---- 13 Damon's expression instantly turned ugly, his face draining of all color. The confident Alpha who had been preparing for his moment of triumph now looked like a man facing his execution. He pulled out his phone with shaking hands, his heart sinking with each passing second. But when his men started to crowd around him, trying to see the screen, he snapped. "Back off!" he barked, his Alpha voice making several of them flinch. "Don't crowd around me!" Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. "Come on, Alpha," Marcus said carefully. "Are you still worried about us seeing at a time like this? We're your pack. Whatever it is, we can handle it together." "No," Damon said flatly, turning away from them. " This is something I need to see alone." ---- He ignored them all, his focus entirely on the phone in his trembling hands. With fingers that felt like they were moving through thick mud, he opened his email application. The loading screen seemed to take forever. Each second felt like an eternity. Then the inbox appeared, and Damon's world tilted off its axis. There it was-a formal notification from the Alpha Council. He clicked it open, though part of him already knew what he would find. "Bonding Application #47829 - WITHDRAWN" The words blurred before his eyes as he read the details. The application had been withdrawn three days ago. The appeal period had already passed according to werewolf law. He couldn't reapply for the same mate for a full year. He had no way to become my legal mate anymore. His mind buzzed as if something massive had crashed ---- down completely, crushing everything he thought he knew. "No," he whispered, scrolling through the email again, hoping he'd misread something. "No, this can't be right." But the official Council seal was there. The withdrawal date. Even my electronic signature confirming the decision. He finally understood why my behavior had been so strange these past weeks. Why I was always silent when he tried to talk about our future. Why I smiled less and less each day. Why I'd seemed to pull away from his touch. Ihad known all along. That day at the office when I was supposed to be gathering herbs-I had heard every word of their conversation about using me, threatening my brother, auctioning off my mating rights.