Chapter 3 The Visit of the Truth
Three days later, the Alpha’s council meets in my father’s study, and I find out why my mother has been acting so strangely. Nervous. Guilty. Like she's keeping a secret eating her alive from the inside out.
I'm not invited to the meeting, of course. But the study door is slightly open, and I’ve learned over eighteen years that the best truths come from standing very still in the shadows.
"The Northerner is becoming a problem," Dante’s voice carries through the gap. He sounds tired. "We can’t hold him forever without draining our resources. He’s too strong, and keeping him sedated takes too much energy."
"We execute him," Reeves, our chief strategist, says. "Problem solved. We burn the body, report to the Northern Council that the Nightbringer was killed in honorable combat. No loose ends."
"Not until we understand why he came here," my father says, and something in his tone makes me press closer. "There’s more to this than a simple attack. He was looking for something; or someone. The way he moved through our land; it was deliberate."
My blood goes cold. They’re talking about me.
"Perhaps it doesn’t matter," Matilda, our eldest healer, says. "Three destroyed settlements, many dead. He’s dangerous no matter his reason."
"And Kaida?" my mother asks quietly. Her voice sounds like it hurts her to speak. "What about her?"
Silence. Heavy and tense.
"What about her?" Dante replies. "She’s wolfless. Barely worth talking about."
But he doesn’t sound sure.
"The bond," my mother says softly. "If the Northerner is claiming she’s his mate…"
"She’s not a true werewolf," my father cuts in sharply. "The bond means nothing if she can’t shift. It’s a mistake. Pack law doesn’t recognize bonds formed with incomplete wolves."
"Is it really a mistake?" Matilda asks. "Because I’ve checked her bloodwork again, and the signs show something different; something pack law has been hiding for centuries."
"I don’t care what the blood shows," Dante says, standing. "She stays here under watch. The Northerner remains locked up. No contact. If she doesn’t shift by her next cycle, she’s sent to the human lands. That’s it."
I should walk away. Pretend I heard nothing. But my body moves on its own. I push the door open and walk inside.
Four faces turn toward me. My father’s is full of anger. Dante’s is calm. My mother looks like she might cry. Matilda only looks sad.
"Kaida," my mother says, standing quickly. "You shouldn’t be here…"
"What bloodwork?" I ask, staring at Matilda. My voice shakes, but it’s strong. "What markers? What are you talking about?"
Dante and my father share a look; the kind adults give when they’re deciding whether to lie.
"Sit down," my father says.
I don’t. I stand like someone caught between two worlds.
"Your mother and I should have told you long ago," he begins carefully. "When you were born, the healers found something unusual in your blood. Your mother is fully wolf…"
He stops.
"…but your real father was not," my mother finishes softly. Her voice breaks. "He was human."
The room feels like it’s spinning.
"Human? My father's not….father?" I whispered as I looked in his direction.
She nods, tears in her eyes. "Yes. I met him before I met your father. He was charming, kind at first… but he practiced black magic, Kaida. Dangerous magic. I didn’t know what he really was until it was too late. I loved him, and I got pregnant with you."
She pauses, wiping her tears. "I met your father after I got pregnant. A true werewolf. He could have rejected me, but he didn’t. He loved me even though I was carrying another man’s child.”
I stare at her, speechless. My chest feels tight.
"So I’m not wolfless because of a mistake," I whisper. "I’m wolfless because I’m half-human."
Matilda’s voice is gentle. "The shifter gene is weak in human bloodlines. Some hybrids never shift. Some do; but not in the same way as normal wolves. That’s why such unions were forbidden. Hybrids are unpredictable. Too powerful. Too feared."
My heart pounds. "Where is he now?" I ask. "My real father. The human one. Where is he?"
My mother looks at my father, then back at me. Her voice trembles. "He’s gone, Kaida. He died years ago. He tried to use his dark magic to live forever, but it consumed him instead. He wanted power more than love, more than you, more than anything."
I feel like I can’t breathe. My real father was a man who used magic so dark it destroyed him. And my mother has carried that secret all these years.
"So you both lied to me," I say quietly. "You let me think I was broken. That I was nothing."
"No," my mother says quickly, stepping closer. "We wanted to protect you. To keep you safe from what people would say. If the pack knew you were half-human and that your father was a dark mage; they would have killed you."
My father’s voice is calm but heavy. "We thought it was kinder to let you believe you were wolfless. Safer than knowing the truth."
"Until he came," Dante says, glancing toward the dungeon. "A Northerner claiming you as his mate. A bond like that can’t form without power. That’s when we realized; you aren’t wolfless, Kaida. You’re something else. Something dangerous."
The word “hybrid” rings in my ears like a curse.
"You lied," I say again. My voice cracks. "You all lied."
My mother’s eyes fill with tears. "We did what we thought was right."
"That’s still a lie," I whisper.
The pain burns through me like fire. My heart feels too full, my head too heavy. The only person who might understand what I am is locked up below us, chained in the dark.
"Get out," I say suddenly.
"Kaida…"
"I said get out!"
They move. My voice carries a force I didn’t know I had. The air feels charged, like something inside me is waking.
Dante pauses at the door. "The Northerner is using you," he says quietly. "Don’t be fool enough to trust him."
I don’t answer. My hands tremble, but my eyes don’t leave his until he turns away.
My mother steps closer, her voice soft and broken. "Kaida, please understand. We did this because we love you."
"No," I say, shaking my head. "You did this because you were afraid. Afraid of what I am. Afraid of what people would say. You let me believe I was less because the truth scared you."
"That’s not true," she whispers.
"Isn’t it?" I move past her. "What would the pack do if they knew the truth? That my father was human; that he practiced black magic; that I’m a hybrid?"
She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t have to. We both know the answer. Execution. Exile. Or worse.
"That’s what I thought," I say.
And I walk away, not looking back. The world I knew has already fallen apart.
There’s only one place I need to go now. Only one person left who might tell me who I really am.
And I don’t care who tries to stop me.