Chapter 282

Chapter 282
Ellie POV
The television was still on as we settled into the silence that followed the chaos. The volume was low, but the dull roar of the panic still resonated.
The boys were pressed against me on the narrow couch in the secure backstage room, August’s face buried in my shoulder, lan clutching the front of my jacket with white-knuckled determination.
Their cries had faded into small, broken hiccups, the kind that came after terror burned itself out and left only confusion behind.
I rocked them gently, murmuring nonsense words, my heart still racing so hard it hurt.
The screen flickered.
Nolan stood at the podium, blood on his shirt, lights glaring down on him like judgment.
I wasn’t really watching at first. I couldn’t. My focus was on the boys, on keeping them grounded, on making sure they stayed here with me instead of drifting back into fear.
Then I heard his voice.
The familiar commanding tone, the icy resolve that cut through the chaos. It was impossible to ignore. It was hard to look at him injured like that.
The image of him clinging to life in the hospital flashed through my mind, and it nearly undid me. There he was again, injured in the act of protecting someone else. Despair pulled at my mind.
It felt like this was never going to end. Like he would never really be safe. Nolan wasn’t the type to stand by and let someone else address his problems. He didn’t delegate well he never let others fight his battles.
This kind of thing would happen again and again, even if he did become king. The thought made me tighten my grip on the boys The thought of them reliving this fear over and over made my heart ache.
Then Nolan’s tone shifted. Not the alpha command anymore, not the restrained anger.
This was something else entirely. Something raw and sincere.
“I’m done.”
My head snapped up. My eyes fixed on his face as the camera zoomed in on his expression. His stormy eyes were fixed on some distant point, his jaw set firmly.
The world narrowed to the sound of him speaking, steady and unflinching despite everything.
Each word hit me like a physical blow.
I won’t risk my mate. I won’t risk my children.
My breath caught painfully in my chest.
I withdraw my candidacy.
The room went very, very quiet. Lance and the other guards who had been
whispering near the door had gone silent, too. The words seemed to hang over all of
us.
August lifted his head slightly, eyes red-rimmed and unfocused, as if he sensed
something important had just happened, even if he couldn’t understand it. lan sniffled and pressed closer to me.
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Chapter 282
+25 Bonus
I stared at the screen, unable to look away now.
Nolan turned from the camera and walked offstage, leaving behind stunned silence and chaos that hadn’t yet found its voice.
Questions were shouted at his retreating figure. The crowd off-screen shouted in outrage and disbelief. Nolan didn’t look back, and he didn’t hesitate.
He walked away from it. From all of it.
My hands began to shake.
Lance was standing a few feet away, having finished speaking quietly into his comm. He looked at the television, then at me. Our eyes met.
There was too much in that look to name easily-shock, respect, disbelief, something dangerously close to grief.
“He just Lance started, then stopped. His expression was conflicted. I could see him processing the implications of this. The true weight of what Nolan had just done settled slowly.
I swallowed hard. My throat felt raw, tight, like I’d been screaming too.
“He’s choosing us,” I whispered.
The words didn’t feel real until I said them out loud.
Choosing us.
Not power. Not legacy. Not the future everyone else thought he should want.
Us. His family.
The weight of that crashed over me all at once-gratitude so intense it hurt, grief for the dream he was letting go of, terror at how close we’d come to losing him, and love so deep it made my chest ache.
I might have burst into tears right then if I weren’t so certain it would frighten the boys.
The door opened softly.
I felt him before I saw him. The familiar buzz of the pull sharpened and drew my eyes to him.
The boys felt him, too.
August twisted in my arms, eyes widening. “Dada?” he asked, voice small and uncertain.
“Did he just Lance’s eyes widened like saucers. I was sure that mine did the same. August’s little eyes were fixed on the door, completely oblivious to the significance of his first word.
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