CHAPTER 11

The Clash Begins

"Lucas, I must speak to you," I state, my voice shaking as I lead him off to a secluded area from the prying eyes of the pack members. "I can no longer remain silent."

He hesitates, his dark and reserved eyes looking at me with suspicion. "Sophia. what are you asking?

I take a shuddering breath, trying to still the storm raging inside. "You know exactly what I'm asking," I reply, my voice trembling with hope and desperation. "Lucas, how can you be so much like him?

For a long, heavy silence, silence lingers between us. The air is electric, every second a reminder of my rising tension. At last, Lucas's voice, weighed down with regret, breaks the quiet. "I never wanted you to see me like this," he breathes, his voice paining. "I… I survived the battle, Sophia. I survived when everyone thought I died."

I can't help but let out a strangled laugh, the tone more shock than amusement. "Survived?" I echo, my tone laced with a mix of wonder and jagged betrayal. "How is this possible? I've spent so long mourning for you, and now here you are standing before me wearing his face as a bitter jest."

Lucas's eyes glint with agony as he moves forward. "I know it is hard to understand," he whispers. "I was hidden, forced to live a life that was not my own. I never had a choice but to leave you, but fate. fate made me disappear in a way that left you with nothing but memories.".

My chest aches painfully as my heart pumps in harmony with the violent slashes of the past. "Then why now?" I demand, voice rising loud in a mixture of hope and outrage. "Why reveal yourself when I still wallow in sorrow and bewilderment? Why appear so much like him?

He stops, his eyes scanning mine as though searching for pardon. "It wasn't a choice," he replies, words barely above a whisper. "I never meant to hurt you by returning like this. I thought I was dead—took by the war, by a fate too brutal to survive. I was lost, and I had to hide."

I run my fingers through my hair, with the tug of old memories. "Survive?" I spit out in revulsion. "As I was compelled to gather the shattered pieces of my heart? As each day I wondered if I would ever lay eyes on you again?"

Lucas's eyes shine with tears held back as he moves forward cautiously. "I'm so sorry, Sophia," he tells her, his voice desperate and sincere. "I never intended to vanish, to leave you with only memories of what we once were. I carried the shame of my vanishing every day, and I watched you from afar, unable to reach out for fear of shattering you further."

"Watching me?" I snarl, the agony cutting through my voice. "That's not enough, Lucas. I needed to know—needed to see if the man I loved was still here, or if I was chasing a ghost."

Lucas's expression contorts in grief, and he offers a shaking hand. "I know it might have appeared like a ghost, but I'm standing here, right in front of you, Sophia. Yes, I did survive, but never lost loving you. Each day that I was out of view, my heart ached for your sake, for the chance to fix what was broken."

I flinch my hand away, still not strong enough to handle the intimacy of his contact. "Make things right?" I ask, a bitter inflection underlying my voice. "How do you make things right when your presence is such a reminder of what I have lost?"

He steps back, his voice gruff and pained. "I want to tell you all things, but I cannot change the past. All I can do is try to show you that I remain, that I still care. I survived the fight because I needed to—because I needed to fight for a future in which we might find each other again."

My voice trembles as I try to understand, "But why hide yourself? Why did you not come back sooner, Lucas? Every day without you was like eternity, and now you stand there as if nothing happened."

Lucas's gaze drops, and he speaks in a raw whisper, "I was silenced, Sophia. I had to protect you, our pack, from the consequences of my survival. I couldn't be seen until it was absolutely necessary."

"Necessary?" I repeat, anger and sorrow in my voice. "Necessary for what, Lucas? So that you could haunt me with images of a past that is supposed to be dead?

He shakes his head, struggling to glance at me. "No, it wasn't like that. I was manipulated, pushed into the darkness by those who were afraid of what I would return with if I returned. I didn't want to vanish—I was made to vanish.".

I move one step closer, words laced with unresolved pain. "Then tell me, Lucas," I state, my eyes locked on his, "Is that why you were kept in the dark all these years?"

His silence is between us, dense and unblinking, the weight of his confession crushing both of us. I can hear the pounding of my own heart in my ears, the rhythm a stunned blend of hope and agony. "Please," I beg, voice cracking, "I have to know if there is any reality at all in what you are saying. I must be able to believe that this is not just another cruel turn of fate."

Lucas swallows hard, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I'm not here to reverse fate, Sophia. I'm here because fate has given me a second chance, another chance to be with you. I… I don't know all the answers, but I promise you, I never meant to hurt you."

I can feel my resolve weakening as the raw emotion in his tone tugs at memories of a love I had long thought was lost forever. "You think I'm going to forgive you for vanishing into thin air?" I demand, voice shaking with a combination of anger and longing. "For abandoning me when I needed you most?"

His reply is soft, hardly above a whisper, "I never left you, Sophia. I was forced into a silence that tore me in two from the inside out. Every day I waited for the day I would see you again, and every day without you was a torture I could hardly bear.".

My. My eyes become watery as I try to balance the man in front of me with the specter of my memories. I nod, admitting, voice cracking. "I… I don't know that I believe that," I say. "Every whisper, every memory—all of it hurts too much, all of it is too bittersweet to be true."

Lucas steps closer once more, his hand held out tentatively, "I know it will not sound true, but I promise you, everything I say is the truth. I did survive because I had to, not because I wanted to be apart from you. I fought every single day against the forces keeping us apart."

I take a step back, feeling the pull of my own shields rise. "And now you're back, as if nothing has happened?" I say, my voice weighed down with incredulity and raw emotion. "What are you thinking? That I would forget all these years of pain?"

"Remember?" Lucas insists, his throat thick with sorrow. "I don't ask you to remember, Sophia. I only ask you to remember—the love we shared, the promises we spoke. I ask you to see me now for who I am, not a specter of who I once was."

The oppressive silence that follows is heavy with tension, every heartbeat reminding me of what was left unsaid between us. I am beset by the storm of conflicting emotions—hope against betrayal, desire against doubt. "That's why you were kept in the dark all these years?" I finally demand, my voice raw and trembling, my eyes scanning his for some glimmer of conviction.

Lucas's face wrinkles with a combination of regret and resolve, but his response is still hidden behind his silent pain. My heart thunders in my ears as the distance between us seems like an abyss of everything we've lost and everything we could still discover.

"I need to know if your silence was intended to shield me—or to keep me from ever loving you again."