---- The pack elders called emergency meetings that Damon never attended. Members whispered about their fallen Alpha who'd lost his mind over a female who'd moved on. Three months later, his Beta had enough. "You're no longer fit to lead," Marcus declared, standing in Damon's study with half the pack behind him. Damon looked up from his bottle, eyes bloodshot and unfocused. "What?" "I challenge you for Alpha position," Marcus announced formally. "You've abandoned your duties. The pack is dying under your neglect." Damon tried to stand but stumbled. The man who'd once been the most feared Alpha in the northern territories couldn't even shift properly anymore. The challenge lasted less than five minutes. Marcus pinned him easily, Damon too weak and drunk to fight back. ---- "You have twenty-four hours to leave Ironwood Pack territory," Marcus declared. "You're banished." Damon was dragged out like the rogue he'd become, cast into the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on his back. Meanwhile, I was reading bedtime stories to our daughter when Garrett entered with news. "There's been a change in Ironwood Pack leadership, "he said casually. "Damon Blackwood was overthrown and banished." I continued reading without looking up. "That's nice, dear." "Sage, did you hear what I said?" I closed the book and met his eyes calmly. "I heard you. It has nothing to do with us." Garrett searched my face for any reaction-concern, satisfaction, anything. But there was nothing. Complete indifference. ---- "Tlove you," he said, understanding that I'd truly let go of the past. "T love you too," I replied, meaning it with every fiber of my being.