353 Lied
Lennox stormed inside, his chest rising and falling, eyes wild and sharp. His hair was a mess, his shirt half–buttoned, and the strong scent of alcohol clung to him. But under all of that, I saw fear.
“Damn it!” Lennox barked, the sound raw and broken. His gaze snapped back to Olivia, his voice cracking with panic. “You shouldn’t have said that to him… you know his condition.” His voice dropped to a hoarse whisper, fear seeping into every word. “You can’t throw rejection at him–not when he’s already… fragile.”
His head whipped toward her, his eyes wide and burning. “What do you mean it isn’t working?!”
A savage growl thundered across the link, my wolf flinching at the sheer force of it. “I’m coming. Now.”
“What’s wrong?” His tone sharpened instantly, and just like that, I felt his pain shoved aside. That was Lennox–no matter how broken he was, the second he thought
someone else needed him, he forgot himself.
A furious growl rumbled down the link, strong enough that Levi flinched even hearing
- it.
I pushed harder. Damn it, don’t do this.
The silence that followed was sharp. Then his growl cut through the link. “Louis. Is this
a joke?”
Before either of them could question me, I established a mind link, reaching for Lennox. His presence was there–distant, muffled, locked away. I pressed harder, shoving past the haze, forcing the link open.
I turned to Levi, who sat stiff beside me in the car, his brows drawn. My chest tightened. “I just lied to Lennox using your illness,” I admitted, the guilt sour on my tongue. “I told him you fainted after fighting with Olivia. He believes it… and he’s coming back”
I exhaled shakily, guilt clawing at my chest. Levi was fine–alive, breathing right next to me–but if this lie was what it took to drag Lennox back before he destroyed himself,
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then I’d bear it.
I paced by the window, my mind focused, waiting.
Levi’s chest rose slowly, shallow and weak, the faintest mimic of breath. To Lennox, it looked like a dying flame. His hands pressed down against his brother’s shoulders, trembling, desperate. The muscles in his jaw clenched so tight they shook, his teeth grinding as if he were trying to hold back the weight of everything breaking inside him.
Then, as if the world narrowed to just the bed, Lennox turned all his focus back to Levi.
“Tell me you’re not lying to me, Louis,” he growled, but there was fear laced beneath his fury.
Louis’s POV
I swallowed, hating what I was about to do. “It’s Levi,” I said, forcing a tremor into my voice. “He… he fainted.” 2
“Levi,” he whispered, his forehead lowering until it almost touched his brother’s. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare leave me.” His voice cracked on the last word, sharp with grief. “I can take anything–you hating me, Olivia hating me—but not this. Not you dying.”
“I’m near,” he growled. His tone was rough, strained, but full of panic. “Has Levi woken up yet?”
The link snapped shut.
For a long moment, there was only his ragged breathing, heavy and uneven in my head.
Nothing. Just a heavy wall. He was trying to shut me oùt, dousing himself in his pain.
I inhaled sharply, steadying my voice before answering. “No. Olivia tried–her ability isn’t waking him. He’s still out.”
We drove fast, the engine roaring as we cut through the winding roads, racing back toward the mansion. No one spoke–the silence weighed heavy, broken only by the sound of my wolf pacing inside me.
“I wish I was,” I said, keeping/my tone flat, solid, believable. “But it happened. He’s down. We don’t know what to do.”
“Leave me alone,” his voice finally came through, hoarse and flat. I felt him trying to
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sever the connection.
Levi’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t argue. He only looked away, his wolf restless beneath his skin. Olivia sat in the backseat, her face pale, her hands twisting in her lap. None of us liked this, but it was the only way.
Olivia flinched beside him. She tried to speak, but her throat caught. “I–I tried, Lennox. My ability… it isn’t working.”
I dragged a hand down my face, exhaling hard, before glancing at Levi and Olivia. Both looked tense, bracing for Lennox’s arrival.
Levi lay down on the bed, his movements stiff but silent, playing his part. Olivia stood close, hovering at his side, her fingers brushing his wrist as if she were trying to soothe
him.
He didn’t look at me. He didn’t even glance at Olivia. His eyes locked straight on Levi, lying still on the bed.
Then it came–the tug of Lennox’s voice through the link, sharp and heavy.
By the time we pulled into the gates, my heart was hammering. We rushed inside, heading straight for Levi’s room. The healer’s tools still sat scattered from earlier, a reminder of the fight that had started this spiral.
“What happened?!” Lennox’s voice cracked like thunder as he rushed forward. He dropped to his knees beside the bed, his big hands shaking as they hovered over Levi’s chest, afraid to touch. “Levi! Damn it, wake up!”
Panic shot through me. “Wait! Don’t cut me off!” My voice cracked with panic, rawer
than I meant.
A few minutes later, the sound of fast footsteps echoed down the hall before I even had to say a word.
“I’m almost there,” Lennox bit out, his voice shaking with fury and fear. “Don’t let him slip. I’ll be there in minutes.”
The link cut abruptly, and silence swallowed the room.
That froze him for a beat.
“Lennox!”
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353 Lied
And for the first time in years, I saw him not as the eldest, not as the strongest, not as the elder brother we all leaned on. I saw Lennox as he truly was–raw, terrified, a brother who couldn’t imagine his world without us standing in it beside him. 3
The door flew open with a loud bang!
I stepped forward, forcing myself not to flinch under his fury. “She tried. It didn’t help. That’s why I called you.”
And so was I.
His fingers dug harder into Levi’s arms, as though his grip alone could keep him here. The Alpha mask Lennox always carried, that unshakable strength, was slipping right in front of us. His breaths were ragged, his eyes wild, shining with unshed tears that he refused to let fall.
I clenched my jaw, acting the part. “Do I sound like I’m joking? He and Olivia had a fight. A bad one. She told him… she told him she’d reject him.” I let my voice falter, shaky. “And after that… he collapsed. He’s not waking up.”
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