Chapter 16:
He walked beside me, his movements measured, his gaze fixed on the horizon. Always unreadable. I wanted to demand answers, to peel back the layers of his stoic demeanor and force him to explain himself. But something held me back—a storm of emotions I couldn’t yet untangle. Anger, betrayal, and something softer I refused to name.
Finally, the silence became unbearable.
“You disappeared,” I said, the accusation slipping out before I could stop it.
“No warning. No explanation. Nothing. You just left.”
He slowed his pace but didn’t stop, his jaw tightening.
“You think it was that simple, Elara? That I wanted to leave?”
I stopped walking, planting myself in his path and forcing him to look at me.
“I don’t know what to think, Dante. You were supposed to be part of this pack, part of—” My voice faltered, but I pushed on, hardening it.
“You were supposed to stay. And instead, you vanished.”
He met my gaze, his eyes filled with a quiet intensity that made my chest tighten.
“Things aren’t always as simple as they seem,” he said finally.
“Then explain it to me!” My voice cracked, and I hated how vulnerable it sounded.
“You owe me that much. You left without a word, and now you’re back, acting as if nothing happened. Why now? Why after all this time?”
He let out a slow breath, finally stopping.
“Because I didn’t have a choice back then,” he said, his voice low and steady.
“Your father made sure of that.”
Chapters live now at ɢⱯ𝓵𝓷σ𝓿𝓮𝓵𝓼.cоm
The mention of my father hit me like a slap, and I blinked, trying to process his words.
“What are you talking about? My father would never—”
“He banished me, Elara,” Dante interrupted, his tone sharp but not unkind.
“You know how this pack works. The Alpha’s word is law, and when he decided I didn’t belong, there was nothing I could do to change that.”
The weight of his words settled over me like a stone. My father—whom I had admired, whose leadership I had tried so hard to emulate—had done this? Banished Dante without explanation, without justification? The silence that followed felt like a chasm between us.
“Why?” I asked finally, my voice trembling with confusion.
“Why would he do that?”
Dante hesitated, his expression hardening as he looked away.
“Because he thought I was a threat. To the pack. To you.”
“To me?” I repeated, disbelief rising in my chest.
“How could you possibly be a threat to me?”
He turned back to me, his eyes shadowed with something I couldn’t quite name—regret, perhaps, or pain.
“Your father was afraid that if I stayed, it would… complicate things. He thought I would distract you, make you weaker somehow. He told me that leaving was the only way to protect you. And he made it clear—if I disobeyed, if I came back, it would be considered treason. Punishable by death.”
The air seemed to rush out of my lungs as his words sank in. My father had done this. The man I had trusted, the Alpha I had idolized, had driven Dante away not to protect…
The pack, but to protect me. From what? From him? From the bond that had always lingered between us?
“You listened to him,” I said quietly, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and hurt.
“You let him drive you away.”
His jaw clenched, and for the first time, his calm facade cracked.
“You think I wanted to leave? You think I didn’t fight? I would have stayed if I could, Elara. But he wasn’t asking. He was commanding. And I wasn’t going to risk tearing the pack apart by defying him. So I left. For you.”
