Free Web NovelChapter 230: Chapter 230 Ninety-Nine Calls
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On the other side of town, Dominic had just finished handling pack business for the night.
Monthly reports were signed. Patrol schedules were set. He even had to deal with one of the younger wolves stepping out of line. Nothing serious, just a lesson in discipline. Firm but fair.
It had been a long day, but he was just about to head home when his phone rang.
It was Linda, the housekeeper.
“Alpha Dominic , I was cleaning the master bathroom this morning and found something. Should I send you a photo?”
Something in her voice made his heart beat faster. “Yeah. Send it.”
The picture loaded on his screen.
Two pink lines. Clear as day.
A pregnancy test.
Elara’s.
For a second, he couldn’t move. His heart was pounding. His wolf stirred under his skin, wide awake, suddenly on high alert.
A pup. His pup. Elara was carrying his pup.
His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. His amber eyes burned with shock and something deeper, something fierce.
But then the excitement faded, and a cold thought settled in.
Why hadn’t she told him?
Why was it in the trash?
His jaw tightened. She took that test and then left for Oakcrest right after.
Was she upset? Was she scared? Disappointed?
The questions hit him hard.
He needed to talk to her. Right now.
--
Meanwhile, Elara had just settled into the passenger seat for the drive back from Oakcrest.
She reached for her phone to text Dominic, only to realize the battery was nearly dead. Less than five percent.
She was about to switch it to Do Not Disturb mode when the phone rang.
Dominic.
She answered quickly. "Hey, my phone’s about to die. Let me call you back when I get home. We’re already on the road."
BANG.
A loud explosion tore through the air. The kind of sound that hits your chest before it hits your ears. It rattled the car windows and shook the frame.
Both of them froze.
She jerked her head up and looked at the highway ahead.
In the distance, flames shot up from a vehicle on the shoulder. Black smoke rolled into the sky. A delivery truck. Its front end was smashed against the guardrail. The fire was spreading fast.
"Was that a car fire?" she asked, her voice tight.
Her assistant’s hands were locked on the wheel. Knuckles white. Eyes wide. "Looks like it. Maybe spontaneous combustion."
"Be careful. Go around it."
Exhausted, Elara didn’t realize her phone had shut off completely. She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.
--
On the other end of the line, Dominic’s world fell apart. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Elara? Baby? Hello?"
Silence.
The line was dead. No static. No crackle. Just nothing.
He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the screen. Call ended. He tried again. The automated voice told him the number was unavailable.
His blood went cold.
He tried again. And again. And again. Same result every time. A robotic voice repeating the same words like a hammer hitting his chest.
He barely remembered grabbing his keys. He sprinted down the hallway, past confused pack members, down the stairs, into the parking garage.
He hit the highway toward Oakcrest within two minutes. He didn’t know exactly where she was, but he knew the general direction. He would find her.
Tires screeched. The engine roared. He didn’t check his mirrors. He didn’t slow down at the exit ramp.
The sound of that explosion played in his head over and over. The sickening bang. The sudden silence. Her phone going dead right after.
His wolf was clawing at his chest, thrashing, demanding to be let out. Dominic gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles hurt.
"Nothing happened to her," he whispered through gritted teeth. "She’s fine. She has to be fine. She and the baby are both fine."
But his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. His vision got blurry at the edges. He pressed the accelerator harder. The speedometer climbed. Eighty. Ninety. One hundred.
The wind roared past his open window, but he couldn’t hear anything else.
--
Elara, completely unaware of the chaos she’d left behind, had dozed off in the passenger seat.
When she finally stirred, the car was pulling into a rest stop.
“Hey, want to stretch your legs?” her assistant asked softly. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Elara blinked awake, still foggy. “Yeah. Give me a sec.”
She reached for her phone to check the time. Nothing. The screen stayed black.
“Great,” she muttered. “Phone’s dead.”
She fumbled around the center console and found a charging cable. Plugged it into the car’s port. Waited a few seconds. The screen flickered to life. One percent battery.
The phone crawled through its startup. Notifications started loading in waves.
Then she saw it.
Ninety-nine missed calls.
All from Dominic.
Her stomach dropped.
"What the hell?" she whispered, staring at the screen.
Before she could process it, the phone rang again.
Dominic.
She picked up immediately. "Hello? Dominic?"
"Baby." His voice cracked. Raw. Desperate. "Are you okay? Can you hear me? Talk to me."
Her throat tightened. "I’m fine. I’m at a rest stop. My phone died, that’s all. I just turned it back on."
A long, shaky exhale came through the line. She could hear him trying to pull himself together.
"Which rest stop?" His voice was steadier now, but still sharp with urgency. "Tell me where you are. I’m coming to you."
Elara bit her lip. A thousand questions swirled in her head, but only one word came out. "Okay."
She gave him the location and hung up, staring at her phone screen.
Ninety-nine calls.
In just over an hour.
That meant he had called her every thirty seconds.
Her chest ached. She could only imagine what had been going through his mind. The explosion she heard right before her phone died. He must have thought the worst.
