Chapter 7
Regret twisted in Evric’s chest like a slow, constricting vine, just as his phone lit up with an incoming call from Celeste.
He hesitated for a long moment before finally answering.
“Evric, where are you?” came Celeste’s sugary voice. “Why haven’t you come back yet? I miss you.”
In the past, her sweet tone had always melted his heart like honey. But now, for some reason, it only irritated him
unexplainably.
Because it was that voice, that incessant, manipulative sweetness, that had so often coaxed him into hurting me again and again.
With that thought, annoyance crept into his voice as he replied, “I have things to take care of. Stay put at the hospital.”
“No, I want you here right now,” she pouted on the other end.
“Celeste, can’t you just grow up for once?” he snapped with a frown.
He had never spoken to Celeste like this before. Celeste paused, clearly stunned, before responding with a pitiful tone.
“Fine. I’ll behave, okay? But only if you send Nerina to the pack hospital to take care of me. I only want her.”
“She’s not available. And it’s not her job anymore. The caregiver I hired for you is perfectly capable,” he said impatiently.
Celeste’s voice immediately rose in pitch. “Evric! Why are you taking her side? Do you still have feelings for her? I knew there was something going on between you two!”
“That bitch must’ve been seducing you even after I came back. I need to be discharged from the hospital and come home now. I’m going to kill her!”
“You’re insane,” Evric muttered, disgusted at her hysteria, and hung up without another word.
He didn’t want to think about Celeste anymore. Instead, he clutched the note I left behind and stepped into my room, as if hoping to find some trace of me in the pack house.
But the small room held no sign that I’d ever been there. I had carefully erased myself from the space.
Only then did Evric finally realize this wasn’t even a real bedroom, it was a storage room converted into one.
Once upon a time, he’d let me sleep in his own bed. But after Celeste returned, he’d found some excuse to banish me here.
Guilt punched him in the chest. All his delayed tenderness and remorse welled up at once, burning behind his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Nerina,” he whispered, slumped against the wall. “I never should’ve brought you here. I made you suffer. I put you through hell.”
He collapsed onto the floor, whispering to himself like a man broken.
From a distance, Alden watched the once-proud Alpha curled on the ground like a grieving child. But he didn’t feel pity. Chapter 7
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Because no matter what Evric did now, Alden couldn’t forget the way I had looked when I returned-battered, broken, barely hanging on to life.
After what felt like hours, Alden’s phone rang.
It was the hospital.
His expression darkened as he listened. After a long moment, he walked over to Evric, struggling to find the right words.
“Evric, there’s a situation. Celeste is throwing a tantrum in her room. The staff can’t calm her down. They need you to come immediately.”
Evric lifted his head, his red eyes burning with frustration. “What the hell is she freaking out about now? Haven’t I done enough for her?”
He slammed a nearby lamp to the ground, stood up abruptly, and stormed out the door toward the hospital.
As he approached the ward, Celeste’s voice shrieked through the door, raw and venomous,
“That bitch Nerina, what does she have that I don’t? She’s just a lowly gardener! How could she possibly compare to me? Why does Evric defend her?!”
“I used to do whatever I wanted to her and he never cared! But now, why won’t he suddenly do as I say anymore?! What, is Nerina trying to take my place? She’s nothing but my stand-in!”
Evric stood frozen outside the room, stunned.
Through the glass, he saw her, wild-eyed, pacing, flailing her arms like a madwoman.
For the first time, she looked unfamiliar to him.
She had once been his unforgettable love Evric thought he had lost and finally regained. So no matter how spoiled she was, he used to find her tantrums endearing.
But now, those tantrums had driven me away.
Now, all he saw was a crazed, selfish woman.
Evric pushed the door open and stormed in.
He grabbed Celeste’s arm and hissed through clenched teeth, “Celeste, have you caused enough of a scene? This is a hospital, not your stage for throwing tantrums!”
Chapter 7
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