Dahlia’s POV“Why don’t you get fat when you like the prime rib so much?”That’s the first words out of Damon half into a long, painful, quiet dinner. If I wasn't taught to have great manner, I would have thrown my fork at his head! But I was! So I just glared at him, chewing my mouthful as if it was him!Damon lets out a tired chuckle before he puts down his fork and stands up.I stop chewing, staring at him with nervousness.He has been acting really weird ever since he caught me red-handed--Of course now that he was back, Aiden would step aside from our dinner plan.Aiden put the ridiculously expensive wine in my arms before he excused himself. “Guarding the chief on cooking his deer right”. That was the excuse Aiden used, leaving me all alone to come up with some good lines for stealing the scary Alpha’s wine.But Damon seemed more distracted than mad.In fact, he just took the wine over from me and led me to the dining room. No word out of him. Not when we settled on the table.
Damon’s POVA month ago I thought giving Dahlia false hope would be the worst outcome, but now when I actually found something, I’d rather go back to the unknown, to where she comes to me all day long urging about the search for her father.I wanted to tell her straightforwardly, but fear took the better of me. At the dinner table, when I looked into Dahlia’s anticipating, innocent eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to break the news. So I backed off and averted the subject. I guess I deserve the fork. But at least that got Dahlia off me for the day so I can sleep on the news I just got.For the first time in my life, I retreated. I escaped from Dahlia and hid in my office, not sure what to do.A knock on the door rises, and instantly I clench the glass in my hand due to nervousness. How ridiculous. People would laugh if they knew that the infamous Alpha they rumor about gets nervous at a knock in his own office.[It’s just Aiden,] Lupus rolls his eyes at me.“Come in,” I raise my voice. I
Dahlia’s POV It turns out, taking care of scared Omega’s is not an easy job. Damon showed extreme patience when he came to explain about it, but still, I’m pretty sure that jerk just wanted to get me to be jealous so he could scold me about it! “Miss Dahlia...?” “Yes?” I instantly put on a smile as I turn to that timid voice by instinct. These Omegas are shaken to their core, to say the least. I thought I knew how hard a life an Omega has, but it turns out I still underestimated it. Omegas are the lowest rank in a pack. Their sin is not having a wolf in a werewolf pack, nothing else. They are dumped with the worst jobs and lamest resources. They get nothing, not even respect, or simply some appreciation for what they do for the pack when their job is actually essential. But that’s not their worst fate. I didn’t know there are people who kidnap Omegas for a living, to sell them to places far from their pack, and there are actually huge profits in it. So before in their own pack
Dahlia's POVI didn’t think I could meet another member of Mom’s pack again in my life!I thought they all died.The papers said so. When it just happened I seek out newspapers that covered our pack’s story out of some sick, twisted habit. As if it could stop being real if the newspapers said so, so I read the same story over and over again. Every day they bring drops of new information about it even though it’s the same story.Massacre at Scarlet CreekWhole building burnt, surrounded by a blood poolAs if their funny little word games matter more than the facts.In the end, Damon stopped ordering the papers and I lost my resources of self-tormenting, but not before I was assured by them multiple times:The whole pack is wiped out.And now a survivor appears in front of me in the most unexpected way!Dare not to scare him, I suppress my pounding heart and maintain my smile as I take Tom Sanders for a meal. He seems startled. I would be just like him if Damon didn’t save me out of the
Dahlia’s POV“Don’t say that ever again, to anyone!”I warn Tom as I glance at Aiden nervously. Luckily, Aiden was playing along well thinking it was Tom’s childish game like I did, and is now sitting on a thick branch of a tree far from us with a smile.Tom nods sneakily and purses his lips, crumbles of cookies dropping like rain with his nodding.I can’t smile anymore. This time it’s my heart that’s pounding hard for what I just heard.“How did you know?” I ask Tom with a low voice.“After they attacked the grand hotel, they started going through the whole pack and taking Omegas and kids,” Tom says with his eyes lowered as if about to cry, but though with a deep pout, he manages to hold the tears in. I can’t believe how much he had to suffer to feel necessary to teach himself to be so tough about this.“They wanted to take me but I escaped, and one of a high rank came after me. He was summoned when he just caught me, and that was why I was taken to their Alpha,” Tom pinches the cook
Dahlia’s POVI was changed that day.That day when Damon assured me over and over that he wasn’t holding a grudge against me for stabbing him, I felt like my whole world had color again.I could breathe under the sun again, even if he wasn’t around me.Life would have been the best, if Damon didn’t change that day, too.But something did.He is hiding something from me about the tragedy of my pack. I know. I didn’t ask him. I don’t want to create more misunderstanding between us about it, and I keep thinking he would come clean if I give him enough time, but he never does. He starts avoiding me again. Going out on trips nonstop, just so we don’t get to talk about the investigation on my pack.“My pack” became a taboo between us.Maybe out of guilt, Damon stopped banning me from leaving the mansion. That was quite a shock when he announced that to me--“Seriously?! You want me to go shopping?!” I shoot my head up to look at him, and Damon glares back with his lips pursed into a line. B
Dahlia’s POV“Can’t believe he would let you out but...” With a noble smile under the golden glasses, Justin sits down on Aiden’s seat, “Glad to see you out here, Dahlia.”He refers to the high rankings with their titles, just like everyone. As an Alpha, he never drops the politeness and he calls Damon “Alpha Damon”, always. But he never calls any Omega with that title. He would use their names, like they are just another person, not a low ranking.“Not without a price,” I stick my tongue at him, making a face. I got this much freedom only because Damon was feeling guilty hiding something from me. I just hope it’s because he found my father.“Speaking of,” I cock my eyebrows at Justin, teasing, “Aren’t you supposed to be in your own pack, ALPHA? I see you here more than Damon himself, seriously.”Mom used to travel a lot, too. When she was our Alpha. But that was mostly for the pack business. I don’t think she had ever stayed in another pack as if her second home.Justin blushes, lowe
Dahlia’s POVAiden did not suspect a thing, or so I thought.We get home peacefully, as usual. Damon is still out, as usual. Aiden wouldn’t paste himself on me when we are in the mansion, but I feel like it’s not just so I would feel freer. It feels like Aiden has his own thing. Something he doesn’t about.So I call after him: “Aiden, you can have the rest of the day to yourself. I want to cook for the Alpha myself today.”Aiden cocks an eyebrow, in his eyes there is more taunting than surprise. He is questioning more on my ability to cook than my motive.I throw a pillow into his face as a response before he leaves in laughter.He doesn’t appear in front of me again for the whole day. I like Aiden’s style. He makes me feel relaxed and trusted. He shouldn’t have today, though.When Damon came home I was already waiting by the dining table, with a perfect smile. Damon was told that I was the chef for the day and was waiting for him, and for the first time ever, he came to dinner withou
Dahlia’s POVHome is too strong a word for me now. Let’s just say, I agreed to go with Dad.Damon is gone, and Justin left soon after. Kayle disappeared from my sight, and so did Lola. My life suddenly became a vacuum. One thing to my solace is that Dad became the perfect dad in my memory after we left the headquarters.Sometimes I feel like the few weeks during the trial of Damon was just a nightmare, just like my memory of Dad before I was five.It was on the plane that I finally got the whole story of what happened to Dad after I was taken.Dad found out that the attack on our pack was a well-planned scheme. Damon gets me, the land of the pack, AND mom’s title for his friend. Well, by the time when this was planned, Justin was still Damon’s friend. And the rogues he hired got all the money they could scrap from our home.Dad had no choice but to flee the land. He ended up in a new city with the help of an old friend. And that’s our new “home”.Like I said, this is not home.Dad is
Dahlia’s POVA rejection is the worst experience you could have as a werewolf.The mate bond is what connects two souls together. The humans can’t feel their souls, but to sensitive creatures like us, our souls are almost tangible, and so are our mate bonds. To break something like that is like cutting us open, except the wound is not on our body, but on our souls.You won’t be able to even imagine the pain if you have never lost a limb.The rejection tears. It tears apart something that should not be apart. It leaves one bleeding, hurting, and itching for all their conscious time, as well as in their sleep. It’s like your flesh is cut open, and left open in the air, and unlike a physical wound, you can’t faint due to blood loss. You will always feel that something is broken in you, and you have no way to heal it.It’s hard to understand the concept of one’s soul being complete by itself, is also complete when it’s combined in the most intimate way with someone else’s soul, while keep
Dahlia’s POVThe van is quiet. No guards anywhere near it, not even a driver. Not exactly what I had in mind for a jail of “the devil”.Not daring to hesitate, I pull open the back door and slip up. Though it looks like a trap off the textbook, I don’t really have any other move left.It isn’t a trap. Damon is in the trunk, alone, hands not even cuffed. He is smiling at me as I close the door behind me with a thumping heart, panickedly looking for a proper place to sit when my move is so limited by the handcuffs I hid under the shirt.I feel like I’m the prisoner, not him.Damon remains silent, but I see taunt in his eyes.“Hi...” I break the silence, frowning lightly. This is not exactly what I expected. I thought he would be angry, desperate, regretful, or sad. But not this. Not this calmness with a shred of taunt.He curves his lips.“Hi yourself, Dahlia.”His voice is the bass I always indulge in, and his tone is not exactly aggressive. I’m confused now. I rise my eyebrows questio
Dahlia’s POV“Where are you heading to, miss?”I maintain my smile and clear my throat, stalling because I didn’t come up with a good excuse.Aiden managed to put together a plan at the last minute. Well, sort of. He found out where the prison van for Damon was parked, AND he took on the job to distract the guards. All I needed to do was to make it to the elevator to parking lot G and see Damon.Who would know they’d put a guard in front of the elevator door on each floor?!“I--uhhh, my Alpha told me to go meet him in the parking lot,” I open my mouth, only to realize Damon’s case definitely made the “news” here. Revealing my identity might not be the wisest move.“Which section of the parking lot, ma’am?” The guard asks with extreme patience, sympathy even. I would have taken him as caring if I was the old me. But recently I have realized that the colorful fog around people that I can see, is not something that everyone can.I can’t quite explain it, but I can more or less tell the p
Dahlia’s POV“Do you even know what you are doing?! He is the monster that destroyed our home!” Dad presses on, but Aiden steps up and he stops a few inches away. He is furious and panting, as if he just hurried over when I decided to visit Damon. Two seconds ago.Could it be? Did Dad plant surveillance on me? This thought gave me a chill down my spine. Or maybe I feel cold because of how easy it is for me to suspect my own father now.I guess I can’t just forget everything like I was little just for a few days of kindness from him anymore.“You still haven’t shown me any evidence that pins what happened on Damon, Dad,” I remind him calmly. He is hiding something from me, I can feel it. And it annoys me. If Dad was using the stress of the case to explain why he avoided letting me in on anything before the trial, he is definitely failing to explain himself for still not showing me any of his investigations now.“You have no idea how brutal they are. Do you really want to look at the pi
Dahlia’s POVIn the end, Damon was found guilty.Something about him refusing to give the court Jared and stuff. I guess that explained Dad’s sudden change of attitude -- After five months, he finally got the justice he wanted.I wanted to visit Damon, but I couldn’t find a good reason.To see my old owner who kept me as a sex slave? To see the evil who was found guilty of the crime over my fallen pack? To see the man whom I betrayed and had a bad fallout with the last time we saw each other? Or...Just to see my mate.That word feels so strange to me now.I don’t have a wolf to feel the mate bond, and with Damon gone from my life, I have totally forgotten that I have a mate. Who is in prison now, for the most horrifying crime one can do.I can’t justify visiting him, and luckily, Dad and Justin helped me from struggling myself into halves.Dad has been unprecedentedly nice to me ever since the trial. Even nicer than before the incident, I would say. He insisted on having EVERY meal w
Dahlia’s POV“She’s lying!” My Dad growls at the judge, “She’s fucking lying! How dare you, you little useless brat?! You--”“Liam Palmer!” Damon suddenly raised his voice before the judge could react to my Dad’s outburst. He turns to Dad with a calm smile yet his eyes are cold as ice, “She is an Alpha now, as much as you are. I don’t want to see you disrespecting her again.”“She is MY daughter! And I won’t take orders from a murderer! You! You murdered my wife!” Dad spat at him. Frankly, I find it shocking that he dares to shout at Damon. No one else in the Leagues seems to have the courage to do so, not even Kayle.But I guess by suing Damon, Dad already put him on Damon’s bad side permanently.Damon shoots a worried look at me. I blink in confusion.Did he think that Dad’s mentioning of Mom’s death would change my mind? I hate the murderer and I want a thousand deaths of him, but that doesn’t mean I would jump and bite anyone who my Dad accuses without proof like I’m his mad dog.
Dahlia’s POVI’m daunted in the face by this life or death question.“Dahlia Morgan, please answer my question,” The lawyer urges, his tone getting cocky, “Did Tom Sanders call out Alpha Damon’s name in the last phone call you shared with him, 10 minutes before he showed up dead in front of you?!”The truth is, Tom did. But somehow I feel wrong to answer yes.Too many things feel wrong.First of all, Tom lived in Damon’s mansion for weeks, and yet never has he showed any particular fear toward him. He is timid in front of Damon, but any Omega does in front of a fearful Alpha.Secondly, when Tom told me about that he heard the man who captured him calling the man behind the attack on that night “Alpha Damon”, he only mentioned that as highly suspicious of Damon, unlike the night at the train station when Tom shouted “It’s him! Alpha Damon is here!”If I’m trusting my gut, I would say that something made Tom recognize the man from the night of the attack on my pack, not Damon this perso
Dahlia’s POVI never got to see Dad again in those 48 hours, and it was pretty clear that even if I could, it would be fruitless. Even after two days of thinking, I still don’t understand how a simple inquiry on the case turned into such a bad fight with him.I can’t see Damon either. Apparently, the 48 hours is all they have to get anything out of him, and they are not allowing any visit until the hearing.I got a subpoena to attend as a witness, hence here I am, in the witness waiting room with a bunch of people that I have never seen in my life. Aiden can only appear as an audience.“This way, ma’am,” After what felt like an eternity, the guard came for me. I’m the last one to appear in court.The moment the guard pushes open the courtroom’s heavy door, I instantly feel Damon’s hot sights landing on me. But when I look over, he is already looking at the file in front of him on the defendant’s stand as if he never looked over.He looks the same as I remember him. Handsome, neat, sha