Daddy Alpha I’m In Heat (Lily and Connor) novel Chapter 46

*The Next Morming*

~Connor~

Bella was standing in her room, back stiff, hair a mess, and the sound of her shoving clothes into that stupid suitcase was so loud it felt like it was rattling inside my skull.

And I swear to God for a second I thought maybe I’d imagined last night, maybe I’d dreamed the whole damn thing, but then I looked at her hands shaking and her shoulders tight and I knew, no, it was real, all of it, the screaming, the door slamming, her eyes catching me with Lily pressed against the pole like a stripper , and now here we were, morning after, and she was packing like she could fold her rage into a neat square and zip it shut.

“Bella,”

“Don’t.” She snapped it out so fast and she didn’t turn, just kept throwing dresses into the bag like every fabric had betrayed her.“Don’t you dare say my name like you still have the right.

“Listen to me! You are my daughter!*

She spun, eyes wet, hair falling in her face, and she looked at me like I was a monster that had crawled out from under her bed. “You were inside Lily. Do you hear me? Inside her. My best friend.

“The girl who’s been in this house a hundred times, who’s eaten at our table, who’s borrowed my clothes. You were inside her with your hands choking her like she wasn’t even a person but a hole for you to use. And you want to stand there and talk about me being your daughter?”

“I wanted her. I still do. That’s the truth. I can’t deny it, Bella.”

Her laugh was broken, bitter, shaking her whole body. “You don’t even try to deny it.”

“I won’t lie to you,” I pushed, my throat dry, my hands curling against the doorframe. “Do you think 1 don’t know what you saw? Do you think I don’t know how deep I cut you? But I’m not going to insult you by pretending I didn’t want her. Lily made me feel alive. Alive in a way I haven’t felt in years. And yes, it burned everything. Yes, it hurt you. But if you’re asking me if I regret her–no. I can’t. I won’t.”

And my wolf was pacing inside me. Own it. She will never forgive you, but the girl will. You already chose.

“You expect me to accept this? To just nod and say okay, Dad, go on fucking my best friend?”

“No.” I shook my head hard, words tumbling, pouring faster. “I expect you to scream, I expect you to hate me, I expect you to pack that bag like you want to leave me behind forever, because I deserve it. But don’t stand there and think I’ll crawl and grovel like I didn’t make a choice. I did. And I’ll live in it. Every second of it.”

Her face crumpled, her mouth trembling. “Then you’ve already lost me. The boat cruise is over. I’m done. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to breathe the same air as you.”

“Bella! Don’t you fucking get on my nerves!”

“You don’t understand, do you? You don’t get it. You think this is about me being angry for one night, but it’s not. You’ve ruined everything. My best friend–my only real best friend–is gone because of you.

“Do you know what that feels like? To look at her and see betrayal? To look at you and see a stranger? It’s like my whole life split in half and fell into the ocean, and you’re just standing there acting like this is some choice you can defend with words.”

She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, but the tears kept coming. “Cancel everything, Dad. Do you hear me? Everything. Tell the captain to turn this stupid boat around, to drop everyone at their destinations, because it’s over.

“This trip is over, my summer is over, the family I thought I had is over. Do you understand? Done. Finished. Thank you so much for ruining my summer, for ruining my friendships, for ruining the only normal piece of my life I thought was safe.”

My wolf snarled inside me, tail lashing. She talks and talks and talks, but every word is weakness. Let her go. She will never forgive you. She is not your mate.

I clenched my jaw so tight it hurt, but Bella didn’t stop. She wasn’t finished.

“You should’ve been my anchor. You should’ve been the one person I could trust not to cross every single line. And instead, you were the one who broke the only rule that mattered–don’t touch the people I love. Don’t touch the girl who grew up in our house. Don’t touch the one person who knew everything about me. And you did. And you looked me in the face while you did it.”

“Do you know what it’s like to stand there and see it? To see your father holding your best friend like she’s some trophy, like she’s worth more than your own daughter? You didn’t stop, Dad. You didn’t let go. You didn’t even blink. You held her tighter like I was nothing. Like I didn’t matter. Like I wasn’t even in the room. Do you understand how that felt?!”

I dragged in a breath through my nose, my chest burning, but she didn’t give me room to answer.

“You always told me family first. Always. That no matter what happened, no matter what temptations or fights or mistakes, blood comes first. And last night you proved that was all a lie.

Because you looked at me and you chose her.

“You chose her over me without even hesitating. So don’t stand there and tell me you love me, because you don’t. You don’t get to say that anymore. You don’t get to put that word in your mouth when it’s covered in her.”

Her suitcase hit the floor, her hands trembling too hard to hold it up. “Cancel everything, Dad. Tell the captain to dock this boat and send us all home. It’s over. It’s all over. And if I never see you again after this, maybe that’ll be the only way I can breathe again.”

I swear the second she said it -I snapped. My ears were ringing, my chest was a fist, my wolf was prowling, and all I could think was no, no, she’s not walking out.

“Don’t you dare step out of here, Bella.”

“I am your father and you will do what I say. You are not going anywhere. You will learn to accept this, whether you like it or not.”

Her head snapped around so fast her hair whipped across her face. “You think you can order me around? You think you’re still the Dad who made pancakes and drove me to practice? You’re not! You’re a sick bastard who fucked my best friend and now you’re trying to tell me to ‘accept it‘ like this is some lecture about grades!”

My wolf growled in my skull, deep and satisfied. Good. Let her spit her fire. She still thinks she’s Alpha in your house.

She took a step toward me, voice climbing higher, faster, all at once. “You killed it. You killed it with your own hands. You killed my love for you!”

I moved before I even knew I was moving, my palm slamming against the doorframe, my body filling the space. “Enough!”

“Enough of the screaming.”

“You don’t get to tell me enough!” she shot back, tears running down her face, hands trembling but still jabbing at me. “You’re disgusting. You’re a monster. You think you can control me but you can’t. You can’t ground me, you can’t lock me up, you can’t undo what you did!”

My wolf’s voice was a rumble under my skin. Show her you’re not weak. Stop letting her spit at you.

I crossed the space, grabbed her arm..not hard, just enough to stop her walking past me and looked her dead in the eye. “We are not ending this here,” I said, every word slow and heavy. “We are all going to France. To the penthouse. You, me, Lily. We’re going to sit down and talk this, and you’re going to keep your mouth shut until then or I swear to God I’ll have you locked in this room until we dock.”

Her mouth fell open, then she snapped it shut and jerked against my grip, shouting, “You fucking can’t, Dad! You can’t! I’m not a child you can throw in a corner anymore. You think you’re the big bad wolf but you’re just a sick man who can’t control himself!”

“You’re just a sick bastard who can’t keep his dick to himself!”

Her whole body was shaking, shoulders tight, hands flying everywhere, and her face–God, her face -red. “You think you’re some Alpha but you’re nothing! You’re a fucking pedophile!”

That word hit me like a slap I didn’t see coming. Pedophile. For a second my brain didn’t even process it, like maybe she didn’t. My wolf stiffened inside me. She called you that. She dared. She put that name in her mouth for you.

“Did you just call me a pedophile?”

“You heard me!” Bella screamed back.

My wolf snarled, pacing hard in my skull. She thinks she can challenge you. She thinks her words make her Alpha. Show her otherwise. Show her who rules this room.

And I moved before my head even caught up with my body. My hand slammed flat against the wall right beside her head. The crack of it was sharp, loud, final. The whole frame shook with it and Bella flinched, her eyes going wide, her mouth snapping shut mid–breath.

“Ungrateful little girl,” I hissed, leaning down just enough for my words to hit her face, it took me every ounce of strength not to crush her head with my hands. “You have no idea what line you just crossed.”

Her lips trembled, but I could see the fire in her eyes because Bella had never been the kind of kid to back down even when she should. Her whole body was pressed tight like a bowstring, ready to snap.

And then the door opened. Fuck Lily.

“Connor…?”