Chapter 117 CRACKS IN TRUST
DEREK’S POV
The announcement barely left my mouth before everything fell apart. One second, we were still standing in tense silence, and the next, voices rose again, louder and sharper. I saw Cedrick step forward before I could stop him. His shoulders were tight, his hands clenched, his eyes locked on one of the Spirit Pack soldiers standing across the boundary.
“You don’t get to stand there like this fixes anything,” the soldier said, his voice full of bitterness. “Your pack destroyed my home.”
Cedrick laughed, but there was no humor in it. “And yours killed three of ours. You want to count losses all day?”
I stepped forward. “Cedrick, don’t.”
He ignored me. The Spirit Pack soldier moved closer, pointing a finger at Cedrick’s chest. “This truce is an insult.”
That was enough, Cedrick shoved him hard.
Everything erupted at once. The soldier stumbled back, then rushed forward, swinging. Cedrick blocked him, hitting back without hesitation. The sound of the impact made my stomach drop. Shouts broke out on both sides. People surged forward, hands reaching for weapons, anger taking over reason.
“Stop it!” I yelled, pushing through the chaos.
Amber’s voice cut in too, sharp and commanding, but the damage was already done. I grabbed Cedrick and pulled him back with all my strength. “Are you trying to start a war?”
“He deserves it,” Cedrick snapped, struggling against me.
Across from us, Amber’s beta restrained the Spirit Pack soldier, who was still trying to break free, yelling curses and threats. The line between both packs felt like it was disappearing, shrinking under the weight of all that anger.
“This is why this won’t work,” someone shouted from Amber’s side.
“And this is why we shouldn’t trust them,” someone from mine answered.
I stepped between the packs, spreading my arms. “Enough. Right now.”
Slowly, painfully, the noise began to die down. Weapons were lowered, though no one truly relaxed. Cedrick stood behind me, breathing hard. The Spirit Pack soldier glared at us like he wanted to tear us apart with his hands.
Amber moved to my side. Her face was tight, her eyes burning. “This meeting is over,” she said loudly.
Neither pack argued. The tension was still there, thick and dangerous, but no one pushed further. We all knew how close we had come to bloodshed.
As we began to pull away from the boundary, my chest felt heavy. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, the plan had barely been spoken aloud before it nearly collapsed under the weight of old wounds and fresh anger.
I didn’t need to look at Amber to know she felt it too.
We didn’t stop walking until there was enough distance between both packs that no one could reach the other with a sudden charge. Even then, no one spoke. The silence pressed down on me harder than the shouting had.
I finally slowed, turning slightly as my pack came to a halt. Cedrick stood a few steps behind me, staring at the ground. I didn’t address him. Not yet. There was so much for me to say but at the same time, I didn’t even know how to act simply because a lot of things seemed like it wanted to go wrong but at the same time, I knew I needed to be careful because breaching something that already felt like it wasn’t going to hold was another thing entirely.
Amber stopped across from me, her pack waiting behind her. She studied my face for a moment, and I knew she saw it. No doubt, I couldn’t hide it anymore.
“You’re thinking this won’t work,” she said quietly.
I exhaled. “I’m thinking we almost had a fight before the ink even dried on the idea.”
Thinking about what that could mean for us especially in the long run was depressing enough but at the same time, I knew that sooner or later, we needed to get into it before it was too late because at this point, we were already at our breaking point.
“They were provoked,” she replied.
“So were we,” I said. “That’s the problem.”
She frowned. “Derek, this was never going to be easy.”
“I know,” I said. “But that wasn’t tension, that was barely contained rage.”
Her jaw tightened. “And walking away fixes that?”
“No,” I admitted. “But pretending it doesn’t exist makes it worse.”
She crossed her arms. “You’re losing faith already.”
I looked past her, at my pack. They were quiet now, but their anger hadn’t gone anywhere. It was waiting. “I’m being realistic.”
“Realism gets people killed,” she snapped.
“So does blind hope,” I answered.
That hurt her, I saw it immediately. Her shoulders stiffened, and for a moment she looked more tired than angry.
“You agreed to this,” she said. “You said we had to try.”
“I meant it,” I replied. “I still do but I won’t ignore what I just saw.”
She stepped closer. “What you saw was fear and pain. That doesn’t mean this plan is wrong.”
“It means it might not hold,” I said. “Not like this.”
She shook her head slowly. “If you start doubting it out loud, your pack will feel it and then it’s already dead.”
I didn’t answer right away, she was right about that. Leaders didn’t get the luxury of uncertainty; doubt spreads faster than anger.
“I won’t sabotage it,” I said finally. “But I won’t pretend this didn’t crack something.”
Her voice softened. “We don’t have another option.”
I looked back toward the boundary, even though it was out of sight now. “That’s what scares me.”
She let out a slow breath. “I need you steady.”
“I’ll be steady,” I said. “Just not foolish.”
She searched my face one last time, then nodded. “Then hold the line.”
She turned back to her pack, leaving me standing there with my thoughts. Cedrick came closer but stayed silent.
As we headed back toward our territory, I couldn’t shake the feeling settling in my chest. The plan wasn’t broken yet but it was fragile and one more shove might be all it took to
destroy it completely.
TRYING TO RECONCILE