---- Chapter 21 Damien POV: | watched Lyra drive away, her feigned sadness a performance for my benefit. A part of me, the part that wasn't screaming for Elara, felt a sliver of relief. She was a problem | could deal with later. Right now, only one thing mattered. Finding Elara. But where do you find a ghost? The Silver Moon Pack was a legend, a myth whispered among Alphas. They were the oldest, the most powerful, their territory an island shrouded in magic that no one could find unless invited. | had to start somewhere. | had to retrace her steps. My car screeched to a halt in front of a sleek, glass-fronted building in the city's art district. The sign read "Elysian Arts Magazine." Her job. The one she was so proud of. | pushed through the doors, my frantic energy drawing startled looks from the humans inside. | spotted her former boss, a kind-faced woman with glasses, in her office. "I'm looking for Elara," | said, my voice rough. The editor, Susan, looked up, her expression shifting from surprise to pity. "Damien. She's not here. She quit weeks ago." ---- "Where did she go?" | demanded, leaning over her desk. My Alpha aura was bleeding out, making the air in the small office heavy. Susan didn't flinch. "She told me she was leaving you. That she was going back to her family and wasn't coming back." My blood ran cold. "Going back to her family." The words of the emissaries from the other packs echoed in my head. "We only worked with you because of the Silver Moon Princess." It all clicked into place. The secrecy about her past. The immense, quiet power she wielded without ever boasting. The resources she'd commanded with a single phone call. | stumbled back, my hand hitting the wall to steady myself. "No," | whispered, shaking my head. "No, she can't... we're Mates. The Moon Goddess bound us. She wouldn't just leave me." Susan's pity turned to disapproval. "From what | hear, you're the one who left her. People in the office saw you with another woman. You shouldn't be here, bothering her." My mind raced, frantically trying to piece it all together. The day of the Rejection. The ceremony at the Elders' Hall. And Elara's car... parked near the territory's exit. | had been so arrogant, so sure she was there to beg me to stop. | had mocked her, accused her of playing games. But she wasn't there to stop me. ---- She was there to meet her people. She was there to go home. "| was deceived," | choked out, the words tasting like acid. "The other woman, she lied about everything." Susan just shook her head, her face a mask of disappointment. "That's your problem to sort out, Damien. Not Elara's." She turned back to her computer, a clear dismissal. | walked out of that office like a man in a trance. The world had tilted on its axis. | had not just rejected my Mate. | had rejected a princess. The one woman who held the key to my entire world. And | had done it fora lie. +