Chapter 154
Ellie POV
Dominic doesn’t leave-leave.
The healers make that very clear, like they’re afraid I’ll re die if he’s more than a wall or so away. They set him up in the room next door, close enough that I can still feel him if I concentrate, like a low hum under my skin. Familiar. And annoyingly comforting.
I hear the door shut softly through the wall. Hear the bed creak. Hear nothing after that.
Sleep, I guess.
The quiet settles in, heavy and strange.
I’m staring at the ceiling when Sarah slips inside.
She doesn’t say anything at first. She just crosses the room and wraps her arms around me carefully.
Which is weird. I expected her smile, or flower but she just seems…shaken.
Her cheek presses into my shoulder, and my throat tightens for a reason that isn’t pain.
“You scared me,” she murmurs. “I thought-” Her voice wobbles. “I was really worried. They finally let me back here and I just
“I know,” I whisper, patting her back. “I’m sorry.”
She pulls back just enough to look at me, eyes glassy. “Don’t apologize. Just… don’t do that again.”
I almost laugh. Almost.
She settles into the chair beside my bed, tucking one leg under herself, studying me the way she does when she’s trying to understand something complicated. Something she doesn’t want to screw up.
“So,” she says gently. “Want to explain why you almost died due some Moon Bond and why two Alpha’s almost committed murder in a hospital room?
I snort weakly. “That’s… a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
So I tell her.
All of it.
The bond. What it’s doing to my body. The healer’s warning. The impossible math of it all. Dominic’s offer, laid out exactly how he said it, stripped of drama, stripped of romance, because that’s how he meant it.
A contract.
A Luna title.
Power without love and stability for my health.
Sarah listens without interrupting, which is how I know she’s taking it seriously. When I finally stop talking, my chest feels hollow, like I dumped everything important out and don’t know how to put it back.
She exhales slowly.
“Okay,” she says. “First of all? That’s a nightmare.”
2
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“Thank you.”
“Second,” she continues, tilting her head, “Dominic offering a loveless marriage into an Alpha family is… insane.”
I blink. “Insane bad, or insane-”
“Insane generous,” she says. “Ellie, do you know how rare that is? Power without strings? Protection without ownership?”
I stare at my hands.
“It’s basically a get-out-of-jail-free card,” she adds. “Freedom. Authority. Resources. And you don’t even have to pretend you’re in love.”
I huff softly. “You make it sound like a brochure.”
She shrugs. “Loveless’ marriages aren’t too uncommon, especially in packs like his. But usually it’s for status. Alliances matter more than feelings.”
That doesn’t make my chest feel better.
“I know. It’s a good offer. Amazing even, I just-“I say quietly.
“I know,” Sarah replies. “And you don’t have to decide right now. But I would quick. Dominic or Lucas. You need a get out card.”
She pauses, then tilts her head, studying my face in a way that makes my stomach twist.
“But,” she says carefully, “With Dominic,” she presses, “it wouldn’t be completely loveless, would it?”
The question lands softly.
I don’t answer.
I just stare at the wall, feeling the steady pull next door, the quiet certainty of him being close, of my body knowing something my heart is still terrified to admit.
If I get married to him, am I not just following the same path that got me killed before? How can I be sure? Every route just feels like a dead end with him and I just…want to be alive. A healer. Free.
Sarah doesn’t push.
She just watches me, and I think she understands anyway.
The silence stretches.
Well.
It’s marriage or die, I guess.
I think bout the two Alpha’s offers. The same yet different.
My fists curl on my lap.
I know what I need to do.
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