I sighed. “Yes. It’s fine.” I placed a hand on Kai’s arm. The veins were popping out of his neck. Not a good sign.

“Your mother has made your favorite dish. Why don’t you go meet her in the kitchen and we will be right there.”

Kai stared into his father’s eyes for a good long while. “Don’t scare my mate.”

His father stared back, not answering. Kai walked out closing the doors behind him.

“He is my favorite son. Always has been. He’s a leader and a lover and a fighter. He is respectful and kind and takes care of his pack.”

The admission caught me off guard. “Why don’t you tell him that?”

“Because to tell him would make me feel weak. I’m anything but weak, Aurora.” His face looked stern.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

His father rubbed the spot between his thumb and pointer finger and creased his brow. Did werewolves get headaches?

“There is no way to put this lightly.”

Oh God. I backed up slowly and found a couch that I half fell into.

“What is it?”

“Don’t marry my son. For the sake of yourself, of our entire race. Don’t you dare go through with the mating ceremony with my son.”

My hand immediately went to the engagement ring around my neck.

“Why would you say something like that to me? I thought you wanted this?”

His father looked pained. “I did. The council and I have been working on an intel project. We have a double agent inside of RAIDOS. We also have been questioning the vampires, like you saw today. All of this has led to some pretty startling intel.”

A double agent inside RAIDOS? They KNEW about RAIDOS. Who was it? I hadn’t smelled a werewolf when I met them. Maybe I hadn’t met that agent yet.

His father stood over me. “The vampire, Layla, has not become pregnant, nor will she. As long as you stay infertile, so does your blood. If you take the mating ceremony with my son and Spirit blesses you with fertility, then any vampire that drinks your blood will have the ability to become pregnant.”

“NO! You can’t know this for sure.”

His hand rested on my shoulder. “I admit it’s a theory but a strong one. The vampires have created a device. A bloodletting device just for you. It will drain just enough blood to keep you alive. Then the blood is bottled and SOLD to the highest female vampire bidder. RAIDOS has the intel about your blood. They took a sample from the fight at the water treatment plant when you were injured. They tested it and they say you’re infertile.”

He walked to a desk in the corner and retrieved a paper, and handed it to me.

TOP SECRET

Aurora

Class: Werewolf, Second in Command.

Age: Unknown (Early twenties)

Pack: Portland, Mount Hood, Oregon. (United States)

Mate: Kai, Alpha (Indian Origin). Mating ceremony has not taken place yet.

Known Abilities: Matefinder. Magic user. Silver Immunity. Extremely Fast Shifter.

Blood tested: FSH, Prolactin, Luteinizing, Estradiol, Serum Progesterone.

Results: Infertile.

I set the paper down. My hands were shaking. The only thing they didn’t know about me was my age. I wanted to be strong. I was sitting in front of the Alpha of one of the biggest packs in the world. A tear slid down my cheek.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

I nodded slowly. I couldn’t have a mating ceremony. I couldn’t have children. Oh God. Now that I knew I might not be able to have children, it was the only thing I wanted. A son or a daughter, with Kai’s dark eyes and laugh, with my smile and my hands.

“So if I marry Kai–”

“The ceremony will activate your fertility and your blood will change. We suspect that will then be the change needed to give female vampires fertility.”

“You suspect. But you don’t know.”

He ran his hands through his hair. “We are ninety-nine percent certain.”

I stood up and folded the paper placing it inside my pocket. “I’m keeping this.” I started towards the door.

“So what are you going to do?” He trailed behind me.

“If there’s one thing I won’t do, it’s live in fear. I’ve spent too much of my life doing that already.”

“Then RAIDOS will kill you. That’s their backup plan. You get married. They kill you.”

My hand stilled on the doorknob. I leaned my head against the cool wood. What the hell was I supposed to do?

I could feel his father come up behind me. His voice was soft, understanding. “When the rogue werewolf burst into my house and attacked my family, I felt helpless. I watched my wife wreathe on the floor screaming in pain. Kai fought the werewolf hard, he nearly died of blood loss. My daughter didn’t make it. I vowed that day to never feel helpless again. So I put myself in a place of power. I created a life for my family to ensure we would never be hurt like that again. You are my son’s mate whether you have a mating ceremony or not. You are my daughter-in-law.”

I turned to face him, tears swam in my eyes. I never had a father I respected but I respected him. He was hard around the edges; he was stubborn and he was controlling, but he was a good man.

He placed both hands on my shoulders. “As a council member I am telling you not to marry my son. You will bring danger to yourself, your pack, and our kind. As your father-in-law, I want you and my son to be happy. I want you to have children and experience every beautiful thing that life has to offer. Whatever you chose, you will have my blessing.” The kiss he placed on my forehead was so quick I couldn’t be sure it happened. The door opened behind me and Raj ushered me out.