Chapter 222 Chapter 222

Chapter 222 Chapter 222
Marcus

I never expected to become anyone’s father.

By the time I met Ellie’s mother, I had already accepted that some things simply weren’t meant for me. My life had always belonged to the pack. As Beta, my days were divided between patrol schedules, security reports, training disputes, and whatever new disaster the Alpha family managed to stumble into before breakfast. I protected people. I solved problems. I made sure everyone else reached home safely, and somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that was enough.

Then Ellie came into my life.

It hadn’t even been a year.

Less than twelve months, and somehow that quiet, book-loving human girl had completely rearranged my heart without asking permission.

She never asked me to replace the father she’d lost, and I never tried to. I knew better than to force myself into an empty space that belonged to someone else. In the beginning, I was simply the man her mother loved. The werewolf Beta who made Ellie uncomfortable because she didn’t understand my world yet. The stranger asking her to trust him when she had learned long ago that trusting people usually came with consequences.

But somewhere between helping her adjust to pack life, worrying every time she disappeared into danger, and watching her slowly learn that not every kindness carried a hidden cost, something changed.

I stopped thinking of her as my mate’s daughter.

She became mine too.

Not by blood.

Not because she called me Dad.

She didn’t.

I had never asked her to.

Some relationships didn’t need a title before they became real.

Standing in the kitchen of the Alpha house now, watching Ellie laugh while Blake argued over an apron he had absolutely stolen from Sebastian, I realized just how quickly everything had changed.

She wasn’t the uncertain young woman who had arrived here months ago, watching everyone like she expected them to decide she didn’t belong. The nervousness hadn’t disappeared completely. Ellie would probably always think too much and blame herself too quickly. But she no longer looked toward the nearest exit every time a room became crowded. She didn’t sit silently and wait for permission to speak. She teased the triplets, stole food from their plates, and rolled her eyes whenever Blake became too pleased with himself.

More importantly, she looked happy.

Truly happy.

It made me feel proud in a way I didn’t have the right words to explain.

“It’s my apron,” Blake insisted, gripping the fabric near his chest as though Sebastian might physically remove it from him. The bright lettering across the front declared him Alpha of the Kitchen, despite the fact that Sebastian was the one standing at the stove cooking breakfast.

Sebastian didn’t even bother looking at him. “You found it in my drawer.”

“That doesn’t prove ownership.”

“It was folded with my clothes.”

“You have no imagination.”

“You have no cooking ability.”

Ellie laughed into her coffee, and Blake immediately pointed at her.

“See? She supports me.”

Ellie lowered the mug slowly. “I support your right to embarrass yourself.”

“That sounded suspiciously like an insult.”

“It was meant as one.”

Theo looked up from the patrol report spread open beside his plate. “She’s becoming more like us.”

“That’s what worries me,” I said from the doorway.

All four of them turned toward me.

Ellie smiled first. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to determine that Sebastian cooked, Blake stole an apron, and Theo is pretending he can read while listening to every word.”

Theo closed the report. “I was reading.”

“What did the last paragraph say?”

He glanced down.

Blake grinned. “Caught.”

Theo gave him a flat look. “You don’t even know what the report is about.”

“I know enough to recognize failure.”

Sebastian placed a plate of eggs on the table. “You recognize it from experience.”

Ellie nearly choked on her coffee.

Blake pressed one hand against his heart. “I live with cruel people.”

“You enjoy it,” Theo said.

“Unfortunately.”

I shook my head as I stepped farther into the kitchen. The Alpha house had always been busy, but it had never sounded like this before Ellie came along. The triplets had loved one another fiercely their entire lives, but they were Alphas. Even their affection usually came wrapped in competition, sarcasm, or an argument nobody else understood.

Ellie softened them.

Not by changing who they were, but by giving them someone to come home to.

And they had done the same for her.

Theo noticed me watching again.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Blake narrowed his eyes. “No. That’s a look.”

I frowned. “What look?”

“The emotional father look.”

The room went quiet for half a second.

Ellie blinked.

Theo looked toward Blake as though considering whether throwing him out a window would be worth the paperwork. Sebastian went very still.

Blake, apparently realizing what he’d said, lowered his fork.

“I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine,” I said before he could stumble any further.

Ellie looked at me carefully.

The concern in her face tightened something inside my chest.

“You okay?”

I smiled, though it came out a little weaker than intended. “I was just thinking about how much has changed.”

She set her mug down and came toward me.

It still caught me off guard sometimes—how naturally she approached me now. When we first met, Ellie had treated every new person like a possible threat. Now she stood beside me without hesitation.

“What changed?”

“You did.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Is that a good thing?”

“The best kind.”

My answer made her expression soften.

I glanced toward the triplets before looking back at her. “When I met you, you seemed convinced the safest way to survive was to make yourself as small as possible.”

She looked down for a moment, because she remembered.

So did I.

“I thought if no one noticed me, no one could hurt me.”

“I know.”

“And now?”

I looked around the kitchen.

At Blake wearing Sebastian’s apron.

At Theo holding a report he had clearly stopped reading.

At Sebastian standing near the stove, watching Ellie with quiet affection.

“Now you’ve made it impossible for anyone not to notice you.”

She laughed softly, but there was emotion in it.

“I’m not sure that sounds safer.”

“It probably isn’t.”

Blake raised a hand. “For the record, we can make it safer.”

Theo glanced at him. “How?”

“More guards.”

“No.”

“More wolves.”

“No.”

“A moat.”

Ellie stared at him. “You want to put a moat around the Alpha house?”

“I’m brainstorming.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Stop.”

“It could have alligators.”

“Definitely stop.”

The laughter that followed eased the pressure in my chest.

That was another thing Ellie had brought into this house.

Laughter that wasn’t covering pain.

Laughter that didn’t come with a consequence.

She reached over and lightly touched my arm.

“You got quiet again.”

“I’m allowed to think.”

“According to Blake, that’s dangerous.”

“He isn’t a reliable source.”

“True.”

I smiled at her, then decided there wasn’t any point hiding behind humor.

“I’m realizing I may have missed when you stopped needing me to protect you.”

Her expression changed immediately.

“I still need you.”

“Not like before.”

“No,” she admitted. “Not like before.”

The honesty didn’t hurt as much as I expected.

Maybe because she didn’t sound like she was pushing me away.

She sounded like someone who had finally learned how to stand on her own.

I nodded slowly. “That’s a good thing.”

“It doesn’t mean I don’t need you in my life.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

The question caught me off guard.

She stepped closer, lowering her voice even though the triplets were still pretending not to listen.

“You haven’t known me for years, Marcus.”

“I know.”

“It hasn’t even been a year.”

“I know that too.”

“But every time something happened, you came.”

My throat tightened.

Ellie continued before I could answer.

“You didn’t wait for me to ask. You didn’t decide I was too much trouble. You didn’t tell me I had to earn your help first.”

Her eyes glistened, but she smiled.

“You just showed up.”

The kitchen had gone completely silent.

Even Blake had stopped moving.

I looked at Ellie and suddenly understood that she remembered every single time.

The late-night calls.

The moments she panicked.

The times I’d stepped between her and someone who wanted to frighten her.

I had never thought of those things as important decisions.

They hadn’t felt like decisions at all.

Of course I came.

She was Ellie.

“I’ll always come,” I said quietly.

Her smile trembled.

“I know.”

Then she hugged me.

The movement was quick enough to surprise me, but I wrapped my arms around her immediately.

She fit against my chest like she had always belonged there.

It hadn’t been years.

It hadn’t taken years.

Love didn’t always need time to ask permission.

Sometimes it simply arrived and made a home inside you before you realized the door had been opened.

I held her a little tighter.

“I may not have known you long,” I murmured, “but I love you like you’re my own daughter.”

Her breath caught.

For one terrible second, I wondered if I had said too much.

Then her arms tightened around me.

“You are my family.”

That was enough.

More than enough.

Behind us, someone sniffed dramatically.

I closed my eyes.

Blake.

Of course.

Ellie drew back and looked over her shoulder.

Blake wiped beneath one eye with exaggerated care. “That was beautiful.”

Theo stared at him. “Are you actually crying?”

“No.”

“You are.”

“I got smoke in my eye.”

Sebastian looked toward the stove. “Nothing is smoking.”

“Emotional smoke.”

Ellie laughed through the tears she had been trying to hide.

I pointed at Blake. “You ruined the moment.”

“I improved it.”

“You did not.”

He walked over carrying two mugs of coffee and handed one to me.

Then the humor faded from his expression.

He glanced at Ellie before looking back at me.

“For what it’s worth, we know.”

“Know what?”

“That you love her.”

Theo stood from the table. “We’ve always known.”

Sebastian nodded once.

Blake’s voice grew quieter. “We also know what happens if we ever hurt her.”

I held his gaze. “Do you?”

He gave me a nervous grin. “You threaten us?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“How badly you hurt her.”

Theo rubbed a hand over his face. “This conversation has taken a turn.”

Ellie groaned. “Please don’t threaten my mates over breakfast.”

“I’m not threatening them.”

Blake looked toward her. “He definitely is.”

I took a sip of coffee. “A threat suggests uncertainty.”

Blake blinked.

Sebastian’s mouth twitched.

Theo looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Ellie stared at me. “Marcus.”

“What?”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“A little.”

Blake pointed triumphantly. “See? This is why I like him.”

“You liked him less when he was threatening you.”

“That was five seconds ago. I’ve grown.”

Three voices answered at once.

“No, you haven’t.”

The kitchen erupted into laughter again.

For one brief moment, everything felt normal.

Warm.

Safe.

A family gathered around a table, teasing one another while breakfast went cold.

Then a sharp knock sounded from the front door.

The laughter stopped.

Not slowly.

Immediately.

Theo’s posture changed first. The softness vanished from his face, replaced by the controlled focus of an Alpha. Sebastian set down the mug in his hand. Blake removed his arm from around Ellie but stayed close enough to reach her.

I moved toward the foyer with Theo beside me.

A young patrol wolf stood on the porch, breathing hard as though he’d run across the entire compound. Rainwater darkened his hair and soaked through the shoulders of his jacket.

“Alpha,” he said, looking directly at Theo.

“What happened?”

“We found another entrance.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

“To what?”

“The old tunnels beneath the original meeting hall.”

The three brothers exchanged a glance.

I knew those tunnels.

Or at least, I knew the stories.

They had supposedly collapsed decades ago after flooding weakened the stone. No one had used them since before I was born.

“The tunnels were sealed,” I said.

The patrol wolf nodded quickly. “They were.”

“Were?”

He swallowed.

“The eastern wall shifted during the rain. We found steps leading down behind it.”

Theo stepped closer. “Did anyone enter?”

“Only far enough to confirm the passage was stable.”

“Good.”

The young wolf hesitated.

There was something else.

Theo saw it too. “What aren’t you telling us?”

The patrol wolf glanced past him, his eyes briefly finding Ellie.

“The stone door at the bottom…”

He rubbed the back of his neck, visibly unsettled.

“…it was already open.”

The warmth inside the Alpha house disappeared.

The tunnels hadn’t simply been uncovered.

Someone had opened them.

And judging by the fear in the young wolf’s eyes, whatever waited below had not been expecting to remain hidden much longer.