Chapter 117

THIRD PERSON’S POV The cold, antiseptic air of the hospital room did nothing to numb the anguish that gripped Beta Adrian as he stood by Dominic's bedside. The Alpha, once a symbol of control and strength, now lay pale against the sheets, eyes glazed with a haunting mixture of shame and torment. The sedative had nearly worn off, but the emotional weight remained. Dominic hadn’t spoken much since they brought him in. He barely acknowledged the nurses, his jaw tight, his fists clenched whenever he thought Adrian wasn’t looking. But Adrian was looking. And what he saw terrified him. The Alpha had tried to claw at his chest—at the skin over his heart—as if ripping open his flesh would somehow remove the guilt that festered there. He had curled in on himself, muttering Olivia’s name like a broken chant, over and over, a prayer or a curse, Adrian couldn’t tell. When the nurse left, Dominic grabbed the IV line, ready to pull it out, to do something—anything—to make the pain stop. “I believed