2


    Damien’s POV


    The morning light filtered through my office windows as I stared at the tactical map spread across my desk. Red pins marked recent


    rogue attacks along our eastern border. Each pin represented lives disrupted, territory threatened, families put at risk.


    “Here, here, and here,” Marcus pointed to three locations with his thick finger. “All within the past week. They’re getting bolder.”


    “Or more desperate,” Lucas added, leaning back in his chair. “We’ve been hitting them hard for the past month. Maybe they’re running


    out of safe ces to hide.”


    I picked up one of the pins, rolling it between my fingers. “How many did we take down at the Campbell farm?”


    “Seven,” Marcus replied. “But at least three got away. They scattered into the woods before we could track them all.”


    “We need to change tactics,” I said, my voice cutting through the morning quiet. “Stop reacting to their attacks and start hunting them


    down.”


    Lucas shifted in his seat. “Damien, we’ve been pushing the teams pretty hard. The warriors are exhausted.”


    “Then we get more warriors.” I set the pin down with enough force to make it bounce. “I want every able-bodied wolf in this pack ready


    to fight.”


    “Are you sure that’s necessary?” Lucas’s voice carried that careful tone he used when he thought I was making decisions based on


    emotion rather than logic.


    I looked up at him, meeting his concerned gaze with steel. “T Absolutely.”


    The silence stretched between us. Marcus cleared his throat ufortably.


    Lucas leaned forward. “Then let’s end this. For good.”


    My phone buzzed. Emma’s voice came through the inte.


    “Mr. Nightshadow? Your nine o’clock is here.”


    “Send them in.”


    The door opened, and three pack elders entered-Henry, William, and Catherine. Their faces were grave, worried. The kind of


    expressions that usually meant political problems.


    “Damien,” Henry began without preamble. “We need to discuss the pack’s… morale issues.”


    I gestured to the chairs across from my desk. “Speak inly.”


    “The rogues have everyone on edge,” Catherine said, settling her bulk into the chair. “Families are scared. Some are talking about


    relocating to safer territories.”


    “The eastern districts are practically empty,” William added. “Nobody wants to live that close to rogue territory anymore.”


    08:30 A


    152 Chapter 152


    I set my jaw. “Then we eliminate rogue territory. Permanently”


    I turned back to the map. “Total war. We find every rogue camp, every hideout, every safe house within a hundred-mile radius. And we


    burn them all to the ground.”


    The room went dead silent. I could feel their shock, their concern, maybe even their fear.


    “That’s…” William started, then stopped.


    “Extreme?” I supplied. “Good. It’s supposed to be.”


    The afternoon brought Emma to my office with yet another coffee and stack of reports I didn’t need. She’d been doing this more frequentlytely-finding excuses to hover, to check on me, to offer help I hadn’t asked for.


    “Your two o’clock conference call went well,” she said, setting the coffee on my desk with unnecessary care.


    “Good” I didn’t look up from the quarterly reports I was reviewing.


    She lingered by my desk, and I could feel her watching me with those dark eyes that seemed to catalog every detail.


    “You look tired,” she said softly. “Have you been sleeping?”


    The question made me look up sharply. Emma stood there in another one of her perfectly tailored suits, her expression carefully


    arranged into professional concern. But there was something else there. Something that made my skin crawl.


    “I sleep fine.”


    “Of course.” Her smile was warm, understanding. “It’s just… you’ve been working such long hourstely. I worry you’re pushing yourself


    too hard.”


    “I appreciate the concern,” I said coolly, “but it’s unnecessary. Is there anything else?”


    “Actually, yes.” She moved closer to my desk, her voice dropping to a more intimate tone. “I was wondering if you’d like to grab dinner


    rxed setting” mo


    sometime. Nothing formal, just… we discuss busin


    a


    Her face flushed slightly. “Of


    I just


    theant,


    Scolleagues”


    “I’m married,” I respond, my voice dropping to that deadly quiet that made grown wolves step back. “The only help I need is doing your


    job. Efficiently. Professionally. Without any personalmentary or dinner invitations.” 1


    She nodded quickly, her face pale. “Of course. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”


    “Don’t let it happen again.”


    By six o’clock, I was pulling into my driveway, exhausted but nowhere near done with the day. Adrian would need dinner, help with


    homework, bath time, bedtime stories. Lily would need feeding, changing, rocking to sleep.


    The house felt too quiet when I walked in.


    08:30


    214 15


    152 Chapter 152


    “Daddy!” Adrian’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “You’re home!”


    I found him at the kitchen table, crayons scattered around him like confetti, working on what looked like a drawing of our family. Three figures-a tall man, a smaller boy, and a tiny baby,


    No mother.


    The absence hit me like a punch to the chest.


    “Daddy?”


    “Yeah, buddy?”


    “When is Mamaing home?”


    The question I’d been dreading. The one he asked less frequently now but with the same hopeful desperation.


    “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Soon, I hope.”


    The nanny appeared in the doorway with Lily in her arms, and I was grateful for the interruption. My daughter looked perfect-clean,


    fed, content. No signs that she was missing her mother,


    After dinner-reheated pizza and apple slices because that was the best I could manage-I gave Lily her bottle while Adrian worked on


    his homework at the kitchen table. Math problems that should have been simple but seemed impossiblyplex to a tired five-year-old.


    “I don’t get it,” he said, frustration creeping into his voice. “Seven plus nine equals what? It’s too hard.”


    I shifted Lily to one arm and moved behind Adrian’s chair. “Let’s count it out together. Seven…” I pointed to the first number. “Plus nine


    more. Use your fingers.”


    He held up both hands, counting carefully. “Sixteen?”


    “Exactly. See? You’re smarter than


    you


    k


    My phone buzzed softly. A text from Marcus.


    **Teams are in position. Ready when you are.”


    “-*


    I looked down at Lily, so small and perfect in my arms. At the nursery Sera had decorated with such care. At the life we’d built together


    that was now half-empty.


    *Coming home, baby,* I thought, pressing a kiss to Lily’s forehead. *I’m going to make this world safe for you and Adrian. And then I’m


    going to bring your mother home.*


    I typed back: *”Move out. Eliminate everything.”*