148 Chapter 148


    Damien’s POV 1


    The drive back felt like driving through concrete.


    Every mile stretched into eternity. The road blurred in front of me, headlights from oing cars like distant stars in a universe that


    had stopped making sense.


    Ophelia sat in the passenger seat, her silence heavy with all the things she wasn’t saying. I could feel her looking at me every few minutes, checking to see if I was going to fall apart.


    Maybe I already had.


    “Damien,” she said finally, her voice careful. “We can keep looking. This doesn’t mean–“”


    “It means exactly what it fucking means.” My hands tightened on the steering wheel until my knuckles went white. “She’s gone. She’s


    really gone.”


    “You don’t know that.”


    “Don’t I?” Iughed, but it came out broken. Wrong. “I was so sure, Ophelia. So goddamn sure I’d find her there. That I’d see her face and


    everything would bea€“”


    My voice cracked. I couldn’t finish.


    “We’ll keep searching,” Ophelia said firmly. “We’ll check every town, every city, everya€“”


    “No.” The word came out t. “No more searching.”


    She turned to stare at me. “What?”


    “I can’t do this anymore.” The admission tasted like poison.


    “So you’re just giving up?”


    I’m epting reality.” Each word felt like pulling teeth. “She doesn’t want to be found. And maybe… maybe that’s for the best.”


    “You don’t mean that.”


    I didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. Because part of me did mean it, and that was the worst part.


    The house was dark when I pulled into the driveway. After midnight. Everyone should be asleep.


    But the moment I opened the front door, I heard it.


    Crying.


    Not Lily’s infant wails. Something worse. Something that made my heart stoppletely.


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    148 Chapter 148


    Adrian.


    I took the stairs three at a time, following the sound to his room. The door was cracked open, soft light spilling into the hallway from his


    nightlight.


    He was curled up in his bed, face buried in his pillow, his small body shaking with sobs that seemed too big for someone so little.


    “Adrian?” I crossed the room in two strides, sitting on the edge of his bed. “Buddy, what’s wrong<b>?</b><b>” </b>


    He turned to look at me, his face streaked with tears, his silver–blue eyes red and swollen. My eyes. Sera’s nose. A perfect blend of both


    of us.


    “You didn’t find her.” His voice was so small, so broken. “You didn’t bring Mama home.”


    “I’m sorry, buddy.” My voice cracked. “I tried. I really tried.”


    “But you promised!” The anger in his voice was new, raw. “You promised you’d bring her back!”


    “I know–“”


    “You LIED!” He was screaming now, his little hands balled into fists. “You said you’d find her and bring her home and LIED!”


    Each word was a dagger through my chest. Because he was right. I had promised. And I’d failed.


    “Adrian, please–“” I reached for him, but he scrambled back against the headboard.


    you


    “I want Mama! I want my mama!” Tears poured down his face. “Why doesn’t she want toe home? Why doesn’t she love us anymore?”


    “She loves you.” The words came out fierce, desperate. “Adrian, listen to me. Your mother loves you more than anything in this world.


    More than her own life.”


    “Then why did she leave?” His voice brokepletely. “If she loves us, why won’t shee back?”


    I pulled him into my arms, holding him tight against my chest while he sobbed. His small body shook with the force of it, three weeks of


    confusion and pain pouring out all at once.


    This was the first time he’d cried. For three weeks, he’d been so brave, so strong, asking his careful questions and epting my careful


    lies.


    How could I exin it when I didn’t understand it myself? How could I tell my son that his mother thought she wasn’t good enough?


    That she’d convinced herself we were better off without her?


    The rogues. They’d poisoned her. Tortured her. Killed her wolf.


    What if she thought they’de after our children next?


    The thought hit me like lightning. Everything suddenly clicked into ce.


    Sera wasn’t weak. She’d never been weak. But she was terrified. Terrified that the monsters who’d hurt her woulde for Adrian and


    Lily next.


    That’s why she’d left. Not because she thought she wasn’t good enougha€“but because she thought she couldn’t protect them.


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    148 Chapter 148


    “Daddy?” Adrian’s voice pulled me back. “What’s wrong?”


    “Nothing’s wrong.” I stood up, my whole body thrumming with new purpose. “Everything’s right. I understand now.”


    “Understand what?”


    <b>“</b>Why your mother left.” I kissed his forehead. “And how to bring her home.”


    By the time Adrian finally fell asleep, exhausted from crying, my mind was made up.


    The rogues. This all came back to the rogues.


    They’d taken everything from Sera. Her wolf. Her confidence. Her sense of belonging. And now they’d taken her from us because she was


    too terrified toe home.


    Well, fuck that.


    I went downstairs to my office and pulled out the maps. Territory lines. Rogue activity reports. Intel from border patrols.


    If Sera thought the rogues were a threat to our children“if she was hiding because she couldn’t protect them from those monster“then


    I’d eliminate the threat. Completely.


    I’d burn their camps to the ground. Hunt down everyst one of them. Make our territory so safe, so secure, that Sera would have no


    choice but toe home.


    Because that’s what alphas did. We protected our mates. Our children. Our pack. 1


    Even if it meant going to war.


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