Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 37
Daisy returned to the Alpha bedroom alone. The bed they had shared for one careful night now looked like territory she no longer had the right to occupy.
She began packing before deciding where she would go. Each folded shirt gave her hands something to do while Nolan’s withdrawal repeated in her mind.
He found her with the bag half full. “What are you doing?”
“Removing Klaudius’s daughter from your secure room.” The bitterness in her voice hid how much she wanted him to stop her.
Nolan closed the door. “I said I would protect you.”
“Protection isn’t the same as wanting me here.” Daisy faced him. “You looked at me and saw the man who murdered your parents.”
“For one moment, I remembered them.” Nolan did not insult her with denial. “Then I looked again and saw you.”
Daisy’s hands stilled over the bag. Scott had taught her that one moment of shame could grow into rejection. She had been waiting for history to repeat itself.
“What happens when your pack learns who my father is?” she asked. “Will you defend me while hating yourself for it?”
Nolan crossed the room. “I have spent years preparing to kill Klaudius. I won’t pretend that disappears because his blood runs in you.”
The honesty hurt, but it also gave her something solid. He was not offering a romantic lie that would collapse under pressure.
“I don’t want you to forget your parents,” Daisy said. “I need you to remember that I lost mine too.”
Nolan’s anger softened. Vera had died while protecting a secret connected to Klaudius, leaving Daisy as much his victim as Nolan was.
He removed a shirt from the bag and returned it to the wardrobe. “You stay.”
Daisy almost protested at the command, then saw uncertainty beneath it. “Ask me.”
Nolan understood. “Will you stay?” The Alpha who could order an entire pack waited for her choice.
“Yes.” Daisy unpacked the remaining clothes. The answer did not settle their future, but it denied Klaudius the separation he wanted.
That night Nolan took his place beside her again. They did not kiss. Daisy rested her back against his chest, and he held her as if grief could be shared without being solved.
In the shared dream, the moonlit forest changed. A black castle appeared beyond the trees, and a man’s voice called Daisy by name.
Nolan woke with his arms locked around her. Daisy had heard the voice too. Klaudius had found another road into her mind.