Chapter 190
Dominic POV
Ellie left without looking back.
I reached for her.
It was instinct.
A desperate, useless movement.
But she stepped away from me before my hand could touch her.
She didn't even glance in my direction.
Then she closed the door.
Quietly.
No shouting.
No anger.
No dramatic final words.
And somehow...
That hurt more.
A slammed door would have been easier.
Anger would have been easier.
Because anger meant there was still something left between us.
But the silence?
The distance?
It felt like she had taken every bit of warmth from the room when she walked away.
She was still my wife.
The ceremony was complete.
The bond was sealed.
She carried my mark.
We were mates.
And yet, standing there alone, none of it felt real.
The woman I had just married felt further away from me than she ever had before.
I lowered my hand and pressed it against the bandages wrapped around my waist.
Pain pulled through me.
A reminder.
The wound was already healing.
My wolf was repairing the damage quickly.
Thankfully, the blade hadn't gone deep enough to cause serious harm.
No organs were damaged.
No permanent injury.
By tomorrow, it will be nothing more than an angry red scar.
A memory.
A moment I still couldn't understand.
Because none of it made sense.
I had known Ellie almost my entire life.
I knew her habits.
Her fears.
Her personality.
Her history.
I knew the details of her life like a map I had walked across countless times.
And yet...
Tonight, she had looked at me and told me she had a traumatic experience involving knives and men.
Something like that wasn't small.
Something like that wasn't something Ellie would simply hide.
Would she?
My first instinct had been disbelief.
To assume she wasn't telling the truth.
Because there had to be another explanation.
Why would she secretly carry a dagger beneath her wedding dress?
Why would she react so violently when I touched it?
Why would she drive it into me with such precision?
For a moment, my mind went somewhere darker.
A possibility I hated even considering.
But no.
That couldn't be right.
It didn't make sense.
Ellie and I had a complicated history.
We fought.
We hurt each other.
We misunderstood each other.
But she wasn't cruel.
She wasn't a monster.
She had nothing to gain from killing me.
Her own health depended on this bond.
On the mark, I gave her.
On us remaining together.
And beyond that...
I knew she cared about me.
Even now.
Even through all her anger and pain.
I could feel it through the bond.
The way she tried to bury her emotions.
The way she tried to convince herself she felt nothing.
But the bond didn't lie.
There was still something there.
Something she couldn't erase.
No.
Ellie wasn't lying.
Something had happened to her.
Something serious.
Something painful enough that she couldn't even tell me.
And for some reason...
She didn't trust me enough to share it.
My eyes moved toward the contract lying across my desk.
I walked over and picked it up.
My gaze immediately found the clause she had been talking about.
The words stared back at me.
"Only Alpha Dominic may decide when the contract will officially terminate."
I exhaled.
"That wasn't what I meant, Ellie."
My voice sounded strange in the empty room.
I placed the paper back down.
Maybe I had explained it poorly.
Maybe I had been careless.
Maybe I should have told her everything before she signed.
At the time, my only thought had been her survival.
Her health.
Keeping her alive.
That was all that mattered.
I wasn't trying to trap her.
Why would she believe that?
I ran a hand through my hair.
Again.
For what felt like the hundredth time tonight.
This had to connect to whatever happened to her.
Whatever fear she was carrying.
Maybe Lucas had said something.
Maybe he had twisted my words.
Maybe he had made her believe something that wasn't true.
"Alpha."
The door opened.
I looked up.
Marcus stepped inside.
He closed the door carefully behind him before facing me.
"I've been looking everywhere for you."
His expression was serious.
Then he said the words I already knew were coming.
"I can have her escorted to the prison now."
My chest tightened.
The pain was sharper than the wound itself.
The prison.
As if Ellie were a criminal.
As if she were someone dangerous who needed to be locked away.
Logically...
It was the correct decision.
She had attacked me.
On our wedding day.
In front of everyone.
Every piece of evidence pointed toward intention.
A hidden weapon.
A perfect opportunity.
A strike against the Alpha immediately after the bond was finalized.
And now the entire pack was watching.
Waiting.
Waiting to see what kind of Alpha I would be.
Waiting to see if I would choose justice.
Waiting for me to punish my own wife.
But all I could think about...
Was the look in Ellie's eyes when she left?
Not guilt.
Not hatred.
Fear.
And for the first time tonight, I wondered if I was looking at this situation all wrong.