Rebuilding the Bond

**Angel**

The morning sun warmed the clearing, but the heat couldn’t dispel the coldness that lingered over all of us. The battle had ended, but the silence that followed brought no peace. I watched Dimitri from a distance, his posture rigid and his gaze distant, as if he were a million miles away. The pain in his eyes was almost palpable, a burden that seemed impossible to bear alone.

I approached slowly, feeling the distance between us that seemed greater than ever. Dimitri had faced Lucian and ended the threat, but the real battle was still happening inside him. I knew he was struggling with what had happened with Haizel, with Antonia, and with the uncertain future of our pack. But there was something else driving us apart—the way we were dealing with all of this so differently.

“Dimitri,” I called, trying to break the silence. He turned slowly, his eyes meeting mine with a mix of exhaustion and contained anger.

“Angel,” he replied, his voice hard, almost cold. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I replied, but the discomfort in his tone didn’t go unnoticed. “And you?”

He shrugged, avoiding my gaze. “Surviving, like all of us.”

The short answer hit me harder than I expected. Dimitri had always been reserved, but the distance he was imposing between us was new, and it hurt more than I wanted to admit. “Dimitri, we need to talk. About all of this… about what happened.”

“I know what happened, Angel,” he interrupted, his voice sharp. “Haizel betrayed us. Lucian almost destroyed our pack. And now, I have to deal with the consequences. I don’t have time for… feelings.”

The harshness in his words ignited something inside me. It wasn’t just what he was saying, but the way he was shutting down, as if I were just another problem to be managed. “This isn’t just about the pack, Dimitri. It’s about us. Do you think you can just… ignore everything?”

He turned to me, his eyes burning with an anger he could no longer hide. “What do you want me to say, Angel? That I’m okay? That everything will be fine with time? It won’t! Nothing that happened is easy to handle, and the more I try to protect everyone, the more I feel like I’m losing control.”

“You’re not alone in this!” I shot back, feeling my own temper rise. “I’m here, by your side, but you keep pushing me away. We’re in this together, Dimitri. I’m dealing with this too!”

“You don’t understand,” he growled, his frustration spilling over. “You didn’t see what I saw, didn’t feel what I felt. I had to… I had to end Lucian with my own hands. I did what had to be done, but I can’t erase what it’s done to me.”

“And you think I don’t feel anything? That I’m not here, suffering too?” My voice shook, and I knew I was close to tears, but I refused to break. “You keep shutting me out, Dimitri. We’re supposed to face this together, but you act like I’m just a burden!”

He stepped back, as if my words had struck him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Angel. I just… I don’t know how to deal with this anymore.”

The silence between us was suffocating, and I could see the conflict in Dimitri’s eyes, the internal battle he was fighting that was consuming him. We were on the brink of something fragile, something that could break if we didn’t find a way to understand each other.

“I’m here,” I said softly, trying to reach him somehow. “I’ve always been here. But you have to let me in.”

Dimitri took a deep breath, his shoulders sagging slightly as if the weight of the world was upon him. “I… need time, Angel. Time to put things in order, to figure out what to do with all of this. I don’t know if I can be who you need right now.”

I wanted to shout that he was already who I needed, that all I wanted was for him to trust me, but I knew words wouldn’t help. He was lost in his own pain, and all I could do was wait for him to find his way back.

“We will get through this,” I said, trying to believe my own words. “But you have to believe it too.”

He looked at me, the distance still there, but maybe a little smaller than before. “I’ll try, Angel. For us.”

It wasn’t the reconciliation I wanted, but it was a start. A small step in the right direction, even though the path ahead was filled with obstacles. Dimitri and I had a lot to face, but as long as there was that small spark of hope, I knew we could rebuild what had been broken.

And as the sun began to set on the horizon, casting the clearing in a soft golden light, I felt that, despite everything, there was still a way forward for us.