Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 72

Damon:

The door clicked softly behind me, but I didn’t move.

I stood there for a long moment, staring at nothing, listening through the thick silence that seemed to echo louder in my own head than the noise of the entire packhouse ever could.

Both their heartbeats played in my mind as I listened to them. And I found myself being more drawn to them than I wanted to be.

I should have walked away.

But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

Not when the image of her standing there, cradling Isla, her voice soft, her eyes tired but still burning with fire, had rooted itself deep into my thoughts like a thorn I didn’t want to pull out.

Sienna.

She wasn’t the same girl from before. The one I remembered, the one I used to tease in the gardens or challenge in the training yard. That Sienna had stars in her eyes and an innocence she wore like armor. But this woman… she was something else entirely.

This woman was everything that I did not expect her to grow to become. This woman was everything that was tearing me apart. And yet was holding me together, pulling me closer. Making me more intrigued.

Strong. Stubborn. Fierce as hell.

And she was willing to fight, no matter how hard it was for me to accept she was doing so.

And I hated how much I wanted her.

How much I wanted her to need me.

I hated how much she refused to need me. No matter how hard I tried, no matter the situation that I was trying to put her in, she just refused to need me.

But I did not want her to simply need me for her safety. I didn’t want her to need me for shelter or to hide.

But just… for me. I wanted her to be willing to look at me. I wanted her to be willing to give me a second chance, to give me the benefit of doubt, of absolutely sparing me a glance.

I ran a hand through my hair and moved down the corridor, needing space, needing clarity I knew I wouldn’t find in this damn house. My thoughts were too loud, and no matter how hard I tried to shove them aside, they kept circling back to her.

To the fire in her voice when she stood up for herself.

The woman who I knew once had nothing new, nothing, did not believe in standing against me. The woman who I knew would have stood back and shied back was standing up for herself. She was standing up to me.

To the trembling in her hands when she held Isla, how fiercely she protected our daughter even when she was unsure of herself. Everything about her was something that I could not help but find myself admiring.

She was fighting me at every step, and yet I couldn’t stop showing up. Couldn’t stop pushing, even when I didn’t know why.

And that was what scared me.

Because I was Damon Lockwood.

Alpha of one of the strongest packs on this side of the country. Feared. Respected. In control.

And worst of all, I saw her trying to build a life without needing me in it.

And maybe that was what bothered me most.

“She’s staying in my room now,” I said, glancing toward the wing. “I want her close. Isla too.”

Ethan didn’t look surprised. “You just going to pretend that this isn’t turning into something more? And you are going to pretend that this is not going to end up backfiring on you?”

“It’s not,” I lied.

He smirked. “Sure, Alpha. Whatever you say. You are just going to end up coming back here wondering which wall you should start with punching. Mark my word on that.”

I didn’t respond. Because lying to myself was easy when no one else was calling me out on it.

But the second I stepped back into the house… the moment I heard the faint creak of floorboards and caught the scent of Sienna’s vanilla and rose…

I knew I wasn’t just lying to Ethan.

I was lying to myself, too.

And maybe I didn’t have much time left before that truth forced its way out.