Chapter 143 FRACTURED SILENT BOND
DEREK’S POV
I heard their voices before I saw them, I had not meant to listen. I had only stepped into the hallway because the air in my room felt too tight, too heavy, like the walls were closing in on me but their voices carried through the cracked study door, low and sharp at the same time.
Damien spoke first. His voice was rougher than I remembered, like something inside him had been scraped raw.
“You never should have banished me.”
Silence followed. Then Derek answered, calm but strained. “You gave me no choice.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. The word banished still felt like a wound that never healed. Damien had been cast out because Derek believed he had betrayed the pack because secrets had been kept and because lines had been crossed, because of me.
“I went because you ordered it,” Damien said. “I walked into that darkness because you said it was the only way to protect her.”
I pressed my hand against the wall to steady myself. Derek’s voice grew harder. “You were getting too close and you forgot your place, you let feelings cloud your judgment.”
“And you didn’t?” Damien shot back.
The air felt thin. I remembered the night everything fell apart. The accusation and with the council watching, Derek’s eyes full of fury and something else I could not name. Damien stood tall, refusing to beg and refusing to deny that he cared about me.
He had not fought the punishment that had hurt more than anything.
“I didn’t cross the line,” Damien said now, more quietly. “I never touched her.”
The words burned and there was a long pause before Derek spoke again. “You didn’t need to.”
That silence told me everything. Derek had known, not just about Damien’s feelings, but about mine too, even the ones I tried to bury.
“I endured what you sent me to endure,” Damien continued. “I survived it and I came back stronger. Not to challenge you, not to take your place but I won’t pretend I don’t care about her.”
My chest tightened. “You will remember she is my mate,” Derek said.
His tone was steady, but I heard the crack beneath it.
“I remember,” Damien answered. “Every second.”
My breathing grew shallow, I should have walked away. I should not have stayed there listening like a thief but I could not move.
“You look at her like she belongs to you,” Derek added.
“She doesn’t belong to anyone,” Damien replied.
The words echoed inside me and I felt both seen and exposed.
There was movement inside the room with a chair scraping, just as I heard footsteps.
“You will keep your distance,” Derek said.
“I have kept my distance for years,” Damien replied. “And it nearly destroyed me.”
My throat burned as I stepped back just as the door opened. Damien came out first as his eyes met mine instantly, hope lived there. It frightened me.
Derek followed behind him. His expression shifted the moment he saw me just as the anger vanished. What replaced it was something softer, but also heavier. Pain and restraint.
They both knew I had heard, no one spoke.
Damien gave me a small nod. Not bold and not challenging. Just… there, present.
Derek’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said, even though we all knew that was not true.
Damien looked like he wanted to say something more, but he stopped himself. He glanced at Derek first and that hurt too.
“I should go,” Damien said finally.
He walked past me slowly. Close enough that I could feel the warmth of him but he did not touch me.
He never touched me. Derek stood still in the doorway, watching him leave and watching me.
The space between us felt impossible.
“You shouldn’t listen to private conversations,” he said quietly.
I swallowed. “You were talking about me.”
His eyes softened. “I was protecting you.”
“From what?” My voice shook. “From him? Or from myself?”
He did not answer and that silence crushed me.
The days after that felt suffocating. Damien did not avoid me, but he was careful. Too careful, he spoke to me when others were around. He kept his tone polite and respectful but his eyes always said more than his mouth ever would.
There was hope, it was still there and I did not know what to do with it.
Derek became quieter, more watchful. He never left my side during meetings and never let his hand brush mine by accident, never let his shoulder lean into mine the way it once did.
He could not touch me. The bond between us had been strained since the rejection attempt. Even though it had not been completed, the damage lingered. Physical contact still burned, not with pain exactly, but with something sharp and wrong.
He knew it hurt me so he kept his distance but distance did not stop the possessiveness.
If Damien stood too close, Derek’s eyes darkened. If Damien made me smile, Derek’s jaw flexed. If Damien offered to walk me somewhere, Derek would appear before I could answer.
He never raised his voice. Never accused and never acted cruel but the air shifted whenever the two of them stood in the same room and I stood between them.
One afternoon, I found myself alone in the garden or I thought I was.
“You look tired,” Damien said softly.
I turned too quickly and then my heart jumped.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
He studied me in that quiet way of his, like he could see every crack I tried to hide.
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” he said.
That only made it worse. “I’m not pretending.”
“You are,” he replied gently. “You feel pulled apart.”
The words hit too close. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Why? Because they’re true?”
I looked away. “I don’t want to cause trouble,” he continued. “I never wanted that, I thought leaving would fix it.”
My chest tightened again. “It didn’t.”
“I know.”
We stood there in silence. The wind moved through the trees, everything felt too loud and too quiet at the same time.
“I won’t fight him for you,” Damien said suddenly.
I blinked. “What?”
“I won’t challenge him, I won’t make you choose.”
That should have relieved me but instead, it made the ache worse.
“But I won’t lie either,” he added. “I care about you, I always have.”
My throat closed just as footsteps approached before I could answer.
It was Derek, he stopped a few feet away. Close enough to hear but far enough not to intrude.
His eyes moved from Damien to me even as Damien straightened but did not step back.
“I was just leaving,” he said calmly.
Derek’s gaze never left mine. “Were you?”
The question was not really for Damien.
I felt small under it.
“I can speak to whoever I want,” I said, trying to sound stronger than I felt.
“You can,” Derek agreed. His voice was controlled, too controlled. “I don’t own you.”
But his wolf stirred beneath the surface. I could feel it. That deep, restless energy that wanted to claim, to protect, to hold and he could not do any of it because he could not touch me and because every time his hand brushed mine, the broken bond sparked like a live wire. Damien watched us carefully, seeing everything.
“I’ll give you space,” he said quietly.
He walked away without another word, the silence he left behind pressed down on me.
Derek took one small step closer, not enough to hurt. Just enough to show he wanted to.
“You’re overwhelmed,” he said softly.
I laughed, but it sounded hollow. “That obvious?”
“Yes.”
He looked like he wanted to reach for me. His fingers twitched slightly at his side. Then he stopped himself.
That hurt more than anything.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he admitted.
The words were barely above a whisper.
“You haven’t,” I said.
But even as I said it, I was not sure.
Because something was shifting. Something none of us could control.
“I see the way he looks at you,” Derek continued. “And I see the way you look back.”
My breath caught because he was not angry, he was afraid.
“I don’t know what I feel,” I whispered.
That was the truth and the truth felt like drowning.
Derek nodded slowly. “I know.”
We stood there, separated by inches that felt like miles. No one reached out and no one resolved anything.
The tension wrapped around my chest tighter and tighter until I could barely breathe and somewhere behind us, I felt Damien’s presence lingering like a promise that refused to fade. I did not know which direction my he
art would break but I knew it would.
TORN BETWEEN THEM