Chapter 191
Dominic POV
But when I thought about the way she looked when she spoke about her trauma...
The pain she tried so hard to hide.
The mist was gathering in her eyes.
The slight tremble of her fingers.
The way her breathing changed, like every word hurt to force out.
I knew.
She wasn't lying.
"She told me it was an accident."
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure about that?"
I hesitated.
"Mostly."
His expression immediately turned skeptical.
"When it comes to something like this, 'mostly' isn't exactly reassuring."
I dragged my teeth across my lower lip and sighed.
"I know, Ellie, Marcus."
My voice lowered.
"More than she thinks I do."
I looked toward the closed door.
"Something happened to her. Something serious."
A pause.
"She won't tell me what it was, but I know that was the reason she reacted the way she did."
I swallowed.
"She didn't mean to hurt me."
Marcus didn't look convinced.
Not completely.
But he knew when not to push.
He let out a quiet breath.
"So..."
His arms crossed.
"What happens now?"
I thought for a moment.
The guests.
The rumors.
The pack.
Everyone had witnessed an Alpha being attacked by his own bride on their wedding day.
There was no hiding it.
But there were ways to control the damage.
"Give the guests another round of food and drinks."
Marcus waited.
"Tell them it was planned."
His brow lifted slightly.
"A stunt?"
I nodded.
"Something to entertain everyone. Tell them Ellie and I decided to leave for our honeymoon early."
It wasn't perfect.
Most people wouldn't believe it.
But it would stop the worst of the whispers.
"For now, it'll be enough."
Marcus nodded.
"And the Luna?"
The word stopped me.
Luna.
That was what she was.
Ellie was my Luna now.
My wife.
My mate.
We had exchanged vows.
For a brief moment today, I thought we were finally finding our way back to each other.
But now...
I wasn't sure what we were.
Not after everything.
Not after the fear in her eyes.
"I'll handle it."
Marcus dipped his head.
Then he left.
The room became silent again.
I stood there for a while.
Thinking.
Trying to understand the woman I had just married.
I needed to find out what happened to her.
I needed her to trust me enough to tell me.
Maybe if she opened up...
Maybe if I understood the pain she carried...
We could fix this.
Maybe she wouldn't look at me like I was someone she needed to escape from.
Maybe we could return to what we had.
Or...
What we could have had.
I wanted to go after her.
Every instinct told me to.
To knock on her door.
To demand answers.
To make sure she was okay.
But I knew that wasn't what she needed.
She needed space.
So, for once, I forced myself to give it to her.
I went to my room.
The wedding suite.
The room that had been prepared for us.
Rose petals covered the bed.
Candles burned softly.
A tray waited nearby with champagne.
Everything had been arranged for a perfect wedding night.
Except I was alone.
I stared at the bottle.
It was too much for one person.
But tonight...
I didn't care.
I poured myself a glass.
Then another.
The alcohol softened the sharp edges of everything I couldn't stop thinking about.
The betrayal.
The confusion.
The pain in her eyes.
The pain is mine.
Before I realized it, the bottle was empty.
But it wasn't enough.
Not even close.
So I went to the kitchen.
Grabbed a bottle of bourbon.
And drank that too.
By the time exhaustion finally caught up with me, the room was spinning.
My body felt heavy.
My thoughts blurred.
But somehow...
The loneliness remained.
I collapsed onto the bed.
Rose petals scattered around me.
Still wearing my wedding trousers.
Still wearing my shoes.
Shirtless, with only the bandages wrapped around my waist.
Sleep came quickly.
But peace didn't.
The dreams came first.
And they were worse.
I saw Ellie.
Standing in a white dress.
Beautiful.
Radiant.
Smiling.
Then the white slowly changed.
Red spread across the fabric.
A stain.
A wound.
Blood is blooming from her stomach.
The red spread outward like petals falling from a dying flower.
Crimson droplets landed against my face.
I reached for her.
Called her name.
But she didn't look at me.
She just kept spinning.
Slowly.
Endlessly.
Her dress turned the entire room into a storm of blood and roses.
Then I was sinking.
Drowning.
The floor beneath me became an ocean.
A red tide rising higher and higher.
Something pierced my chest.
Again.
And again.
And again.
I looked down.
A dagger was buried in my heart.
Blood poured from the wound.
Turning the water around me darker.
The petals floated across the surface like dead flowers.
I tried to move.
Tried to reach her.
Tried to call out.
But no sound came.
Ellie kept dancing.
Her dress moved like a cyclone.
She grew larger.
Larger.
Until she towered above me.
A storm.
A force I couldn't escape.
And still...
She never looked at me.
Not once.
The red water rose over my head.
My chest burned.
The world disappeared.
And just before everything went black—
I felt myself break beneath the tide.