Chapter 5

Damien POV

The heat burning inside me wouldn’t let up.

I left the party early, muttering some excuse to Seraphina about Council paperwork waiting in my study, but I headed straight for the east wing. The whiskey had gone down too easy. Too smooth, too fast. And whatever was burning through me now felt wrong. Not the pleasant haze of a good buzz, but something sharper, insistent, like my wolf was clawing at my skin from the inside, trying to break free.

I chalked it up to the Bond acting up after Liora’s outburst at the party. She’d stormed in, shoved me, signed something wild and fast, then fled. Typical flare-up, I told myself. It would blow over. It always did.

But the closer I got to our bedroom, the stronger her scent hit me.

The bedroom door was closed. I pushed it open harder than I’d meant to.

Liora was on the bed, her knees drawn up, her face buried in a pillow. The notebook lay open on the sheets beside her, pages crumpled. She didn’t look up when I entered. Didn’t even flinch. Just stayed curled tight, like she was trying to disappear into the mattress.

The Bond felt… off. Muted. I’d felt her pull away before. She’d always put up little walls when she was angry, but this felt different. This was heavier.

“Hey,” I said, my voice rough from too much whiskey.

I crossed the room, reaching for her, but she’d scrambled back on the bed, shaking her head hard.

I reached up again, brushing her cheek, tracing her jaw with my thumb. The Bond hummed between us. It was faint, but it was still there.

She signed something with her hands. Something fast and sharp that I didn’t understand. I’d never understood her signs. I stopped trying long ago. Maybe I never really tried at all.

“Speak,” I said, the word slipping out before I could stop it.

She’d reacted like I’d slapped her.

Her hand moved back and cracked across my face. Hard. The sting shocked the haze out of my head for a second.

She shoved me away. Then she grabbed the notebook, scribbled something fast, hands shaking, and thrust it at me.

I want a divorce, it read.

The words stared up at me in black ink.

I laughed, disbelieving. “You’re not serious?”

She nodded once, fierce, her eyes burning and wet with tears.

I rubbed my cheek, the sting fading. “Where would you go? You’re a no-rank Omega. Mute. No pack would take you.”

Her face crumpled for a second, then hardened. She wrote again, underlined it twice: I don’t care. I’m done.

The Heat flared hotter, clouding my head. I reached for her waist, pulling her closer. “You don’t mean that. We’ll talk tomorrow when you’ve calmed down.”

She went rigid. Then suddenly, I felt the Bond snap shut.

Not a gentle closing. A violent, wrenching slam. Like someone had grabbed the golden thread between us and yanked it until it frayed.

Pain lanced through my chest, sharp enough to steal my breath. My wolf howled, stunned. I staggered back off the bed, clutching at my throat.

Liora doubled over with a silent gasp, eyes wide, face going deathly pale. Her body swayed, then went limp. She collapsed sideways onto the pillows, out cold.

For a heartbeat I just stared, the room spinning.

Then instinct took over.

I scooped her up and carried her out of the room. “Clinic,” I barked at the guard in the hall. “Now.”

The drive to the clinic was tense, silent. I held Liora in the back seat, one hand pressed to her pulse, counting the faint beats. Her skin was cool, clammy. My wolf was losing its mind, pacing, snarling, desperate to fix whatever was wrong with our mate.

Mara met us at the clinic’s private entrance, took one look at Liora, and ushered us straight into an exam room. I laid Liora down and stepped back, but stayed close.

They ran tests. Hooked up IVs. I paced until Mara finally pushed me into the waiting area.

“Dehydration, exhaustion,” she said quietly. “Her wolf’s injured. She forcibly suppressed the Bond. It’s not permanent damage, but it’s hard on both of you. She needs rest.”

I nodded, leaning against the wall, dragging air into my lungs. The artificial heat was fading slowly, leaving me clear-headed for the first time since the party. Too clear.

Liora had never done anything like that before. Not even close.

I kept replaying the day, trying to understand what happened. What went wrong. Liora had burst into the party like a storm, shoved me, and signed frantically. Seraphina had translated - something about jealousy, ruining the birthday. I’d brushed it off as another episode. Told Liora to control herself.

But now…The way she’d looked at me. Like I was a stranger. Like I’d hurt her worse than I could imagine.

Why? Just because of this birthday party?

Weeks ago, my mother suggested hosting a birthday gala for Seraphina. “It would be nice to celebrate with everyone,” she’d said, smiling that easy smile. “Remind the Council who our real allies are.”

I knew she had always preferred Seraphina, hoping she would one day become her daughter-in-law.

Seraphina saved me, and we were together once. Had it not been for Liora, she might have become my chosen mate. But Liora, my fated mate appeared.An unalterable destiny. I would uphold my duties to my mate, give her the honor of Luna, yet I cannot simply discard the debt I owe Seraphina.

So I agreed and let she plan it, without more thinking.

Such a simple thing, not a big deal.

A party wouldn't change anything. But why was Liora reacting like this? This timid, always meek little mute first barged into my study, then tried to ruin the party in public, and even attempted to cut the bond?

Breaking into my thoughts, my Beta, Jace, arrived with coffee that I didn’t drink and an update I barely heard. Jace lingered, sensing the tension.

“You okay, boss?”

“Liora’s resting,” I said shortly,"Get me Liora’s medical report."

Jace nodded, and returned quickly.

“Clinic staff mentioned she was in earlier today.” He added.

My head snapped up. “What?”

“Just chatter when I called ahead. Didn’t get details.”

Is something actually wrong with Liora’s body? All this time I’d told myself that I didn’t love Liora, not really. That the Bond was duty. Responsibility. I’d protected her, provided for her, kept her safe. That was enough.

But the image of her collapsing after shutting me out, the way my wolf had panicked, the way I’d carried her like she was the most fragile thing in the world, said something different.

I didn’t know what to call it.

But watching Liora lie there, pale and still… It felt a lot like losing something I hadn’t realized I had.

Something cold settled in my gut. “Get Mara.”

I looked down at the clipboard with Liora’s medical files in my hand, about to open it.