CLAIMED BY MY ALPHA DADDY

Chapter 6: The Rough Night

DAMIEN

The gym door shut behind me with a finality that felt like a slap. Carlos was already moving, briefing me in clipped sentences as we strode down the corridor toward the armory. Reyes scouts had turned aggressive. Three confirmed kills on our side of the line, but they weren’t retreating. They were digging in, probing for weakness, waiting for night to fall so they could slip through the gaps.

I should have been focused.

All alpha. All strategy.

Instead my c**k was still half-hard, aching from Sofia’s hand, her scent clinging to my skin like smoke. Every step rubbed the damp spot in my shorts against my shaft and reminded me how close I’d come to throwing her down on those mats and claiming what my wolf had been screaming for since the first second I saw her.

I shoved it down. Buried it. Locked it away.

We reached the armory. Warriors already gearing up—vests, blades, rifles loaded with silver-core rounds. I stripped off the training shorts, pulled on black tactical pants and a fitted shirt that wouldn’t restrict movement when I shifted. Strapped a knife to my thigh, holstered a sidearm.

Carlos handed me the comms earpiece. “Alpha, we’ve got visual on at least eight now. They’re moving in pairs. Looks coordinated.”

“Get the eastern perimeter reinforced. Pull Marco’s squad from the south and loop them around. I want eyes on every approach before full dark.”

He nodded. “Already moving.”

I stepped out onto the east balcony that overlooked the forest line. Moonlight cut sharp through the trees. Distant howls answered each other—our patrols holding position, but tense. The air smelled of pine, gun oil, and the faint metallic tang of blood already spilled.

Then I felt her.

Before I heard her. Before I saw her.

Sofia.

She slipped through the balcony doors behind me, barefoot, hoodie zipped halfway, leggings hugging every curve. Hair loose now, wild from the wind. Eyes bright with something between fear and fury.

I rounded on her. “I told you to stay locked in the gym.”

“You locked me in like a child.” Her voice was low, shaking just a little. “Gunshots, Damien. Howls. People are getting hurt out there and you think I’m just going to sit in a room and wait?”

“You’re not trained for this. You’re not pack warrior. You’re—”

“I’m your mate.” The word came out fierce. Quiet. Final.

My wolf surged so hard my vision flickered gold. I stepped into her space, crowding her against the stone railing.

“Don’t say that word again. Not here. Not now.”

“Why not?” She lifted her chin. “It’s true. You know it. I know it. The whole damn estate probably smells it on us by now.”

I gripped the railing on either side of her hips. Caged her without touching. “You have no idea what you’re walking into. If they get past the line—if even one scout makes it through—the first thing they’ll do is look for leverage. For weakness. And right now, little girl, you are my only weakness.”

Her breath hitched. But she didn’t back down.

“Then protect me,” she whispered. “Not by hiding me. By letting me stay close. By admitting you can’t keep pretending I don’t exist.”

I leaned in until our foreheads almost touched. “You want close? Fine. Stay right here. Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t f*****g breathe too loud.”

She nodded once. Small. Obedient for the first time since she arrived.

I turned back to the forest. Scanned the tree line. The comms crackled in my ear.

“Alpha, contact. Two scouts breaking cover, heading straight for sector five. They’re armed.”

“Engage,” I ordered. “Lethal force authorized.”

A fresh round of gunfire cracked below. Howls turned savage.

Sofia’s hand found the back of my shirt. Fingers twisted in the fabric. Not pulling. Just holding on.

I didn’t shake her off.

Minutes stretched. More reports came in. One of our wolves down—non-fatal, but bleeding bad. Another scout killed. The line was holding, but barely.

Then the wind shifted.

Her scent hit me harder—fresh slick, fear-tinged arousal, the bond pulling taut like a wire about to snap.

I glanced back at her.

Her eyes were wide. Pupils blown. Lips parted. Cheeks flushed.

She was terrified.

And she was soaked.

The bond was reacting to the danger, to my dominance, to the raw power rolling off me in waves. Her body didn’t care that people were dying. It only knew its alpha was close, protective, lethal.

I growled low. “Sofia…”

“I can’t help it,” she breathed. “It’s you. It’s always you.”

Before I could answer, a new howl ripped through the night—closer. Too close.

A black shape burst from the trees below. Wolf form. Reyes colors on the fur. Heading straight for the estate wall.

Straight for us.

I shoved Sofia behind me. Body shielding hers completely.

“Inside. Now.”

She didn’t argue this time.

But the wolf was fast. Too fast.

It launched itself at the wall. Claws scraped stone.

Gunfire erupted from our side—our snipers trying to drop it.

The wolf dodged. Kept coming.

Then another howl answered from the opposite direction.

They were flanking.

Two more shadows peeled from the forest.

Three wolves total. Coordinated. Aimed at the balcony.

At me.

At her.

I ripped my shirt off. Bones cracked. Shift started.

“Sofia—run!”

She froze for half a second.

Then the first wolf cleared the wall.

Landed on the balcony ten feet away.

Snarled.

Eyes locked on Sofia.

And everything went red.