Chapter 70
Dominic POV
I’m done. Enough.
I’d been searching since first period. Not openly, because I wasn’t that pathetic.
Maybe a little recklessly, fury chewing at my ribs.
They were not at breakfast.
Not in morning training.
And every classroom I checked since then had been empty of scent.
I stalked through another hallway, students flattening themselves against the walls as I passed. Someone muttered something about me “looking ready to bite someone’s head off.”
Can’t say they were wrong.
How long had she been pushing herself like this?
How exhausted did you have to be to collapse?
Why didn’t she listen? Just come back to the Luna’s management! She would be safe here….with me.
I don’t understand why she is pushing herself so hard all for what?
And why-why the hell had Lucas been the one holding her when she fell?
My jaw clenched hard enough to crack.
By the time lunch rolled around, irritation had built into a barely contained snarl. I pushed out the side doors, scanning the courtyard-
Bingo.
And there he was.
Lucas.
Sitting smug under a tree like it was a painting meant to irritate me personally. One arm propped behind his head, shirt pulled tight across his chest, breezy confidence oozing off him as some girl giggled at whatever joke he’d tossed her way.
Gods, why him? The biggest player, slacker in the enough academy.
My lip curled as I marched straight toward them.
“Hey!”
The girl sensed the shift in the air immediately. Her eyes widened, darting between us.
“Oh,” She said, getting up like she had been caught in some act, brushing her skirt off. “Hi Dominic, I was-‘
Lucas chuckled below, “Ignore him Emily, he’s just a jealous little pup.”
I stopped just infront infrot of Lucas, our eyes locked in a cool stare.
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11
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“1-um-I should go,” Emily squeaked, scrambling away. “Sorry!”
Lucas didn’t even look up. “Really? Now? Emily! I was about to show you my-”
The girl was already gone.
Lucas finally exhaled a long, dramatic sigh. “Thanks, man. There goes my next meal.”
“Don’t start,” I rolled my eyes.
He smirked without even bothering to look at me. “You sound tense. Did Vivian schedule your afternoon for you again?”
My teeth clicked together. “Lucas. Get the fuck up.”
He stayed sprawled out, hands folded behind his head like he was sunbathing. “See, that’s the problem with Alphas-in-training. Always barking orders. Never saying please.”
I stepped closer, shadow falling over him.
His smirk faltered.
“Lucas,” I said low, “I know you know what this is about. I’m not going to waste time going back and forth with some bull. Stay away from Ellie. Especially at night.”
He finally sat up, brows lifting slowly, as if he needed a moment to process the stupidity of what I’d just said.
Then he laughed.
Not loudly. But enough to grate.
“So, you saw that?” He chuckled. “I was just helping a friend-”
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had one of my guy friends graze a hand over my arm to help me.’
Lucas smirked. “Maybe you’re just not handsome enough.”
My head tilted. “Or I understand boundaries. Don’t try to push them with bullshit claims of ‘being a good friend.””
Lucas paused, eyeing me up and down.
“You seem…more serious.” He noted with a grin.
I didn’t reply. Not to something so stupid.
“Okay. Stay away from her.” he repeated. “Dominic-I will be frank. Are you hearing yourself? Forr someone claiming logic and boundaries, Ellie’s not yours.”
My lip twiched. “She’s claimed.”
“But not tied to fate,” he shot back instantly. “And more importantly? She doesn’t want it.”
I didn’t respond. Something inside me lurched in a way I didn’t appreciate.
Lucas slowly stood with a smug look, brushing grass off his pants. “She’s free to choose who supports her and who to stay away from. Not someone who forces there way in dispite her words. And she sure as hell deserves someone who lifts her up for her goals.”
My jaw tightened. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
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“It means,” Lucas said, stepping in close enough that anyone watching probably thought we were about to brawl, “that you’re not helping her. You’re confusing her. Getting in the way. You show up, disappear, show up again, mark someone else, then go looking for her? Pick a lane.”
My chest heated-anger or shame, I didn’t know. Didn’t care.
“You don’t know anything about what’s between us,” I growled. “Ellie is my luna, meant to be at my side. Together. As a team. She-”
“I know she collapsed last night no thanks to you.” Lucas’s voice dropped, sharp and cold. “Some team you are. I know she’s scared and overworked and alone. And I know she doesn’t need you to drag her backward every time she tries to stand. She wants this academy, to be a Healer. All your going is dragging her back-”
My hand snapped to his collar, pulling him to me.
My arm loaded back like a shot gun ready to-
The lunch bell cut through the air.
The air finally catching up to my movement with a burst of wind around us as I froze.
Lucas’s eyes widened, his hair still settling.
I narrowed my eyes and as students spilled out of the lunch buildings, voices rising.
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