Chapter 103: She needs me

Dorian raced after Alyssa, his voice echoing down the hallway as he called her name. But she didn’t stop. Her heart felt as if it were being torn to shreds, ripped by claws from her chest.

She rushed back into the room she just stepped out of, slammed the door shut and turned the key twice, shutting herself inside.

A second later, Dorian knocked frantically. The knob jiggled as he tried to open it.

"Alyssa? My love, please, open the door," he pleaded, but she didn’t.

She backed away, her head spinning, her eyes burning with tears until her back hit the wall. Slowly, she slid to the floor and drew her knees to her chest. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She had lost her baby. She had been pregnant, and now it was gone.

What hurt most was that she had been awake for days, yet Dorian had looked her in the eye and hidden something so crucial. Everyone else knew except her.

She didn’t blame him. Perhaps, in his own way, he had been trying to protect her from the pain. But hearing it that way was what broke her.

Her hands lowered to her stomach, her fingers digging into the skin through the fabric of her dress. She didn’t understand the sudden hollowness inside her, or why she felt such grief for a baby she never knew she carried. But the pain ripped away the last of her restraint, and she hugged her knees and wept bitterly.

Outside the door, Dorian was losing his mind. He knocked repeatedly, his voice trembling as he called out to her.

"Please open the door, my love. I’m sorry. I should have told you. I was just waiting for the right moment."

Anthony and Pandora finally hurried round the corner and stopped beside him.

"Oh goddess, this is what we were trying to avoid," Pandora gasped. "No woman wants to hear she lost a child like that."

"We need to give her a little time alone, Dorian," Anthony suggested gently, but Dorian wasn’t having it.

"I can’t leave her alone," he muttered, his frustration boiling over. He didn’t mean to snap, but he was at his wits’ end. Alyssa never ignored him, and her silence was driving him to desperation.

He knocked again, calling her name, on the verge of groveling. Still, she didn’t answer. The faint sound of her sobs reached him through the door, and it tore at his heart.

He turned around suddenly, walking back down the hallway.

"Dorian, where are you going?" Pandora called, following him.

"To get a spare key from the nurses."

"You can’t really be considering forcing your way in. That will only make it worse."

"Alyssa needs me!" Dorian shouted. "This is my fault. I should have told her about the baby, but in trying to protect her, I hurt her more. I have to fix it. I’ll break the door down if I have to."

"And you think that’s the right thing to do? Alyssa will only end up resenting you for that."

Dorian froze, his entire body going rigid. The thought of Alyssa resenting him had never crossed his mind, not even once. She loved him. She had told him so several times.

If she ended up hating him, it would destroy him.

Pandora noticed the impact her words had on him. She exchanged a worried glance with Anthony before stepping closer, softening her voice.

"I know you’re worried about her, Dorian. But you need to remember that Alyssa is still young, and she is overwhelmed. This news hurt her deeply. She needs time to process it."

"She needs me," Dorian repeated, closing his eyes against the heavy guilt. "And I need her. I can’t let her pull away from me like this. I need to make amends."

It broke Pandora’s heart to see Dorian this way. This was one of the few, rare times he showed his vulnerability.

She slipped her hand into his and leaned her head on his arm. "She won’t pull away forever. But let her process this in her own way. Remember, she isn’t built like us. This kind of loss weighs on her differently than it would a Lycan."

She wrapped her arms around him in a firm hug. "Just give her a little space. Okay?"

Dorian wasn’t used to giving Alyssa space. His life thrived on being beside her. She was like a life force to his soul. But he also knew Pandora was right. He couldn’t force the pain away on his own.

He let out a heavy sigh, untangled himself from Pandora’s embrace, and walked away down the corridor.

Pandora watched him go. She had felt the emotional walls snapping back up around him, the way they always did when he was hurt. It wasn’t new to her; she was used to it. But it still hurt.

Anthony stepped up beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Don’t worry about him. He needs time too, just like Alyssa does."

Pandora nodded silently, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for Dorian.

...

Alyssa stayed inside the room all day. Her appetite disappeared totally. She didn’t open the door for the nurses who came to check on her, nor for Pandora who had tried to convince her into coming out.

She was hurting, and she needed to be alone.

Dorian had spent hours outside the door, apologizing over and over for keeping the truth from her. Eventually, his knocks stopped.

She wasn’t angry with him. She was just overwhelmed, and isolation was the only coping mechanism she knew. All her life, she had been forced to bear her pain alone and in silence.

She assumed Dorian had finally given up and left, but she was wrong. He never left. He remained right outside her door, giving her the space she needed while waiting patiently.

He ordered the guards not to let anyone into the VIP wing, then sat on the floor with his back pressed against the doorframe, waiting. Hours passed, and dusk fell over the hospital, but he didn’t move.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the lock clicked. The door swung open, and Alyssa stepped out.

She stopped, startled to find Dorian sprawled on the floor beside the door. Her heart lurched as he raised his head, his golden-brown eyes meeting hers with raw vulnerability.

He stood up slowly and reached out a hand, worried she would reject his touch. To his relief, she didn’t flinch away, even though her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying.

"My love," he whispered, gently cupping her cheek. "Can you ever forgive me? I’ll do whatever it takes to make this right. Just tell me what you want."

Alyssa looked at him, the man she had completely and hopelessly fallen in love with. No matter how much it hurt, she couldn’t hate him. She couldn’t stay another minute away from him.

She stepped into his arms, letting out a shuddering breath as his chest pressed against hers and his arms wrapped securely around her.

"Take me home," she whispered.