---- Chapter 20 Damien POV: | woke to the frantic pulse of the emergency Mind-Link. My head was pounding, my body felt heavy and used, and the lingering scent of Lyra's perfume on my skin made me sick. "Alpha! The pack's liquid assets... they're gone. Evaporated. We're down to less than thirty percent of our total worth overnight!" Kai's panicked thoughts were a drill boring into my skull. | threw on some clothes, not even bothering to shower, and raced to the headquarters. The numbers on the screen in the war room confirmed my worst fears. We were ruined. Utterly, completely ruined. "How?" | roared, sweeping everything off the massive strategy table. Data crystals shattered on the floor. "How did this happen?" Kai flinched but stood his ground. "Alpha, | tried to tell you," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "Most of our overseas investments, our tech partnerships, our trade routes... Luna Elara handled all of that. It was all through her family's channels. When she left, she took the pack's entire economic foundation with her." ---- The truth hit me again, harder this time. She wasn't just my mate. She was my partner, the silent architect of my success. And | had thrown her away for a lie. A desperate, insane plan began to form in my mind. There was only one thing left to do. "Sell it," | said, my voice eerily calm. "Alpha?" Kai asked, confused. "Sell everything. The headquarters, the territories, all of it. Liquidate every last asset of the Bloodstone Pack." | looked at my oldest friend, my Beta, my brother. "I'm dissolving the pack." His jaw dropped. "Damien, you can't. This is your life's work. It's our home." "It's nothing without her," | whispered. "I'm going to take the money, and I'm going to lay it at the feet of the Silver Moon Alpha. | will buy my way into their territory if | have to. | will do whatever it takes to get to Elara." My first step was to deal with Lyra. | called her and told her to meet me. We went to the records hall, and | officially registered her pup under my name, giving him pack status and protection. It was the last promise | would keep to her. "There. It's done," | said the moment we stepped outside. "Now, we go to the Elders' Hall. We are ending this." Lyra clutched the pup to her chest, a look of genuine ---- disappointment on her face. For the first time, | think she realized she had backed the wrong horse. "Damien, I..." "If | am to have any chance of even speaking to Elara's family, | cannot be tied to you," | explained, the words tasting like poison. "They will never let me near her as long as you are in the picture." She looked down, thinking for a long moment. | expected a fight, tears, another performance. Instead, she looked up and gave me a small, sad smile. "Alright," she said softly. "But not today. This is all... too much. | need some time to prepare myself. Mentally." She reached up and touched my cheek. "You go. Go find your princess. I'll be here when you get back." Her sudden understanding felt wrong, but | was too desperate to question it. | just needed to be free of her. | needed to get to Elara. As | turned to leave, | didn't see the cold, calculating glint in Lyra's eyes, or the way her fingers were already scrolling through the contacts on her phone, searching for her next target.