Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 252

“You noticed it too?” Ethan said under his breath.

“Yeah.”

“Want me to ask?”

“No,” I said. “Let him be. We all grieve differently.”

Ethan gave a short nod and walked off toward the west wing.

I lingered.

Then I heard it.

That sound, the one that cracked through everything else like sunlight through storm clouds.

Laughter.

High. Free. Unbothered.

Isla.

The little Angel who did not know or understand any of this. who was far too innocent for all that was going on, for all the pain.

I turned toward the garden and saw her, our daughter, trying to walk across the soft grass, her tiny legs wobbling as she waved a crooked stick in the air like a sword. Her curls were wild, cheeks pink, her giggles unfiltered joy.

Sienna knelt beside her, smiling, her hand resting over her belly where instinct guided her, even when she wasn’t thinking. She had yet to take her first steps, not without her mother’s support, but I could tell that she was getting down to it. She was growing too fast.

I walked over, heart clenching in the best and worst way.

“She found her new weapon,” Sienna said with a smile as I crouched beside them. “She found it when she managed to somehow stand with my guidance and now my hands are holding her for her to walk as she wobbles that sword and hits me with it.”

“Terrifying,” I murmured, eyeing the stick. “We should alert the guard. They might end up needing to run away.”

Isla ran straight into my arms, Sienna holding her, and I scooped her up without thinking, holding her tight. She giggled and patted my face, completely unaware of how much I needed this.

For a moment, everything felt still. Steady.

But it wasn’t.

And we both knew it.

This was just the eye of the storm. A sliver of quiet. A stolen piece of peace.

And it wouldn’t last.

Because whatever was coming… it hadn’t even begun to show its real teeth.

“And I know for a fact that you are going to stand by her side through every single step.” She whispered, putting her hand on my bicep. “Because that’s the trust that I have in you, and I know that she’s going to have in you as well…”