I Forgot I Loved You Alpha (Ellie and Nolan) novel Chapter 298

Chapter 298

Ellie POV

The first thing I learned was that the goddess’s power answered fear faster than it answered anger.

That realization frustrated me more than anything else.

I stood in the inner training chamber again, bare feet pressed to the cold stone, eyes closed, breathing slow and measured the way Alaric had taught me. The air around me hummed faintly, a living thing just beyond my skin.

I reached.

The sensation came immediately-a familiar warmth blooming in my chest, spreading outward in a controlled wave. It wasn’t violent. It didn’t surge or lash out. It settled instead, like a barrier sliding into place.

Invisible.

Unyielding.

Alaric circled me slowly, boots echoing softly against the stone. “Hold it,” he instructed. “Don’t push. Let it stabilize.”

I clenched my jaw, doing exactly that.

The power formed a shield around me-not something I could see, but something I felt. The air thickened. Sound dulled slightly. When Alaric tossed a small stone toward me, it veered off course just before impact, skittering harmlessly across the floor.

It worked.

It always worked.

That was the problem.

I opened my eyes, exhaling sharply. “That’s it?” I asked, unable to keep the irritation from my voice. “It just… deflects?”

“Yes,” Alaric said calmly.

I turned toward him. “What if I want to do more than stand there and brace myself? What if I want to fight?”

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Chapter 298

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His expression didn’t change. He’d been expecting this.

“The goddess’s protection is not a weapon,” he said. “It is a boundary.”

“A boundary won’t stop her,” I snapped before I could stop myself. “Felicity isn’t afraid of boundaries.”

“No,” he agreed. “She isn’t.”

paced the edge of the chamber, fingers flexing at my sides. The power lingered, responding to my agitation with a faint flicker that brushed my awareness like a warning.

“I hate this,” I admitted quietly. “Everyone else is preparing for battle. Nolan. Cassian. The alphas. And I’m learning how to… what? Endure?”

Alaric watched me carefully. “You are learning how to hold,” he corrected. “That is not nothing.”

“It feels like nothing,” I said. “It feels like waiting to be overrun.”

He stopped in front of me. “Ellie.”

I looked up.

“You don’t need to stand beside Nolan on the battlefield to matter,” he said firmly. You don’t need to spill blood to protect your family.”

“But I want to,” I whispered. “I don’t want to be hidden away while everyone else risks everything.”

A flicker of something crossed his face-understanding, perhaps. Or sorrow.

((

You think strength only counts when it looks like violence,” he said gently. “That’s true. Some threats you can destroy. Others, you have to hold the line long enough

ple to survive them.”

daway, chest tight.

Nolan had said something similar once. That all he needed from me was to keep myself and the boys safe.

At the time, it had sounded like reassurance.

Now it sounded like a boundary I couldn’t cross.

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Chapter 208

“I feel like I’m just waiting around to die,” I admit softly.

Alaric closes the distance and pulls me into a brief but firm hug.

“You have to trust yourself and us, Ellie. It’s the only way this can work.”

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I sigh and return the hug. The emotions fighting within me feel like the real storm right now. Anger, fear, and resentment are burning bright within me. All the while, the goddess’s energy reacts to the fear, building a defensive shield that feels sturdy, even as I wish that it could be something sharper and more intimidating.

Later, alone in the nursery, I watched August and Ian play under Rae’s careful eye. They were crawling faster now, more coordinated, little bursts of energy contained in soft limbs and bright curiosity.

Nolan’s laughter echoed faintly down the hall-he was sparring with someone,

off the restless tension that never fully left him anymore.

o my chest. A sharp, cold shard of something slammed into my ween my ribs like a knife. It was that sacred energy again, the

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