Chapter 58 Chapter 58
ELIJAH'S POV
I stood in the middle of my room, still confused, still shaken, and still trying to understand what had just happened. My hands were trembling a little, and my heart was beating in a strange, uneven way. The whole thing didn’t feel real, because I had never seen Damon like that before, not even in the darkest moments of our lives.
The door burst open and my guards rushed in, all of them looking alarmed and ready to fight.
“Alpha Elijah, are you alright?” one of them asked while the others scanned the room with wide eyes. “We heard a loud crash and we rushed in. Do you want us to go after him?”
I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.
If they went after Damon, they would only die. Every single one of them. My brother was a hybrid—stronger, faster, darker, and more dangerous than anyone else in this pack.
“No,” I answered quickly as I lifted my hand. “Don’t go after him. I will handle my brother myself. Leave!”
They hesitated because they cared, but they eventually bowed and walked out, closing the door behind them. Silence filled the room again, and I finally let out a long breath.
Why did he react like that?
Why did he look at me with so much rage?
What pushed him over the edge?
I thought about earlier… at the breakfast table… when I had finally gotten him to open up about Isabella. For a short moment, I actually felt like I reached him. I thought maybe, just maybe, he would finally understand that it was not his fault that Isabella died. I had seen pain in his eyes… but softer than usual.
Almost human.
I almost succeeded.
But now he wanted to kill Anna with an even colder heart than before.
My chest tightened painfully, and I realized that I needed answers. I needed to know what happened between him and Anna. Maybe she had said something. Maybe Damon had sensed something. Maybe something went wrong that I didn't know about.
I left my room almost immediately, walking fast through the hallway, ignoring the greetings and the bows. My mind was too busy because I felt like something terrible was coming, something darker than anything Damon had done before.
I had to find Anna.
When I found her, she was outside her quarters, sitting on a bench, with her hair falling on her shoulders in soft waves. She looked so beautiful that people could easily stare at her forever—too beautiful to suffer like this, too beautiful to be killed for something she didn’t even understand yet.
She looked up when she heard my footsteps.
Her eyes were a little red.
Her lips were pressed tightly together.
She looked like she had cried earlier, and that alone made my stomach twist.
“Elijah?” she said gently. “Is everything okay?”
“I should be asking you that,” I answered as I walked closer. “Anna, were you with Damon earlier?”
She blinked, confused. “Why?”
I didn’t want to tell her the truth. I couldn’t. If she knew Damon wanted to kill her, she would panic. If she knew Damon was getting worse, she would break. So I forced myself to stay calm.
“Because,” I answered softly, “I need to understand something.”
She nodded slowly. “I saw him after we all had that breakfast. I went into his room and we had a conversation. Why are you asking?”
“What happened?” I questioned, trying not to sound desperate, though I was.
She kept looking at me, almost studying me.
“Elijah… why are you asking me these questions?” she whispered. “Did something terrible happen to Damon?”
I lied immediately.
Because telling the truth would destroy everything.
“No, nothing happened,” I answered. “I just want to be sure everything is fine between you two.”
She didn’t look convinced, but she still answered because she trusted me. “Uhh, we didn't really talk much because I felt like he was in a bad mood. But we talked about Tribids and he asked me if I hated them.”
My heart froze.
A cold feeling went down my spine.
I swallowed hard, my heart skipping a beat in fear of what she'd said. “And what did you say?”
She looked away for a moment, biting her lip, struggling with something inside her.
“I told him yes,” she said quietly. “I told him the truth that I hated Tribids.”
My chest dropped.
She kept her eyes low as she spoke, her voice thin and almost shaking. “I told him the truth that I was glad Tribids didn't exist anymore,” she whispered. “I said no one should have three powers. It’s way too much for one person to handle. It’s too dangerous, and I said it wasn’t right.”
My heart dropped so fast I almost felt dizzy.
She didn’t understand.
She couldn’t understand.
She had no idea what her words meant to Damon.
“Anna,” I called out quietly, trying to keep my voice down, “did Damon say anything after you told him that?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. He didn't say anything at all, Elijah.”
“Nothing?” I asked, even though I already felt the panic rising inside me.
“Nothing...” she repeated softly. “He didn’t tease me like he usually does. He didn’t even smile or try to stop me when I said I was leaving and jad work to do. He just… let me leave.” Her voice cracked. “Did I upset him?”
I swallowed everything inside me and forced my voice to stay calm. “No,” I answered quietly, lying straight to her face. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Her shoulders relaxed just a little, and she wiped her eyes gently.
“Thank you so much, Elijah,” she whispered. “For… for checking on me, and for listening. I know you’re busy.”
I nodded even though my chest felt painfully tight.
She took a small step back, hesitating for a moment before she added softly, “Elijah… please look out for Damon. He looked and acted… different today. I don’t know why, but it scared me.”
If only she knew.
I forced a small smile, another lie, and nodded. “I will.”
She whispered “Thank you,” again, then finally went back into the servant quarters. The silence that followed was sharp enough to cut through bone.
I wanted to tell her the entire truth. I wanted to shout that she had just stepped on the one wound Damon could never allow anyone to touch. I wanted to grab her shoulders and say, "Why would you say that? Why now? Why to Damon?
But I couldn’t.
She didn’t know.
She didn’t understand anything that was truly happening around her. She didn’t know that after I finally made Damon remember Isabella—after I dragged out the one part of his heart that still felt something—he had actually softened for the first time in years.
She didn’t know that for a brief moment, Damon had probably had a change of heart.
He didn’t want to kill her anymore.
He didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.
He didn’t want to lose someone innocent again.
And because of that, he tested her.
He asked her what she thought about Tribids because he desperately wanted to hear her answer. He wanted to see if she could ever accept what she truly was… even without knowing the truth yet.
But she failed.
She had told him that Tribids shouldn’t exist. She said she was glad they were gone forever. She said no one should have that type of power. She said the one thing that would destroy Damon’s last bit of hope, and she had no idea how heavy her words were.
She had no idea she had just cut the last thin thread holding Damon back from becoming the monster he believed he already was.
And worst of all…
She had no idea she had just given Damon the reason he needed to kill her. My stomach twisted, and fear spread through my chest like wildfire because I knew Damon was about to become even more dangerous.
Even more ruthless.
Even more certain about killing her.
And I had no idea how to stop him again.