He Faked Muteness, I Broke Our Bond

Chapter 2

Every single day after we became mates, I tried.

Mornings, I was the first to walk into his cabin. I read him news from around the pack.

“One of the warriors said they spotted new herbs on the north ridge last night. I’ll go look after breakfast.”

“The Elders say the Full Moon Ritual is next month. We need to start preparing offerings.”

“Gamma Marcus says his leg’s healing well. He’s grateful you let him rest.”

He never answered.

But sometimes he would write “Mm” or “Got it” on a strip of paper and pass it across the desk.

I kept every single one of those notes in a small wooden box.

For five years.

Sometimes Angel would sigh in my head. “Elara… he doesn’t seem happy.”

“He will be,” I always told her. “He’ll get there.”

Every day at noon, I roasted his favorite venison the way he liked it and brought it to his cabin.

Every evening, I walked the pack grounds with him. Most of the time, I talked. He stayed silent.

Every night, I stood outside his cabin until I knew he was asleep, then went back to my own room.

I told myself he was just bad with words.

That he just needed time.

Until that day.

That afternoon, I went to the smithy to pick up a new set of leathers I’d had made for him. Three months of game traded for them. I wanted to surprise him.

But when I reached his cabin and lifted my hand to push the curtain aside, the voices inside froze me where I stood.

“How much longer are you going to play this mute game? Why hasn’t she filed to break the bond yet?”

A woman’s voice. Clear. Lazy. Amused.

I knew that voice. Lyra. Head Warrior of Blood Moon Pack. Caelum’s first love. She’d been staying with us under the excuse of “discussing border defense.”

Then I heard Caelum’s voice.

Low. Touched with laughter.

“She talks a lot, but she’s a coward. As long as I keep playing mute, she’ll c***k under the silence and walk away on her own.”

Playing mute.

My heart shrank into a tight, painful fist.

“When the Moon Goddess shoved a mate at me, my first instinct was to refuse on the spot.” Caelum’s voice kept going. “But the Elders said if I rejected her, they’d charge me with ‘defying the Goddess.’ I didn’t want that name on me. So I had to find another way to make her leave.”

“Smart.” Lyra laughed softly. “And what about now?”

He paused for a beat.

“Give it a few more months. Once she breaks and walks out, I can finally go and find my chosen mate.”

“Are you sure she’ll leave?”

“A woman who can’t shut up?” His voice was calm. Certain. “How long do you think she can hold out? She asks me every day if it doesn’t drive me crazy that I won’t speak. I haven’t given her one word back. Nobody could take that. Not for long.”

“But her venison’s actually good.”

“So what?” Caelum’s voice turned cold. “When she’s gone, I’ll roast you as much as you want.”

I stood outside the cabin. The blood inside me felt like it had stopped moving.

So that was it.

His silence was never an injury.

It was a weapon. A weapon to drive me out.

He didn’t need me to heal him.

He needed me to disappear.

Inside my head, Angel was tearing herself apart. “Elara! He lied to us! He’s not our mate!”

I closed my eyes and gave a small, bitter smile.

Not our mate?

The Moon Goddess didn’t make mistakes.

He just… didn’t want to admit I was his.

My fingers curled into fists without me thinking about it. My nails bit into my palms hard enough to break skin. Bright beads of blood welled up.

The world around me went distant and muffled. My mind went white.

I don’t know how long I stood there.

Eventually, I uncurled my fingers. Slowly. Mechanically.

Then I turned around and walked away.