Chapter 11 - Damian
The morning sun is pleasant as it greets me with a kiss on my cheeks, prompting me to wake up.
Expecting to find Poppy lying beside me, I frown when I open my eyes and find that the other side of her bed is empty.
“Poppy…?” I call out, my voice echoing through the expanse of the cabin, returning with nothing but silence.
I stretch my arms over my head, deciding to get out of bed and look for her. A strange, sinking feeling grips my chest, but I decide not to linger on it, even when the fine hairs on the back of my neck prickle at attention.
I know what this is—a memory of the past trying to worm its way back in. This feels uncannily like the same dread I felt when I discovered Poppy ran away from Cedar Valley.
But I won’t let it consume me.
Not even when I climb out of bed and find that the bags Poppy packed yesterday are gone from the floor.
She must have just put them somewhere else, tidied up the room when she woke up, I think, with a dismissive shrug.
I can’t let the pain of the past ruin what happened between us last night.
Something shifted when I followed her into her bedroom and dropped to my knees, begging her for forgiveness. She must have felt the sincerity in my words when I put her hand to my heart, and that’s why she finally gave in.
My lips tug into a pleased smile as I leave her bedroom after picking up my clothes from where I dropped them in a pile on the rug, and as I make my way to the living room, I slip my clothes back on.
I should probably retrieve my bag from my car, but when I look up to see the empty display shelf on the far wall, a shiver runs down my spine.
Rubbing a hand across my nape and loosening the curls that had tightened during the night, I frown.
Why does it feel like something is wrong?
That strange feeling hums beneath my skin, and the primal inner wolf stirs in my subconscious mind as if trying to warn me of something.
Something that has to do with Poppy.
I shake my head, shrugging off the uneasy feeling. The last time I allowed my inner wolf to call the shots, I ended up kidnapping Poppy and forcing her to perform the mating ritual, only infuriating her.
There’s no way I’m going to let the beast take over again and ruin whatever I managed to salvage last night.
Deciding that I have nothing to worry about, I call out one last time for Poppy, but she doesn’t respond. She must have gone off to do whatever she needs to before she returns to Cedar Valley with me.
I should probably do the same—go about my duties and check up on Dorian and his family.
***
“You look different,” Amelia observes, narrowed eyes watching me as I pour a drink before breakfast.
She’s cradling her ripe belly, shaking her head at me, and I chuckle.
“But some things never change.” I lift the glass of brandy and give her a short nod before taking a sip.
“I guess not,” she scoffs dryly, even though her eyes twinkle with amusement. “But still…there’s something about you that’s different, and I can’t tell what it is.”
“If you’re trying to get secrets out of me, sister-in-law, you won’t succeed.”
Her eyes become thin slits as she scowls at me. “Oh, we’ll see about that!”
“What’s going on?” Dorian asks from the other room before entering, carrying Damita in.
“Hey, Dami!” I exclaim, immediately forgetting about my drink on the table as I rush over to my niece.
She giggles and murmurs something only another baby might understand as she reaches out her tiny arms toward me. I scoop her into my arms and lift her over my head, spinning and making whooshing sounds like she’s an airplane.
“How’s my favorite niece doing today, huh, Dam-dam?”
“Dam-dam,” she mimics the nickname with a giggle as she touches my cheek with the smallest hand I’ve ever felt. Her touch is warm, and I nuzzle into her palm, peppering kisses on her soft flesh that tickle her because of my beard.
“There’s something different about your brother, and he doesn’t want to tell me what’s going on. But I know there’s something,” Amelia says as she slips under Dorian’s open arm.
Dorian chuckles. “Oh, is that so? What are you hiding from us, brother?”
I grin sheepishly, biting my tongue so I don’t let it slip that I’ve taken a mate. Not until she’s ready to tell everyone about us. It’s a promise I made to her, and I had better keep it.
“Oh, I’m not keeping anything from you guys,” I chuckle as I glance between him and Amelia.
Amelia huffs as she exchanges a knowing look with her husband. “You can’t convince me otherwise. It’s probably why you two had a little heart-to-heart again.”
My jaw drops, and I turn to Damita with wide eyes of shock. She only giggles.
“You told her?”
“Of course, I told her, Damian. She is my wife.”
Amelia smiles and looks up for Dorian to press a kiss on her lips. The sight that would have made my stomach churn a few days ago suddenly doesn’t have that effect.
Instead, I try to imagine what life would be like with Poppy now that we’ve moved on from the past. Could we be as inseparable as Dorian and Amelia?
Could we be happy?
I’d like to believe that.
As I take Damita to the living room to give Dorian and Amelia some alone time, I put her down in her playpen and pick up a plush toy, lips curling into a stupid smile as another thought crosses my mind.
What would life be like if Poppy and I had a child of our own?
I’d hardly given it much thought before, especially after what happened on the night that drove her away. But could this thought be the reason for my inner wolf’s reckless behavior?
Mate… it whispers in my head, as if to confirm my suspicion.
The reason I acted so impulsively, so brutally, was probably because it’s not just my mate I wanted to claim; I want to start a family with her.
“Flynn says he’s heard back from the witches,” Dorian reveals as he joins us in the living room, jolting me from my thoughts.
“Does it sound promising?” I ask my brother, becoming wary all over again.
“It seems that way, but he says we’ll call up another meeting once the witches are in Zafra.”
My eyes widen with shock. “They’re going to his pack territory?”
Dorian nods, and I let out a grunt.
“Are we even sure we can trust them, Dorian?”
He shrugs. “You’ve seen what the north border looks like,” he sighs, picking up the toy block Damita had dropped and passing it back to her. “This might be our only chance to stop the threat before it gets out of hand. You know what it was like when the rogues were onto us.”
My jaw tightens at the reminder. “I know. But we should just remain cautious, yeah?”
Dorian sighs again as he nods slowly, his eyes twinkling with wonder and sadness at the same time as he stares at his daughter, who’s not even a year old.
He doesn’t even look up when the doorbell rings, and Amelia goes to answer.
My chest tightens, and I’m just about to offer him some words of reassurance when Amelia comes flying into the room.
“Dorian!” she exclaims, her eyes wide, face pale as she rushes to her daughter and lifts her out of the playpen. “Go, please! A child has been taken!”
“What?!” Dorian and I burst out at the same time, and fury spreads through my chest.
“It’s getting worse!” Amelia wails as she clutches her child in her arms, pointing at the doorway. “Her child was taken!”
Dorian and I don’t waste a second before we’re both rushing toward the front door, hearing the horrified cries of a woman outside, sobbing into her hands as she’s keeled over in a listless, defeated pile.
Something stops me a few feet away as Dorian continues ahead to the woman, the sight of her lost when he fills the doorway.
My heartbeat quickens, and my instincts flare to wreak havoc on every nerve I possess.
That strange feeling from earlier this morning returns, along with the goosebumps across my arms, and the fine hairs prickling at my nape.
“He’s gone! Daniel is gone!” the woman weeps, and I gasp when I recognize the voice.
I march forward, pushing past Dorian, and freeze on the spot. My blood turns cold when I meet the hazel eyes of the woman I made passionate love to last night.
“Poppy…?” I murmur, noticing the fear in her eyes through her tears.
But she shakes her head, and just as Connor’s mate, Ingrid, comes rushing out from the crowd that had gathered outside Dorian’s house and helps Poppy to her feet, Poppy drags her eyes from my face and turns to Dorian.
“Daniel is missing, Alpha Dorian,” Ingrid explains calmly while gathering a sobbing Poppy into her arms.
Poppy looks at my brother with fear and dread all over her face. “Please, Alpha Dorian. You must find him. You must find my son.”
My jaw drops, my blood turning colder than ice.
“Y-your son…?” I blink fervently in disbelief while Poppy refuses to look at me.
I stand cemented in place, shock rendering me paralyzed to the spot.
Dorian asks the important questions, and Poppy still doesn’t look my way, as if I’m not even standing there.
Where was he last seen?
What are the circumstances around his disappearance?
And what does he look like?
When Ingrid answers the last question, describing who I can only picture as the boy from the other day—the one who bumped into me outside the pack center when he was playing with his friends—my heart sinks.
“How old is he?” Dorian asks, and this time, Poppy is the one who responds.
“T-ten,” she says quietly, still avoiding my face. “He’s ten years old.”
Realization slams into me like a freight train going at full speed, and it crashes the moment Poppy finally meets my eyes. My world splits in half, my heart shattering into a million tiny fragments.
“Is he mine?” is all I ask, my voice tight but controlled.
But when Poppy doesn’t respond, I have my answer, and it’s worse than if he wasn’t mine.