“Mack and I have been best friends since diapers. He’s practically my brother.” I laughed. Lona literally raised us in the same crib. I had the pictures to prove it.

Rage relaxed and shook Mack’s hand.

“Where’s Callie?” I asked, inquiring about the third musketeer in our bestie group, craning my neck to look up at Mack. “And did you grow another five inches?”

“She’s at her house, but she’ll be right over when I text her.” He pulled out his phone, and I stopped him.

“Maybe later, we have … pressing business.” Then I looked at his mom. “Is there enough chili for seven more, Lon?” I asked.

“You bet.” Lon bopped my nose like I was five and led us all past the depths of the communal lodge toward our personal residence, which was connected via a long hallway. I remembered the nights my father held late-night pack meetings in the conjoined building. Mack and I would sneak down and try to listen in.

I followed after my dad, seeing the space with fresh eyes. The dark wood floors were worn in patches with plenty of gouges from wolves’ nails, and the ceiling here seemed lower after living in the castle-like dorm—even if ours had been rundown and dirty. But the walls had a fresh coat of paint, and the couches were comfortable and clean. One by one, dad took our guests to their rooms, promising fresh clothes and towels, which were promptly delivered by Lona.

My childhood home felt alien after being away. Kaja and Fiona got right into the kitchen to help Lona while I settled Elaine into the guest bedroom so she could freshen up. Unfortunately, Gramps wasn’t here yet, so we were just going to have to wait until he came. I decided not to panic … yet.

Dad skipped past my room with a sigh, causing me to raise one eyebrow, but before I could ask, he opened the door to another guest room and waved Rage and me inside. It hit me then … he didn’t take us to my room because it only had a twin bed. He was willing to let Rage and me share a bed, recognizing we were fated mates.

Whoa.

“You two can share this room.” My dad gestured to the queen bed, and then he shook his head—again.

“Uh, thanks.” I was too terrified to say anything.

“Nai, we should talk. There are some things about the past you should know—especially about your mother.” My dad indicated I follow him down the hall and away from the room, and I turned, both eager and terrified, to finally hear the whole story of that fateful night.

Rage squeezed my hand and then let go, stepping past me to enter the guest room, but my father held his hand out to stop him. “You too, son. This is as much your family’s story as it is hers.”

A stone sank in my stomach. How much did my dad know? Had he been there that night?

He stepped away from the bedroom and said, “Let’s go to my study.”

We followed my father down the stairs and into his office. After Rage and I were seated on the worn, brown leather sofa, Dad pulled his office chair out to sit in front of us. I’d spent hours, almost every single day, growing up on this couch, drawing, braiding my Barbie doll’s hair, and doing homework with Mack. But this was different…

“So fated mates?” my dad said, again, with wild eyes, looking more than slightly horrified.

Poor guy was probably in shock, so much info at once. Who could blame him?

Rage cleared his throat. “I feel I should tell you … I’m nothing like my uncle. I’ll do everything I can to protect Nai, and I respect her. More than that, I love her.”

My dad nodded, and his features relaxed—slightly. “Thank you for saying that.”

Awkwardness crawled under my skin, and before this could go to any further levels, I brought us back on topic. “So … about my mom…?”

My dad rolled out his neck. “Right … so what do you already know?”

I caught him up on the mid-year games, Honor’s death, and how Rage and I had made a trip to the Realm of the Dead where we saw my mom and funcle together, holding hands. Then I raced through the brief almost-respite at John and Sara’s, the selkie detour, and the skirmish with King Douche before adding what Elaine told us in the car.

Dad absorbed it all quietly, and when I finally finished, he nodded. “My brother Mackay was a troubled man those last few years. Even though he was alpha, he’d disappear for days on end. I can’t tell you how many times over those three years he said he didn’t want to be alpha and had me take over duties while he was gone. I knew he was keeping secrets, but I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t going to fight him for alpha status, I loved him too much—and even though your aunt Lilith raged about his absence, she wasn’t strong enough to do anything—at least not while Mackay and I were around.”

Clenching my own hands, I leaned forward. My father had never spoken of any of this. Ever. My breathing grew shallow, and my heart raced. The entire world disappeared as the truth of my birth was slowly unfurled.

“Then, one night, that night, he came to me in tears. My big brother stood in the doorway of my home on Shifter Island and said he’d brought death upon the pack. He begged me for forgiveness.” My dad closed his eyes and shook his head before meeting my gaze. “I thought he was drunk.”

I grimaced, every muscle in my body tensing for what was surely coming. Rage slipped his hand into mine and scooted closer so his body pressed into me—a subtle reminder I could lean on him if I needed.

“I was tired, and it was the middle of the night…” My dad’s expression took on that faraway gaze, and I knew he’d slipped back into the memories—reliving them. “I asked him what the hell he was talking about—told him to stop being dramatic. I grumbled about wanting to go back to bed … then this ethereal angel of a woman stepped out from behind him, and that’s when I met her.” Reaching out, he touched a lock of my silvery-white hair. “Your mother, nine months pregnant, breathing through a contraction.”

He paused, and I stopped breathing, feeling Rage still beside me.

My mom. In labor.

“Mackay went to her side,” my dad continued, “took her hand, and showed me. They had mate marks just like that.” He pointed to Rage’s and my interlocked fingers.

“All those missing nights,” I mused.

My father nodded. “He was with her.”

Could I blame them? Nope. I’d do anything to be with Rage. Rules be dammed.

“Were they running from something?” Rage asked. “My mother said they seemed shaken by the time they got to Midnight Pack lands.”

My father curled his lip in disgust. “Yes, son, they were. Elia said the High Mage Council knew her baby’s father was a wolf and that they’d kill the baby. Their laws are very strict. Elia and Mackay wanted Shifter Island to be a safe place for their baby.”

“What happened?” Rage asked, echoing my thoughts.

My father took a deep breath. “I suggested they hide there, on Crescent lands. Our pack would rally behind Mackay. He was the alpha. But Mackay said that they’d never be safe without the support of your father, the alpha king. The longer he talked, the more certain he became that he’d be able to talk reason into Valor, and the wolves wouldn’t bow to the high mage’s kill order. Nor would they step foot on our Shifter Island lands without the alpha king’s permission.”