Holden kissed me goodbye that morning like he always did—soft, lingering, his hand cradling the back of my neck. Cedar smoke and winter rain wrapped around me, and for a moment, everything felt right.
"I'll be back by dinner," he said, his grey eyes steady on mine.
"Where are you going?" I asked. I tried to keep my voice light, casual. Like I wasn't asking for the third time this week.
"Just some meetings," he said. "Trying to figure out where we fit in all this."
We. He said we. That should've been enough.
But my wolf whimpered low in my chest.
I watched him leave from the window. He walked with purpose, his shoulders set, like a man who knew exactly where he was going. And he did. He just wasn't telling me.
I pulled my phone out and texted Mckenzie.
*He's gone again.*
Her reply came fast.
*I'm coming over.*
She arrived twenty minutes later with coffee and a look on her face that said she was done being patient.
"Ariella," she said, setting the cups down on my kitchen counter. "We need to talk."
"I know what you're going to say."
"Then you know I'm right."
I wrapped my hands around the warm cup and stared into it. "He's my mate, Kenzie. The Moon Goddess gave him to me. That has to mean something."
"It means you're bonded," Mckenzie said bluntly. "It doesn't mean he's honest."
I flinched.
She softened, just a little. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm trying to protect you. You pulled me out of hell once. Let me return the favor."
"He's not lying," I said. But even as the words left my mouth, they tasted wrong.
Mckenzie leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Then where is he?"
I didn't answer.
"Exactly," she said quietly.
We sat in silence for a while. Then my phone buzzed.
I picked it up. Unknown number. The message was short.
*Alpha Joseph Morgan wishes to meet his daughter. There are things you deserve to know about your birthright. Come to the cabin on Silvercrest's northeastern border tomorrow at noon. Come alone.*
My heart stopped.
My father. My real father. The Alpha of Silvercrest. The man who had never once reached out to me in my entire life.
And now he wanted to meet.
"What is it?" Mckenzie asked, watching my face.
I handed her the phone.
She read it. Then she looked up at me, and her expression went cold.
"No."
"Kenzie—"
"Absolutely not. This is a trap."
"You don't know that."
"I know enough." She set the phone down hard. "Ariella, listen to me. You don't just get a message like this out of nowhere. Not after a lifetime of silence. Not from an Alpha who displaced you and raised some other girl in your place."
"Maybe he regrets it," I said quietly. "Maybe he wants to make things right."
Mckenzie stared at me. "And maybe he wants you gone."
The words hung in the air between us.
I looked away. "I have to go."
"No, you don't."
"He's my father."
"He's a stranger who happens to share your blood," Mckenzie shot back. "That's not the same thing."
I stood up. "I've spent my whole life wondering why he didn't want me. Why I wasn't good enough. If there's even a chance he has answers—"
"Then I'm coming with you."
"The message said alone."
"I don't care what the message said."
I met her eyes. "Kenzie. Please. If I show up with backup, he'll think I don't trust him. I need him to see that I'm willing to meet him halfway."
She shook her head slowly. "This is a mistake."
"Maybe," I admitted. "But it's mine to make."
Mckenzie was quiet for a long time. Then she pulled me into a hard hug.
"If you're not back by sundown," she said into my hair, "I'm coming after you. And I'm bringing every wolf I know."
"Deal," I whispered.
When Holden came home that night, he smelled like expensive furniture polish and something floral I didn't recognize. He kissed me at the door, his hands warm on my waist.
"How was your day?" he asked.
"Good," I lied. "Yours?"
"Productive." He smiled. "I think things are finally starting to come together."
I wanted to ask what things. I wanted to ask where he'd been. I wanted to ask why he smelled like someone else's world.
But I didn't.
Because I was afraid of the answer.
That night, I lay awake beside him, listening to his breathing. His arm was draped over my waist. His scent surrounded me. And my wolf—my wolf, who should've been content, should've been purring—was silent.
I stared at the ceiling and thought about the message.
Tomorrow at noon.
Northeastern border.
Come alone.
I told myself it would be fine. That my father wanted to meet me. That maybe, finally, I'd get the answers I'd been searching for my whole life.
But deep down, in the part of me I didn't want to listen to, I knew.
Something was wrong.
