Alpha Damon (Sienna) novel Chapter 89

Sienna:

The silence in the hallway was louder than anything I’d heard all day.

My footsteps echoed softly on the polished floors as I walked away from his room, my chest tight with a thousand things I didn’t know how to say. A thousand things that I could not find myself describing more specifically because I knew that no words could actually suffice to say what I was feeling.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I went to him. Maybe anger. Coldness. Distance.

But what I got… was softness.

A quiet “thank you.”

A look that made my heart stutter in my chest. I looked. That reminded me of the good that was in him, the good that I knew in the past.

A closeness that neither of us wanted to name. A softness that I did not want to think about, especially after everything.

And that terrified me more than anything. The feeling that I had, the pain that I felt, the gentle moment that he threw at me and I just found myself fearing it.

He had said nothing cruel. No harsh words. No commands. Nothing. He was just Damon. Not Alpha Damon, nor the dominant alpha, not the cruel man that I knew. It was just Damon.

Just his eyes on me like I was something real. Like I mattered. And I knew that it was not something that I could just easily hold on to. I was afraid of holding on to something that could be unreal.

I walked into Isla’s nursery, the one I still couldn’t believe was set up so perfectly for her. Maids had already fed her and changed her diaper, and now she was fast asleep in her crib, her little fists curled by her cheeks, her tiny mouth parted as she breathed softly.

“Hey, baby,” I whispered, brushing my fingers against the soft down of her hair. “How are you today?”

She didn’t stir, only gave a little sigh in her sleep. I couldn’t help the smile that touched my lips. Even on the darkest days, this little girl could light something inside me I didn’t know still existed. She was the one reason why I choose to survive, why I chose to stand despite all the pain that I felt, the anger that everything.

I sat in the rocking chair near the window, curling my legs beneath me. My hand rested on my chest, right where I still felt the heavy thud of my heartbeat after leaving Damon’s room.

What was happening? What was happening to me?

For so long, I told myself I hated him. That I’d moved on. That I could never forgive him for what he did, for how he made me feel disposable, like I was just a body he used and cast aside.

But tonight… tonight he didn’t look at me like I was nothing.

He looked at me like I was the only thing keeping him grounded.

And it hurt more than it should have.

Because I didn’t want to want that.

I didn’t want to need his approval. Or his softness. Or the way he looked at me like he was searching for something familiar in me, something he lost long ago.

But I did.

I wanted it so badly, it made me angry.

I leaned back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling, fingers fidgeting with the blanket draped over my lap.

Why now? Why was he softening now?

Was it because I proved myself to his mother? Because I stood up when no one else could?

But she looked… tired. Older than I remembered her seeming just days ago.

“You were scared,” I said quietly. “I understood.”

She nodded, biting her bottom lip. “Still. Thank you.”

I nodded once, unsure what else to say. Evelyn lingered for another second, then turned toward the door.

“I’m glad she has you,” she said. “Even if I wasn’t ready to accept it… I’m starting to understand why she needs you.” And then she left.

Leaving me staring at the door like my entire world had shifted an inch to the right.

I glanced at Isla, her soft breathing steady and calm.

And for the first time in a long time…

I didn’t feel like an outsider in this house.

Not entirely.

Maybe I wasn’t there yet, but I was getting closer.

One breath, one step… one look from him at a time.