Chapter 6 - Jade

The moment Damien steps through the door, I know it’s about to happen. Ever since he pulled up on the side of the road, his whole body has been tense, his expression colder than I’ve ever seen it before, and that can only mean one thing: he knows.

I’ve been dreading this conversation since the second I got dragged back to Starfire Hollow, but I hoped to have more time. More time to figure out how to explain myself, how to control this narrative. But no. Damien Lucas never gives anyone time to get their shit together, and now here we are.

As soon as Penny disappears into her room, he turns on me. “You want to explain something to me?”

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 showing powers. 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—”

“The pack will fall in line,” he interrupts, his voice leaving no room for argument. “Penny is part of this pack now, and no one—no one—is going to take her away from me.”

I stare at him, searching his face for any sign of doubt, but there’s none. He means it. He’ll fight for Penny. For us.

And for the first time in a long time, I let myself hope that maybe, just maybe, things can be different.

“I don’t want her to go through what I did,” I admit. “I don’t want her to be alone.”

Damien inches forward, closing the distance between us, and gently places a hand on my shoulder. “She won’t be alone, Jade. Not as long as I’m here.”

His touch is warm, comforting, and for a moment, I let myself lean into it. Let myself believe that somehow we can figure this out together. Because despite everything—despite the pain, the anger, the fear—Damien is right. Penny deserves more. She deserves her father.

I wish I could say the tension fizzled out after Damien’s grand declaration, but it doesn’t. In fact, it just hangs between us like an invisible rope, pulling tight enough to strangle. We’ve said all we can, and now it’s just… awkward.

We’re standing there, staring at each other in the small cabin kitchen, and the only sound is Penny’s soft humming from the next room. Her innocence, completely oblivious to the earthquake shaking the foundation of our world, is almost comforting. Almost.

“I’ll read to her tonight.” Damien’s voice cuts through the silence like he’s throwing down a challenge instead of a bedtime suggestion.

“What?” I say.

When he crosses his arms, his biceps strain against the fabric of his shirt—seriously, who wears a tight shirt to a custody fight? “I’m reading to Penny tonight. You’ve had three years of bedtime stories. It’s my turn.”

Oh, he’s got some nerve. And the worst part? He’s right. I have had three years of bedtime stories. Three years of goodnight kisses and whispered secrets under blankets. Three years he’s missed.

So as much as I want to retort with some snarky comment about how reading a story doesn’t make up for lost time, I don’t. Because deep down, I know it won’t change anything. I’m trying to fight a battle that’s already been lost.

“Fine,” I mutter, trying to sound like it doesn’t bother me, even though it absolutely does. “But she likes voices. You screw up the voices, she’ll roast you alive.”

His lips quirk up at the corner. “Noted.”

I roll my eyes and follow him into Penny’s room. When I get there, I hang back and watch as he walks over to where Penny is sitting on the floor, surrounded by her stuffed animals. She’s got her wolf in one hand and a book in the other, and when Damien kneels beside her, her face lights up like the damn sun.

She scrambles up, holding the book out to him like it’s the greatest gift she’s ever given anyone. “Can we read this one? It’s my favorite!”

Damien takes the book with a smile that I swear softens his whole face. “Of course we can, kiddo.”

He settles into the old armchair by the fireplace, and Penny climbs up into his lap, wiggling around until she’s comfortable. She hands him the book— Goodnight Moon , of course—and looks up at him with those big brown eyes, waiting.

He starts reading, and damn him, he’s good at the voices. His deep voice takes on the soothing tone of the quiet old lady whispering “hush,” and Penny giggles every time he switches it up for the kittens and mittens part. It’s… sweet. Sickeningly sweet.

And I hate that it’s affecting me.

I stand there, watching them, feeling like an outsider in my own life. This is what I wanted, right? For him to step up, to be the father Penny deserves. And here he is, doing just that. But it’s messing with my head.

Damien’s voice dips lower as he reads the final line, and Penny yawns, snuggling deeper into his chest. I can tell she’s fighting sleep. Her eyelids are drooping.

When the book finally closes, she’s out. Fast asleep in his arms, her breathing soft and steady. And Damien? He just sits there, holding her like he’s afraid she’ll disappear if he moves.

For a moment, something twists in my chest. It’s not anger, not anymore. It’s something else, something I’m not ready to admit to myself.

“She loves you, you know,” I say softly, surprising myself with how raw the words sound. “Even without knowing who you were.”

Damien glances up at me. “I’m going to clear your name.”

“What?”

“With the other packs,” he continues, carefully shifting Penny in his arms as he stands up. “And with ours. I’m going to make sure they know you can be trusted. You won’t be the outcast witch anymore. You’re part of Starfire Hollow. You’re part of my pack.”

Oh, hell, no. He’s not going to pull that alpha card again.

I push off the wall, and my arms fall to my sides as I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t need you to clear my name, Damien. I’m not some damsel in distress waiting for you to swoop in and save me.”

“I’m not trying to save you, Jade,” he says as she places Penny on the bed and shoos me out the door. “I’m trying to make things right.”

“Right?” I snort, my defenses snapping back into place. “You think you can just wave your alpha wand and fix everything? You think that’s going to make up for the fact that you threw me out like I was nothing? That you let the pack turn their backs on me?”

“I made a mistake, okay?” he says. “I know that. But I’m trying to fix it. I’m trying to give you and Penny a place here, with me.”

There’s something raw in his voice, something that makes my pulse quicken despite myself. And then he takes another step, and then another, until he backs me up against a wall. We’re too close. His scent—pine and something deeper, something purely Damien—wraps around me, making it hard to breathe.

His eyes lock on mine, and for a split second, I see it again. That connection, that spark that’s always been there, no matter how hard I’ve tried to snuff it out.

“This isn’t just about the pack,” he whispers. “You know that, right?”

My mouth goes dry, and I can’t swallow. “Don’t do this, Damien.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he argues, but his eyes flit down to my lips, then back up to meet mine. “But if you think this is just about the pack, you’re lying to yourself.”

His words hang in the air between us, heavy and full of tension. And dammit, he’s right. There’s more between us; there always has been. But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to go down that road again. Not after everything that’s happened.

I snake my hands between us and push against his hard torso, creating some space between us. “I can’t.”

“Jade—”

“I can’t do this,” I repeat, my voice firmer this time. “Not again. I can’t trust you, Damien. Not after—”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says softly, stepping closer again. “You know that.”

But I shake my head, backing up until I’m entirely squished against the wall. “I don’t know that. Not anymore.”

For a moment, he just stands there, staring at me like he’s trying to figure out what to say. But he doesn’t push it. Instead, he takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay.”

Just like that. One simple word, but it’s weighted with everything unsaid between us.

Damien glances over his shoulder toward the room where Penny is still fast asleep in his arms, and the hard edges of his face soften again. “I’ll go make sure she’s covered up.”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak. Not trusting myself to look at him for too long. Because if I do, I might not be able to stop myself from doing something really, really stupid.