Claimed by My Bestie's Alpha Daddy novel Chapter 215

The entrance Looked like nothing more than a crumbling arch swallowed by roots and moss, but the moment I pressed my hand to the center, the stone responded with a low thrum.

A faint current climbed into my arm, steady and quiet, like an old mechanism reluctantly coming back to life. The wall didn’t swing open with any dramatic gesture, it simply vanished, and the air beyond it turned colder and sharper, thick with the kind of stillness that made my skin tighten.

The passage sloped downward in a wide spiral, curling into a darkness that felt less like emptiness and more like something long sealed.

Each step took us deeper into a silence that pressed close against our skin, not peaceful, but hollow.

The air was heavy with the scent of rust and old stone, and chains lay rusted into the floor, evidence of lives confined and abandoned. The walls carried the weight of every scream they had absorbed.

We found a boy in the second chamber. He was curled in the far corner with his knees drawn tightly to his chest, eyes wide and unfocused. I crouched beside the bars, slowly and deliberately, making sure not to startle him.

“You’re safe now,” I said quietly. “We’re not with the Dominion.”

He didn’t speak, but his gaze flicked toward me, cautious and with hesitation. I reached through the bars and brushed my fingers against his wrist. His resonance flickered back, weak and splintered in places, but still his own. He gave the faintest nod, barely more than a twitch.

The others were in worse condition. Most of them were bruised and starved, faces locked in a mix of numbness and fear. One vampire woman had dried blood crusted on both arms, and she didn’t move until the cell door opened. Then her head lifted slowly.”It’s you,” she said. Her voice was hoarse, her tone flat.

She didn’t sound relieved. She sounded like someone acknowledging the end of something.

An older wolf with sunken eyes and two fingers missing stepped forward and placed a worn pendant into my hand. “They shouted your name when the lights went out,” he murmured.

closed my fingers around it and helped him steady himself.

The last cell held a tall vampire woman with a deep scar cutting across her cheekbone. She stood without flinching and didn’t take her eyes off me.

“You’re the bridge,” she said.

“Iam,” I replied.

“Then maybe this isn’t over after all.”

We led them back up the tunnel we’d come through. Halfway up, medics met us. The wolves leaned into them without hesitation. The vampires stayed upright, guarded but no longer combative. A few of them looked at me with something new in their eyes, not fear, not hope exactly, but a sharper curiosity, something that bordered on belief.

Richard stayed close without a word. He didn’t hover, but he didn’t stray either. His fingers brushed mine more than once, and when I took his hand, he didn’t let go. He wasn’t trying to stop me, but he wasn’t ready to let me face it alone either.

In the war room, Simon leaned over the glowing surface of a digital map. His fingers tapped quickly across the interface, pulling up shifting signals and node points.

“The Dominion leadership is clustered here,” he said, pointing to a nodenear the base of the schematic. “It’s buried deep, probably part of the original council tunnel system. They’re using it as a resonance hub.

You’re the only one who can sever the link directly.”

“If I go in there, they’re going to try to hyjack me again,” I said. “They’ll push to take control.”

Simon’s mouth tightened. His eyes flicked toward Richard before returning to me. “And if they succeed, we might not be able to bring you back this time.”

I turned toward Richard, whose hand was still wrapped around mine.

“I’m going,” I said.

He didn’t protest. “I could order you not to.”

“But you won’t,” I said softly. “You understand why I have to do this.”

He looked at me, his expression unreadable. “If they take you, the Pack will fall apart. The entire kingdom could follow.”

“That’s exactly why I can’t-wait. If we don’t act now, this won’t just be a skirmish. It’ll be a collapse.”

His voice broke. “Don’t make promises unless you’re sure you can keep them.”

“I’m not saying this lightly,” I said. “But I believe I can come back.”

And if you’re wrong? If they break you?”

turned forward again, trusting her at my back. The pain hit before! even registered the blade. Sharp heat burst under my ribs, and my breath caught as her arm came around again.

I spun, grabbed her wrist, and slammed her into the wall. The knife clattered to the floor. I pinned her there, heart pounding.

“Emma,” I breathed. “What the hell are you doing?”

For a second, she just stood there, her whole body trembling in my hands. Her eyes flicked across my face, confused and wild, like she was still trying to understand where she was or what had just happened.

Then her expression shifted. It wasn’t sudden, it came in small, devastating pieces. Her brow creased, her mouth fell open like she was about to speak but forgot how, and then she blinked hard, like trying to clear static from her mind.

“I didn’t-” she started, but her voice broke. “Amelia, I don’t know howShe took a step back, but her knees gave out, and I caught her before. she hit the ground. Her hands pressed flat to my shoulders like she needed to feel something solid to remind her that she was real.! lowered us slowly, easing her weight to the floor as her body began to shake.

“I didn’t mean to,” she whispered, barely audible. “I don’t even remember pulling the blade. I saw you, and everything felt wrong, and then it was like I wasn’t in control anymore. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t even think.”

I held her tightly, my own breathing uneven. Her resonance was chaotic, still distorted at the edges, but it was hers again. I could feel her trying to hold onto it.

“I know,” I said. “You’re coming back now. You’re okay.”

Her forehead dropped against my shoulder. She didn’t cry, not exactly, but her whole body trembled with the force of what she had almost done. It wasn’t over, but I had her now.

” I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. “I don’t even remember pulling the blade. I just-I saw you, and everything felt wrong, and then it wasn’t me anymore.”

I held her against the wall a moment longer, searching her face. The confusion, the horror, it was real.

“I know,” I said, quietly.

She slid down to the floor, her hands shaking. I followed, blood sticky beneath my shirt.

“Nathan,” I said into my earpiece, “corridor seven. Emma’s been compromised. She stabbed me, but she’s lucid now: We need containment and medical.”

Emma looked up at me, devastated. “I didn’t want to hurt you.””I know,” I said again. “You’re gonna be okay.”