Alpha Damon novel Chapter 110

Damon:

The stars above us were scattered like shattered glass, beautiful, broken pieces of something greater, something we’d never be able to touch but could still dream about.

I smiled at their sides, finding myself getting lost in their beauty for a moment too long. I was completely lost in my thoughts, completely aware of everything that surrounded me, allowing myself to give in to all the peace that I was in. To allow myself to live into it.

Sienna lay beside me on the blanket I had spread across the grass in the secret garden, her body turned slightly toward mine. Her eyes were lifted to the sky, lashes catching the faint glow of the fairy lights overhead, but I couldn’t take my gaze off her.

Not tonight.

Not after everything.

Not after the two of us have gotten as close as we did. Not after I knew that I was looking differently at her, that I was seeing her as a woman rather than just an Omega or the mother of my daughter. I was looking at her as Sienna.

She was quiet, thoughtful, maybe. Her fingers brushed the edge of the blanket, then curled loosely into the fabric as if grounding herself. I let my hand rest near hers, our knuckles barely grazing. She didn’t move away.

Hi smirked and took her hand, gently intertwining our fingers, making sure not to force her into anything that I knew she might not want. I did not want to press on her, but I knew that I was enjoying every moment of this.

“It’s peaceful here,” she said softly, her voice like wind against the trees. “Different from everything that we’ve been living in.”

“It is,” I agreed, keeping my eyes on her. “Almost makes you forget everything else. Reminds me of a lot of things. Our past. Our childhood. The way the two of us grew older, you know we used to run around the garden for far too long for our own good.”

Sienna turned her head to face me then, and for a moment, there was nothing but the sound of her breathing and the steady beat of my heart pounding in my ears.

The garden. The pack. The politics. Giovanni. My mother. Her pain. My rage.

All of it vanished in the quiet space between us.

And I just found myself thinking about the woman that was by my side, that was looking at me, melting in her gaze. Abused you that I did not find myself admiring for far too long. That I did not allow myself to give in to for far too long.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked. “You seem to be lost in your thoughts.”

I hesitated. I debated on what I was going to say. I wondered how I was going to explain this to her. Then, with a breath, I told her the truth.

“You,” I said. “Us. This. And how it feels like I’m finally breathing again. How calm I feel being around you.”

She blinked at me, surprise flickering across her features, but she didn’t pull away. In fact, she moved closer, just enough for her shoulder to brush mine, for her scent to settle in my lungs like a drug I hadn’t realized I’d become addicted to.

“You’re different tonight,” she whispered. “I just can’t wrap my fingers around what it is that you’re thinking about, or what it is that you have in your mind.”

“I’m just… tired of fighting what’s right in front of me.” I said, choosing to use my honesty, choosing to be the man that I wanted to be around her, the man who did not need to hide from her.

We were lying there, shoulder to shoulder, staring at each other, and the silence between us grew heavy, not with tension, but with something deeper.

Desire.

And I kissed her like I finally knew what it meant to need someone. Like I finally knew what it was to want someone with everything that you had.

Because for the first time in my life, I wasn’t just kissing her because I could. I wasn’t marking territory. I wasn’t taking.

I was giving.

And I didn’t want it to end.

We pulled apart only when we had to, both of us breathing heavily, her forehead resting against mine.

Her eyes were wide, cheeks flushed, lips swollen from the intensity of the kiss. My heart thundered in my chest as I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, not speaking.

There was nothing to say.

Because for the first time since everything began…

We were exactly where we needed to be.

Together.