CHAPTER 003

—DAPHNE

Time moved quicker when you chose to ignore it. Three weeks had passed since Roth’s rejection and that ill-fated morning, the one that refused to leave my thoughts no matter how hard I tried, had slowly transformed into something dangerous inside my mind. A memory that should have disgusted me had become an object of fantasy instead. 

It terrified me how often I replayed it, how easily my body remembered things my conscience desperately wanted to forget. Eventually, I stopped fighting fate and focused on surviving instead, carving out a new life for myself far away from the Vermont Pack and the humiliation Roth had left me with.

I worked as a waitress in a small restaurant owned by a kind woman from a neighboring pack. Mrs. Mae gave me food, a tiny room upstairs to sleep in and honest work to keep my mind occupied. It wasn’t glamorous and most days I returned to bed exhausted with aching feet and sore muscles, but I welcomed every bit of it because exhaustion left less room for painful thoughts. 

There were only two of us running the restaurant most days, Bella and I, and during busy hours, it felt like we were drowning beneath endless trays, impatient customers and nonstop orders. Still, I preferred this life over sitting alone with my grief.

The small bell near the counter rang loudly, signaling another order was ready. I hurried over and accepted the tray Bella handed me, though the strange look on her face immediately caught my attention. “Table nine..." she said before lowering her voice suspiciously. “...And be careful. I think the man has hidden intentions. He specifically asked to be served by you.”

My curiosity sharpened instantly, though unease quickly followed after it. My mind immediately jumped toward paranoia, wondering if somehow Roth had found me, or worse, if his father had. The mere thought caused my heartbeat to quicken painfully inside my chest.

 I subtly craned my neck to catch sight of the customer, but from where I stood, table nine remained hidden behind one of the wooden dividers near the far side of the restaurant. Maybe Bella was exaggerating again. She always had a habit of turning ordinary things into dramatic conspiracies.

Taking a quiet breath to calm myself, I carefully carried the tray toward the table. But before I even reached it, a familiar scent wrapped around me so suddenly that my steps faltered. Warm cedarwood, dark spice, and something deeply masculine invaded my senses, and my entire body reacted instantly. It was the same scent that had haunted my sleep for weeks, the same scent tied to every shameful fantasy I could not seem to erase from my mind no matter how much I tried.

My stomach tightened. No. I turned sharply, fully intending to walk away before he noticed me, but the moment I moved, a large hand settled firmly against my shoulder from behind. Warmth spread through me instantly, followed by a violent swarm of butterflies that made me hate myself for reacting this way.

“Daph—”

That deep gravelly voice confirmed my fear immediately. I closed my eyes for half a second before forcing myself to remain calm. Slowly, I turned toward him with a strained smile fixed onto my face.

“Alpha Bellamy,” I greeted politely.

Whether he disliked the formal greeting or not, his expression never changed. His dark eyes remained unreadable as always, making it impossible to know what thoughts were moving behind them. Yet somehow, that cold stare only made my pulse race harder.

“Sit,” he ordered quietly.

There was no room for argument in his tone. I almost refused out of panic alone, but the curious glances from nearby customers stopped me. The last thing I needed was unnecessary attention drawn toward me. Reluctantly, I obeyed and lowered myself into the seat across from him, keeping my eyes fixed firmly on the table instead of his face.

“I’m sorry about the other night,” I blurted out quickly, needing to say it before my courage failed me completely. “I know it looked like I seduced you, but I swear it was a mistake. I thought it was Roth’s room.”

Bellamy blinked once, his gaze lowering briefly toward his clasped hands before returning to me again.

I bit my lip hard, shame washing through me almost immediately. The truth was, I had thought about that night far more than I should have. It felt twisted and wrong aching for my ex-fiancé’s father this way, but my body betrayed me every single time. 

I still remembered everything too clearly. The rough strength of his hands, the sinful way his mouth had explored me like he couldn’t get enough for the third time that night, how effortlessly he had made me come apart beneath him. Even now, just sitting across from him, heat pooled shamefully between my thighs.

Bellamy cleared his throat softly, dragging me from the dangerous spiral of my thoughts. “I know it was a mistake,” he said calmly. “If anyone should apologize, it’s me. You were drunk and vulnerable. I should’ve stopped it.”

Silence settled heavily between us after that. His gaze stayed fixed on me, intense enough to make my skin feel too tight over my body. I could barely breathe beneath the weight of it.

“How have you been?” he finally asked quietly.

The simple question caught me off guard. No one had asked me that since I left the pack.

“Good,” I lied softly.

His eyes narrowed slightly, like he could see through the lie immediately, but he let it go.

“What brings you here?” he asked instead.

I frowned faintly. “I was banished.”

The shift in him was immediate. His jaw tightened sharply, and though he tried to hide it, anger flashed clearly in his eyes. “No one has the authority to banish a member of my pack without my approval,” he said coldly.

My breath caught slightly at the dangerous calmness in his voice.

“Come home,” he added after a moment. “I’ll make Roth apologize to you.”

I stared at him in genuine shock.

“I was accused of treason,” I reminded him carefully.

“On what grounds?”

I swallowed hard. “I cheated on Roth with a minor.”

His fists clenched tightly enough for the veins in his hands to rise beneath his skin. “Stop covering up his lies.”

I blinked in surprise. “There was evidence,” I argued weakly. “The guards testified and—”

“I know my son,” he interrupted firmly before lowering his voice slightly. “And I know you.”

The intensity behind those words made my stomach twist painfully.

“My only regret,” he continued quietly, “is that I wasn’t there that day to stop it.”

I fell silent after that. Without realizing it, my eyes drifted toward his hands resting over mine on the table. Large hands. Strong hands. Hands capable of pinning me helplessly against a wall while his mouth— I quickly cleared my throat, horrified by where my thoughts had wandered again.

“Return home, princess.”

The nickname sent warmth spiraling through my chest so quickly it frightened me. Reluctantly, I pulled my hands away from his. Fear gnawed deeply at me now, not because Bellamy had done anything threatening, but because of what I was beginning to feel. This attraction was wrong in every possible way. He was my ex-fiancé’s father. I should not have been noticing the veins in his hands or remembering how his mouth felt on my cunt.

“I’m fine here,” I said quietly. “The Vermont Pack never truly accepted me anyway. Maybe it’s time I find somewhere I actually belong.”

Bellamy exhaled heavily, his shoulders sagging slightly for the first time since he arrived. For one brief moment, the controlled Alpha disappeared, and I saw genuine emotion underneath. Then he stood abruptly and reached for my hand. I wanted to protest, but deep down I already knew it was pointless. Bellamy had made up his mind the moment he stepped into this restaurant.

I barely had enough time to thank Bella and Mrs. Mae before he escorted me outside and into his car. The drive back to the pack house was long, quiet, and painfully tense. Every second spent beside him felt unbearable in the worst possible way because my body remained painfully aware of him. The way his large hands flexed around the steering wheel, the veins stretching beneath his skin, the strength in his forearms every time he shifted gears. 

I hated how much I noticed. The attraction terrified me. My nipples hardened painfully beneath my shirt, and shame flooded me instantly afterward. These feelings were forbidden, twisted and very wrong. Yet no matter how much I scolded myself internally, my body refused to listen.

When we finally arrived at the pack house, the guards and maids greeted Alpha Bellamy respectfully, but the moment they noticed me standing beside him, their expressions shifted sharply from surprise to disgust. Their hatred settled heavily over my skin, making old humiliation crawl right back to the surface.

Maybe I should have stayed at the restaurant after all. But Bellamy simply took hold of my hand and guided me forward like he dared anyone to challenge him.

Inside the house, Roth was already waiting. The moment his eyes landed on me, disgust twisted visibly across his face. “I told you not to bring her here, Father!”

Bellamy met his glare evenly, completely unaffected by the hostility rolling off his son. “You should be grateful I found her safe,” he replied coldly. “Otherwise, I would have taken your foolish head myself.”

“She betrayed me, how can you—”

Bellamy moved so quickly I barely registered it. One second Roth was shouting, and the next, Bellamy had him lifted clean off the floor by his throat. “Don’t make me forget you’re my son.”

The deadly calmness in his voice sent a shiver down my spine. He released Roth with a rough shove. “She was banished,” Roth snarled angrily.

“On whose authority?” Bellamy’s voice boomed through the room. “Yours? Because last I checked, I’m still Alpha of this pack.” The nearby guards immediately lowered their heads. “You banished a pack member without consulting me first. You undermined my authority and acted like a reckless child, you should be punished!"

“Punished?” Roth snapped furiously, his eyes flashing gold. “She has no place in this pack anymore!”

“That.—" Bellamy said darkly, “is my decision to make, not yours. She is innocent until proven guilty, and she will remain here until I say otherwise.”

Then, without hesitation, he reached for my hand again and led me upstairs. My heart hammered violently inside my chest the entire way. Not only had he believed me when everyone else condemned me, but he had defended me publicly without hesitation.