:09 Wed, 13 Aug S
Chapter 144 Perfect Couple
Chapter 144 Perfect Couple
TESSA
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She was truly beautiful. Not in the magazine–cover way, but in a manner that made me stop breathing for a second. Ellana Claude’s beauty felt… effortless. It wasn’t only about her looks; it was the way she engaged with people–sharp enough to break the tension yet soft enough to feel like sunlight.
I found myself staring at her for a solid minute, momentarily forgetting my insufferable cousin. Cameron’s smirk faltered, and one of his friends let out a low whistle, seemingly attempting to extricate. himself from the uncomfortable situation. But Ellana remained unfazed.
“What are you doing?”
Cameron sighed heavily. “Nothing, Ellana,” he muttered. “Let’s go.”
With that, they departed, and I subconsciously exhaled a sigh of relief. Ellana stepped forward, closing the distance between us until she stood directly in front of me. Her shadow enveloped me–strange how comforting that felt. Then she crouched down to meet my gaze.
“Did they do anything else?” she asked once more. There wasn’t an ounce of pretense in her voice.
I shook my head, managing to utter, “Thank you,” though the words escaped my lips in a thin whisper.
It wasn’t really my fault. I could feel the air growing thinner around me again. My chest felt heavy, as if someone had tightened a band around my ribs, pulling it ever tighter.
My heart was working too hard; I could feel its relentless thumping. That deep, insistent ache I’d known for as long as I could remember had returned, demanding attention I desperately wished to ignore.
Ellana’s brow furrowed in worry. “You don’t look-”
“She’s fine,” Zaria’s voice sliced through the moment, She stepped forward, her tone wrapped in irritation. “She’s just acting up again.”
Acting up. That’s what she always called it, as though my heart condition was some dramatic performance I enjoyed putting on.
Zaria crossed her arms. “What kind of wolf even has a heart problem?”
I felt my heart plummet, but the sensation was oddly familiar. It felt expected.
Ellana looked like she wanted to say something, but Zaria had already seized her by the wrist, tugging her away. “Come on,” my sister muttered, casting me one last flat glance before steering her friend toward their table.
Ellana glanced back over her shoulder, just once. Her eyes held onto that concern, but she didn’t resist my sister’s pull.
The laughter had diminished, but the stares remained heavy upon me. I could feel their gazes clinging to my back, whispers brushing against my skin. I didn’t need to hear the words to know what they were saying.
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22:09 Wed, 13 Aug
Chapter 144 Perfect Couple
I stood up, my body suddenly feeling weighted down. I needed to get out of here.
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Determined to escape this suffocating place, I walked out of the cafeteria. Then, without warning, I collided with something solid.
My breath caught in my throat as I nearly bounced off his frame. Before I could stumble, a strong hand grasped my arm.
“Sorry-“I began, looking up.
Blue eyes stared back at me. The kind of blue you couldn’t mistake for anything else–deep blue like the night sky. Blonde hair framed his face in a slightly messy manner that seemed intentional. His height and presence were overwhelming.
I gasped before I could halt the reaction.
For a fleeting moment, neither of us moved. It felt like an invisible bubble enclosed us, the world around us slowing to a crawl. I could even hear the faint echo of my heartbeat thumping in my ears–only now, I knew that my heart was skipping for a reason that had nothing to do with my illness.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded, not trusting my voice to remain stable.
He gradually released my arm, almost reluctantly, and stepped back. But instead of walking away, he lingered, watching me with a faint crease of concern between his brows.
The kind of look one gives when they’re trying to figure something out.
Rowan Wrenmoor.
It had been years since I’d seen him up close. I knew of him, of course. He was the future royal Alpha of the South, the one who governed over all other Alphas in our faction. He was the subject of whispered respect and fear. The one everyone expected to stand a certain way, speak in a specific manner, and marry a certain kind of perfect.
His smile was subtle, something that could easily be missed if you weren’t paying attention. But I saw it. And the moment I did, my chest betrayed me once more, skipping a beat.
For so long, I hadn’t cared about men. That was the truth. My romance books overflowed with beautiful, impossibly extravagant stories, yet reality had never touched me in that way.
The men in my real life, apart from my father, hadn’t been worth writing home about. I rarely ventured out, cocooned in my own little world.
So how was it possible that a single look, a simple smile, could send my wolf pacing restlessly inside me?
I followed his gaze as it landed on the table at the far end of the cafeteria–Zaria’s table. Right next to her sat Ellana.
Rowan finally walked away, yet I found myself frozen in place, unable to summon the strength to move.
When he reached their table, he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Ellana’s cheek. In that moment, something in my chest wént utterly still. I could even feel my wolf whimpering in disappointment, and I
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Chapter 144 Perfect Couple
had no idea why.
Yet, it all made a strange kind of sense.
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Of course, they were together. They looked as if they had been cut from the same flawless cloth- beautiful, powerful, and utterly untouchable. People like them belonged together. They fit perfectly, in a way that made the rest of the world blur and fade into the background around them.
Still… my wolf’s restless pacing within me didn’t let up. If anything, it grew louder, howling in my chest for reasons I could not comprehend.
Why?
Perhaps it was because Rowan Wrenmoor had always held a certain allure for me–in that quiet, tucked- away corner of my mind that I dared not acknowledge.
Or maybe it was the realization that I had noticed him long before I ever admitted to myself.
Either way… none of it truly mattered. He was with Ellana. And people like me were never part of stories like theirs.
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