Page 27 of Bully Alpha's Secret Baby

Dammit. I can’t leave her here alone.

My first instinct is to chase after Jade immediately, but I know I have to think for once. I pull my phone out of my pocket and quickly text Alec.

Need you at the cabin. Penny’s asleep. Come now.

It only takes a couple of minutes before Alec’s response comes in:On my way.

I pace by the door as my mind races. The second Alec pulls up, I barely give him a chance to step out of his car before I’m out the door, throwing instructions over my shoulder.

“She’s in bed. Just keep an eye on her. I’ll be back soon.”

Alec raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t question me. “Got it. Go do whatever alpha shit you need to do.”

I don’t waste another second. The night air is cool against my skin as I start running toward the woods. I know Jade, and if she’s upset, there’s no way she’ll just take a stroll down the road. No, she’ll disappear into the trees, thinking she can outrun whatever storm is brewing inside her.

As soon as I reach the tree line, the shift takes over. My muscles ripple beneath my skin, bones cracking and reshaping as the change sweeps through me. It’s not painful, exactly, but it’s intense—like every fiber of my being is stretching, pulling taut until the wolf emerges. My skin prickles as fur bursts from my pores, and silver streaks thread through the dark coat that marks me as one of the largest wolves in our territory. My senses heighten immediately—smell, hearing, sight—all sharpening in an instant.

The world becomes clearer, crisper, as I drop to all fours. The forest comes alive around me.

I suck in a breath and pick up her scent: earth, lavender, and the slightest hint of rain. My pulse quickens as I track her through the trees, each step carrying me closer to her.

The wind rushes through my fur as I run, my paws pounding against the soft forest floor. This is what I’m built for—the hunt, the chase. The predator in me thrills at the powercoursing through my limbs, but tonight, it’s not about the thrill. Tonight, I’m not chasing prey—I’m chasing her.

I push myself harder, faster, weaving through the trees with the precision only a wolf can master. Every muscle in my body hums with energy, my focus narrowing until it’s only Jade I’m after.

And then, I see her.

She’s standing at the edge of a small clearing with her arms wrapped around herself as she stares up at the moon. Her brown hair was wild, tangled from the wind, and there’s something about the way she’s standing. She looks tense, like she’s holding everything inside.

I shift back before she notices me, and the transition feels raw as my body snaps back to its human form. My breath comes fast as I shake off the remnants of the shift. My clothes ripped when I shifted, so I’m naked as the day I was born, but I don’t let that stop me.

“Jade,” I call out.

She doesn’t turn right away. I step forward, crossing the distance between us in a few strides. “Jade,” I repeat, softer this time.

Finally, she turns, and her eyes catch the moonlight. They’re full of so much hurt, it stops me in my tracks. This isn’t just about the bet. This is about everything—the years of abandonment, the rejection, the lies I didn’t even realize I was telling.

“Why did you come after me?” Her voice cracks, and it’s like a knife twisting in my chest. “I told you I needed space.”

“Because I can’t let you walk away like this,” I answer honestly. “Not again.”

She laughs, bitter and broken. “Like you care.”

“I do care,” I insist, stepping closer. “That night… Jade, that night meant something to me, too.”

Her expression changes in an instant. In the blink of an eye, all that anger is back. “Are you serious right now?” she spits. “You think that’s what I want to hear? That it ‘meant something’ to you? It was a bet, Damien! A bet to see if you could get me into bed, and I was stupid enough to fall for it!”

“I know,” I say, my voice dropping. “I was an asshole. I didn’t think—”

“Exactly,” she cuts me off. “You didn’t think. You never thought about how it would make me feel, did you? You just saw me as a conquest.”

“That’s not true!” I shout, my frustration boiling over. “Yes, it started as a bet, but it became more than that. You were more than that. I was too damn stupid to admit it, and then when everything went to hell, I didn’t fight for you the way I should have. I was too wrapped up in becoming alpha, too afraid of screwing up, and I let you go.”

Her eyes blaze with anger, and she launches to her feet. “You let me go? You banished me, Damien! You didn’t just let me go—you threw me out like I was nothing! And now you expect me to believe that night meant something to you?”

“It did mean something. I just didn’t know how much it meant back then. I was scared. Scared of what you were and what I felt for you.”

Jade’s breathing hard now, and her chest is rising and falling as she stares at me, her anger warring with something else—something I can’t quite name. There’s tension between us, thick and electric, and I can feel it pulling us closer.

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