Chapter 168

Chapter 168
{Ronan’s POV}

“I think something is up with Damon.” I said… the words a heavy realization even now.

I sat beside Lisa’s bed, after tucking her in. Her hand wrapped loosely in mine, when I finally told her what had been clawing at me since earlier that morning. “Sean went by Damon’s place. He didn’t find him there. He only the nanny. And when I asked Anya, she told me she hasn’t seen her uncle in days.”

Lisa’s brows knitted. She squeezed my hand gently, as though she could steady the storm in me. “Maybe he’s handling something important. The election is tomorrow, right? He could be… preparing. Something even you can't know about because of the whole mole situation.”

I shook my head. “Lisa, it’s not like him. He hasn’t called, hasn’t shown his face, not even to check up on you after the accident. And he’s still not picking my calls. This isn’t Damon.”

She studied me, her gaze soft yet unwavering. “Then go look for him.”

The answer was simple and direct, but I gave her a look that said I wasn’t ready for it.

“I promised I’d stay with you. If I leave now…”

“Ronan.” Her tone was firm, a tone she rarely used with me, and it cut through my resistance. “If you stay, you’ll sit here worrying. That isn’t the same as being with me.”

She looked at my phone then back at me. “Damon is family to you too. To all of us. You need to make sure he’s alright.”

Her words pressed against the part of me that had been trying to reason it away. She was right. Sitting here while Damon’s whereabouts remained a mystery would eat me alive.

“You’ll be fine?” I asked, searching her face for hesitation.

Every time I had left her to be. Something bad or unexpected happened. 

She smiled, tired but brave. “I’ll be fine. Go.”

The decision settled in my chest like a physical weight. With a final squeeze of her hand, I stood and called for Sean and Colt.

“Meet me outside. We're heading to Damon’s.”

▪︎▪︎▪︎

We rode in silence through the night, the roads bare except for the occasional truck heading out of the city, or lines of police cars on duty.

‘Please be fine, man. You can't be in danger now.’

When we reached Damon’s house, the windows were dark. It looked like whoever was there had all but locked up for the night. After a couple rings the nanny opened the door quickly, her face pale, worry already etched into her features.

“Alpha,” she said, bowing her head slightly. “You’re here about Master Damon?”

“Yes,” I answered curtly. “When did you last see him?”

She wrung her hands together, nervous. “Nearly two weeks ago. He said he was leaving for work. I assumed… with you. And Mr. Sean already came earlier to check on him when he took Anya to yours.”

I frowned. “Work with me? Damon hasn’t been at my side for the best of said two weeks… any idea where else he could've gone?”

Her eyes widened as though I’d pulled the ground from beneath her. “Then where has he been? You mean he hasn’t—”

“Calm down,” I cut in before she spiraled. “If he comes back, contact me immediately. Day or night.”

Her lip trembled. “Alpha, tell me the truth. Has something happened to him?”

I met her gaze, and for a moment I almost admitted I feared the same. But I could not allow panic to spread further. “He’s fine,” I said instead. “I’ll find him and make sure he returns in one piece.”

It sounded more like a vow to myself than to her.

Leaving the house, I directed Sean and Colt to start reaching out to our allies. Even as we left the nanny shaken, her worry echoed in the back of my mind too. As we got to the car, Sean sat up front, already dialing through his contacts, while Colt waited for my command.

“Start with the wolf unions,” I told him. “Damon always had eyes there. If he’s been moving in secret, someone must have seen him.”

Colt grunted, pulling out his own phone. “On it.”

The car filled with the sound of unanswered calls, clipped exchanges, and the occasional muttered curse. I pressed my own device to my ear, reaching out to an ally in the northern border packs. “Have you seen Damon in the past two weeks? Or do you know if he used those routes for whatever reason?”

The reply came fast. “No, Alpha. Not a word.”

The answer was the same with every call. No sightings. No strange reports. Nothing.

We stopped at a guard post where Damon had often gone to deliver instructions. The sentries stood stiff at attention as I questioned them. “Did Damon pass through here?”

One of the guards looked uneasy. “No, Alpha. Not since the last mission before the news of Elder Veyra’s passing.”

I dismissed them with a tight nod, though my patience frayed with every bit of negative feedback.

Hours bled into each other as we checked warehouses, taverns, even the training grounds where Damon sometimes sparred with recruits. No one had seen him. It was as though my friend… my brother had been swallowed whole by the earth.

Sean glanced back at me during a lull in the calls. His face was drawn, eyes heavy. “Ronan… what if something’s happened to him?”

I clenched my jaw. “Something has happened. No man vanishes without a trace. We still have to keep looking.”

But deep inside, the unease coiled tighter. Damon wasn’t careless. If he hadn’t been seen in weeks, it was because someone had made it that way.

By the time midnight dragged its weight across the sky, exhaustion pressed against me… more of the mental kind than the physical kind. But it could not outweigh the dread. When I returned to the estate, Lisa was sitting up in bed, eyes heavy but waiting.

“Well?” she asked, her tone shaky, braced for the answer.

I didn’t want to speak it. The word felt like a curse. But there was no hiding the truth from her.

I sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand again.

“Lisa… Damon is missing.”

Her breath caught, her hand tightening against mine. For a moment, silence filled the room, heavy and suffocating. Then she whispered, “We’ll find him.”

I nodded, though the weight in my chest told me nothing about this would be simple.