[Third POV]

For a city that was praised as the new tourist hotspot, there wasn’t a lot that Upper Lumen had to offer.

The streets were filthy― trash was everywhere and certain parts of the city stank heavily of the sewers, even more so when a werewolf’s nose could sniff out the differences in the air a lot better than the average human. There were homeless people sleeping on the streets, and Damon realized that robbers outnumbered the beggars present once he got closer to the downtown area.

Ever since he left the building, there had been hunters and vampires alike trailing after him, curiously watching his next move. For the most part, they kept their distance. Even the vampires which Damon hadn’t been promised safety from were careful not to interact too much with him. The most it got to was just a sideways glance or a nasty glare, something which Damon was more than happy to return.

It took him some time, but he eventually was able to shake off the two hunters in particular who escorted him out of the building. They continued to trail after him for a certain distance, most likely to watch where he would head to before reporting back to their superior.

Vernon. Veronica.

Damon soon realized that those two were one and the same. The very person that the nurse from Everhaven had begged for help from was none other than Harper’s mother, whose real name, as per the servants that escorted him and Blaise into the building, was named Madame Veronica out here in Upper Lumen.

She was a well-known figure among these parts, and one thing she wasn’t bluffing about was that these streets were crawling with hunters and vampires. Thankfully, it seemed like they knew at least not to mess with him, even if this was their turf.

"I need a room for one night," Damon said gruffly, tossing the identity card that Darach Elrod had helped him make onto the front desk.

The staff — an average human, from what Damon could tell — merely smiled and nodded, taking the card from the table before furiously slamming digits into the poor, tortured keyboard. He received the key to his room quickly enough and proceeded to the elevator before the staff could say anything else other than his assigned room number.

Away from the heart of the city, Damon had picked a small inn near the edges of Upper Lumen. It was a safe distance away from Madame Veronica’s building, but close enough that he could still contact Blaise if needed.

His senses were severely dulled in the tower, most likely due to the amount of silver used in the structure of the building, and Damon was worried that it might even have the ability to block out the link between him and Blaise. It worked well enough while he was still in the tower, at least, but now that there were walls of silver separating them, he couldn’t be as sure.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The pack link still worked fine, but even though they were in the same city, Damon wasn’t able to feel Harper through their bond.

’I found a room in an inn downtown,’ Damon said through the bond, sending the message to his brother. ’Call me if you need me.’

’Got it. Everything is fine for now,’ was all Blaise said before their conversation ended.

The room was simple, plain. But it fit well for the price Damon paid for it. There was just a queen-sized bed, a small desk and chair for work, and a bathroom that provided some basic supplies.

Damon ignored everything else and headed straight for the windows. His room was located just on the second floor, and peering down from the window, it wasn’t too far from the ground if he needed to make an emergency escape. Gruffly, he pulled the curtains shut and walked straight to the bed, collapsing against the surprisingly soft mattress.

The exhaustion from the journey here to Upper Lumen was starting to catch up, and he could feel his bones heavy and weary with travel.

He was only just about to drift to sleep when he heard a soft click from the windows. Instantly, all exhaustion flew from his body. Damon instinctively reached for the intruder, his eyes glowing a bright blue with fervent ferocity, as his hands wrapped around the other man’s neck.

With a slam, their positions were rearranged, with Damon on top while the man lay struggling beneath. His fingers tightened, squeezing hard enough to control and subdue the other but not enough to kill him.

Yet.

"A-Alpha! W-Wait! It’s m-me."

It was then did Damon properly looked at who had just snuck into his room and got pinned under. The man’s brown eyes were filled with alarm as he clawed at the hand on his neck, his voice strangled and breathless as the rest of his body tried to worm free but to no avail.

"Kyle," Damon stated. However, unlike the reaction Kyle had expected, Damon didn’t let go. In fact, he squeezed harder, quickly turning the other man’s face blue. "Where were you for the entirety of last week? Why didn’t you use the link?!"

But more importantly, how dare he fail at the one job he had, which was to keep Harper safe.

However, even with the man right there in front of him, Damon couldn’t seem to reach him through the established pack link. His eyebrows were quickly knitted together as Kyle’s lips parted and closed, his mouth gaping like a fish struggling out of water. Only then did Damon finally let go, standing up to his feet before dusting his hands off against one another.

Kyle immediately gasped for air, color slowly returning to his face as he hacked and coughed while lying on the floor of the room still. While waiting for him to recover, Damon sat down on the edge of the bed, frowning.

This wasn’t right. His link with Blaise was still working just mere minutes ago. Why didn’t it work for Kyle?

’Elijah,’ Damon called out, and it didn’t even take longer than two seconds before he received a reply.

’Yes, Alpha?’ came Elijah’s voice in his head, and everything was starting to get fishier and fishier.

’I found Kyle,’ Damon said. ’But his pack link doesn’t seem to be working.’

At the same time, Kyle finally managed to struggle up from the floor. He looked weaker, gaunt, and even though it had just been a little over a week, the poor man looked as though he had been living on the streets for years. There was none of the youthful, haughty energy he often carried himself with.

Something wasn’t right.

"Alpha," Kyle finally said, his voice hoarse from the scuffle just now. "I couldn’t contact you."

Damon’s frown merely deepened, but he said nothing and waited for Kyle to finish.

"My wolf... it’s gone."