---- Chapter 12 Elara POV: "We're here, Princess," the warrior said, his voice a low rumble. | looked up. We had stopped. But we weren't at the hidden border crossing | expected. Instead, we were parked just a stone's throw from a grand, stone building | recognized as the Elders' Council Hall-the place where pack laws were upheld, and where mates were formally bound or, in my case, unbound. And standing right in front of it, surrounded by his Beta, his Gamma, and a handful of loyal warriors, was Damien. He saw our car, and his face contorted with fury. This was a terrible coincidence. The main territory exit was just past the council hall. He thought | was here for him. His Gamma, a brutish warrior named Jax, was the first to speak, his voice a jeering shout. "Look who it is! Couldn't stay away, could you? Came to beg the Alpha to take you back!" Damien strode towards the car as | stepped out, his eyes blazing. "What are you doing here, Elara? What is this?" "Damien, |-" "You signed the papers so easily," he cut me off, his voice dripping with exhausted frustration. "| should have known it ---- was an act. You were always so dramatic. Now you show up here to make a scene?" Before | could explain the misunderstanding, a wail cut through the air. Lyra, who had been standing behind Damien, suddenly threw herself forward. She didn't fall at his feet, but at mine. She knelt on the gravel path, her head bowed, her shoulders shaking with manufactured sobs. "Please, Elara," she cried, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Please, just let us be happy. My son... he needs a father. A real father in the pack. I'm begging you, let him go." It was the same tired act, but to the onlookers who hadn't seen it before, it was a masterful performance. The warriors behind Damien murmured in sympathy for the "poor, desperate mother." Damien's face softened. He reached down and gently pulled Lyra to her feet, wrapping a protective arm around her. He glared at me over her head. "Do you see what you're doing to her?" he said, his voice low and dangerous. "I won't let you ruin this. No one is stopping me today. No one." His pack members echoed his sentiment, their accusing glares pinning me in place. "She doesn't deserve him." "So ungrateful." "She's not worthy of being our Luna." The accusations, the noise, the stress of it all made my head spin. A wave of nausea washed over me, and my hand instinctively went to my belly. | just wanted to leave. ---- My warrior escort stepped forward, placing himself between me and the hostile crowd. "It is time to go, Princess." As he opened the car door for me, Damien took a step closer, his voice softening into a tone of patronizing reassurance. "Elara, wait. After this is done, I'll come find you. We can go for your check-up together. This is just... temporary." | looked at him, at the man | had given my heart to, the man who was so blinded by his own ego he couldn't see the truth right in front of him. A sad, tired smile touched my lips. "Goodbye, Damien," | said, my voice quiet but final. Then | got in the car and didn't look back.