Chapter 253: You pushed me
Eloise’s eyes were swollen and puffed out, red-rimmed from hysterical tears. She trembled violently with the cold edge of the silver dagger pressed deep against her neck, a thin line of crimson blood sliding down her throat and soaking into her lace collar.
Across the room, Killian just watched her, his face a carved mask of absolute indifference, showing no intention of stepping forward to intervene. She stared at him, the heavy silence stretching between them as the seconds ticked away.
Realizing she was rapidly losing her ground and that her usual manipulation wasn’t breaking his composure, Eloise gritted her teeth in desperation.
"You pushed me this far!" she choked out, her voice cracking with raw venom.
With a frantic, reckless motion, she dragged the sharp blade hard across her throat. Blood sprayed outward in a sickening crimson arc, staining the sleeve of his crisp shirt and the polished hardwood floor beneath them. She stumbled backward, gasping for air as heavy tears streamed down her cheeks, before collapsing hard onto her knees.
Killian froze for a fraction of a second, caught off guard by her sheer madness, but his instincts kicked in. He lunged forward, though he wasn’t fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor. She lay sprawled on her side, and Killian immediately dropped to his knees, pressing his bare palm firmly down over her open neck wound to stanch the heavy spurts of blood.
"Are you completely out of your mind?!" he hissed through his teeth, his jaw clenching as he forced his latent healing powers to flare to life beneath his hands. White, crackling sparks of raw Alpha energy gathered under his palm, fighting to seal the severed tissue.
Eloise weakly fought his grip, her blood-slicked fingers clawing at his wrist as she tried to push his hand away. "Don’t... don’t save me!" she sobbed out, her vision swimming as her voice grew raspy. "There is no point in me living if you don’t love me, Killian!"
Killian gritted his teeth, the muscles in his neck straining under the effort. "When did I ever say I didn’t love you?" he growled in a low, furious rasp.
"You doubted me!" she cried, choking on her own blood as tears washed through the red streaks on her face. "You accused me of framing Yuki! Yes, I did things out of envy—I admit it! But how could you ever imagine that I would drug Yuki at my own party just to ruin her reputation? How could you think so low of me?!"
Killian stared down at her, a flicker of genuine puzzle passing through his dark eyes. Her outburst was so intensely convincing, her anguish so visceral, that if he didn’t possess a cold, analytical mind, he would have been completely fooled.
He briefly wondered when the bright, innocent girl he used to protect had turned into such a terrifyingly skilled actress. Eloise continued to struggle feebly beneath his heavy hand, her voice fading to a desperate whisper.
"Just let me die... Is it because I’m not as pretty as Yuki? Have you forgotten our history? Have you forgotten all those years..." He voice choked with blood, ’ You promised to protect me no matter what,’ he remembered the vow he had made to her in their youth.
Killian hissed in frustration, leaning his weight into her shoulder to keep her still. "Stop talking, Eloise. You are losing too much blood." Without breaking his focus, he immediately threw his consciousness into the pack link, contacting his executive assistant.
’Zayne, get the reinforced sedan brought around to the private entrance immediately. Have the emergency trauma team at the medical center prepped for immediate arrival.’
The heavy arterial bleeding eventually slowed to a trickle under his raw magic, but Eloise was dangerously pale, her body going limp from severe blood loss.
Killian possessed the power to mend torn flesh and stop internal hemorrhaging, but he could not magically regenerate lost blood volume—his healing skills were far from as refined as Kieran’s scholarly precision
. Sweeping his arms beneath her knees and lower back, Killian gathered Eloise’s limp body into his arms and stood up, rushing out of the office suite. She lost consciousness completely as they hit the corridor, her head lolling back against his blood-soaked shoulder.
As he stepped into the private elevator, Killian closed his eyes for a brief, heavy second, reluctantly opening the shared triplet link to inform his brothers.
’Eloise is severely injured. I am transporting her to the medical center now.’
A familiar wave of confusion echoed instantly through the mental connection.
’What happened?’ Kieran’s calm, sharp voice resonated through the bond. Before Killian could respond, Kieran added, ’I will get the hospital informed. I will clear the trauma bay and have a surgical room prepped.’
The link remained silent for a beat before Kaden’s voice finally drifted in, flat and strangely detached. ’I’m currently at the northern base command. Keep me updated on her condition.’
𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
Both Killian and Kieran went completely silent in the link, a shared wave of disbelief passing between them. That was not the Kaden they knew.
Recently, when Kieran had been involved in a minor vehicular collision on the highway, Kaden had nearly abandoned a high-level military briefing to rush to his side. His protective instincts had always burned the hottest toward Eloise, yet now, he showed zero intention of returning to the city center.
Killian glanced down at the unconscious girl in his arms, remembering what she had confessed in his office—that Kaden was acting distant, pulling away whenever she tried to get close.
Before Killian could query him further, Kaden’s voice cut back through the link, brief and dismissive. ’I have to go into a tactical briefing now. Take care of her.’ With a sharp snap, Kaden disconnected his end of the mindlink entirely.
’Did Kaden get possessed by a rogue spirit?’ Kieran asked flatly, genuine bewilderment in his tone. Genuinely, that was the only logical explanation he could conjure.
’Focus on the medical wing,’ Killian replied coldly, ignoring the question. ’Have the gurney ready at the emergency bay.’