dominic climbing off his bed.
His bare feet hitting the infirmary floor.
The soft grunt of pain.
The determined rhythm of him following me.
Vivian saying, “Dominic, don’t!” But he was already rounding out the door to me.
I spun around so fast the world tilted, and I jabbed a finger toward his chest.
“Stay. In. Bed.” My voice cracked from exhaustion and rage. “And stay away from me.’
He stopped short, breathing hard, eyes narrowing like he couldn’t make sense of the distance I was putting between us.
“Will you just talk to me!” He hissed, “Please-what did you mean earlier?” he demanded, voice low, rough.” About me sabotaging you?”
I laughed, “Dom, I’m not doing this right now-”
“You never are willing to!” He snarled. “You never want to deal with things! Talk! All you do is yell, accuse me of things hate me like I murdered you in a past life or something.”
I froze, my gaze zig zagging over him.
No. There was no way he knew.
Coincidence.
My furrowed brow returned. “Spare me,” I muttered. “You don’t have to pretend anymore, Dominic. I figured it out.”
“Figured what out?” he growled.
“That you want me to fail!” My voice rose with every word. “You tell me that all the time! To drp out! You don’t care about me. One top of ruining my chances, putting your mark on Vivian in front of the entire school. That hand on her head just now, playing the dutiful Alpha. You never…cared about fated mates bullshit, you just wanted control. Because I saw you, heard you with Karina. You made your priorities very clear.”
His jaw clenched a he seemed to take in my words slow. “I told you, that mark meant nothing.”
“And Karina?” I snapped. “You’re really going to lie and say that wasn’t about me? I heard her! Sabotage me just like ‘you’ asked!”
Dominic’s face twisted-not angry, not defensive. His mouth opened, “That’s not true! I-” then closed again.
And then…
He froze.
My lip curled. See? Because he had wanted me to fail. He couldn’t deny it. He wanted me back under his orbit. Back where he could see me, control me, keep me.
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The guilt flickered across his face like a spark catching dry leaves.
And that was enough.
My chest hollowed.
“Unbelievable,” I whispered. “Screw off. Stay out of my life. And stop messing with it.”
I made to turn-
But Dominic’s hand shot out.
Warm fingers circled my wrist, firm but not painful. He pulled me just enough that I felt the heat of him coat my
skin.
“Ellie,” he said, voice low and urgent. “You’re misunderstanding.”
I yanked once. He didn’t let go.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“Just listen-”
“I don’t want to listen.”
His hand tightened, but his voice softened, cracking around the edges.
“Maybe,” he said, swallowing hard, “maybe I did want you to fail. That’s true. I wanted you back…with me. At the management academy. Even when I know that is selfish.”
I scoffed but he stepped closer, his breath brushing my cheek, his heartbeat thudding through his fingers.
“But I don’t want you gone.”
Something in his tone made my stomach twist.
“I was never, ‘working’ with Karina. She told me she did that for me. I never asked.”
His palm curved around my hip, fingers tightening as if he instinctively knew exactly where my breath would catch. A memory crashed over me-blood, pain, a voice that looked like his but wasn’t-and I froze.
But his touch… gods, his touch burned.
His thumb dragged along the edge of my waistband in the space between my shirt and jeans, sending a shiver up my spine.
“So…” His voice dropped, eyes locked on my mouth for a fraction too long. “I owe you an apology.”
He stepped closer, chest brushing mine, his hand holding me exactly where he wanted me.
“But you’re not going anywhere. Not now.”
He leaned in just enough that I felt the warmth of his breath against my cheek.
“So, give them hell… and pass.”
I stared at him.
At the bruise forming along his jaw.
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At the dried blood beneath his collarbone.
At the hand holding my waist like I was something he wasn’t ready to release.
My heart beat loudly.
Too loudly as he tilted his head. My lip parted, this fire heating through me when Lucas’s laughter in the room broke the spell.
I pulled myself free.
His fingers slid off my skin like he felt the loss.
I swallowed. My throat burned. “It doesn’t matter if I believe you or not. All that matters is you keep your distance from me, Dominic, before we end up down the wrong path. You’re not right for me. I know this.”
I didn’t wait for his answer.
I didn’t want to know what he’d say if I did.
I walked out of the infirmary, each step echoing, each breath unsteady, the ghost of his touch burning against my pulse all the way down the hall.
D
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