The lost mate

Chapter 21: The past

Annie and Damien walked in silence, the sounds of the town gradually fading as they ventured further away from the bustling streets and into the quieter outskirts. The trees grew thicker, offering them a secluded spot far from curious eyes and ears. It was exactly what Annie needed—privacy.

Damien’s restlessness became palpable. He couldn’t stay silent for long.

"So tell me what you’ve been doing. I want to hear all about it," he said, his voice cutting through the quiet.

Annie kept her gaze straight ahead, her face a careful mask of indifference. "I’ve just been working," she replied curtly.

"Just working?" he echoed, his tone laced with disbelief. "That’s it? That’s all you have to say after all this time."

Annie sighed internally. She knew where this was headed. She’d been bracing for it ever since he had reappeared in her life.

"Will you tell me why you left all those years ago?" Damien’s voice was quieter now, almost vulnerable, though there was a sharp edge to it that she couldn’t ignore.

Annie’s heart tightened in her chest, but she forced herself to remain calm.

"I didn’t want to leave; I was forced to leave," she asked, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

The silence that followed Annie’s words was thick with tension. The trees around them seemed to close in, their branches swaying gently in the breeze, but the world felt still, frozen in the moment as Damien stared at her, his expression unreadable.

Damien had demanded answers, and she would give them to him, no matter how painful.

"I was forced to leave," she began, her voice steady despite the tremor in her heart. "After that night with you. Alpha Jackson and your mother found out about us. They disapproved—strongly."

Damien’s eyes narrowed, a flash of anger crossing his features, but he remained silent, allowing her to continue.

"They didn’t believe me when I told them I was your mate," Annie continued, her voice growing softer as the memories resurfaced. "They thought I was lying, that I had drugged you or cast some kind of spell to make you think you cared about me."

Damien’s jaw clenched, his hands curling into fists at his sides. "That’s ridiculous," he muttered, but Annie could tell his anger wasn’t directed at her—it was at those who had doubted her, who had torn them apart.

"Alpha Jackson imprisoned me," Annie said, the words slipping out before she could stop them. "They locked me away, kept me from seeing you, from explaining anything. I was trapped, Damien. I didn’t know what to do."

For a moment, Damien said nothing, his eyes darkening with fury. Annie could see the conflict raging inside him—the struggle between his anger and the need to understand what had really happened.

"How did you escape?" he finally asked, his voice low and tight.

Annie hesitated, the memory of her desperate flight flashing before her eyes. "I had a friend," she said quietly. "He helped me get out, and I ran as far as I could, as fast as I could. I didn’t have a choice, Damien. I had to get away."

Damien’s gaze was intense, his eyes boring into hers as he processed everything she had just revealed. But then his expression shifted, a shadow of something darker crossing his features as he asked the question that had been lingering in the air between them.

"Why didn’t you come to me?"

Annie’s breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding in her chest. The disbelief in his voice, the raw hurt—it was almost too much to bear. She stared at him, incredulous, the weight of his question pressing down on her like a physical blow.

"I did," she said, her voice trembling with the pain of the memory. "I came to you, Damien. I tried to explain everything to tell you what was happening. But you—" She paused, struggling to keep her voice steady. "You tried to kill me."

Damien stood frozen, his mind reeling from Annie’s words. The revelation had struck him like a bolt of lightning, leaving him stunned and disoriented.

"Why do you think I tried to kill you?" he asked, his voice trembling with a mix of confusion and fear. The thought that he could have ever hurt her was unimaginable, yet here she was, saying just that.

Annie’s gaze was hard, her expression one of painful resolve. "When I tried to come back to explain everything, I was attacked," she said, her voice flat, as if the memory had been stripped of all emotion from years of repression. "Your warriors found me when I crossed into your territory. They didn’t hesitate, Damien. They didn’t ask questions. They just...attacked. I barely got away."

Damien’s blood ran cold. The image of Annie, his Annie, being hunted and attacked by his own men sent a wave of nausea through him. "No," he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. "That must have been a mistake, Annie. I would never order something like that. I—" He paused, swallowing hard as the reality of the situation sank in. "I’m so sorry. I never knew. If I had—"

Annie cut him off, her voice rising in anger. "But you didn’t know, Damien. That’s the whole point. You weren’t there. And now you think you can just say sorry and everything will be okay?"

He flinched at the harshness of her tone, his own frustration bubbling to the surface. "It was a mistake, Annie. A terrible mistake, and I’m sorry for it. But we can fix this. We can forget about the past, move on, and start over. Come with me. We can—"

"No!" Annie’s shout echoed through the clearing, silencing him. Her eyes blazed with a fire he had never seen before, a fierce determination that both scared and saddened him. "It’s not that easy, Damien. You can’t just erase everything that’s happened between us. You can’t pretend that all the hurt, the betrayal, just doesn’t exist."

His voice softening as he took a step towards her. "We can make it work. I know we can. We’re meant to be together, you and I. We’re—"

Annie’s bitter laugh cut him off; the sound was sharp and cold. "Meant to be?" she echoed, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "If we were meant to be together, Damien, none of this would have happened. You would have believed me. You would have fought for me. But instead, you let them tear us apart, and now you think we can just pick up where we left off?"

She shook her head, taking a step back, putting distance between them as if it would somehow lessen the pain. "There is no future for us, Damien. "

Damien’s chest tightened, his desperation clawing at him as he reached out to her. "Annie, don’t say that. We can’t just throw everything away. We’re mates—"

"Then we’ll reject each other," Annie snapped, her voice trembling with the force of her emotions. "We’ll go our separate ways and put an end to this once and for all."