Chapter 177

Chapter 177
Nolan met his gaze, eyes hard. “You want an answer? Fine. Because she tried to destroy the only person who threatened her position. Because she tried to kill my babies, she made it clear that the title of Luna meant more to her than I ever had. She went after Ellie. She endangered the twins. I could forgive her for a lot, Lance, but not that.”
The silence that followed was heavy, thick with the weight of everything unsaid.
Lance’s voice was quiet when he finally spoke. “You loved her.”
Nolan exhaled. “I thought I did. But at some point, the girl that I loved turned into someone else, a stranger. She wasn’t the kind, generous girl who had patched me up after training and comforted me when I broke down. In the end, she was self- important and cruel.”
He looked out the window again, watching the rain blur the horizon. “Ellie never looked at me like that. She didn’t want the alpha. She just wanted me, and I threw it in her face. I let Felicity convince me that Ellie was using me. I was a fool.”
Lance was quiet for a long time. Then he asked, “And now?”
“Now,” Nolan said softly, “I don’t know who I am anymore.”
“e the alpha,” Lance replied.
Nolan laughed mirthlessly. “Yes. The alpha. But what does that even mean? I drove Ellie away with my cruelty and indifference. I lost my boys because I couldn’t be trusted. My control of the pack is hanging on by a thread because I can’t keep my own family together. I messed everything up.”
“No, you didn’t,” Lance answered automatically. “You messed up a lot, but I don’t think any of it is broken beyond repair. Listen, when I helped Ellie run away from Silver Fang, none of us knew the truth of what was going on here. No one knew about Felicity’s schemes, no one even suspected.”
“But I should have,” Nolan snapped back sharply. “I should have known! I was closer to her than anyone. I was with her all the time, and I never saw the signs. I almost lost everything because I was blinded by my own emotions. I was weak.” “Emotions aren’t inherently weak, Nolan,” Lance replied. “They can be a strength.”
“I wish I believed that. I really do,” Nolan said softly. “But my emotions have only ever caused me more trouble. I thought that if I spent enough time pretending to be cold and untouchable, I could become that way, but it only made things worse for all of us. That includes you.”
“Me?” Lance said with a frown. “Nolan, I did plenty of messing up of my own. I never should have blamed you for everything. I said such horrible things to you-”
“You were an angry kid, you didn’t do anything wrong by blaming me.”
“I wasn’t a kid. I didn’t grow up and figure it out. It took you confessing for me to
even consider that I could have been wrong about you. I’m sorry for that.”
He turned, and for the first time in years, Lance saw not the alpha-the legend, the leader-but his brother. A man tired of being unbreakable.
Lance set his glass down. “You think she’ll come back?”
Nolan gave a half-smile. “Would you?”
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Chapter 177
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Lance didn’t answer.
Instead, he crossed the room and stood beside him, both of them looking out into the storm.
“You should have told me,” Lance said after a long silence. “About what they did. About everything.”
“I didn’t want you to see them the way I did,” Nolan said.
“I think I already did,” Lance said quietly. “I just didn’t want to admit it.”
The rain eased to a drizzle, the clouds beginning to break apart. The faintest trace of sunlight spilled through the
gray.
Nolan felt something loosen in his chest-a tension he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying for years.
“I can’t change what I did,” he said. “Or what I allowed. But I’m trying to be better. Maybe it’s too late. I would understand if that was the case. But I hope that I can earn your trust someday.”
Lance nodded slowly. “You’re trying. Maybe that’s enough.”
They stood there for a while longer, saying nothing. The silence between them wasn’t empty anymore. It was tentative, healing.
When Lance finally left, the room felt strangely still. Nolan returned to his desk, staring at the faint rings left by their glasses.
He thought of his parents, of Felicity, of Ellie.
And for the first time in a long while, he let himself feel the full weight of his choices- without anger, without
excuses.
Just truth.
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