+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 39\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said with a sigh. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m just moody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMoody doesn\u2019t explain the way you\u2019ve been snapping at people, especially Nolan,\u201d Rae said, sounding more amused than concerned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserves it,\u201d I pointed out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, absolutely he does,\u201d Rae responded. \u201cBut it\u2019s still kind of risky. And he\u2019s not the only one you\u2019ve been snapping at.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t snapped at you,\u201d I responded with a serious look\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course not. What reason would you possibly have to be mad at me? I\u2019m the best friend you could possibly have, \u201cRae responded with a confident smirk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We both giggled at the statement-it was true, but Rae was only saying it to be silly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSeriously though, is this something I should be worried about?\u201d Rae asked once our laughter died down. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to snap at the wrong person and get yourself into rouble. You need to try to keep a low profile as much as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry,\u201d I replied earnestly. \u201cIf it is mood swings caused by the pregnancy, then it\u2019s just something I\u2019ll have to deal with. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s really stangling out as a problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as you know,\u201d Rae said meaningfully. \u201cJust because no one has called you out on it directly doesn\u2019t mean they haven\u2019t noticed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRae, why are you trying to make me paranoid? I already have enough to worry about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not the only one who\u2019s worried,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m losing my mind half the time worrying about why you\u2019re not answering your phone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019m sleeping\u2014like, all the time. I\u2019ve never been so tired in my entire life. It\u2019s like the baby is just sucking every ounce of energy out of my body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of is,\u201d Rae pointed out. \u201cI mean, isn\u2019t that why you re taking the multivitamins? And you\u2019re making sure you\u2019re eating enough, right? I know it\u2019s clich\u00e9 to say you\u2019re eating for two, but you actually literally are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I replied, rolling my eyes. \u201cI am eating enough. I am taking my vitamins.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you taking an iron supplement?\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIron? No. Why?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s super common for pregnant women to have on deficiencies. It takes so much of it to, like, fuel the baby. You should try one-if you\u2019re iron deficient, it could explain why you\u2019re feeling so tired.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do you suddenly know so much about pregnancy?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my best friend is pregnant, duh,\u201d she replied like it was obvious. \u201cI\u2019ve been reading every pregnancy book I can find.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell that\u2019s helpful. I\u2019ve been too nervous to bring any to the house. I don\u2019t want Nolan to see one and start asking questions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes sense, but it has to make things more difficul not knowing what\u2019s happening with your body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 30\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitley,\u201d I sighed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Third Person POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance was distracted pretty much all night. By the time his friends left, he had made the decision to try to get to the bottom of what was going on with Ellie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He waited until Rae had left the table, presumably to pay their bill, before he approached her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie looked up at him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. She looked tired and he wondered if she was feeling sick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you still doing here? Didn\u2019t your friends leave like fifteen minutes ago?\u201d Ellie demanded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, but I wanted to talk to you,\u201d Lance replied as he stopped a few feet from her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of Lance\u2019s bravado had fallen away. He seemed almost nervous as he stood beside the table, looking at her like he could figure out the mystery if he just stared long enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk to me about what?\u201d Ellie asked, irritated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your problem with me?\u201d he asked bluntly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie tilted her head and looked at him as if he\u2019d lost his mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you serious?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. Dead serious,\u201d Lance said, but there was no heat to his words. Ellie thought he almost seemed\u2026 uncertain, as he stood there with his hands stiff at his sides, waiting for her answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty obvious what my problem with you is. You\u2019re lazy, at least when it comes to your responsibilities to the pack,\u201d Ellie explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy responsibilities to the pack?\u201d Lance repeated in disbelief. \u201cI don\u2019t owe Nolan-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
you do \u201cI didn\u2019t say anything about him,\u201d Ellie interrupted. \u201cI said the pack. You owe the pack. The fact that nothing to fulfill your role gets on my nerves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat role?\u201d Lance retorted. \u201cI\u2019m not the Alpha, my brother is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie scoffed. \u201cYou still owe the pack for the lavish lifestyle you get to live. I don\u2019t think you even realize how spoiled you are. You know, most people don\u2019t get to spend their days racing expensive cars for fun and partying on their fancy boats.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance stared at her. Her words pierced like a shard of ice into his heart. He could tell by the way she was looking at him that she didn\u2019t realize she\u2019d hit a nerve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance was lucky, and he knew that. He got to do pretty much whatever he wanted. He never had to worry about his needs being met, because the pack house was always going to provide for him-even when he messed up. When he failed, there was always a safety net.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He knew most people didn\u2019t have that. He knew that, because he\u2019d used his connection to Nolan to bail his friends out more than once. He was privileged to be able to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he had never considered that privilege as something the pack afforded him. He always saw it as something that came from Nolan. And Nolan owed him after what he\u2019d done, after causing the death of their parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance wouldn\u2019t think twice about taking from Nolan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But taking from the pack?\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 99\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking advantage of them?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was different. He didn\u2019t want to be that kind of person\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d Ellie asked after several seconds of heavy silence. You don\u2019t have a smart comeback for that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no idea what you\u2019re talking about,\u201d Lance said, but there was no bite in his voice, no angry glare, before he spun on his heel and walked away from her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His heart was racing as he realized Ellie was right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t a child anymore or an emotional teenager. He had no excuse for avoiding his role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He did owe responsibility to the pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it was time for him to grow up and step up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He just wasn\u2019t quite sure how.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie watched him go, noting the difference in his demeanor from their previous interactions. Something about Lance seemed almost\u2026 raw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t get a chance to dwell on it, though, as Rae suddenly appeared at her side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was that all about?\u201d Rae asked. \u201cWas that Lance again?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d Ellie said dismissively. \u201cHe\u2019s just stirring things up like he always does.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae smiled a little. \u201cYou know, people say that about you. Maybe you and Lance actually have a bit in common.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we do,\u201d Ellie said thoughtfully. Lance certainly had a similar attitude towards Nolan, if nothing else. But, she did get the impression lately that maybe the two of them were in the same boat in other ways. Lance seemed like he felt just as trapped by his role as she did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 39 +25 Bonus\u00a0 Chapter 39\u00a0 Ellie POV\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}