Chapter 84\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even if she hadn\u2019t liked Ellie, she should at least have understood that much. I couldn\u2019t just let someone get away with hurting my wife. My pride as an Alpha wouldn\u2019t allow it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But if I was honest with myself, I knew that wasn\u2019t the real reason I felt this way. The truth was simpler, and far worse. The people I was supposed to protect always ended up hurt because of me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because I couldn\u2019t face my own emotions. Because I was too weak to handle them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If I\u2019d been honest with Ellie from the start, none of this would have happened. If I had told her straight that ours was a political marriage and nothing more, maybe she wouldn\u2019t have tried so hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe she wouldn\u2019t have grown so desperate. If she hadn\u2019t begged and whined and pestered me, I wouldn\u2019t have grown to resent her. If I hadn\u2019t let things fester, Felicity wouldn\u2019t have grown so bitter toward her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end, it was all my fault. Because I was too weak to handle the situation honestly. And now Ellie was hurt-\u00a0<\/p>\n
or worse. 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Felicity was in our room crying. The woman who meant everything to me was weeping and screaming in rage because I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about someone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I couldn\u2019t stop. My mind was stuck in an unending loop. My grief, anger, and desperation were feeding into one another like fuel on a flame.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew I should have confronted Ellie directly the moment I suspected she was pregnant. She wouldn\u2019t have lied to my face, I was sure of it. I didn\u2019t even fully understand why she hid it, unless she was terrified of how I might react.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And maybe she was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thought clawed at me. What if it was worse than that? What if she\u2019d hidden it because she thought I might do the unthinkable?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d heard stories-Alphas who married a woman just to produce an heir, then took the baby away and gave it to their lover to raise. Could Ellie have thought I was capable of something that cruel?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why wouldn\u2019t she? I had only ever been cold to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is that why she hid it from me?\u00a0<\/p>\n
My mind was a storm of questions. I couldn\u2019t sleep anymore\u2014I just lay awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how different things could have been if I hadn\u2019t destroyed everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I should have taken care of Ellie. I should have protected her as my wife. It was my responsibility-my duty as Alpha. And I failed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Failed again and again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her life was miserable because of me. I not only treated her coldly, I allowed everyone around us to treat her like trash. She was constantly belittled and mocked and I acted like she was out of line for crying over it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m such a bastard,\u201d I muttered as I paced around my office. The sound of Felicity\u2019s crying was muffled now, but still clear enough. A reminder that I\u2019d failed her too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe my parents had been right about me all those years ago. During those grueling hours of training, when\u00a0<\/p>\n
they told me I wasn\u2019t ready, that I was too weak\u2026 I just kept proving them right. Proving it by messing everything\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 84\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thinking about Ellie being dead was too much. I couldn\u2019t carry that on my conscience too. I had already caused my parents\u2019 deaths. I had already lost our babies. I couldn\u2019t add hers to the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And yet\u2026 I felt it in my bones. She was alive. She had to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was the mate bond. Maybe it was something else. Maybe-goddess help me-it was the Moon Goddess herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze mid-step in my pacing. Did I really just think that? Did I really credit the goddess with anything? I didn\u2019t even believe in her. The Moon Goddess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I must have been truly desperate if my mind was turning to religion for comfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even so, I could feel Ellie somewhere out there. I knew it. No matter what Felicity said, no matter what anyone said, no matter what logic dictated\u2014she was alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And no matter how long it took, or how far I had to go\u2026 I would find her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u66f2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 84 Chapter 84\u00a0 +25 Bonus\u00a0 Even if she hadn\u2019t liked Ellie, she should at […]<\/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-23653","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\/23653","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=23653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}