Chapter 79 WHAT POWER DEMANDS
AMBER’S POV
I refused to tell him everything that happened or more or less what was contained in that letter. It wasn’t that I fought to trust him but it was more of a fear of what he might do, what he was capable of doing that held me back.
“Telling him would make things worse,” I said to myself.
I had seen the way he lost his mind anytime he was faced with people whom he didn’t like, he took out his anger on them, making sure that they felt his wrath. I knew what he could do if he discovered half of the things in that letter, it was a risk I wasn’t willing to take, in this life or the next.
Just then, there was a light knock on the door, and looking up, my heart rate spiked because I had no idea who that was. I knew it couldn’t be Derek because I had watched him leave for a pack meeting.
“Who’s it?” I called out.
“Damien.” Came the reply.
I stilled, not wanting to believe my ears but he was there, right outside my door. I knew how I felt when it came to Damien, it was something I couldn’t put words to but the feeling was there, rising to the surface with every minute that passed.
“Hold on a moment,”
I glanced at the mirror, fixing my hair that didn’t need to be fixed. I didn’t know why I was putting an extra effort into my appearance but I didn’t want to disappoint him even though that sounded stupid to my hearing.
Finally, after I was satisfied, I walked towards the door, opening it to reveal Damien. He looked every shade of the handsome man I knew him to be. The small smile he gave me did wonders for me, most especially in between my legs. The feelings were there and I couldn’t deny it.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted.
“Huh?” Confusion on his face.
I backtracked immediately, rephrasing my words as quickly as I could.
“I mean, hi… I didn’t expect to see you here.” I said.
He laughed even as shyness enveloped me in that moment. A day hardly passed that I didn’t see him but this just felt different, more intimate I hoped to dare but I didn’t want to get my hopes up and get it dashed again. Damien was off limits and I knew it.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” He smiled.
“Oh yeah, sorry. Please come in.” I said.
He walked in, removing his sun hat. He looked tired, strained like he had done something he shouldn’t have done.
“I want to make this as brief as possible Amber because I know you have a lot of things to do but Derek tells me you’ve been avoiding him for some time now and he suspects it’s due to the letter you received.” He said.
I was dumbfounded because I didn’t realize they had talked so much about this within such a short period.
“I didn’t know you both had already talked about this,” I said, trying to deflect from the conversation.
“You know what I’m talking about Riley so don’t even pretend.” He chuckled.
“I just don’t want him to be worried because I know how Derek can get. And it’s kind of personal.” I added.
“Personal that you can’t even tell your mate?” He asked.
I paused, laughing incredulously because I didn’t think he would actually talk about that.
“Never has Derek ever regarded me as his mate, as a matter of fact, he despises me so much that he doesn’t even want people to know I’m his mate,” I said.
He had the decency to pause, realizing that what I had just said was the truth and nothing but the truth.
“Well, that still doesn’t excuse this.” He said.
At this point, I was already getting irritated, bothered that he wasn’t even seeing that all of this wasn’t right but what did I expect, he was Derek’s beta after all.
Just then, one of the men called for him, and he got up abruptly, walking towards the door.
“We’ll have this conversation some other time.” He said.
I shrugged, not even willing to have any of that with him. At this point, I was just too tired of fighting and being caught up in everything that was happening.
After he left, I remained quiet, thinking about everything that had happened. At that moment, I felt stupid that I had already started to believe Derek had come to care for me.
“How did I ever believe that?” I mummured.
There were so many things that pointed out the fact that Derek hated me and hated my guts and he was only doing this simply because he wanted to save face.
The look on his face when he got to learn of the letter was something I would never forget in a hurry. Besides being worried, which was obviously false, his spite and everything he felt for me were rooted so deeply that he could go to the extent of attacking my mother.
I knew it was an age-long fight, bordering on things that had happened in the past but this time around, he was ready to do away with everything that reminded him of her. I hated it but for as long as I was here, I knew that spite would forever be here, growing to the surface.
There was no love lost between them, it was something that would keep on happening for as long as I was here so there was no point talking about something that wasn’t going to give any result, I had known that long before now.
I knew I needed to get a hold of everything that had been happening, trying to find a semblance of peace before everything came crashing down on me. It was a long shot but I knew with time, I would get a hold of everything but first, I just needed to s
tay alive.
FINDING THE BALANCE