176 Chapter 176


    176 Chapter 176


    Damien’s POV 1


    “Three fucking years,” I snarled at the Beta standing in front of my desk. “Three years we’ve been hunting these bastards, and now you’re telling me they just… vanished?”


    Marcus flinched but held his ground. Good. At least he had some spine.


    “Alpha, we’ve searched everywhere. Every safe house, every known associate, every goddamn hole they could crawl into. Voss and


    Valerie are gone. It’s like they knew we were closing in.”


    My fist mmed onto the desk hard enough to crack the wood. Papers scattered. My coffee mug tipped over, dark liquid spreading


    across reports I didn’t give a shit about anymore.


    “They didn’t just know. Someone tipped them off.” I stood, my wolf surging so close to the surface that my eyes probably shed gold.


    “Find out who. And when you do, bring them to me. Alive.”


    The emphasis on thatst word made Marcus pale. He knew what I did to traitors. Everyone in the pack knew.


    “Yes, Alpha.” He bowed his head, showing his throat in submission. “We’ll find them. I swear it.”


    “You’d better.” My voice was deadly quiet now. Worse than shouting. “Because if Voss and Valerie are still out there, everything we’ve


    worked for these past three years means nothing. All those rogue packs we eliminated. All those lives lost. All of it–wasted.”


    “They can’t hide forever—”


    “GET OUT!” The roar exploded from my chest. My wolf wanted blood. Wanted to tear into something, anything, to release this rage


    had been building for three goddamn years.


    Marcus practically ran from my office. The door mmed behind him so hard the frame shook.


    that


    I braced my hands on the desk, breathing hard. The wood grain blurred in front of my eyes. Not from tears–Alphas didn’t cry. From pure,


    undiluted fury.


    Three years of systematically dismantling every rogue pack, every criminal wolf operation, every threat to pack territory. We’d been so


    close. <i>So </i>fucking close to wiping them all out.


    And now the two worst ones–the ones who’d orchestrated half the violence, who’d killed innocent wolves, who’d tried to challenge my


    authority–they were gone.


    Vanished like smoke.


    My phone buzzed on the desk. Another report. Another failure. Another-


    “Alpha Damien?”


    The voice made me freeze. Not in fear. In exhausted irritation.


    I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. The scent of old wolf and expensive cologne gave him away.


    176 Chapter, 176


    “Elder Henry,” I didn’t bother hiding the ice in my tone. “Unless you have information about Voss and Valerie’s location. I suggest you


    “I heard you shouting from the hallway.” Henry stepped into my office uninvited, closing the door behind him. “The whole pack house


    probably heard you.”


    “Good. Maybe it’ll motivate them to actually do their fucking jobs.”


    “Damien.” His voice took on that patronizing tone that made my wolf want to snap. “You’ve been like this for months now. Angry. Vtile. Impossible to work with.”


    Everything I’d grown to hate over the past three years.


    “I’m cleaning up a mess that should’ve been handled years ago,” I said tly. “If that makes me angry, then everyone else should be angry


    too. We’ve tolerated rogue violence for too long.”


    “The rogue situation is important, yes.” Henry stepped closer, his eyes searching my face. “But that’s not really what’s bothering you, is


    it?”


    Warning bells went off in my head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”


    “Your Luna.” The words hung in the air like a guillotine de. “Or should I say… your missing Luna.”


    My wolf snarled. I felt my canines lengthen, my ws extend. “Seraphina isn’t missing.”


    “Isn’t she?” Henry raised one eyebrow.


    “That’s none of your concern.” My voice came out as a growl. Dangerous. Barely human.


    “It’s every elder’s concern when the pack Luna disappears without exnation.” Henry didn’t back down. Stupid old wolf. “The pack is


    unsettled. They have questions. Questions you refuse to answer.”


    “Because there’s nothing to answer!” I roared.


    “Damien.” Henry’s voice softened in that infuriating way that meant he thought he was being kind. “Stop lying to yourself. I’ve watched


    you for three years. I’ve seen you throw yourself into this war against the rogues like a wolf possessed. And I know why.”


    “You don’t know anything”


    “Even if she hasn’t disappeared,” Henry said, gentler now but somehow more cutting, “even if shees back tomorrow… the pack can’t


    ept her as Luna.”


    Ice flooded my veins. “Excuse me?”


    “She’s human, Damien. No wolf, No shifting ability. No pack bonds.” He listed each failure like a death sentence. “The pack has been


    patient. They’ve waited three years for you to find a proper Luna. But that patience is running out.”


    “Sera IS my proper Luna.” My voice was deadly quiet now. More dangerous than any shout. “She’s my mate. My bond. Mine.”


    “She’s human.” Henry said it like that exined everything. Like that justified everything. “And the pack deserves better. They deserve a


    Luna who can protect them. Who can fight beside you. Who can-”


    18:24


    176 Chapter 176


    “Get out” I didn’t yell. Didn’t need to. The Alphamand in my voice made the air itself vibrate with power.


    But Henry was old. Stubborn. And clearly suicidal.


    “Emma would make an excellent Luna,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “She’s strong, intelligent, well–bred. Her family bloodline is


    impable. She’s already proven herself capable in pack matters. And she’s made it clear she would be honored to stand by your side.


    “ENOUGH!” The Alpha roar shook the windows. Made the desk crack further. Probably terrified everyone in a hundred–foot radius.


    Henry stumbled back, his wolf instinctively submitting to the dominant predator in front of him.


    I was in his face now, my ws extended, my canines fully descended.


    “Sera left because this pack–because people like you–made her life hell. And instead of supporting her, instead of protecting her, I let it


    happen. <fn6b25> ???? ????s? ???????s ?? F?nd-Novel</fn6b25>


    Henry’s throat bobbed. For the first time since entering my office, he looked genuinely afraid.


    Good.


    “Now get out of my office,” I said quietly. “And if you bring up Luna again, elder or not, I will remove you from the council. Permanently?”


    Henry opened his mouth–probably to spout more traditional bullshit—but my phone rang.


    The sound cut through the tension like a knife. A cheerful ringtone. Bright and innocent andpletely out of ce in my rage–filled


    office.


    I nced at the screen and swiped to ept the call, bringing the phone to my ear.


    And then I heard it.


    “Daddy!”