Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 159

Ethan:

There were things in this world I could handle, pain, betrayal, even death.

But not this.

Not her.

Not when I knew how wrong this was and yet no one I could not stop how I was feeling no matter how hard I tried.

I leaned against the stone column outside the west wing, my arms folded across my chest, watching the morning sun cut through the trees like knives of light. The air was cold, but it wasn’t the weather that made it hard to breathe.

It wasn’t the air that made everyone else chill about the round around feeling the heavyweight pressing on their chests.

It was her.

Sienna.

The woman that I saw when everyone else didn’t.

I had no right.

I’d told myself that every day. Every time I looked at her, every time she laughed, every time she smiled at Damon like he held her entire universe in his hands, I reminded myself that I had no right to feel the way I did. I reminded myself when she spoke to me that it was because I was her alphas beta, I was her mates beta and if anyone knew him it was me. If anyone was willing to stand by her side to protect her, it would be me.

But knowing something was wrong and stopping it were two very different things.

“You look like you just swallowed a dozen pins,” Carter’s voice cut through the air as he joined me by the wall, sipping a mug of coffee like this was just another morning. “Let me guess… her again?”

I didn’t bother denying it.

He gave a low whistle. “You never listen, do you? And you’re not going to listen until that breaks you apart, are you?”

“I told you,” I said, my voice tight. “It wasn’t like that. Not at first. Not when he wasn’t looking at her. Not when she was hurting and alone. It was… different. Everything was different back then. You know that very well. You know that I would not cross a limit that I cannot cross. But it’s not like I can help it. Not now, not anymore.”

Carter gave me a sidelong glance. “Different doesn’t mean better. Doesn’t mean right. You knew who she belonged to.”

“It is not like he wanted her and it is not like he knew that she was his mate in the 1st place. It was way before and you know that I couldn’t just make a move. You knew the rules at the time. You knew how strict they were when he came to her. Plus, I never touched her,” I snapped. “I never crossed a line. No matter how close I was to doing so, I always kept my ground. I held on to everything that I had, every bit of sanity and did not cross my line.”

“Maybe not with your hands,” he muttered. “But don’t act like you didn’t fall.”

I didn’t answer. Because he was right. I had fallen. Not just for her beauty, but for her strength. Her quiet resilience. The way she kept going when she had every reason to fall apart.

But none of that mattered now.

She was Damon’s.

And she always had been.

“I’m not going to act on it,” I said finally. “I never was. I just… I needed to say it out loud. To someone.”

“Good,” Carter said. “Now bury it. Some things are best pushed away, especially when they’re going to cost your life. You know what it is to look at the Alpha’s Lunn a way that you shouldn’t.”

I might have, if the sight of movement in the distance didn’t pull my attention.

Delilah.

She moved like a shadow across the grounds, hood pulled low, her cloak trailing behind her. She wasn’t supposed to be out here. Damon had made that clear. And I knew that she managed to slip using that cloak over her head. She was using a masking scent. Well, that seemed to me, though we found out how she managed to get inside that building.

“Hello, Mom.”

My blood ran cold.

Carter looked at me, his eyes wide. “Tell me I didn’t hear that.”

Delilah knelt before the grave, her hand brushing over the carved name, reverent. Almost tender.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she whispered. “But I’m here now. I’ll finish what you couldn’t. I’ll make them all pay. Starting with her.”

She stood, eyes dark and glinting beneath the hood.

I felt Carter tense beside me.

“We need to tell Damon,” he said, voice low.

“No,” I replied, watching as she turned and walked away. “Not yet.”

“Ethan…”

“Not until we know why,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. “Not until we know how the hell Sienna’s mother had another daughter no one knew about.”

Because if this was what it looked like…

Then everything we thought we knew was about to explode.