Chapter 134
Dominic POV
The wheelchair was the line
I see it from halfway down the hall Ellie seated for straight, hands folded in her lap like ab or ready to gag. Lucas crouched beside her adjusting the footrests with looks on his bare til
Something in my chest goes feral
I try to count to ten like my mother taught me when i was eight
Didn’t work then, didn’t work now.
At lunch, I track Lucas’s scent, and follow him until the hallway empties
“Hey,” I say sharply. “Hey!”
Lucas freezes.
He turns, already defensive, already tired. “Don’t even start.”
“Don’t what?” I snap. “Ask why she’s in a damn wheelchair?”
“That’s none of your concern anymore,”
raised
can’t decide if she’s he’s terribed id doning it fee
I step closer, crowding his space just enough to remind him what an Alpha looks like when he’s done being polite “her collapsed into me. She can barely walk. She’s pale every time I see her, and now she’s rolling through the halls like she’s eighty You don’t get to tell me it’s none of my concern? What’s going on?! Why don’t the healers know anything?!”
Lucas’s jaw tightens. “Back off.
“No.” My voice drops. “She needs better care. This is crazy.”
His eyes flash. “You don’t think I’m trying
“Something is wrong,” I cut in. “And if you were handling it like an Alpha, we wouldn’t be here. Get your damn healers in here and get the best to her. Now. Or will mommy and daddy throw a fit?”
Silence stretches between us, tight and buzzing.
Then Lucas exhales, like he’s been holding his breath for days.
“She won’t let me,” he says finally.
The admission hits harder than I expect.
“And she won’t tell me anything,” he continues, frustration bleeding through. “She keeps saying she’s fine. That it’s temporary. That I shouldn’t worry.”
I stare at him. “And you believed that? Act!”
“I wanted to,” he snaps. “What was I supposed to do-drag it out of her?Force her?”
My hands curl into fists. “Aren’t you two together?!”
Lucas looks at me like I’ve just spoken another language.
“What?”
“Then act like it” I demand. “Ellie is a stubborn idiot, and a tough one. Worst combo ever. You know her, don’t you?! So act, get
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the best doctor and help her!”
“She said no.” He looks away
My fist bangs the lockers. “She’s going to to die!”
His expression breaks.
Not anger. Not smugness.
Something raw and honest and a little wrecked.
“We were never together,” he says quietly. “Not like that.”
My world tilts.
What does that… have to do with her health?
“She never loved me,” Lucas continues, voice rough. “There was no plan. No game. I care about her. That’s it. And I don’t know how to help her. But you…do.”
The words settle heavy in my chest.
“And that’s why you need to talk to her.”
I laugh once, this sharp and humorless cuff. “She won’t talk to me.”
Lucas meets my eyes, steady despite everything. “She will. Just not when I’m there. When no one is there.”
That… doesn’t feel like a win.
It feels like a responsibility slamming into place.
I step back, anger bleeding into something colder. Everything clicking slow.
All this time, I’ve been listening to rumors. To my parents. To assumptions stacked on top of assumptions.
I’ve been fighting shadows.
And Ellie’s been getting sicker.
“If you want answers,” Lucas says, softer now, “you’ll have to stop arguing with her long enough to listen, and act.”
I meet his eyes. “And you just…good with that?”
Lucas ran a hand through his hair. “No,” he saighed. “But I have this feeling your what she needs. Go.”
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