Page 18 of Bully Alpha's Secret Baby

I blink, playing dumb. “Explain what?”

He doesn’t bite. “Penny.”

One word. That’s all he says, but it’s enough to make my stomach drop to the floor. Yup, he knows. Of course, he knows. I’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.

I do my best to keep my voice steady. “What about her?”

“She’s mine,” he states, as matter-of-fact as if he’s stating the weather or reminding me of a meeting. Like the fact that I’ve been hiding his kid from him for years isn’t the gut punch I know it is.

“I…” The words stick in my throat. I’ve run this conversation through my head a hundred times, but now that it’s happening, I have no idea what to say. “Yes.” The truth finally tumbles out before I can stop it. “She’s yours.”

Damien’s entire body goes rigid, and for a split second, I swear I see something other than anger flash in his eyes. Hurt?Betrayal? I can’t tell, and it’s gone so fast, I wonder if I imagined it.

“You had my kid, and you didn’t think I deserved to know?” he hisses.

“You banished me!” I snap, my own anger flaring to life. “You threw me out of the pack, Damien. What was I supposed to do? Show up at your doorstep, pregnant, and expect you to suddenly change your mind?”

“Of course, I would’ve wanted to know!” His voice rises, finally showing some of the fire I knew was lurking beneath the surface. “That’s my daughter, Jade! I missed out on three years of her life, and you didn’t think I had a right to know?”

“It wasn’t that simple!” I shout, clenching my fists to stop my hands from shaking. “You weren’t exactly in the position to be a father, were you? All you were concerned with was taking your father’s place as alpha. Nothing else mattered. And what about the pack, huh? You think they would’ve accepted a witch’s kid without a second thought? You think Penny would’ve been safe here?”

“I’m the alpha now. Things are different.”

“Different?” I scoff, throwing my hands in the air. “The pack still hates witches. They’d see her as a threat if they knew she had magic. And what then? You’d banish her like you banished me?”

His eyes darken, and for a moment, I think I’ve gone too far. But just as quickly, the anger fades, and something softer takes its place. “I’m not going to banish her, Jade. She’s my daughter. Our daughter.”

I shake my head, refusing to let myself believe him. “You don’t know how the pack will react if Penny starts showingpowers. You saw what they did to me, how they turned on me the second I showed any hint of magic. Your father—”

“I’m not my father! I’m the alpha now. I make the decisions, and I’m not going to let the pack hurt Penny.”

I blink, surprised by the intensity in his voice. For the first time, I really look at him. He’s not the boy I grew up with, not the arrogant alpha-in-waiting I knew before I left. He’s grown up now, more mature, but there’s something else, too. Something raw and real.

“You really believe that, don’t you?” I whisper. “That you can protect her.”

“I know I can,” he says, stepping closer until there’s barely any space between us. “And you should, too. You know what it’s like to grow up without your parents, Jade. Do you really want Penny to go through that?”

I freeze at his words, and the memories of my parents come crashing into me like a tidal wave. The night they died, the blood, the fear. I was just a teenager, and I didn’t stand a chance against the rogues who attacked us. I lost everything that night—my family, my home, my future. I had no idea I had powers, or I would’ve used them that night. It wasn’t until years later, after I was banished, that I found out my mother was half-witch.

Damien lost his mother that night, too. I remember the way he shut down afterward, the way he threw himself into his training, his responsibilities. We never talked about it, never even acknowledged the fact that we’d both been broken by the same tragedy.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur, my voice barely audible. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Damien exhales slowly, running a hand through his black hair. “You should’ve told me. From the moment you knew, you should’ve told me.”

“I didn’t know if you’d want her,” I admit, my voice cracking. “I didn’t know if you’d see her as a mistake.”

“A mistake?” His eyes flash with something dangerous, but it’s not anger this time. It’s pain. “Jade, she’s not a mistake. She’s my daughter. I would never—” he cuts himself off, and he doesn’t speak again until he’s taking a long, deep breath. “I would never hurt her.”

“But what if she… what if she does start showing signs of magic, Damien?”

“Then we deal with it,” he says firmly. “Together.”

I blink, surprised by his certainty. “You really think the pack will accept that?”

“They’ll accept it because I’m the alpha. And I’ll protect her. I’ll protect both of you.”

I want to believe him. I want to believe that things can be different, that Damien will somehow make it work. But the doubt is still there, gnawing at the back of my mind. “It’s not that simple, Damien,” I say cautiously. “The pack—”

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