---- Chapter 30 Damien POV: The Mind-Link connected with a jolt. For a second, there was nothing but a wash of static and noise. Then, her voice, slurred and annoyed, echoed in my head. "What do you want? I'm busy." The background was a chaotic mess of sound-pounding music, raucous laughter, the clinking of glasses. She was at a bar. A Rogue bar. "Where are you?" | demanded, my mental voice a low growl. "None of your business," she snapped back, and then the connection was severed, leaving a ringing silence in my mind. Rage, cold and sharp, pierced through my despair. | remembered the business card I'd seen before, the one I'd dismissed. | tore through the trash by the door until my fingers closed around the cheap, flimsy cardstock. "The Rogue's Den." | didn't hesitate. | got in my car and drove, the engine roaring in protest as | pushed it to its limit. The bar was even worse than | remembered. A pit of desperation and decay. | strode through the crowd, my Alpha ---- aura a tangible warning that kept the other Rogues at a distance. | found the bartender, a wiry wolf with shifty eyes. "I'm looking for a female. Lyra," | said, my voice flat. He grinned, showing yellowed teeth. "Ah, Queen Lyra," he said with a mock bow. "She's holding court in the back. Landed herself a new Alpha, | hear. You're yesterday's news, pal." Yesterday's news. The words barely registered. | pushed past him, my senses guiding me toward the back room. | heard her before | saw her, her laugh high and artificial. | stopped in the shadows by the door, listening. She was draped over a large, brutish Alpha | vaguely recognized as Marcus, a rival from the Crimson Fang Pack. Her hand was stroking his chest, her head tilted back in a mockery of adoration. "Oh, Marcus," she cooed. "That old Alpha, Damien? He was just a squeezed-dry waste of time. So obsessed with his precious rejected princess he was easy to fool." My world tilted on its axis. "You really played him," Marcus slurred, clearly drunk. "Making him think that pup was his dead warrior's kid. You don't even know who the real father is, do you?" | held my breath. The blood pounded in my ears, a deafening roar. ---- Lyra let out a cruel, tinkling laugh. "Does it matter? He bought it. He was so desperate to prove what a 'good Alpha' he was, all | had to do was cry alittle. It was the easiest con of my life." It was true. All of it. The sick child. The dead warrior. The foundation of my entire, catastrophic mistake. It was all a lie. A game. A con. | had rejected my Mate, my soul, my future... for a lie. | watched as she leaned in to kiss Marcus, her eyes glittering with triumph. The last thread of my control didn't just snap. It vaporized.