Page 63 of The Alpha Wolf’s Secret Baby Boy

“None of us are going to rest until we can fix this,” Ingrid assures me, and I’m riddled by more guilt.

If I didn’t go after Daniel alone… If I had just waited…

Even worse… If only I told Damian about him before everything blew up like this…

I wouldn’t be in this position.

“I promise you, Poppy. You’ll get through this.”

“Just promise me you’ll take care of Daniel…” I whisper, eyes burning with fresh tears. “Tell him I love him. Tell him that I didn’t think it would be like this.” I turn my face to Ingrid. “And tell him who his father is. He deserves to know.”

Ingrid’s eyes are full of tears as she nods tentatively, then begins backing up toward the door as she gulps. “I promise, Poppy. I will be back to check up on you, okay?”

All I can manage is a tense nod as I turn my face to the ceiling, letting the tears spill out as I listen to Ingrid leaving the room.

I know she’ll take good care of Daniel, and I know she’ll come back to check up on me again.

But as I lie there, bound to the bed, I wonder if Damian is alright, if he’ll ever be able to look at me without seeing the monster I have become, and if he’ll ever forgive me for what I’ve done.

Because I don’t think I can forgive myself.

This is all your fault, Poppy Barnes…

Chapter 17 - Damian

I blink my eyes open, and as soon as I do, a distant ache washes over me.

Hissing through my teeth, I clench my hands into fists at my sides, determined to wake up when the first memory that hits me is standing between Poppy and the wolves, and my initial instinct is to protect her.

But as soon as I sit upright, I’m shocked to find that I’m on a hospital bed, in a room I hardly recognize.

“Finally,” Dorian’s voice comes from the left, layered with irritation and relief.

I turn my face to the side, my neck cracking and popping as I do, a sliver of pain coursing down my right shoulder.

“What happened?”

Dorian sighs as he walks toward the bed, handing me a glass of water and a handful of pills.

“Drink that,” he says with a nod. “It’ll help with the pain.”

Dorian pulls up a chair closer to the bed as I pop the pills and chug the water. He’s watching me intently as if he’s studying my expression before he begins.

“Poppy attacked you, Damian,” he says quietly, hanging his head. “Something is wrong with her, and—”

“It was her…” I whisper, horrified when I recall what happened in that warehouse. The last thing I saw was her blood-red eyes, but perhaps I woke up wanting to believe it wasn’t her who put me here.

“Yes,” Dorian confirms, then proceeds to tell me how the wolves charged into the warehouse. Poppy put up a fight, but eventually, she collapsed, allowing the group to move in and capture her. After they found Daniel, they took us back to Fort Smit for Poppy and me to recover.

“Where are they now?”

“You’ve only been in the clinic for a day,” Dorian reveals. “Poppy is in the room next door recovering, and Daniel is with Mom.”

I gulp hard as I notice Dorian’s brows lift expectantly.

“Care to tell me how you have a ten-year-old son?”

Turning my face to the ceiling, I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I begin. At the very beginning, when Poppy and I first started off as friends, and then became so much more.