Chapter 236

Chapter 236
Nolan POV
The world drifted back to me in pieces.
Sound came first – soft, rhythmic, almost like waves rolling in against a distant shore. A steady beeping followed, too familiar to be comforting. Machines. Hospital machines. Then came scent – sharp antiseptic layered over something warmer beneath it.
Something soft. Something impossibly familiar.
Moonlight and wildflowers.
Ellie.
The realization cut through the fog of pain and sedatives like a blade. Even before I opened my eyes, I felt her. The faint hum of the mate bond tugged at me, gentle but persistent, like a silken thread looped through my ribs. No matter how much distance I’d tried to put between us, it always reached for her.
And right now, it thrummed with something fierce. Worried. Afraid. Close.
I drew in a slow breath, but the motion dragged at something deep in my side. Pain shot through me — sharp enough to yank a low groan from my throat. My heart stumbled in its rhythm before settling again.
Somewhere next to me, a chair creaked. Fabric brushed lightly against my arm. Someone exhaled a tired, uneven sound that made something inside me clench.
I forced my eyes open.
Light stabbed at me, then softened as the world came into focus.
Ellie sat slumped beside the bed, her hair loose around her shoulders in soft waves, her hospital badge still clipped crookedly to her shirt. She looked exhausted- dark circles beneath her eyes, her lips pressed tightly together like she’d been holding herself in place by sheer will alone.
And gods, she was beautiful.
For a long moment, I just stared at her, letting the reality settle into place.
She was here.
Alive. Safe. Close enough that I could feel her presence like warmth on my skin.
“Hey,” I rasped, my voice more breath than sound.
Her head snapped up so fast I almost winced for her.
“You’re awake.”
Emotion cracked through those two words, thin but unmistakable.
“Barely,” I managed, trying for a smile but feeling it falter “You look like you haven’t slept.”
Ellie let out a shaky breath that caught halfway between a laugh and a sob. “You’re one to talk.”
I tried to laugh with her, but it came out as a pained groan, he reached out instinctively, steadying my arm when
I shifted. Her fingers brushed against my wrist, warm and gentle and the bond
surged at the contact, strong enough to steal my breath.
“You shouldn’t move,” she said softly. “The knife went deep. You lost a lot of blood.”
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Chapter 236
+25 Bonus
That explained the dizziness. The heaviness. The way my limbs felt full of sand.
“Cassian?” I asked.
“He’s fine.” Her voice softened, relief flashing across her features. “You saved his life.”
I exhaled slowly, letting the tension drain from my chest. “Good.”
Silence settled between us – not uncomfortable, but fragile, like the thinnest thread stretched tight. She kept her hand near mine, not quite touching but close enough that the warmth radiating from her skin soothed something raw in me.
“You shouldn’t have been there,” she whispered. “You should have sent someone else. What’s the point of being the alpha if you’re always throwing yourself head first into danger. It’s reckless!”
I let out a faint huff that might’ve been a laugh on a better day. “And miss the chance
to throw myself in front of a blade? That doesn’t sound like me.’ >>
She frowned, her lips twitching like she wanted to be annoyed but didn’t have the energy for it.
“You could’ve died, Nolan.”
“I know.”
Her expression cracked.
Just barely – but I saw it. Her throat worked, her eyes glistening before she looked away. Her shoulders trembled like she was fighting to stay in control.
“I thought-” Her voice broke. She pressed a hand over her mouth, eyes squeezing shut. “When they brought you in, when I saw all the blood I thought you were gone.”
Emotion punched me square in the chest. I had been so focused on the grief that Ellie would feel if something happened to Cassian that it hadn’t even occurred to me that she would worry for me.
After everything we’d been through, after everything that I’ve done to her, the thought of her mourning me seemed remote. But I could feel it in the bond, the steady, cold thrum of fear.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said quietly.
“You didn’t just scare me.” Her gaze lifted to mine, and I felt it down to my bones. “You made me realize how much I still-”
She cut herself off, shaking her head as if physically pulling herself away from the edge of something dangerous.
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