Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 229

Sienna:

“So, to what do we owe the honor, father? It is not like you to ask for all of us to be sitting at the same dining table. It has been a while since we’ve done so at all.” Damon teased as the two of us walked inside. His arm was wrapped around me. He smirked and I laughed, shaking my head.

“Can’t a man want his family by his side? It seems to me that you’ve forgotten what it is to have one and to sit by one another at the same table as one.” Alpha Kael said, teasing. He looked at me and Evelyn, and the two of them smiled at one another. He took her hand in his and gently kissed her uncle. Damon smiled. “By all means take a seat. Or do you need an invitation?”

The dining room held a quiet warmth, the kind that only came when family gathered together. A heavy sense of something important lingered in the air, wrapping around each of us like a silent promise.

I looked at Delilah, who was sitting down already, her eyes meeting mine. A small smile formed on her lips, despite her being guarded, I gave her a gentle nod, smiling back.

My hand tightened gently on Damon’s beneath the table. He turned slightly, his thumb brushing over mine, sending a quiet reassurance through me. Isla was peacefully sleeping in the nursery, and for now, the only thing I had to face was this moment. The only thing that I wanted to enjoy was this peace that we were in.

Alpha Kael stood at the head of the table, the subtle lines of his face softened by a thoughtful, gentle expression as he raised his glass, holding our attention. We all looked at him and he smiled, A fatherly gesture, but I did not think that I would be seeing in him.

“(

“I want to say something before we start,” he began slowly, his voice steady, commanding the room without raising it. Looking around at each of you, I feel nothing but pride. These past few months, weeks… they haven’t been easy. The battles we’ve faced, the losses we endured, they’ve tested us. Yet here we are, still strong, still standing. Still together.”

His eyes landed gently on Damon and me, offering a quiet nod, a warm acknowledgment.

“No matter how this war ends, no matter the outcome,” he continued firmly, “I want you all to know that we are family. Not because of blood alone, but because we’ve chosen to stand by each other. We fight together, we protect each other, and we always will. Sometimes blood does not necessarily make you family, it is the situations that you live in with the people that you choose to be around. It is the love that you hold for another person. It is the appreciation and the respect. That is what makes you family.”

He paused, taking a slow breath, his gaze drifting softly to Delilah, who sat quietly across the table. “And today, especially, we should remember those who’ve sacrificed everything. Those who’ve shown us that bravery can exist even in the darkest moments. Nikolai might have walked a different path from us for most of his life, but in the end, he chose the side of honor and courage. He chose something that many would have decided against, would have chosen to be weak against. He chose the right thing in the end. Though each one has his side of the story, he still weighed his option and saw what was right. And he chose to do it.”

Delilah’s eyes glistened, emotion flickering briefly across her usually guarded features, but she held her composure.

Kael’s voice lowered, gentle yet powerful. “He showed us that no one is beyond redemption. That no matter our mistakes, it’s never too late to do the right thing. And for that, we will honor him. For that, he will be remembered as a good man. He will be the remembered as the man who saved two women that would have sided against us and yet have also chosen different side. A different side than family. Family of blood and half chosen to make amends as they became family by choice.”

The room was silent, each of us reflecting quietly, absorbing the Alpha’s words.

The tension in her shoulders eased visibly as she walked carefully to the seat beside Delilah. Delilah reached over instinctively, her hand resting lightly over Lysandra’s, offering silent support. Lysandra looked at their hands, eyes wide, before slowly allowing herself to relax. Allowing herself to understand that she was now safe, though whatever harm that he, the man that I refused to now call her father, had done to her was done.

As we all retook our seats, Alpha Kael cleared his throat gently, smiling warmly. “Now, let’s eat. Let’s share a meal as family, united, strong, and ready to face whatever comes.”

Damon squeezed my hand once more, leaning slightly to whisper quietly in my ear, his voice filled with quiet affection. “I’m proud of you.”

I looked into his eyes, warmth blooming in my chest, feeling for the first time that perhaps peace wasn’t so far away. “I’m proud of us.”

And as the soft murmur of conversation filled the room, I glanced around at each face gathered, Damons’s steady gaze, Kael and Evelyn’s quiet strength, Delilah’s guarded yet softened expression, Lysandra’s newfound bravery… and knew, without a doubt, that no matter what storms awaited us, we would face them together.

As family.