CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 23: GUILT AND JOY CLASH

I stir awake to the throbbing of my wounds and Atticus’ furious voice.

"How could you go against me for that b.itch?! She tried to harm you!" he growls.

Damian is on the couch, surrounded by nurses who are drawing his blood and checking his vitals. He’s too weak to match Atticus’ anger.

"I harmed Alpha Torrin and helped you get the Alpha title. But that doesn’t mean I’m allowing you to harm Harleigh. This matter is between the two of us. So don’t interfere," he says weakly.

Atticus grunts sharply. "You’re my only heir. You’re lucky you survived her rejection. But you can’t stay that weak if you want to inherit my title."

"I’m marrying Cassandra next month, everything’s already settled with her father. You know that I only agreed so they wouldn’t ally with the Dunebourne Pack in whatever they’re planning against us. You also know that Cassandra is infertile, so she can’t give me an heir."

"Now, let’s make a deal: If you remain weak and useless to me before our wedding, I’ll kill that b.itch."

Atticus points directly at me as both he and Damian turn their eyes toward me.

Damian’s face goes pale with shock as he had admitted earlier that he played a part in ruining Alpha Torrin.

"D-did you hear everything?" he asks anxiously.

I shake my head, lying.

"Well, I hope she heard the last part," Atticus hisses before storming out of the room.

Damian pushes up from the couch and limps toward me. He takes my hand gently and stares at me with longing, something I didn’t expect. Coz at this point, I no longer feel even a trace of our bond.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

Guilt rises in me again.

He’s still worried about me instead of demanding an explanation or an apology for what I did to him.

"I’m sorry," I mumble.

He raises my hand, kissing it and inhaling my scent as if grounding himself.

"I forgive you. But... can we try to fix us?" he asks, his voice full of quiet pleading.

The bond he still has with me may have weakened after my rejection, but it’s clear it hasn’t disappeared completely. And instead of trying to sever what little is left of it to free himself from the danger I’ll cause him, he’s still holding on to it tightly.

"If I stay weak, dad will hurt you again. And I might not be able to save you next time. He was only considerate now, but he won’t be in the future," he adds.

I don’t wanna openly reject him again, coz doing so might really kill him this time. So I lie, "I’ll try. But please... don’t force me to act on it quickly."

He smiles faintly and nods, relieved.

Damian stays with me the entire time, refusing to leave my side even when the nurses insist that he needs to rest.

I watch him as he finally falls asleep on the couch, exhaustion softening his features. The words I’m sorry keep repeating in my mind.

Along with guilt, worry gnaws at me, because I still can’t sense my wolf. I saw her in my dream when I thought I was dying, but that was the last time. She hasn’t returned since.

Just as I’m about to sleep too, my phone, which I hadn’t noticed before, vibrates on the bedside table.

I’m relieved I didn’t lose it during the beating, and grateful it wasn’t stolen.

-["Harleigh, I’ve been calling you. Why weren’t you answering?"]- Harper asks, her voice thick with worry.

"I was asleep," I lie, thankful no one dared answer her call while I was unconscious.

-["Alpha Torrin wants to meet you again at midnight. He said he’ll give you something important."]-

Then,...

A sharp breath escapes me as Damian’s suspecting voice breaks the quiet. "You seem to have a new friend who keeps checking on you?"

My hand trembles as I immediately turn off my phone.

I swallow hard. "Y-yes. N-no... she’s an old friend from the Dunebourne Pack. She’s worried about me after hearing about Harper’s death."

His expression remains skeptical, but he forces a small smile to ease the tension. "Put her actual name on your phone instead of just the word ’friend’."

"I’d do that," I answer, forcing a nervous smile, before quickly changing the contact name from ’friend’ to a made-up one, ’Lucy’.

Damian lies back down and drifts into sleep again, as if nothing happened.

Though relieved, I have to stay more vigilant next time.

When night comes, I beg the doctor to discharge me from the hospital. She hesitates, but eventually agrees when Damian vouches for me.

Once we arrive back at the Alpha’s mansion and I’m brought to my bedroom, I ask Damian for a moment of privacy.

"You can’t stay too long with me, especially here. It’ll only remind me of what happened last time we were alone in this room," I say.

It’s not my real reason, but it’s the only one I can give him.

Hurt and disappointed, he respects my request and steps out.

Still, the Gammas Atticus assigned to guard me remain stationed outside the door.

With only a few hours left before midnight, I force myself into action. But because of my throbbing wounds, I move slower than I want to.

I dye my hair white blonde and put on the Omega uniform again. Then I text Eric, the Gamma I entrusted to gather Alpha Torrin’s loyal warriors.

[Pick me up near the back gates of the Alpha’s mansion.]

A few minutes later, Eric replies, confirming he has arrived.

Climbing down from the window is harder and far more dangerous than before. Every movement strains my injuries, but I manage to land on the ground without worsening them, just adding more aches to my already battered body.

I walk past the Gammas guarding the back gates and meet Eric a kilometer away.

"There are already a hundred warriors - Gammas and Betas, who pledged loyalty to you and Alpha Torrin. They’ll be ready whenever you are," he says. Then he hands me a piece of paper, "Here’s the list of the ones we can’t trust. I’m sure there’s more of them. I’ll give you another list once I’m certain of their identities."

"Thank you. Alpha Torrin will be so proud of you," I reply, smiling.

Eric drives me toward the western border via their pack’s patrol car.

By midnight, Alpha Torrin arrives.

Alpha Torrin and I step beyond the border, stopping only when we’re certain no one else is nearby.

"Here. I found them," he says, handing me a stack of ShadowBind books.

"Where did you find them?" I ask.

Despite the happiness bubbling in my chest, the fear of not sensing my wolf lingers. Without her, I can’t activate my ShadowBind, let alone control and perfect it.

But I don’t dare tell Alpha Torrin about it, so he won’t worry and feel that his efforts have gone in vain.

Suddenly,...

He lifts my chin with his long fingers, smiling warmly.

"Yesterday," he begins, "I felt something I couldn’t explain. I kept thinking about you, wanting to see you, to talk to you again. Maybe... slowly, my bond with you is resurfacing?"

A breath catches in my throat, and tears of joy sting my eyes.

I’ve been drowning in guilt over rejecting Damian that almost killed him and now left him weak. But, hearing this, the guilt eases.

Alpha Torrin lowers his face toward mine, waiting for my approval.

I tiptoe to reach his lips, my arms loosely wrapping around his shoulders, my hands dropping the books to the ground.

His grip tightens around my waist as he responds to my kiss.

Our lips move passionately, our hearts swelling with joy, and for a moment everything else fades away. It’s just us, and this bond I almost distrust and he nearly lost.

This is what I needed after everything I endured yesterday. Maybe what I did was wrong to Damian and everyone who cares about him, but to Alpha Torrin, and to those who still believe in him, including me, it was right.

Then,...

In the heat of our kiss, my wolf surges back into me, howling in approval.

I may have lost my fated bond with Damian, which she despised, but my bond with Alpha Torrin becomes stronger than ever, and that’s enough to reconcile her anger.

Soft moans escape both of me and Alpha Torrin as the kiss deepens. Neither of us wants to pull away, even as breathing becomes difficult.

Until,...

A disgruntled presence slices through the moment, forcing us to jerk apart.

My heart fearfully slams against my ribs, my eyes widen in shock as I angle them to Damian, who stands a few feet away, fists clenched, glare burning with the pain of betrayal.

"I knew you were hiding something from me! But I didn’t expect this is what I’d discover!"

He lunges forward, targeting Alpha Torrin, who immediately wolfs out to defend himself.

A desperate plea breaks free from my throat, "No! Damian! Don’t!"