Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 69
Eastwind welcomed the survivors without celebration. The pack gathered quietly as Daisy, Nolan, and her grandfather crossed the boundary beneath a pale morning sky.
The absence of Klaudius’s pressure made the territory feel lighter. Still, every damaged home and injured warrior testified to the cost of his war.
Daisy went first to Vera’s grave. She carried the recovered journal and wore the silver pendant her mother had left behind.
“I know why you hid the truth,” she said. “I wish you had trusted me sooner, but I know you were trying to save me.”
Forgiveness did not erase the years of confusion. It allowed love and hurt to exist without destroying one another.
Nolan waited at a respectful distance until Daisy reached for him. Then he stood beside her before the grave.
He thanked Vera for protecting the woman who became his mate. The words connected two families Klaudius had tried to ruin.
Later, Nolan placed his parents’ insignia beside Vera’s flowers. Their deaths and hers would no longer be separate tools of revenge.
The pack council convened that afternoon. Some members wanted immediate pursuit of Lucien; others feared another war.
Daisy advised rebuilding defenses before chasing an enemy who wanted them angry and divided. Nolan supported her judgment publicly.
Marcus questioned why a hybrid without an official title addressed the council. The old hierarchy had survived even after its enemies fell.
Nolan began to answer, but Daisy stopped him. She no longer needed an Alpha to speak before she could be heard.
“I addressed you because Klaudius attacked my blood, my family, and this territory,” she said. “If that experience has no value here, your council has learned nothing.”
Several elders agreed. Eastwind representatives who once avoided Daisy now supported her strategy.
Marcus yielded, though reluctantly. The change mattered because it came from Daisy claiming space rather than being granted permission.
After the meeting, Nolan told her Blackwood needed a new structure—one that did not equate difference with disloyalty.
Daisy warned that changing laws would be easier than changing habits. He asked her to help with both.
“As your mate?” she asked.
“As yourself,” Nolan replied. “Any title comes only if you want it.”
Daisy looked across the pack that once called her defective. For the first time, returning home did not mean returning to the place assigned to her. It meant choosing what the place would become.