The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 438

Chapter 438

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t think I was ready. I’d been waiting for years to step up, and then when it actually happened, I panicked. I told him he was the better Alpha for the pack right now. But honestly, I was just scared.” He paused.” His leg got worse since then, and it’s really slowed him down. And now the pack’s in this in-between state that isn’t good for anyone.” He glanced at me. “Right decision for the wrong reasons is still the wrong decision.”

I thought about that for a few moments.

“Is this about your ex-husband?” he asked.

I didn’t answer right away. I wasn’t sure how he’d gotten there, except that apparently Bastian was observant in ways I hadn’t given him credit for.

“In a way,” I admitted.

“Mm.” He didn’t ask for more than that. We walked a little further in silence, which turned out to be the most comfortable silence I’d had with him since I arrived.

“He’ll be here in less than two weeks,” I said, mostly to myself.

“I know.” He glanced at me. “That’s a lot of things happening at once.”

“Yeah.” I exhaled. “Yeah, it is.”

I looked at him sideways. He was staring ahead, jaw set in that familiar way, but something about his posture was less guarded than usual. He’d given me something real just now, about his father and the decision that cost him. I hadn’t expected that from him.

“You’re going to make a good Alpha,” I said. “For what it’s worth.”

He looked over at me. “But you’re the heir.”

“I don’t want it,” I said. “I never planned on taking it. I’m a healer. Not an Alpha.”

Bastian looked away again. He didn’t say thank you, but his jaw unclenched a little.

We were coming around the far end of the square when I remembered the library, and the piece of paper he’d tucked into his coat pocket.

“Can I ask you something?”

He glanced at me.

“The fountain,” I said. “Why does it actually matter to you?”

He was quiet for long enough that I thought he might not answer. But then he said, “This pack has been through a lot. You know that.”

“I do.”

“But what does Goldenveil have that no other pack has?” He looked around at the village, the scrubbed storefronts, the old stone, the ruins sitting over everything at the top of the mountain. “A whole civilization’s worth of history, buried up there in the snow. If the fountain exists and can be located, even the dry basin alone is something remarkable. It changes what this place is. It becomes a destination.”

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