Chapter 300
Ellie’s POV
I took the coffee from him, wrapping both hands around the warm cup, and followed him out of the library. The campus was already bustling as students went to their morning classes, many of them holding cups just like these ones.
We walked in silence for a while, sipping our coffee. Dominic didn’t say anything, and I didn’t know what to say, so I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to think about how badly I’d fucked everything up.
Eventually, we ended up on one of the walking paths that cut through the center of campus. Trees lined either side, their branches heavy with leaves, and the morning sun filtered through them in patches of gold.
Dominic stopped at a bench and sat down. He pulled the pastry bag out of his jacket pocket and opened it, revealing a croissant that was still warm enough to let off steam when he tore it in half.
He held one half out to me.
I hesitated, then took it. The croissant was buttery and flaky, and despite everything, my stomach growled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.
We sat there eating in silence for a few minutes. I kept waiting for him to say something, to yell at me or lecture me or tell me what a horrible person I was. But he didn’t.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why are you being nice to me?” I asked.
Dominic glanced at me. “Would you prefer I wasn’t?”
“I’d prefer you just say whatever it is you came here to say.”
He finished chewing and wiped his fingers on a napkin he’d pulled from the bag. Then he leaned back against the bench and looked out at the path ahead of us.
“I’m furious with you,” he said.
There it was.
“I know,” I said quietly.
“What you did to Vivian was cruel. What you did to Colt was manipulative. And the fact that you did it all without even telling me, without even considering how it would affect everyone else, is…” He trailed off and shook his head. “It’s unacceptable. Especially for a Luna.”
I bit my lip and looked down at my lap.
“But,” he said, “I’ve been thinking about it all night. And I think I understand why you did it.”
I looked up at him.
“You must have felt like you had no other options,” he said. “You’ve been convinced from the beginning that Vivian is trying to take your place as Luna. So you tried to push her away by finding her another mate. You thought that if she had Colt, she’d stop focusing on me. On us. And you’d be safe.”
I swallowed hard. That wasn’t entirely true. But I wasn’t about to correct him.
“Yeah,” I said. “Something like that.”
Dominic nodded slowly. “I don’t agree with what you did. And I think you owe Colt an apology, at the very least. But I understand it.”
+30 Bonus
I didn’t know what to say to that. It definitely wasn’t what I expected. To be fair, I wasn’t quite sure what I had expected, exactly. It just wasn’t… this.
We sat there for a while longer, finishing our coffee. Mine had started to go cold. Eventually, I set it aside, giving up on it entirely.
“I still stand by what I said yesterday,” Dominic said, glancing at me. “I told you I wanted to give us one last chance. Until the full moon. I still want that.”
My chest tightened. “Dominic, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I know you think I’m the problem,” he said. “I know you think I’m cruel and controlling and all the other things you’ve accused me of being. And maybe I have been, at times. I won’t deny that. But I also think there’s something else going on here. Something you’re not telling me.”
I looked down at the path in front of our feet. Dominic was quiet as a couple of students walked past, laughing amongst
themselves.
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