Chapter 109 A CALL TO HER
A CALL TO HER
DEREK’S POV
I had not slept properly in days. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Amber’s face the last time she turned away from me. The look she gave me was not anger. It was worse, it was disappointing. That look stayed with me longer than any wound I had ever taken in battle.
The room felt too big without her, too quiet. Even the pack house felt wrong, like it knew she was gone. I walked the floors at night, checked the gates myself, and snapped at people who did not deserve it. None of it helped, nothing filled the space she left behind.
Fauna watched me from the corner of the room as I paced. She did not speak at first, she never did when she knew I was close to breaking.
“I need to hear from her,” I said finally, stopping in front of her. “I can’t keep guessing how she is.”
Fauna studied me for a moment. “You want me to use the spell again.”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “The same one you used before.”
She hesitated. “You know she may not answer.”
“I know,” I said. “But I have to try.”
She nodded slowly and began preparing the things she needed. Candles plus a bowl of water. A strip of paper. I sat down hard in the chair, my hands clenched together, trying to keep them from shaking.
“What do you want to say?” Fauna asked.
I swallowed. The words felt heavy in my chest.
“Tell her I’m sorry,” I said. “Not the kind of sorry people say to end a fight. The real one, tell her I think about her every day. That I hate myself for the choices I made and that I should have protected her better. That I miss her more than I can say.”
Fauna raised an eyebrow slightly. “That’s a lot.”
“Write it anyway,” I said. “She deserves to know.”
Fauna wrote slowly, careful with every word. When she was done, she folded the paper and placed it between her palms. She murmured the spell under her breath, old words passed down through generations. The air shifted slightly, like it always did when magic moved through it.
The paper vanished even as surprise took over me all at once because I didn’t know where all of this was going.
I leaned back, suddenly exhausted.
“That’s it,” Fauna said quietly. “Now we wait.”
Waiting was the worst part. The night passed with no sign of an answer, there was no feeling through the bond and no response at all. I barely spoke to anyone the next morning. I trained harder than usual, pushing myself until my muscles burned, hoping the pain would quiet my thoughts.
By afternoon, I had convinced myself the spell had failed especially since I hadn’t gotten anything yet just then, a guard came running.
“Alpha,” he said, breathless. “There are people at the main gate.”
I frowned. “Who?”
He hesitated. “Amber. And… others.”
My heart stopped as the realization dawned on me that she was really here, alive and here.
I was already moving before the guard finished speaking. I did not think, I did not plan but I ran. The pack yard blurred around me as I headed for the gate, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.
And then I saw her.
Amber stood just outside the gate, calm and steady, like she had every right to be there. Her hair was pulled back, her posture straight. She looked thinner, sharper somehow, but stronger too. Around her stood members of the spirit pack, watching quietly, alert but not hostile.
For a moment, I could not breathe.
I stopped a few feet away from her. The bond flared instantly, sharp and familiar, like it had been waiting for this moment. My chest tightened, and I had to force myself not to reach for her.
“Amber,” I said.
She looked at me, her expression unreadable. “Derek.”
The sound of my name in her voice almost broke me.
“I sent you a letter,” I said, the words spilling out before I could stop them. “I didn’t know if it reached you.”
“It did,” she replied. “That’s why I’m here.”
Hope sparked in my chest, small but dangerous. “How are you?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away. She glanced back at the people behind her, then returned her gaze to me.
“We need to talk.”
I nodded quickly. “Of course, come inside. You’re safe here.”
She studied my face for a long second, then nodded. The gates opened, and she walked past me, not touching, not even brushing my arm. The distance hurt more than I expected but I took it in good faith simply because there was really nothing I could do at that moment.
We stopped near the center of the yard. The spirit pack members stayed back, giving us space but watching closely.
“I meant what I wrote,” I said quietly. “All of it, I was wrong. I should have stood by you. I should have listened but I let fear make choices for me.”
Amber crossed her arms, but her eyes softened just a little. “You hurt me,” she said. “You made me feel alone when I needed you most.”
“I know,” I said. “And I will spend the rest of my life making it right if you let me.”
Silence stretched between us. The pack seemed to hold its breath just as my eyes dropped and my heart skipped. Her stomach was flat, it was not swollen or even rounded. Just normal.
I looked up at her slowly, confusion and shock hitting me at once. “Amber…?”
She followed my gaze and stiffened slightly. “That’s part of why I came,” she said.
My chest tightened, dread and fear twisting together. “What does that mean?”
She met my eyes, steady and serious. “It means things are not the way you think they are.”
The bond flared again, sharp and uncertain and in that moment, I knew everything I thought I
understood was about to change.
WHAT WAS LEFT