The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169

I clear my throat. “I didn’t mean to snap.”

He waves it off. “You always snap.’

“That wasn’t an apology.”

He smiles faintly. “I know.”

Another pause.

He studies me again, more seriously now, his eyes tracing my face like he’s trying to read something written under my skin.

“Dang. So this is it. You’re not going to leave him,” he says quietly.

It’s not a question.

It irritates me immediately.

“Oh?” I lean back slightly, crossing my arms. “And how exactly would you know that?”

He shrugs, but there’s no humor in it this time. “Because every time you talk about him, you look… different.”

I scoff. “That’s not a real answer.”

“It is to me.”

I open my mouth to argue.

To tell him he’s wrong.

But I’m too tired.

He leans forward slightly, his voice softer now.

“You love him.”

The certainty in his tone makes something in my stomach twist.

Ew.

I look down at the table, tracing the faint scratches in the wood with my fingertip.

What good would it do to deny it? What good would it do to tell him the truth?

That this is a contract. That this is survival. That love has nothing to do with it.

r

If I did and Dominic found out I said that, or I was even here with Lucas, it would only make thing messier.

And I have enough messes already.

So instead, I shrug.

“You’re right,” I say.

Chooter

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The words feel strange as they leave my mouftt.

“I love him.”

Lucas goes quiet.

Really quiet.

He leans back slowly, studying me with an expression I can’t quite name. Then he lets out a quiet breath, running a hand through his hair.

“…Yeah,” he murmurs.

Not surprised.

Not convinced.

Just… accepting it.

And somehow, that feels worse.

Before I can decide whether Lucas meant that last part as comfort or accusation, a shadow falls across the

table.

I nearly slam my head into the wood.

He’s smiling.

What the-

I narrow my eyes immediately. “Why,” I say slowly, circling a finger vaguely in his direction, “do you look like that?”

His gaze doesn’t leave mine.

“You said you loved me.

Oh.

He heard that?

Heat creeps up the back of my neck.

I force my face into something neutral.

“I did,” I reply evenly.

He studies me like he’s trying to peel the truth out from under my skin.

Dominic moves, stepping around the table and taking Lucas’s abandoned seat without asking.

“You looked angry when you said it,” he says.

I blink at him. “That’s my face.”

His mouth twitches.

r

“Why are you here?” I add, folding my arms across my chest. “Am I allowed to exist unsupervised for five minutes, or is that against Alpha policy now?”

Dominic POV

2/4

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