Chapter 147
Dominic POV
She makes it halfway down the garden path before I finally crack.
The hedges blur past her as she storms away, jeans snagging against low branches, breath coming sharp and uneven.
Then she wobbles.
I exhale hard and go after her.
“Ellie-slow down,” I call, closing the distance in long strides. “You need to breathe. You’re not helping yourself.”
She doesn’t even turn around.
“Relax,” I add, softer, because I can hear the edge now. The warning signs.
That’s when she spins on me.
“Back off,” she snaps, shoving my chest with both hands. “Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t need you!”
The shove doesn’t move me, never does, but it still lands.
“Yeah, I know,” I say, forcing the words out evenly. “I’m not trying to-just let me get you back to the hospital before you pass out.”
I reach for her arm again.
She jerks away like I burned her.
Her voice explodes through the hedges, sharp and breaking all at once. “Your father knows he could help my mother! He knows -and he’s choosing not to!”
“I know,” I say immediately.
The honesty only makes it worse.
Her eyes blaze. “Then why didn’t you help! Why are you okay withhim treating me like this!”
“I’m not,” I shoot back low. “I never even wanted you talking to him, because I knew exactly what he’d do. Because he never gives anything without taking something first.”
“But your complicit,” she laughs bitterly, pacing now, hands shaking. “He wants to force me into marrying you. And like, it’s not just him–the Moon Goddess, the pack, everyone is deciding my life like it’s a game board! And you just… why don’t you care!”
She stops in front of me, chest heaving.
“I do,” I start, but she waves a hand.
“You don’t! You say you do but you do nothing!”
“Ellie-“I growl low. “You have no clue–”
“Why!? Why can’t I just live?” she demands. “Why can’t I just be free of you?”
The words hang there.
Heavy.
Ugly.
+30 Bonus
They hit somewhere deep enough that I forget how to breathe.
Ellie stares at me for half a second longer, and then something inside her gives way completely.
Her shoulders slump. Her anger collapses in on itself.
And it hits me all at once how much she doesn’t look like Ellie anymore.
Her color is gone, skin too pale, eyes glassy. Her hair’s fallen loose, matted, clinging damply to her temples. She’s thinner than she should be, shaking like she’s holding herself together by sheer grit.
Something in me snaps.
Her knees buckle.
“Ellie-”
She drops.
I’m there before she hits the ground, arms locking around her as she sags into me, dead weight and trembling all at once.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur automatically, gripping her tighter as she weakly shoves at my chest.
“I hate you,” she breathes, the words barely there anymore. “I hate you. I hate you.”
“I know,” I say, deadpanned, forehead pressing briefly to her hair. “Just breath for me.”
She tries again to push me away, but there’s no strength left in her.
Her eyes flutter.
And then she goes limp.
Panic detonates in my chest.
Bones shift, magic ripping through me as I transform, the world snapping sharp and clear as I gather her against my back. I turn
and run
Straight for the healers’ hospital.
Straight for anything that might keep her breathing.
Because whatever she thinks of me-whatever she hates–she thinks I feel about her–
She’s not dying in my arms.
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