Chapter 180 - Tired

"Who is that?" he muttered, still feeling out of breath. He let Alyssa help him to his feet, but he kept his distance from the man. He didn't feel like having the breath knocked from him again.

The new man moved to stand in front of Melina, glaring at Elias as he came closer.

"I'd advise you to not yell at her again," he said in a cold tone.

Melina grabbed his arm, moving to stand at his side. She tugged on his jacket, only coming up to the man's shoulder.

"It's okay, Tyler," she assured the man. "We're just talking."

Tyler looked down at her before putting his arm around her shoulders, drawing her smaller body close to his side.

Elias looked between the two, realizing that they were probably a couple. However, telling from the man's strength, he had to be a vampire.

He wasn't going to hurt Melina, but he felt like he couldn't even argue with her when her boyfriend was giving him a warning look.

"I don't know what you're trying to gain by claiming to be my sister, but I don't want any part of this. I just had to deal with a crazy ex-girlfriend. I don't want to deal with this too," Elias said to Melina.

He guessed that Scott promised Melina something, but he didn't know what that was or why.

He had too many questions going around and around in his brain to answer, but something had to be up.

There had to be a game being played, and he was the destined loser. He refused to let Scott come out on top, though. He was going to figure this out.

Melina parted her lips to speak, but she looked discouraged and closed her mouth. She turned to Scott for help.

Scott scoffed and shook his head at Elias.

He couldn't help but think that Scott was trying to sidetrack Elias for some reason.

Pretending that some random witch was Elias' twin sister was certainly a huge distraction.

Maybe Elias just couldn't trust anyone anymore. He actually thought that Stella wanted to genuinely catch up, but he should've realized how naïve that was.

He had been trying so hard to surround himself with good people and to refresh old connections that he let a few bad ones slip in unnoticed. He regretted letting Stella get away with what she did.

What he felt the worst about was dragging Alyssa into all of this. She was a doctor, and she was a damn good one too.

He had read all the rave about her. If he was honest, he had never lost sight of her. He read her published research, articles about her, and even chatted with some of the parents of her former patients.

It made him feel close to her until he could no longer keep himself away from her.

He was so proud of her, and he hated that his drama was dragging her down. If she wanted to walk away from him, he would let her.

It wasn't fair to force her through all of this. However, he would always cherish her company and prefer to have her by his side.

She made him feel whole, and he had felt empty all of these years without her, despite all of the success that he had.

He had put his entire heart and soul into his business, building it from the ground up. It was the only thing that distracted him from the pain of not having her in his life.

He wanted to make something of himself, to prove to himself and everyone that he could live a normal life, that he could have a normal relationship.

He wanted to prove to everyone that Alyssa could be safe with him. More and more, it seemed like he was wrong.

"Hey, come here," Alyssa's voice broke through his thoughts. Then, he could feel her hand take his.

Elias looked over at her as she led him over to his couch to sit down. He sank down into the cushion with a sigh, trying to deflate and relax, but he couldn't.

He felt on edge, like something big could happen at any moment. His life had been like that for a minute now, and he longed for the day that he could just hold Alyssa and relax.

"I... don't even know what to say. Or think.. Or do," he said as he stared ahead blankly, feeling her lean against his side.Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com