CHAPTER 106: DENIAL

Chapter 104

Nolan

He drags both hands through his hair, fingers shaking in a way Jack never lets them be.

His shoulders slump.

Not in surrender — in exhaustion. In fear.

The moment he looks at me, I know I’m not going to like what I hear.

And then he tells me.

By the time he’s finished speaking, my mouth is dry.

"Fuck," I breathe.

My voice sounds thin to my own ears.

Too small for the weight of what he just told me.

He nods once, jaw clenched so tight I can hear his teeth grind.

And suddenly the walls feel too close.

The room too quiet.

The world too predatory.

Those four men...

No — monsters.

Wait.

My stomach drops.

"You know about them?" I ask, voice barely above a whisper.

I didn’t tell him.

Ciel definitely didn’t.

My pulse spikes.

"How—?"

Jack doesn’t look at me.

His jaw works, slowly, like he’s biting down on something bitter and refusing to spit it out.

"I do." he answers quietly.

Silence stretches. Tight. Suffocating.

"But... how?" I press, because I need to understand, and I’m suddenly afraid of every answer.

He exhales — a long, heavy breath.

One that sounds like it’s been sitting in his ribs for years, waiting to escape.

"When I was digging into your past,"

His eyes flick up, ashamed, guilty — but unyielding,

"...trying to find out who Ciel really was... I found traces."

"And I realized it was them."

A chill runs through me, bone-deep.

Of course he dug.

But knowing he found them —

"And you didn’t tell me?" My voice cracks. I hate that it does.

His eyes finally meet mine.

"They were quiet. Dormant. Looking in the wrong places. You were safe."

His throat tightens.

"And I didn’t want to terrify you."

A laugh escapes me — broken, humorless.

"Too late."

He grips my shoulders — not rough, but desperate, like he’s holding together both of us by force alone.

"Now you understand why you have to leave."

His voice is strained, raw.

"I don’t want you to. God, Nolan, you think I want to breathe without you? Without him? Without Lanny?"

His jaw clenches, and his eyes are full of fear.

"But I can’t protect you."

The words fall like a confession, like a failure he’s swallowing whole.

And just like that, my chest cracks open.

I blink back tears hard enough my vision blurs.

"We’ll meet again," he promises, voice trembling at the edges.

"Just after I get them off your trail."

I want to scream. I want to punch him. I want to cling to him and never let go.

Instead I whisper,

"Why can’t you come with us?"

He looks away, like the answer hurts to speak aloud.

"You know I can’t."

A beat.

"I have to be here. To get them off Ciel’s scent."

My hands curl into fists.

Of course he’s right.

"Come on little doggy," Jack murmurs, voice rough as gravel, but he forces a teasing smile anyway. "Be a good guard dog."

He presses a kiss to my forehead ,gentle, lingering and I hate how it feels like goodbye.

***

Ciel

Nolan is packing our clothes — no, not packing, shoving things into a travel bag with frantic, jerky movements. His eyes are red, throat tight, breath uneven. He’s fast, chaotic, muttering under his breath about routes and bus lines as if speed alone might save us.

"Nollie?"

My voice sounds like a child’s. Pathetic. Small. I clutch Lanny tighter.

"What’s going on?" I whisper, even though I think my body already knows ,every cell vibrating in dread.

Nolan doesn’t answer. He keeps stuffing shirts, then suddenly rips half of them out again, swearing under his breath.

"They’ll slow us down— what am I doing? This is— fuck—"

His hands shake so hard he drops a sweater. That scares me more than anything.

"Nolan."

I step forward, panic rising like cold water.

"Nolan, please talk to me."

He freezes. Shoulders heaving. He stands there for a solid five seconds ,waging war with himself before something inside him caves.

He walks toward me, gently takes Lanny from my arms, and sets him in the crib.

Then he turns back to me.

And I see it.

The storm in his eyes.

Anger. Fear. Helplessness.

Even hatred — not at me, but at the world.

"They know."

The room tilts.

My knees buckle hot, numb panic flooding every nerve and I fall to the floor. I don’t even feel the impact; I just crumble, shaking, like my body gave up before my mind did.

Nolan crouches but doesn’t touch me. His hands hover, trembling in the air like he wants to help and destroy something at the same time.

"No."

It comes out weak. Fragile. A child’s protest in a nightmare.

"No."

Louder this time, as if repetition could bend reality, could rewind the clock, could fix this.

"This is far from Sol," I whisper, voice cracking.

"How could they? How?"

"Apparently," Nolan swallows hard, "at the amusement park... someone took a video of Jack and that alpha. And it was uploaded online."

His jaw clenches. "You were in the background."

The world turns weightless.

Not floating ,falling.

I don’t get up. My knees stay glued to the floor, trembling. Cold dread crawls up my spine, slow like poison. I want to scream. Tear the world apart. Disappear.

"That’s still....nothing," I say, shaking. "They can’t prove it’s me. They can’t say..."

"Jack had people." Nolan’s voice breaks. His eyes dart everywhere but my face. "Has people. To alert him if anyone starts sniffing around....looking for you."

My breath stops.

"And apparently four different sources were asking about you." His voice lowers into a whisper, like he’s scared the walls might repeat it.

"And when he tried to trace them back..."

He hesitates — and that hesitation is a blade.

"They were from Sol."

My blood turns to ice.

"And not just any Sol," Nolan adds, whispering like the name itself could summon them.

"The big ones. High-level clearance. Duke-level queries."

Silence.

The kind that isn’t empty, but full.

Full of memories, trauma, dread, and a heavy, crushing inevitability.

My denial collapses in on itself like a house of cards. Tears spill before I even realize I’m crying. They burn humiliating, helpless and weak.

Nolan moves then, finally touching me, gathering me up like I’m breakable glass. He kisses my forehead, fierce and gentle all at once.

"I know," he murmurs, voice tight. "I know."

I’m shaking so hard my teeth click. I can’t breathe or maybe I’m breathing too much. Every inhale is jagged. Every exhale a sob trapped behind my teeth.

"Go talk to Jack," Nolan whispers, brushing my hair back. "While I sort this out."

Sort this out.

As if this can be sorted.

As if this isn’t the end of everything we built.

He helps me stand, my legs barely cooperating , and I walk.

Not thinking.

Not feeling.

Just moving.

One foot in front of the other.

Luckily, I don’t search for him long. He’s exactly where I somehow knew he’d be: outside, on the balcony, sitting in one of the lounge chairs. Staring at the ocean like it’s the only thing left holding him together.

The sky is soft, bleeding gold into the sea, but Jack looks... empty. Hollow. Like someone carved the soul right out of him.

I slide the door open. The tiny click is enough; his head turns, and our eyes meet.

And in that moment—

I don’t see the larger-than-life alpha, I fell in love with.

I see a man who looks scared.

Helpless.

Human.

The wind lifts his curls slightly, sunlight catching in them. He forces a small smile—barely there, fragile, and it hurts more than anything.

"Hey," he whispers.

And that one word shatters me.

My tears that I barely stopped, spill again. My chest locks up, the world tilting, collapsing, and I can’t breathe through the ache, the terror, the grief I haven’t even processed yet.

Before I know it, I choke out a sob and move — fast, desperate — crossing the space between us. I practically collapse into him, climbing onto his lap like gravity wants me anchored to him or I’ll fly apart.

Jack lets out the softest breath relief? pain? both? and wraps his arms around me immediately. Tight. Possessive. Like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he loosens his hold for even a second.

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

Just shaking breaths, clinging hands, my heart beating so hard it hurts.

"I don’t want to leave you," I whisper into his skin. My voice breaks, pathetic and small.

"I know," he murmurs back, voice tight. His thumb strokes the back of my neck like he’s memorizing the shape of me.

"I’m sorry," I choke out. "I should have told you about them earlier, I should have warned you, I just... just... just..." The words fall apart in my mouth.

I stop.

I can’t finish that sentence.

Jack freezes for a heartbeat, then his arms tighten around me like he wants to fuse our bones together.

"Don’t." His voice is quiet, dangerously gentle.