The Sire’s Claim

"What the hell is this?"

Madison’s voice hit like a whip crack, echoing off the obsidian walls of the foyer. She dropped her duffel with a heavy thud that vibrated through the floorboards. "Dad, I pinged your HUD three times. We’ve been standing here like house-staff."

Dominic didn't stop. He cut through the water of the infinity pool, a dark shadow beneath the surface, before breaking the tension with a spray of chlorine. He hauled himself out. Muscles in his back bunched and rippled like corded steel. Water sluiced down the dark hair of his chest, clinging to the ridges of his stomach.

I couldn't breathe. My throat felt like it had been swallowed by a desert.

"The Callahan merger ran over," Dominic grunted. He didn't look at his daughter. He grabbed a towel, snapping it around his neck as he stepped through the hissing glass doors. The room filled with him—rain, cedar, and a heavy, predatory musk that made my inner wolf claw at my ribs.

"Bullshit," Madison huffed, crossing her arms. "You just wanted to do your laps. You knew I was coming."

"Madi, drop it," I muttered. My voice was a thin, shaky wreck.

Dominic’s head snapped toward me. His nostrils flared, taking in a deep, lung-filling drag of the air. His dark eyes, burning like dying coals, locked onto mine. The towel stayed frozen in his hand.

"Harper?"

The way he said my name wasn't a question. It was a claim. The low, gravelly vibration of it hit me in the solar plexus.

"Hi, Dom," I whispered.

"You’ve grown up." His gaze swept down my body, slow and heavy, stripped of any fatherly warmth. It was a predator’s look. It felt like he was peeling the clothes off my skin with his eyes alone.

"I’m a senior now," I managed. My pulse hammered against my throat. "Data Science. Logistics."

"A nerd," Madison chimed in, oblivious to the heat thick enough to choke on. "She’s here to hide from the Logan disaster. We're going to the Eclipse Lounge. I need to wash the flight off me."

Madison vanished up the stairs. Her boots clattered against the metal risers.

The silence she left behind was suffocating. Dominic took a step closer. He was still dripping. A puddle formed around his bare feet. He was a head taller than me, a wall of heat and raw Alpha power.

"Logan?" he rumbled. He stepped into my personal space, forcing me to tilt my head back. "The boy who didn't know what he had?"

"He was a mistake." I reached out. My fingers trembled as I brushed a stray drop of water from his forearm. His skin was scorching.

Dominic’s hand shot out. He caught my wrist. His grip wasn't gentle; it was a firm, bruising reminder of the strength he kept leashed. He pulled me flush against his wet chest. The cold water of his skin soaked into my shirt, but beneath it, he was a furnace.

"This is my