Chapter 25 Chapter twenty-five
~Ellie~
When I finally clawed my way back to consciousness, it felt like swimming upward through thick, dark water. Every breath burned, shallow and unfamiliar, as if my lungs had forgotten how to do their job. My eyelids fluttered open to the sharp sting of light. The air smelled like antiseptic herbs and sage smoke and that was when I realized something was wrong. The ceiling above me wasn’t the one from the pack house. The wooden beams were different, older, and the paint was cracked along the edges.
My stomach tightened before my thoughts even caught up. I wasn’t home.
Panic struck like a blade through my chest.
I tried to sit up too quickly, and the room tilted violently, spinning until I thought I might fall off the bed. My hands flew instinctively to my abdomen. “The baby,” I whispered, barely recognizing my own voice. It came out raw, shredded. “My baby...”
My heart thrashed against my ribs, so loud I could hear it in my ears. Every possible nightmare flashed before me in brutal detail...the attack, the pain, the fear that I’d lost the only thing that mattered. My throat closed up, and for a second I thought I might choke on my own heartbeat.
Then a hand pressed gently but firmly against my shoulder.
“Ellie, stop moving.”
The voice was calm but distant, professional in a way that made my stomach twist tighter. I blinked up at the woman standing beside the bed.
Cyprus
Relief hit me so hard it almost made me dizzy again. “Cyprus” I breathed. “Thank the Moon, it’s you...what happened? Is my...”
“The baby’s fine,” she interrupted, her tone clipped. “You just need to be careful for a while.”
The words sank into me slowly, and then my whole body seemed to sag under their weight. Fine. The baby was fine. My hand flattened over my belly, feeling for that subtle flutter beneath my skin, the quiet promise of life that I’d been terrified of losing. Tears gathered in my eyes before I could stop them, hot and reckless.
“Fine,” I repeated, whispering it like a prayer. “Thank you. Thank you, Cyprus.”
But when I finally looked up at her again, the relief cracked.
She wasn’t smiling. She wasn’t even looking at me properly, just watching from the corner of her eye as she checked some herbs on the counter, grinding them harder than necessary. Her posture was stiff, her mouth set in a thin, unreadable line.
A strange unease rippled through me.
Cyprus and I used to laugh together until our sides hurt, whispering jokes during late-night healing lessons, sharing secrets we never told anyone else.
She must be mad at me. She had told me to be care, not to let any harm come to me, that my woman is too fragile and I can lose the baby.
But now… she looked at me like I was something poisonous. I get it, I ignore her pleading and warning. She every right to be.
“Cyprus?” I said softly.
She didn’t answer. She just moved about the room, gathering things, pretending to be busy. The only sounds were the clink of glass and the soft rustle of fabric.
A hollow ache opened in my chest. “Did I… do something? I get it, i didn't listen to you,”
Still nothing.
I tried again, pushing myself up onto my elbows despite the dull ache radiating through my back. “Cyprus, look at me.”
Finally, she turned. Her eyes usually warm and full of quiet humor were cold. Not angry, exactly. Just… distant.
I swallowed hard. “What’s wrong?”
“You should rest,” she said instead, flatly. “You’ve been through enough.”
“That’s not an answer.” My voice trembled despite my effort to keep it steady. “Please, Cyprus, just tell me what’s going on. You’re acting like you hate me.”
Her jaw tightened. “I don’t hate you.”
“Then what is it?” I pressed, heart pounding again. “If I did something, if someone said something, just tell me so I can fix it.”
She turned away, her shoulders rigid. For a long moment, she didn’t speak. I could hear my own pulse echoing in the silence, faster and faster, until I thought I might scream just to fill the space between us.
When she finally spoke, her voice cracked not with emotion, but with restrained frustration. “Why are you trying to cause beef between two brothers?”
The words hit me like a slap.
I blinked at her, stunned. “What?”
She faced me fully then, and for the first time I saw the storm behind her composure, hurt, confusion, disappointment. “You heard me.”
“I...what are you talking about?”
Lina’s mouth twitched, like she couldn’t believe I was asking. “You don’t know?”
“No!” I snapped, more sharply than I meant to. My pulse spiked again, my chest tightening painfully. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What brothers?”
She let out a humorless laugh. “Oh, come on, Ellie. Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I mean. You’ve been spending time with one and leaving the other one starving for attention,”
I stared at her, the room suddenly spinning in slow motion. My mouth opened, but no words came out.
Two brothers.
Fighting.
Because of me?