Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 10
Nolan entered the circle of onlookers with enough authority to make them scatter. “Infighting is against the rules, ladies.” His gaze rested on Mila’s outstretched hand until she lowered it. Daisy remained braced for a blow, unsettled by the relief that came from seeing him again.
“We were just welcoming Daisy back home,” Mila said brightly. Six months earlier, that false innocence might have fooled someone unfamiliar with her. Nolan had already witnessed her version of a welcome at the solstice.
“It’s almost curfew.” He looked from Mila to her friends. “You should all be indoors before sundown.” None challenged him. They retreated with stiff expressions, though Mila cast Daisy a final look promising that the conflict was not over.
Daisy’s grandfather gathered their bags and offered to take them ahead. He studied Nolan longer than politeness required, as if something about the stranger troubled him. Daisy assured him she could find her way home, and the older man reluctantly left.
“You’re the guy from the solstice,” Daisy said once the square had emptied. Memory returned in fragments: his broad shoulders blocking the corridor, the calm threat that sent her tormentors running, and her own question left unanswered when she fled.
Nolan’s mouth curved slightly. “And you’re the one who was drowning in tears and egg yolk.” The teasing lacked Mila’s cruelty, but Daisy still folded her arms.
“It wasn’t egg yolk,” she said, then realized how absurd the correction sounded. For the first time since returning to Eastwind, something close to laughter threatened to escape her. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
He could have answered then. Instead, Nolan watched her with an unreadable expression, weighing a truth she did not know to request. Daisy filled the silence first. “Sorry. I’m Daisy. Daisy Storm. Kind of corny, I know.”
“I like it,” Nolan said. “It suits you.” The sincerity disarmed her more effectively than flattery would have. Since childhood, her name had been one more thing people used to make her feel conspicuous.
They began walking toward the residential edge of the settlement. Daisy noticed the Blackwood insignia on his clothes and guessed he belonged to the occupying pack. “Then you must know Alpha Nolan.”
Nolan glanced at her. She truly did not recognize him, and the discovery was both useful and uncomfortable. “You could say that.” He wanted to know what Daisy believed before his title changed the way she spoke.
“Is he as much of a monster as people say?” Her question stopped him for half a step. The name by which rival packs knew him—The Beast—had never troubled Nolan. Hearing Daisy use it felt different.
“A monster?” he repeated. “What do you mean?” He kept his tone neutral, though he suddenly understood that her return did not mean acceptance of Blackwood rule.
“He’s the reason my mom is dead.” Grief stripped the sharpness from her voice. “People call him the Beast—the Alpha who invades and devours packs on a whim.” In Daisy’s mind, Nolan Fenrir was not merely a conqueror. He was the force that had taken away her last chance to make peace with Vera.
“Do you have proof he was responsible?” Nolan asked. He knew his orders had consequences, but Vera Storm’s death had never been attributed directly to Blackwood. The accusation exposed a failure in the investigation that he could no longer ignore.
Daisy looked away. “No. I’ve heard the rumors.” Doubt flickered, but anger quickly covered it. Rumor was all she possessed, and without answers it had hardened into certainty.
At her door, she studied the man beside her. “He’s nothing like you. You’re different. Kind.” The words landed with painful irony. “Thank you for walking me home. No one’s been this nice to me in a long time.”
Nolan watched her disappear inside. A second later, Daisy reopened the door and called after him, “I never got your name.” But he had already turned the corner. She stood in the gathering dark, unaware that she had condemned and praised the same man in a single walk.