Page 43 of Bully Alpha's Secret Baby

Penny called me Dad.

For a second, I don’t know what to say. I just stare at her with my heart pounding in my chest.

“Sure,” I finally manage. “We can come back anytime you want.”

Penny grins up at me, completely unaware of the emotional bomb she just dropped.

I glance at Jade, but she’s already turning away and staring out over the cliffside. I can tell she’s trying to process it, too. Trying to figure out what this means.

But before I can say anything else, Jade speaks up. “We should probably get Penny home. It’s getting late.”

Her voice is calm, but I can hear the tension underneath. She’s trying to keep it together, but I know this moment hit her just as hard as it hit me.

I nod, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Yeah. Let’s head home.”

As soon as we pull into the driveway, Penny is already half-asleep in the backseat. Jade unbuckles her gently, lifting her out of the car, and I can’t help but watch as she holds our daughter like she’s the most precious thing in the world.

It’s moments like this that hit me the hardest—seeing Jade as a mother, seeing how fiercely she loves Penny. And now, after tonight, hearing Penny call me “Dad”… it’s like something inside me has shifted. Permanently.

Jade hasn’t said a word since we left the cliff. She’s been quiet. Her thoughts are clearly spinning, and I can’t blame her. I haven’t been able to shake what Penny called me, either.

Once we get inside, Jade heads straight to Penny’s room, laying her down on the bed and pulling the blanket up around her. Penny stirs a little, mumbling something in her sleep, but she settles quickly with her tiny hand still wrapped around her wolf toy.

“She’s out cold,” Jade whispers, turning back to me with a tired smile.

“Yeah, she had a big night.”

There’s a heaviness in the air between us. I can feel it, so thick you couldn’t cut it with a knife. Jade brushes past me, heading toward the kitchen. The way her shoulders tense tells me everything I need to know—she’s still processing what happened tonight.

And then there’s me, standing here like an idiot, unsure of what to do next. Everything with Penny, everything that happened on the cliff… it’s all swirling around in my head, and I can’t get a grip on any of it.

I follow Jade into the kitchen, my mind racing. When I reach out to grab her hand, I swear it’s just a simple gesture. Something to anchor me in the moment, remind her that we’re in this together.

But the second our skin touches, it happens.

A rush of images floods my mind—memories that aren’t mine but feel like they are. I see Jade, younger, laughing. I see the way her eyes lit up when she looked at me back then, the way her smile softened whenever I was around. And then I feel it—her love. It’s so strong, so overwhelming, that it nearly knocks the breath out of me.

She loved me. So much.

And I treated her like a commodity.

I pull back, stunned. “Jade…”

She stiffens immediately, and her eyes flash with that familiar defensiveness. “What did you see?”

I hesitate, not sure how to explain what I just experienced without making it sound like I invaded her mind. “I… I didn’t mean to, but I saw something. When I touched your hand.”

Her gaze hardens, and I can see the walls going up, brick by brick. “It’s not what you think.”

I take a step closer and keep my voice soft. “You loved me, Jade. Back then.”

She glares at me. “Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. Things change.”

I can hear the lie in her voice, clear as day. She’s trying to protect herself, trying to keep me at arm’s length, but I know better. I knowherbetter. She can deny it all she wants, but I felt it. Deep down, where she can’t hide it.

“I don’t believe you,” I say. “You’re still holding on to that. I can feel it.”

She scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest. Over her heart. “You don’t know anything, Damien. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

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