---- Chapter 32 Damien POV: | threw her into the house. She stumbled and fell to the floor, landing in a pile of her own discarded clothes. "Damien, you're crazy!" she shrieked, scrambling back on her hands and knees. | ignored her. | slammed the door shut, the sound echoing in the filthy, cavernous space. My eyes scanned the room, taking in the chaos, the stench of rot. It was the smell of her true self. "Where is the pup?" | asked, my voice dangerously low. Just then, the Omega nanny crept down the stairs, her face pale and drawn. She was holding the baby, who was wrapped in a thin blanket and letting out a weak, pained whimper. "Alpha," the nanny whispered, her eyes fixed on Lyra on the floor. "The little one... he's burning up. | think... | think he has Silver dust on him." My blood ran cold. Silver. For a pup, it was a death sentence. It didn't just burn the skin; it seeped into the system, poisoning them from the inside out, a fire that healers struggled to quench. ---- | looked at Lyra. Her expression was one of annoyance, not concern. "He's got a fever, so what?" she snapped, getting to her feet and brushing off her dress. "He's not going to die." The casual cruelty of her words hit me like a physical blow. | had destroyed my life for this... this creature who cared nothing for her own child. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "| can't believe | ever thought you were worthy," | whispered, shaking my head. She tossed her hair back, her fear replaced by a venomous sneer. "And you think your precious princess will take you back now? After you threw her away like trash? You're a fool, Damien. She's a White Wolf, royalty. You're nothing." "What did you do?" | demanded, stalking toward her. "What else have you done?" | was consumed by a sudden, chilling need to know everything. | lunged, my hand closing around her throat. She gasped, her eyes wide with real fear now. "Tell me!" "| don't know what you're talking about!" she choked out. "Your phone," | snarled. "Give me your phone." With her free hand, she fumbled in her purse and shoved the device at me. | released her, and she collapsed, coughing and gasping for air. ---- | unlocked the screen. My fingers trembled as | opened her messages. There they were. Dozens of them, sent to a number | recognized as Elara's. Photos of Lyra and me, carefully angled to look intimate. One of her wearing my shirt in the Alpha house. Another of us with the pup, captioned "Our happy family." And the words. Vile, taunting words. "He loves me, not you." "He told me he's going to reject you. He says a weak Omega isn't fit to be his Luna." "| hope the Rejection is painful. | hope you lose that mutt in your belly." Each message was a new wave of nausea. Elara had been enduring this. Alone. While | was playing the noble Alpha, blind and stupid. Lyra snatched the phone back from my hand. "It doesn't matter now," she spat, her voice raspy. "I'm done with you. We're going to the Elders tomorrow and you are dissolving this bond. | have better Alphas to find." She turned and stormed up the stairs, leaving me standing in the ruins of my life, with the sound of a sick child's cries echoing in the silence.