Chapter 176: Guilt tried. Love finished the Job.
Alessandro’s POV
"What do you mean he collapsed?" I said, moving up a bit, my words coming out more sharp than I meant.
The nurse jumped a little, her hands moving together.
"He... he just fell down out of nowhere," she said, her eyes big and scared.
"The pack's healer is with him now. But it looked bad; he went white and started shaking."
Shaking.
That word stayed in the air.
I felt Aurora stiffen next to me. She was still holding my hand, but now her hand started to shake.
"Where is he?" I asked, already walking.
"West wing, room three," the nurse said quickly, pointing down the hall.
My eyes shifted to Aurora.
She hadn’t moved. Her face was pale, eyes wide, and lips pressed tight like she was holding something back.
I could see it all: anger still lingering from Lena, pain twisting behind her stare, and beneath it… worry.
Was she still in love with my brother?
The thought came uninvited, creeping in as I studied her face. I didn’t want it there, but it stuck.
I squeezed her hand gently, grounding both of us.
“Aurora,” I said softly, my voice careful, steady.
“Why don’t you stay with Annie?
I’ll go check on Leonardo, and if anything comes up, I’ll let you know right away.”
She looked at me, like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how.
I kept my tone light, trying to soothe the weight in her eyes.
“Don’t worry. He’s probably fine. Knowing Leo, he’ll be back to being an arrogant ass before the hour’s up.”
That earned the smallest smile from her, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
She nodded slowly.
“Okay… Just let me know, yeah?”
“I promise.”
I gave her hand one last squeeze before letting go, then turned and headed down the hall toward whatever mess was waiting behind that door.
And even as I walked away, I couldn’t shake the question echoing in my head.
If Leonardo had never betrayed her… Would she still be mine?
****
The hall felt longer than it should’ve.
Each step I took toward Room Three felt heavier, like the past was dragging at my ankles.
When I reached the door, I didn’t knock. I pushed it open.
The room was dark, with just a light from a lamp on the wall. Leonardo was on the bed, his shirt undone, his chest moving up and down in an unsteady way.
A healer was by him. Her hands gave off a weak light as she said words in a soft voice, trying to make him stable.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice low and controlled.
The healer looked up.
“Sudden drop in heart rate. Possibly stress-induced. His vitals are stabilizing now, but it was close.”
My jaw set hard. "He’s never gone down before."
“No,” she said, dabbing her brow.
“But he’s been on edge… in his head, I think. What's messing with his mind is eating at his body too.”
I looked at him.
This wasn’t the brother I knew, the one always ahead, calm, and in charge.
No… this was a man falling apart.
“Can he hear me?” I asked.
The healer gave a soft nod. “He’s not fully here. But he’ll hear you.”
I pulled the chair closer to the bed.
Leonardo looked white, whiter than I've seen him. Dark circles under his eyes and a soft bruise on his temple from when he hit the ground.
I sat and leaned in.
“You sure know how to stir things up, huh?” I said low.
His eyes moved a bit.
“Falling down in the middle of the hospital… just like Leo.”
A soft grunt came out, a hurt sound, but he was still with us.
I leaned back a bit, folding my arms.
“You saw her,” I said softly.
He said nothing, but his jaw twitched. That was all I needed.
“How did you think seeing her would go?
That she’d jump back to you after what you did?”
Nothing.
My voice dropped.
“She’s not yours now. You lost that.
She moved on, and you couldn’t take it.”
His fingers tightened on the sheets, weak but meant.
I stood, looking down at him.
“I don’t know what you want, Leo. But if you think Aurora’s coming to save you again… you're way off.”
As I turned to go, his voice came out, just a whisper.
“I still love her.”
I stopped.
For a long beat, I said nothing.
Then I half turned, and our eyes met for the first time.
“Then maybe you should’ve thought of that before sleeping with the woman who tried to kill her.”
With that, I walked out.
*****
When I stepped out of the room, I closed the door behind me and leaned back against it, my hand still gripping the handle.
But it wasn’t the door I was holding onto.
It was the question.
Was Aurora really over Leonardo… Or was some part of her still in love with him?
She hadn’t said it. Not out loud. But her eyes, back in that hallway… there had been something there. Something that didn’t belong to me.
I ran a hand down my face, jaw tight.
Just then, I heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Both of them looked like they’d just run through fire.
“We heard about Leo,” Rafael said.
“Is he alright?”
“He’s stable. The healer said he’ll be fine.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Collapsed? That’s not like him.”
“No,” I said.
“But maybe that’s what happens when guilt finally catches up with you.”
Rafael scoffed. “He’s been carrying a lot.”
“He brought it on himself,” I said. “But that won’t stop him from trying to fix it.”
I looked at the door again.
Because fixing it might mean…
“Trying to take her back.”
The thought wouldn’t leave me.
And the worst part?
I wasn’t sure Aurora had let him go as completely as she wanted to believe.
I stayed there, by the door, the weight of everything pressing down like a second skin.
Rafael leaned against the wall beside me, arms folded.
He exhaled slowly.
“I mean… think about it.”
I looked at him, waiting.
“Maybe the whole ‘Lena, the same woman who tried to destroy the pack, is pregnant’ thing… plus her slithering back, chasing power like a snake with a crown… Yeah, that’s enough to knock a man flat.”
He jerked his chin toward the door.
“And then telling the one woman you actually love that you cheated on her, and not just that, but that the woman you cheated with is carrying your child and tried to kill her?”
Rafael let out a small laugh, his head moving from side to side.
“That's not just a mess, Alessandro. That's like a train about to crash.
And Lena, she's going to push him into a spot and make him take the Alpha spot, just to call herself Luna.”
He gave a short laugh.
“Really?
“If that didn’t break him, I’d wonder if he’s even a man… oh right, werewolf.”
I looked at Rafael. “You think guilt did this?”
He shrugged. “Guilt tried. Love finished the job.”
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