Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Damien
The darkness of my room felt like a cage, the stifling silence felt like heavy hands pressing against my chest. I lay on my bed, the sheets tangled from my restless tossing, my wolf pacing within me, its growl a low hum of unease.
The memory of Raven’s face haunted me, her green eyes blazing with hurt, her voice cracking as she tried to explain, as she argued and stated her case.
The memories of my own words haunted me, too.
They had come out of me like a lash, harsh and unyielding.
I told her she was reckless, I told her she was endangering herself and our child.
I hadn’t meant to sound the way I did. But after seeing how close I’d come to losing Raven when she was pushed off the balcony by Elias, it had fried my nerves. I didn’t care if Rielle was hurt. That was the least of my concerns.
But what if Rielle struck back? What if things escalated? What if she turned on Raven and did real damage? I couldn’t bear the thought, and it twisted something in me. Maybe that’s why I lost my temper. I wish I had fought for her.
I’d meant to protect her, and I didn’t even know when it all escalated to what it became.
I’d sounded like a cold bastard, driving her away when she needed me most. Regret clawed at my gut, sharp as wolfsbane, and I wished I could take it back, wished I’d held her instead of letting her tears fall unanswered.
I wanted to go to her now, to storm down the hall and beg her to listen, to tell her I hadn’t meant to hurt her. But the pained look in her eyes flashed across my mind. I knew she was furious, wounded, and going to her now might aggravate her even more, which was the last thing I wanted.
My wolf whined, urging me to act, to claim the woman that had now become entrenched in every waking thought and desire, but I forced myself to stay still, giving her the night to cool off, to breathe.
Tomorrow, I’d find her, make this right, explain that I’d only wanted to shield her, not hurt her…
that I didn’t mean any of the harsh things I said.
For now, I’d give her space, even if it tore me apart. My thoughts wouldn’t slow. They came in a relentless rush… images, sounds, her voice echoing in my head.
Her nest.
The absence of my scent where it had clung to everything before…my shirts, my trousers, the cufflinks she pretended not to steal. All gone. Stripped bare like they’d never been there at all. Rielle had no right to do that.
She had no right to touch Raven’s things and invade the one space where Raven felt safe. She had disrupted the instinctive, private comfort a pregnant wolf builds for herself. And I almost told her all of this, right then and there. But I held back. I didn’t want to raise her guard.
Something about Rielle had felt off ever since she returned. The amnesia was just a little too convenient. Even in feral states, most wolves retained fragments and flashes of what they’d done. But Rielle remembered nothing? Not even after killing three humans?
It didn’t sit right.
I’d quietly opened an investigation on her days ago, and during that investigation, a witness had come forward, a human claiming they’d seen her in the woods, sane and completely in control of herself with no trace of madness in her eyes.
The last thing I needed was for her to sense I was onto whatever she might be hiding.
That’s why I said nothing during the argument and why I didn’t defend Raven, even when I should have.
Still, my wolf snarled, restless, demanding I do something, anything, to ease this ache.
I sat up, the mattress creaking under my weight, my gaze drifting to the wardrobe where my shirts now hung.
Maybe I couldn’t talk to her yet, but I could leave something, a piece of me to comfort her, to wrap her in my citrus-and-cedar scent until I could hold her myself.
I rose, my steps silent on the hardwood, the soft overhead lights casting a dim glow.
The pack house was still, the workers asleep, the air heavy with the musk of wolves and the faint tang of pine.
I turned toward Raven’s room, my heart pounding, picturing her curled up, alone, her defiance masking the pain I’d caused.
But before I could take another step, a scent hit me. It was sunflower, sharp and heavy in the air, unmistakably Rielle’s scent. My brows furrowed, my wolf stilling.
That’s odd, I thought, my pulse quickening.
It’s strong, too strong. She’s not in her room.
Suspicion coiled in my chest.
I’d been biding my time, nursing her back to health for the sake of the Sky Pack’s truce, watching for the slip that would betray her. My wolf growled, urging me to follow, to uncover what she was hiding. Raven could wait a moment longer. I needed to know what Rielle was scheming now.
I turned, trailing the sunflower scent through the shadowed halls, my steps remained silent, almost predatory. The scent grew stronger, leading me to my office, where the door stood ajar, a sliver of moonlight spilling through the crack.
My brows furrowed tighter. What the hell is she doing in my office?
The floor creaked as I pushed the office door open, the hinges groaning in the stillness.
Rielle stood frozen, her blond hair glinting, her hands clutching a file…my file, the one detailing the human murders. Some torn pages lay scattered on the floor, their edges jagged, the grainy photos of bloodied bodies staring up like accusations.
Her sunflower scent choked the air, sharp with panic as her blue eyes met mine, widening with guilt she couldn’t hide. She dropped the file, papers fluttering, her hands trembling as she stepped back, her lips parting in a lie I could already taste.
“What are you doing, Rielle?” I asked, my voice low, a growl threading through it, my wolf pacing, claws itching within me.
My gaze flicked to the shredded documents, the evidence I’d painstakingly gathered, evidence of the human lives she had taken. Her presence here, at this hour, tearing into my work, confirmed every suspicion I’d nursed since her return.
She swallowed, setting her face into a smile, a practiced image settling over her like a mask.
“I couldn’t sleep, Damien,” she said, her voice trembling, tears welling artfully.
“I thought… if I looked at the files, the pictures of those humans I killed in my feral state, I might remember something. I just want answers, to understand what I did.” Her hands clasped, her scent spiking with desperation, but her eyes betrayed her.
They were way too sharp, too calculated.
I stepped closer to her, my steps crunching on the torn pages, my wolf snarling at her deceit. “Is that why you’re tearing up the files?” I said, my voice cold, cutting through her act like a blade.
I bent, snatching a shredded photo from the floor, the image of the last victim: a young man, throat torn open by what was obviously her claws, eyes wide in terror. “This was the last human you killed. You weren’t feral, were you? You knew exactly what you were doing.”
Rielle’s breath hitched, her stuttering words a weak defense. “No, Damien, I didn’t. I mean…I don’t remember.” Her voice cracked, and her hands fluttered, but I pressed forward, crowding her space, my gaze pinning her like prey.
“Don’t lie,” I snarled, my fist tightening around the paper, my wolf’s rage boiling over. “Witnesses saw you in the woods, Rielle, sane and sober with no trace of madness. You planned that murder, didn’t you?” My voice was a low growl, each word a hammer striking her crumbling facade. “Why?”
Her face crumpled, tears spilling, but her scent, dripping in deep fear, betrayed her guilt.
“I was feral for a while, Damien, I swear,” she said, her voice raw, pleading.
“The first few humans…I don’t remember killing them.
I was lost and broken after you rejected me.
But the last one…” She hesitated, her eyes darting, then met mine, and her confession spilled.
“I was sane. I killed him to get your attention. You’d never have come for me otherwise, never given me a chance to explain. ”
My anger surged, a wildfire in my veins, but beneath it, I felt a kind of satisfaction, because her admission confirmed what I’d suspected.
“You’ve been lying to me all along,” I said, my voice steady and lethal.
“Playing up amnesia, manipulating the Sky Pack, murdering an innocent human with full intent. For what? To crawl back into my life?”
My wolf roared, its claws scraping my chest. It was a strange sensation. This was a woman who once drove my wolf wild with desire. Now, all she inspired within me was rage and disgust. Disgust, and a need to know more. I needed the truth of her past betrayal, the wound that had cost me Natasha.
Her tears flowed freely now, her hands reaching for me, stopping short as I flinched.
“I had to, Damien,” she sobbed, her voice breaking.
“I knew you’d never forgive me for what Tyler and I did, for…
for Natasha, unless I forced you to see me.
I needed you to hear the truth about what happened back then. ”
She stepped closer, her scent cloying, her eyes pleading.
“Tyler, my brother, lied to me. He said Matt’s truce with you was a ploy to get you to lower your guard, that Matt would attack the Shadow Thorn Pack as soon as he was sure you were relaxed.
I thought I was protecting you, giving Tyler the Shadow Thorn Pack’s weak points to secure them.
I didn’t know he’d invade both packs, that he’d use me to start a war. ”
My jaw clenched, memories crashing over me…Natasha’s blood, Rielle’s silhouette fleeing with Tyler, leaving my pack to burn.
“You ran,” I said, my voice a blade, cutting through her excuses. “When Tyler revealed his plan, you chose him. You left me, left Natasha to die. Matt stopped Tyler and saved what was left of my pack, but you were gone. Because of you, I lost my sister.”
My wolf’s growl vibrated through me, my hands fisting, the torn paper crumpling in my grip.
“I was scared!” Rielle cried, her voice shrill, her body trembling.
“Tyler was my brother. I thought he’d protect me.
When you broke our mate bond, it drove me mad and feral.
I lost myself, Damien, until I clawed my way back for you.
” She sank to her knees, her hands clutching at my legs, her tears soaking the floor.
“I killed that human to reach you, to beg for a fresh start. Please, Damien, forgive me. We can be what we were.”
I said nothing. I remained still and unmoved.
The words spilled from her anyway.
“Please, Damien. The time we’ve spent apart has been the hardest of my life. I can’t bear to be without you any longer.”
Still, I stayed silent, and her voice only grew more desperate.
“Do you know how much I love you? For years, I chose not to have children with you because I couldn’t stand the thought of you neglecting me… of you giving your attention to anyone else. That’s how much you meant to me. Please, Damien, think about what we had.”
It was strange, hearing her admit that all those years without a child were by her design. That she’d been taking things to keep herself from getting pregnant.
But what was even stranger…was that I felt nothing. Not anger or sympathy. Just completely nothing.
It was strange because for years, I thought this was what I wanted. I’d clung to the hope that Rielle’s betrayal hadn’t really been hers. That there was some explanation, some truth that would absolve her. That maybe she had been a pawn in her brother’s scheme. That maybe we could fix what broke.
But now, hearing her confess and beg, there was nothing left inside me.
Whatever hope I once had of being with her had turned to ash, burned away by the fire that rose in my chest at the thought of another woman.
Raven. My heart thudded, a truth crystallizing, sharp and undeniable: Raven was the one I wanted, the one I loved, not this ghost of a past I’d clung to too long.
“I could never forgive you,” I said, my voice cold and final, as I stepped back, her hands falling away. “You’re a traitor, a liar, and a murderer. You’re nothing to me, Rielle.” I mindlinked Sinclair, my command simple as it was sharp: Bring guards. Arrest Rielle. Now.
In a brief moment, the door slammed open, and Sinclair and three guards stormed in. Rielle struggled, her claws extending, her voice a desperate wail as they seized her arms. “Damien, please!” she begged, her tears glistening, but I turned away, my resolve iron, my heart fixed on Raven.
She twisted in their grip, her voice turning venomous, a hiss that stopped me cold. “You’re too late, Damien,” she spat, her eyes glinting with a sick vindictive glee. “Raven’s gone. By the time you reach her, Ivy will have torn her to shreds.”
My heart stilled, my wolf surging, its roar deafening as I whirled back, seizing her shoulders, my growl shaking the room. “What the hell do you mean?” I snarled, my face inches from hers, my vision red with terror. “What have you done?”
Rielle’s smile was cruel, her scent sour with malice.
“I am your mate, the one the Goddess chose for you,” she said, her voice low, taunting.
“Raven is nothing. I sent her to the Ivory Moon Pack. I lured her with a lie about her parents’ death.
She’s on her way there now. Ivy’s waiting, and she’ll rip that child from her womb. You’ve lost her, Damien.”
A cold chill tore through me…sharper and deeper than anything I’d ever felt. Nothing in my life had ever scared me like this. Raven was out there, exposed and in danger. For a moment, it felt like my heart stopped. My roar shattered the air.
I shoved her toward the guards, my command coming out in a growl: “Take her to the cells.” As they dragged her away, her curses echoing, I was already running, my feet pounding the hardwood, my wolf howling for Raven.
I burst into her room, the door slamming open, and my heart sank. Her clothes were gone, and her scent faded.
She was gone, walking into a trap, pregnant and alone. Terror gripped me, my heart racing, my only thought was to find her and save her, before Ivy’s claws took everything. I tore through the hall. I had to reach her. Raven was mine, and I’d burn the world to protect her.