Damien POV
The engine of my Rover roared like a dying beast as I pushed the pedal to the floor.
The tires fought for grip on the icy road, sliding dangerously near the cliff edge, but I didn't lift my foot.
I needed the speed. I needed the danger. It was the only thing that drowned out the incessant buzzing in my head.
*Empty.*
That was the word. My chest felt like a cavern where the wind howled through the hollows of my ribs.
"Damien, slow down!" Victoria cried out from the passenger seat. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the handle. "You're going to kill us! What is wrong with you lately?"
"Nothing," I grunted, my voice rough like gravel.
"It's not nothing!" She turned to me, her face twisted in annoyance. "Ever since the fire... ever since *she* left, you've been a nightmare. The pack is whispering, Damien. They say the Alpha is losing his mind."
I slammed on the brakes.
The car skidded sideways, tires screaming against the asphalt before coming to a halt in a spray of gravel and snow.
Silence descended, heavy and suffocating.
"Don't," I warned, gripping the steering wheel so hard the leather creaked under my strain. "Don't talk about her."
"Why?" Victoria scoffed, emboldened by the silence. "Because she ran away? Because she couldn't handle the pressure? She was weak, Damien. A weak Luna makes a weak pack."
"She was my Mate!" The roar tore out of my throat before I could stop it.
The sound vibrated in the small space of the car. My Inner Wolf was pacing, scratching at the back of my mind, snarling at the disrespect.
Victoria flinched, shrinking back against the door. "But... but the bond... The Seer said..."
"The Seer says a lot of things," I muttered, staring out at the bleak, snowy landscape.
It had been a month.
Thirty days of silence.
I had tried to reach her through the Mind-Link. *Blocked.*
I had sent trackers to the borders. *Nothing.*
The Elder said the Rejection paperwork was still "pending finalization."
I told myself it was for the best. Victoria was pregnant with my heir—or so the Seer claimed. Elena was... Elena was a complication.
But if it was for the best, why did I feel like I was bleeding out?
"Maybe..." Victoria softened her voice, putting a hand on my arm. "Maybe you're just feeling the phantom pains. It happens when a bond breaks. It's biological, Damien. Not emotional. You don't love her. You love me."
I looked at her hand. It was perfectly manicured, the nails painted a flawless crimson.
Elena’s hands were always stained with ink or soil from the garden.
A sharp pang of nostalgia hit me, unwelcome and cold.
I pulled my arm away. "We need to get back. The Elders called a meeting."
I put the car in gear and drove, slower this time, forcing my breathing to even out as we approached the territory line.
Back at the Pack House, the mood was somber. The fire in the Great Hall had been put out weeks ago, but the smell of smoke still lingered in the tapestries, a ghost of the destruction.
I walked into the council chamber. The Elders were seated around the long oak table. They looked grave.
"Alpha," Elder Thomas said, standing up. He didn't bow as low as usual.
"What is it?" I sat at the head of the table, drumming my fingers on the wood to mask the tremor in my hands. "I have patrols to organize."
"It concerns the Luna," Thomas said.
"*Former* Luna," Victoria corrected from the doorway. She had followed me in, uninvited.
Thomas ignored her. He slid a black folder across the table toward me.
"The full moon has passed, Alpha. The cycle is complete."
I stared at the black folder. It looked like a tombstone resting on the polished wood.
"And?" I asked, feigning indifference.
"She is gone, Damien," Thomas said softly. "Not just physically. The bond... it is fully severed. We felt the snap in the pack web this morning."
I froze.
That explained the emptiness. The howling wind in my chest. It wasn't just silence. It was the void.
"She didn't fight it?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "She didn't... try to negotiate?"
"No," Thomas said. "She accepted it. She finalized it."
I stood up abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor like a scream.
"Impossible," I muttered. "She loved me. She worshipped me."
"People change when they are broken, Alpha," Thomas said.
I looked around the room. The faces of my advisors were blank, guarded. They knew something I didn't. Or maybe they just saw what I refused to see.
I felt a sudden, irrational panic clawing at my throat.
"Where is she?" I demanded.
"We don't know," Thomas said.
"Find her," I ordered.
"Damien!" Victoria stepped forward. "Let her go! She's probably shacked up with some Rogue by now!"
I spun on her. "Silence!"
My Alpha voice boomed, shaking the windows in their frames. Victoria gasped, clutching her chest as the power washed over her.
"I want to know where she is," I growled, my eyes flashing gold. "I want to know why she left without a word. I want to know..."
*I want to know why she didn't fight for me.*
I stormed out of the hall, leaving them stunned.
I needed air. I needed to run.
But mostly, I needed to find the missing piece of my soul before the void swallowed me whole.
