Freed Wolf

5 Heartbreak

Chris POV

There she is, as if out of a dream, but the dream is turned nightmare as she walks around the ruins of what used to be our home. Her long brown hair is braided and all of the physical damage seems to have healed.

'She came back to us!' Cyrus is practically jumping for joy in my head. Clearly he doesn't remember our last exchange.

'She came home, there's a difference,' I warned.

'Go to her,' he begs.

I took a few more steps towards her and froze, what do I even say? Sorry for attacking you but you wouldn't stop and were killing Jace?

'Maybe don't lead with that,' Cyrus chides. 'And you say I'm the stupid animal.'

'Cheeky fuck, don't forget what set this all off,' I growl back. It was a low blow, but if he didn't push forward and mark her then she wouldn't have shifted. I felt his overwhelming guilt and regret as he slunk back to the recesses of my mind.

I watched from the forest edge as she made her way to the destroyed greenhouse. The sadness in her eyes was clear as she took it all in.

When we went away for the week I had the guys install the greenhouse for her, knowing how much she loved flowers. With winter coming I thought it would be a perfect gift for making it through conference. So much for that.

"I always hoped you'd come back," I whispered behind her. The words came out without thought.

She spun around, startled with her dagger in hand, seeing me as a threat. I froze and showed her my empty hands, hoping she would relax. She eyed me suspiciously before locking her honey brown eyes on mine.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Jess," I whispers, taking a tentative step forward.

"Stay back," she snapped, raising the dagger.

"Ok baby," I whispered, putting my hands up and backing up. Her eyes had switched to fire, warning me that I'm on dangerous ground. "You've had us very worried... You still don't know who I am, do you?" I whispered sadly.

The way she was looking at me told me she viewed me as a threatening stranger. This is worse than when I first met her and she tried to run. Then she was just scared, but so much has happened since. She's my everything and I'm nothing to her now.

"I do," she growled. Part of me hoped desperately that she remembered something good about me. "You and your friends attacked me!" Too much to hope for apparently.

"That was all a misunderstanding baby-" I tried to explain but she cut me off.

"Don't call me that," she hissed.

The overwhelming anger and hurt flooding back through the bond was like a knife to my heart. What's worse, is she's not wrong. I panicked when she latched on to Jace's throat like that, things just spiraled out of control.

"I have to be in there somewhere," I say more to myself, hoping desperately against the odds. "You made your way back home, you promised me you'd always come back."

"What happened here?" She asked, changing the topic.

"The Council attacked it while we were at conference. They knew we wouldn't submit so they tried to take the pack when they tried to kill us." It took a lot of self control to keep my anger in check, they will pay for all of this!

"What happened to the people?" She asks, it's in there, somewhere deep down she remembers.

"No trace, their electronics were left behind. Just gone, probably taken," I growled. When we left, Still Waters was a thriving pack, and now it's all gone because of them.