Chapter 234\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hospital had settled into its usual afternoon rhythmhe kind of steady, predictable hurn that made the whole place feel like it existed in its own pocket of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Machines beeped in soft intervals. The faint scent of antiseptic mixed with burnt coffee clung stubbornly to the air. My sneakers whispered against the linoleum as I moved from room to room, checking vitals, adjusting IV lines, offering tired patients quiet smiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was busy in the usual way \u2013 comforting, even. Routine had become my anchor lately. With everything in my life shifting around me the boys, the announcement, the way certain people were suddenly watching me like I held answers I didn\u2019t remember learning \u2013 the hospital was the one place where I still felt like myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or at least, the version of myself I understood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, there was a tightness in my chest that hadn\u2019t loosened all day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was the lack of sleep. My dreams had been restless again \u2013 full of flickering images I couldn\u2019t entirely hold onto. Always moonlight and shadows. Always running after something I couldn\u2019t name. And always, that faint whisper threading through everything like silver smoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll know when it matters most.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ever present specter of Nolan\u2019s wolf form was always there, at the periphery. Protective and alert.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was starting to suspect that the goddess was showing me this aspect of him as more than a subtle message that I could trust him. It was too persistent, too pointed. There was something else she wanted me to know. Something about Nolan\u2019s protective nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It did nothing to ease the panic of the vision I had had of him and Cassian. The viscousness of it. The blood\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was behind my eyelids when I closed my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian in his wolf form, large and dangerous, focused on something ahead of him. Nolan, black and sleek as a shadow diving at him, a growl of warning ripping through the air. Then the flash of blood. The sound of Nolan\u2019s breath leaving his chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Darkness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric had reassured me. He\u2019d spoken to Nolan, ensured that he was alright. There were no recent battles that could account for the dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that was exactly what I was afraid of. That it wasn\u2019t a dream with some cryptic message, but a vision of something that was going to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d warned Cassian. I could tell he was tense, that there was something he wasn\u2019t telling me, but no matter how I pushed, he assured me that everything was going to be alright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a lie, and I knew it, but there was nothing I could do,\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goddess\u2019s voice seemed to be whispering to me constantly. Familiar in a way that didn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shook the thought off, finishing up a chart at the nurses\u2019 station. Rae had the boys today; she\u2019d sent me a picture earlier of them passed out on the couch like tiny, chubby burritos. I\u2019d stared at it longer than necessary. I kept telling myself the quiet was good a rare moment of peace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 234\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the unease wouldn\u2019t leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was about to move on to my next patient when something in the atmosphere shifted subtly at first, like the pressure dropping before a storm. The air grew heavier, charged. My skin prickled, every instinct I didn\u2019t fully understand suddenly on alert.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I heard it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Footsteps. Fast. Too fast for normal hospital movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two nurses sprinted down the hall, pushing a cart piled with emergency supplies. Their faces were pale, eyes wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d I called after them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of them glanced back. \u201cThere\u2019s been an attack near the border \u2013 they\u2019re bringing in an Alpha. He\u2019s in bad shape.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word Alpha slammed into me like a physical force.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart lurched. A sharp pull tightened low in my stomach, something primal and electric- too familiar. Too dangerous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t Cassian. I knew. That would have been the logical conclusion, but the vision\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hand shot out to steady myself against the wall as the hallway tilted. My vision blurred. Suddenly, the white hospital lights dissolved and I was somewhere else entirely\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moonlight. Trees. Shadows dancing at the edge of my sight. The goddess, close enough to touch, her voice brushing my ear like warm breath.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll know when it matters most\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then heat. Panic. The overwhelming scent of blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEllie?\u201d A nurse grabbed my elbow. \u201cAre you okay? You look like you\u2019re going to faint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked hard, pulling myself back to the present. \u201cI-I\u2019m fine. Just\u2026 dizzy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 235\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 234 Chapter 234\u00a0 Ellie POV\u00a0 The hospital had settled into its usual afternoon rhythmhe […]<\/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-23803","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\/23803","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=23803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}