Chapter 167
I laugh, sharp and bitter. “She’s losing everything? Her father put my mother in prison.”
“Yes. Her father,” he says carefully. “Not her.”
I shake my head. “You’re too easy to manipulate.”
His eyes flash. “That’s not what this is. She needs community,” he continues anyway. “That’s what an Alpha provides. Stability. Protection. I-”
“Oh brother” I groan. “Don’t go all hero on me now. Pride this, pride that.”
His voice lowers. “Ellie-”
“Would you do the same for Lucas?” I press. “Let him walk in here. Give him a role. Offer him support?”
He doesn’t answer for a moment. I roll my eyes.
“Exactly.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Fair?” I gesture between us. “You invited her into our home after I said no.”
“Our home,” he repeats.
“Don’t weaponize that.”
Suddenly, his hand closes around my arm, stopping my war path. “I am trying to help someone who is struggling.”
“You are prioritizing her.”
“I am doing my job.”
“And what am I?” I demand.
The question slips out before I can stop it.
He hesitates.
That hesitation cracks something open inside me.
His voice softens. “Why do you hate her so much? She is your sister. Half, yes, but…one day you flipped a switch. And you won’t tell me why.”
I froze. All of my rage draining into something colder. A feeling I never wanted to feel again.
Because what am I supposed to say?
Because she destroyed me.
Because you chose her.
Because I died at the both of your hands?
“I never wanted to hate her,” I finally say quietly instead.
He waits, his grip tightening.
“I loved Vivian,” I said breathlessly. “From the day we met, her cute little blonde curls. I loved her. And I…always knew she was better than me. Kinder. Prettier. Someone worth choosing. And I did. I gave her all of my extra sweets, gave into her every request. We used to be close… Thats why I never blamed you for treating her so gently while I was some errand girl. I saw what
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you did in her.”
My throat tightens.
His eyes widened.
“Until the only thing I couldn’t let her have was you.”
I yank my arm away.
“But I was wrong.”
Silence stretches between us.
I push my shoulder past him to the door.
And this time, he doesn’t chase me.
+30 Bonus
By the time I make it outside, my chest feels wrong, like wet sand packed between my ribs, pressing inward with slow, stubborn weight.
The bond doesn’t like our little out burst.
It never does when we fight. It reacts like distance is a wound, like space itself is an offense. Every step I put between us pulls faintly, unpleasant. It isn’t pain, exactly. Just pressure. Awareness. A reminder that my body is no longer entirely my own.
Ugh, it’s the WORST.
I let out a slow breath, the late afternoon air cool against my face, and force my shoulders to loosen, to drop, as if I can physically shrug off the invisible thread connecting us.
So I just walk. Limping a bit. But going.
The street stretches ahead, people passing without a second glance, cars humming, life continuing like nothing inside me has
shifted at all.
I should go home.
I should go back, sit in that quiet, expensive house, pretend nothing happened and…
I pause.
And what? Beg for a kiss to feel better like some wimp. Ugh, gods.
Instead, I keep walking.
Still, I wanted that pizza.
Which, at this point, has become less about hunger and more about principle.
There’s a small lunch spot three blocks down, tucked between a bookstore and a tailor, the kind of place that smells permanently like toasted dough and oregano, the windows slightly fogged from the ovens inside. It isn’t the place I ordered from. It isn’t even close to the best. But it’s there. It’s something. And right now, something is enough.
I push the door open.
A small bell above it jingles softly.
Warm air wraps around me immediately, thick with the smell of cheese and tomato sauce. My shoulders loosen a fraction, my body already preparing to step forward, to order, to sit, to exist for five minutes without thinking about bonds or weddings or
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+30 Bonus
Dominic-
And then I see him.
A blonde, devilish handsome man in a sweater looks up from a corner table, a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, his eyes catching mine with immediate, unmistakable recognition.
Of course.
Of course he’s here.
Because apparently the universe has decided I haven’t suffered enough emotional damage for one afternoon.
Lucas freezes, surprise flickering across his face, followed quickly by something softer, something careful, like he isn’t sure whether he’s allowed to be relieved to see me.
And for a moment, neither of us moves.
I stand there in the doorway, the bell still swaying faintly behind me, my pulse suddenly louder than it should be, my stomach twisting with something that has nothing to do with hunger.
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