---- Chapter 15 Damien POV: | opened the emergency link eagerly, my heart pounding with relief. "Elara?" But the voice that answered was not my mate's. It was my Beta, Kai, and his thoughts were a frantic storm of panic. "Alpha! You need to get to the headquarters now! The Ironclaw Pack just terminated the obsidian trade agreement! And the Sunstream Pack is pulling all their investments! It's chaos!" The hope in my chest turned to ice. The emotional void left by Elara's absence was suddenly filled with the cold, hard reality of financial ruin. The two losses slammed into me at once, one of the soul, one of the world. | was on my feet and out the door in seconds, leaving a confused Lyra calling after me. When | burst into the main conference room at Bloodstone headquarters, the scene was worse than Kai had described. Envoys from three of our most powerful allied packs stood there, their arms crossed, their faces grim. "What is the meaning of this?" | demanded, my Alpha voice cracking with strain. The Ironclaw envoy, a grizzled old warrior, sneered at me. "Our ---- alliance was with the Silver Moon Pack, Blackwood. We only extended our courtesy to you because of your mate." "What are you talking about?" | asked, my mind reeling. "This is just a temporary separation. We'll work it out." The Sunstream envoy, a sleek, sharp-eyed female, let out a cold laugh. "Temporary? We hear Princess Elara has already returned home and formally rejoined her pack. We hear her White Wolf bloodline has fully awakened." Princess? White Wolf? The words made no sense. Elara was an Omega. A sweet, gentle Omega from a small, insignificant pack on the northern border. That's what she had told me. As if on cue, the conference room doors swung open. An Elder | had never seen before entered. He radiated an ancient power that made the wolf inside me want to bow its head. His clothes were embroidered with a crest | had only ever seen in history books: a wolf howling at a silver moon. He was from the Silver Moon Pack. The legendary, almost mythical pack that was said to be descended from the Goddess herself. The Elder walked directly to me and placed a rolled scroll on the table. "From my Alpha, Alaric Silvermoon," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "A formal and immediate termination of all alliances, trade agreements, and resource-sharing pacts between the Silver Moon Pack and the Bloodstone Pack." My world tilted on its axis. Alaric Silvermoon. Elara Silvermoon. ---- Princess Elara. It all crashed down on me with the force of a physical blow. She wasn't just some Omega. She was royalty. She was the hidden princess of the most powerful pack in the world. And |, in my arrogant blindness, had rejected her. My secretary, the timid Omega | had snapped at, spoke from the corner of the room, her voice trembling. "Alpha... when she was here the other day... | tried to tell you..." | didn't hear the rest. A roar of pure, unadulterated agony tipped from my throat. | swept my arm across the massive oak table, sending documents, data crystals, and a lifetime of ambition scattering across the floor. | had to find her. | had to explain. | fumbled for my comms device, my hands shaking so badly | could barely hold it. | tried every channel, every contact | had. But every path to the Silver Moon Pack was a dead end. The entire pack, an entire kingdom, had simply vanished from my world, and they had taken my mate with them. | was locked out. Utterly and completely alone.