Chapter 234

Chapter 234
Ellie POV
The hospital had settled into its usual afternoon rhythmhe kind of steady, predictable hurn that made the whole place feel like it existed in its own pocket of time.
Machines beeped in soft intervals. The faint scent of antiseptic mixed with burnt coffee clung stubbornly to the air. My sneakers whispered against the linoleum as I moved from room to room, checking vitals, adjusting IV lines, offering tired patients quiet smiles.
It was busy in the usual way – comforting, even. Routine had become my anchor lately. With everything in my life shifting around me the boys, the announcement, the way certain people were suddenly watching me like I held answers I didn’t remember learning – the hospital was the one place where I still felt like myself.
Or at least, the version of myself I understood.
Still, there was a tightness in my chest that hadn’t loosened all day.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep. My dreams had been restless again – full of flickering images I couldn’t entirely hold onto. Always moonlight and shadows. Always running after something I couldn’t name. And always, that faint whisper threading through everything like silver smoke.
You’ll know when it matters most.
The ever present specter of Nolan’s wolf form was always there, at the periphery. Protective and alert.
I was starting to suspect that the goddess was showing me this aspect of him as more than a subtle message that I could trust him. It was too persistent, too pointed. There was something else she wanted me to know. Something about Nolan’s protective nature.
It did nothing to ease the panic of the vision I had had of him and Cassian. The viscousness of it. The blood…
It was behind my eyelids when I closed my eyes.
Cassian in his wolf form, large and dangerous, focused on something ahead of him. Nolan, black and sleek as a shadow diving at him, a growl of warning ripping through the air. Then the flash of blood. The sound of Nolan’s breath leaving his chest.
Darkness.
Alaric had reassured me. He’d spoken to Nolan, ensured that he was alright. There were no recent battles that could account for the dream.
But that was exactly what I was afraid of. That it wasn’t a dream with some cryptic message, but a vision of something that was going to happen.
The future.
I’d warned Cassian. I could tell he was tense, that there was something he wasn’t telling me, but no matter how I pushed, he assured me that everything was going to be alright.
It was a lie, and I knew it, but there was nothing I could do,
The goddess’s voice seemed to be whispering to me constantly. Familiar in a way that didn’t make sense.
I shook the thought off, finishing up a chart at the nurses’ station. Rae had the boys today; she’d sent me a picture earlier of them passed out on the couch like tiny, chubby burritos. I’d stared at it longer than necessary. I kept telling myself the quiet was good a rare moment of peace.
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But the unease wouldn’t leave.
I was about to move on to my next patient when something in the atmosphere
shifted subtly at first, like the pressure dropping before a storm. The air grew
heavier, charged. My skin prickled, every instinct I didn’t fully understand suddenly on alert.
Then I heard it.
Footsteps. Fast. Too fast for normal hospital movement.
Two nurses sprinted down the hall, pushing a cart piled with emergency supplies. Their faces were pale, eyes wide.
“What happened?” I called after them.
One of them glanced back. “There’s been an attack near the border – they’re
bringing in an Alpha. He’s in bad shape.”
The word Alpha slammed into me like a physical force.
My heart lurched. A sharp pull tightened low in my stomach, something primal and electric- too familiar. Too dangerous.
It wasn’t Cassian. I knew. That would have been the logical conclusion, but the vision…
My hand shot out to steady myself against the wall as the hallway tilted. My vision blurred. Suddenly, the white hospital lights dissolved and I was somewhere else entirely
Moonlight. Trees. Shadows dancing at the edge of my sight. The goddess, close enough to touch, her voice brushing my ear like warm breath.
You’ll know when it matters most…
Then heat. Panic. The overwhelming scent of blood.
“Ellie?” A nurse grabbed my elbow. “Are you okay? You look like you’re going to faint.”
I blinked hard, pulling myself back to the present. “I-I’m fine. Just… dizzy.”
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Chapter 235