Chapter 194 Aftermath of shattered trust
Chapter 194: The Aftermath of Shattered Trust
Damon's POV
"No, nooo. There had to be an explanation. Mind control, coercion, something...anything at all." I continued to mumble to myself, pacing back and forth in the destroyed safe house like a caged animal.
"Alpha..." Daphne's voice was weak, painful, even but it hardly reached me.
"He wouldn't do this. Not willingly. Not after everything we have been through." My hands shook as I ran them through my hair, pulling hard enough to hurt. The physical pain was nothing compared to the gaping wound in my chest where the bond used to pulse warm and steady,
Now it was just... cold, stretching thinner and thinner as the seconds trickled by.
"Damon, please," Daphne tried again. "We need to get these bodies…"
"Don't!" The word came out as a roar, instead. She flinched. I forced myself to breathe, to think past the rage and agony threatening to consume me. "Please, don't say it. Don't make it real."
But it was real. No matter how I shut my eyes and cracked my teeths, the bodies scattered around me made it horrifyingly real. Pack members who had trusted their Luna, who had laid down their lives to protect him, are now dead because of their luna orders.
No. Not his order. He wouldn't.
Would he?...
"The baby," I whispered suddenly, my hand going to my own stomach as if I could somehow feel what was no longer mine to feel. "Daphne, the baby. He's carrying our child. He would never put our child in danger."
Daphne's face crumpled again, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "I don't know, Damon. I don't know anything anymore."
The sound of approaching wolves made us both tense. James, my beta burst through the entrance, human-form and breathing hard, followed by several pack warriors. Within seconds, His experienced eyes took in the carnage, and his face went pale.
"Goddess above," he breathed. "Damon, the border…"
"I don't care about the fucking border!" I snarled. "He's gone, James. Milo is gone."
"I know. I heard through the link." James approached carefully, like I was a wild animal that might strike. Maybe I was. "Caroline's forces pulled back. Apparently, it was just a fuss. They got what they came for."
What did they come for?...
Him, My mate, they came for my omega. My everything.
The father of my child.
"We need to organize a rescue mission," I said, already planning, strategizing. "If we move now, before they get too far…"
"Damon." James's hand on my shoulder stopped me. "He went willingly. Daphne said so. Multiple witnesses said so."
"He was coerced!"
"Maybe. But we can't just charge into the Northern Kingdom blind. That's exactly what they want."
I shrugged off his hand violently. "So what? We just let them have him? No matter anything, I will…”
I doubled over in pain, the fragile mate bond trembled uncontrollably, then with a snap, it vanished.
“Nooo, milo!!, don't do this…” I scratched at my chest, the pain was blinding.
“Alpha?...”
“Noo, stop” Damon rushed, but I held up my hand, stopping him.
“I am fine, it was just my injuries.” I said, hardening my voice. “I will be in seclusion for days, no one should disturb my peace.”
"We regroup. We think. We plan." James's voice was firm, falling into his Beta role even as I was falling apart. "We are not losing our Alpha too."
I stopped at his words, but they already had. The moment Milo severed the mating bond from his end, he broke the only thing that had tethered me to my sanity
The next seventy-two hours were a blur of agony and barely controlled chaos that was raging inside me.
The pack house had descended into pandemonium. Word of Luna's betrayal spread like wildfire, and with it came fear, confusion, and anger. Pack members gathered in groups, whispering, arguing, some demanding answers I didn't have.
"Where is Luna Milo?"
"Is it true he's working with the Queen?"
"Did he really kill those people?"
"What about the prophecy? The awakening?"
"Are we under attack?"
The words filtered through the pack bonds, each pack member worrying compounding at every second, driving me to the brink of crazy.
I had locked myself in my office, not stepping out for 4 days now.
I had cried, raged and bled, but I still couldn't face them. Couldn't look into their trusting eyes and tell them that yes, their Luna had betrayed them. That the omega they'd sworn to protect had walked away willingly into enemy hands.
That he'd taken my unborn child with him.
That he did betray me.
I refused food, refused rest. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. The way he'd looked at me in the clinic, tears streaming down his face as he processed the news of our baby. The wonder and fear mixed in his purple eyes. The protective way he'd touched his stomach.
Had it all been an act? Had he known, even then, what he was going to do?
The severed bond was still there. An empty feeling that gnawed deep in my soul.
How could he?
Dax was silent in my mind, shut down in a way that terrified me. My wolf had always been there, loud and present and demanding. Now there was just... emptiness and quietness.
I stared at the maps spread across my desk, trying to formulate a plan, any plan, but the words blurred together. The Northern Kingdom was weeks away, heavily fortified, and I had no idea what I was walking into.
Was Milo there willingly? Was he being held prisoner? Was the baby safe?
Did he ever love me at all?
That thought hurt worst of all.
It was late on the third night when James finally forced his way into my office. I heard the commotion outside. He dismissed the guards outside, heard the lock click, and then he was standing in front of my desk with his arms crossed, and his hard face taking in the disaster that was my office, before his eyes settled down on the table with a disapproving stare.
"You look like death," he said bluntly.
"Thanks for noticing." I said, gulping down my… uncountable shots of bourbon.
"When was the last time you ate?"
I couldn't remember, either. "I'm fine."
"You are not fine. The pack isn't fine. Nothing about this situation is fine." He moved closer, and I could see the exhaustion in his own face. "Damon, I know you're hurting. We all are. But the pack needs their Alpha."
"The pack needs their Luna," I shot back. "And he's gone."
"Yes. He is." James's voice softened. "And I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But falling apart won't bring him back."
"I'm not falling apart."
"You haven't left this office in three days. You haven't eaten. You haven't addressed the pack. And you're planning a suicide mission into enemy territory." He leaned on the desk, taking one of the numerous maps scattered on the table. "That's the definition of falling apart."
I wanted to argue, but the words died in my throat. He was right. I knew he was right.
"What would you have me do?" I asked tiredly. "Just... give up?"
"I am asking you to think strategically instead of emotionally." James pulled up a chair, sitting down heavily. "The Queen wants you to react. To charge in anger and. That's the whole point of this, Damon. She's baiting you."
"I know that."
"Do you? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're ready to give her exactly what she wants."
I slammed my fist on the desk, making papers scatter, and glasses scattering on the hard floor. James didn't flinch.
"He's carrying my child, James! What am I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait?"
"You're supposed to be smart about this." His voice was calm, measured. "Look, I don't know what Milo's thinking. I don't know if he's being controlled or if he really did betray us. But I know that rushing in without a plan will get you killed. And then what? The pack loses their Alpha and their Luna. The Queen wins everything."
I hated that he made sense, and that was it. Nothing is supposed to make sense to me again, not after…
"There's something else," James continued, and his tone made my stomach drop. "I've been getting reports. Some of the allied packs... they are pulling away their support."