Chapter 99

Chapter 99
Something sharp twisted in my chest. My wolf snarled, low and restless, the feeling unbearable. She trusted him at her lowest, when she chose to abandon me. It stung like a slap to the face.
I knew Cassian had feelings for her-I’d seen the way his eyes lingered, the way his hand brushed her shoulder as though it was the most natural thing in the world. And now, hearing her defend him so fiercely, it confirmed every suspicion I’d had.
“Why?” The word tore out of me before I could stop it. “Why do you care so much for him?”
Her eyes locked on mine. Moonlit. Steady. “Because he treated me like a person when no one else would. Because he respected me when I was at my lowest. Because he didn’t try to stop me from doing what I felt was necessary, he offered his support.”}
Cassian’s gaze flicked toward her then, just briefly, and my stomach turned at the look in his eyes-protective, steady, something deeper that I couldn’t name.
My hands curled into fists. “That doesn’t explain why you’re hiding behind him like-”
“Enough.” Alaric’s voice cut in, harder now, his authority filling the room. But I noticed the way his eyes softened when they fell on Ellie once again.
Something flickered there-something I didn’t understand.
Cassian’s calm wasn’t arrogance. It wasn’t defiance. It was… something else. Something protective in a way that went beyond friendship or lust. His loyalty to her was absolute, unshakable.
There was a similar look on Alaric’s face now. I had suspected when they first came to Silver Fang that something was going on with them; now it was certain.
And I still had no idea what.
And for the first time, I wondered if I had misunderstood what tied them together.
I didn’t ask the question burning on my tongue. Not yet. I couldn’t.
But my eyes met Alaric’s, and I could see the conflict there. We both knew that there was something happening that we would need to address if there was any hope of our newly forged alliance surviving.
I looked at Ellie, my wolf still pacing anxiously, and my heart beating too hard. She didn’t look guilty right now, only angry. If she were having an affair with Cassian, then surely she wouldn’t look so righteously angry.
“Nolan,” Lance spoke for the first time. “This isn’t why we’re here.”
I looked at him for a long, tense moment before nodding once. He was right. On some level, this confrontation needed to happen, but it wasn’t the main point of our meeting.
“Look, why don’t I take Ellie to get some air, and you can get down to business?” Lance offered.
I nodded, reluctantly agreeing to his suggestion. Lance put his hand on Ellie’s shoulder and steered her toward the exit. As they passed behind Cassian, I saw a look pass between him and Lance.
For a moment, I could see that there was a bond between the three of them. I remembered hearing their laughter back in the courtyard in Silver Fang.
I knew that the three of them had grown close, but now I couldn’t help but wonder if pushing them toward each other had created an alliance that was going to destroy me. I had wronged Lance and Ellie so much that if Cassian
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Chapter 99
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had offered to help them take me down…
It occurred to me that I could ask. Ask if Lance had any knowledge of this plan. Ask
if there was something more between Ellie and Cassian. But I didn’t.
Because if I was wrong-if I had let jealousy blind me-it would change everything.
Still, watching Ellie stand so fiercely between us, defending Cassian as if her very life depended on it… I wasn’t sure which possibility was worse.
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