Chapter 16 The Father (Brynn POV)
My grandmother came through surgery at 2:47 AM.
Dr. Singh found us in the waiting room Harper asleep with her head on my shoulder, Jaxon pacing near the windows like a caged animal. I'd been staring at the wall for hours, too wired to sleep, too exhausted to do anything else.
"The surgery was successful," Dr. Singh said, and I felt something in my chest unclench. "We placed two stents to keep the artery open. She'll need to stay in ICU for monitoring, but her prognosis is good."
"Can I see her?"
"She's still sedated from anesthesia. We'll move her to a room in a few hours, and you can visit then." She checked her tablet. "Mr. Calloway's flight lands at six. He asked that you wait for him before seeing her."
My father. Making requests about my grandmother. About my life. Like he had any right after twelve years of absence.
"I'll wait," I said, because arguing with a doctor at three in the morning seemed pointless.
Dr. Singh left, and I gently shook Harper awake. "Surgery's done. She's okay."
"Thank God." Harper stretched, her neck cracking. "What time is it?"
"Almost three."
"Your dad lands in three hours." She pulled out her phone, checking messages. "I should call the Keeper network, update them on your grandmother's condition."
"Do you have to?"
"It's protocol. Family medical emergencies get reported, especially when they involve someone as connected as your grandmother." She stood, gathering her things. "I'll step outside to make the call. Give you and Jaxon some privacy."
She left before I could protest that I didn't want privacy with Jaxon. Didn't want to sit alone with the boy who'd admitted our mate bond made him lie to his Alpha, the boy whose father had murdered my mother.
Jaxon stopped pacing and sat in the chair Harper had vacated. For a while, neither of us spoke.
"You should eat something," he said finally. "The cafeteria opens at five."
"I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten since lunch yesterday. And with the full moon in" he checked his watch, "thirty-eight hours, you need to keep your strength up."
Thirty-eight hours. The number felt both too close and impossibly far away.
"How do you do it?" I asked. "Live with the countdown always in your head?"
"Practice. I've been tracking moon cycles since I was eight." He leaned back, exhaustion evident in the lines around his eyes. "You get used to planning your life in lunar increments."
"That sounds terrible."
"It's just reality. Like knowing you need to sleep or eat or breathe." He turned to look at me. "It'll become second nature eventually."
"If I survive that long."
"You will." No hesitation, no doubt. "You're stronger than you think, Brynn."
"Everyone keeps saying that. My grandmother, Harper, you. But I don't feel strong. I feel like I'm barely holding it together."
"That's what strength looks like sometimes. Holding it together when everything's falling apart." He reached over, his hand hovering near mine but not quite touching. "You're allowed to be scared."
"What if I can't control it? The transformation?" The fear I'd been suppressing for days finally escaped. "What if I hurt someone? What if I become exactly what everyone thinks Bloodrose wolves are dangerous, unstable, better off dead?"
"Then I'll be there to stop you." Simple. Direct. "That's what pack is for. We help each other through the hard parts."
"I'm not pack. I'm the enemy your pack has been hunting for two hundred years."
"You're my mate. That makes you pack to me, whether my father agrees or not." His hand finally closed over mine, warm and solid. "And I'm not going to let you face this alone."
I wanted to pull away, to maintain the anger and distance that felt safer than trusting him. But I was so tired, and his hand was warm, and for just a moment I let myself believe someone was on my side.
The moment shattered when Harper returned, her expression grim.
"The Keeper network is sending a representative," she said. "They want to interview your grandmother about the security breach someone accessing classified information about your family history. They'll be here by this afternoon."
"Great. More complications." I released Jaxon's hand. "Anyone else planning to show up? The Council? The Steelclaws? Maybe we can have a supernatural convention right here in the ICU."
"Brynn"
"I'm going for a walk." I stood abruptly. "I need air."
I left before either of them could stop me, pushing through the hospital's automatic doors into the pre-dawn darkness. The parking lot was mostly empty, a few cars scattered under flickering streetlights. I walked to the far edge, where a small garden had been planted for visitors who needed escape.
Sat on a bench and finally let myself cry.
For my grandmother, fighting for her life upstairs. For my mother, dead twelve years because she'd protected me. For the normal life I'd never have again. For the impossible situation that seemed to have no good solutions.
I don't know how long I sat there before I heard footsteps.
"You shouldn't be out here alone." Jaxon's voice, quiet and careful. "It's not safe."
"Nothing's safe anymore."
He sat beside me, keeping a respectful distance. "Harper's worried. She thinks you might bolt."
"The thought crossed my mind." I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "Just get in a car and drive. Keep driving until I'm somewhere the blood debt can't reach me."
"There's nowhere that far. Supernatural law extends everywhere wolves exist." He paused. "But I'd understand if you tried. Running is a reasonable response to impossible situations."
"Would you come after me?"
"Probably. Not to bring you back, but to make sure you survived." He looked at the sky, where stars were fading as dawn approached. "The mate bond is inconvenient that way. I'd always know roughly where you were, always feel pulled to follow."
"What if I don't want to be followed?"
"Then I'd try to respect that. Try being the operative word." A wry smile. "I can't promise I'd succeed."
We sat in silence as the sky gradually lightened. Birds started singing, oblivious to supernatural drama and blood debts and the impossible deadline ticking in my head.
"My father's going to hate you," I said finally.
"Probably."
"He's going to see you and immediately know you're Steelclaw. Know you're Alpha Hale's son. Know you're connected to my mother's death." I looked at him. "He might try to kill you."
"Then you'll have to convince him not to." Jaxon's tone was light, but I saw tension in his shoulders. "Though I admit, facing a Council member who has every reason to want me dead wasn't on my list of preferred Thursday morning activities."
"You could leave. Go back to campus before he gets here."
"I could." He met my gaze. "But I'm not going to."
"Why not?"
"Because you shouldn't have to face him alone. Because I told you I'd help you, and I meant it." He stood, offering his hand. "Come on. Sun's almost up. We should get back inside before Harper sends a search party."
I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. We walked back to the hospital as dawn broke over the mountains, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink that would have been beautiful if I wasn't dreading what came next.
The waiting room had a few more people now early morning visitors, shift change for hospital staff. Harper was talking quietly with a nurse, but looked relieved when she saw us.
"Your dad's plane landed early," she said. "He texted the hospital. He'll be here in twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes to prepare for a reunion with a father I'd thought was dead. Twenty minutes to figure out what to say to the man who'd abandoned me, who'd let me think I was an orphan, who'd chosen Council duty over his own daughter.
I couldn't do this.
"I need coffee," I announced. "Really bad hospital coffee that tastes like regret."
Harper pointed toward the cafeteria. "I'll come with"
"No. I need a minute alone." I looked at them both. "Please."
They exchanged glances but didn't argue. I headed to the cafeteria, grateful for even a brief reprieve.
The coffee was exactly as terrible as I'd hoped burnt and bitter and strong enough to strip paint. I was carrying it back to the waiting room when I saw him.
Standing at the reception desk, talking to a nurse. Tall, dark hair graying at the temples, wearing a suit that looked expensive even from a distance. He moved with the careful control of someone who'd learned to hide what he was from humans.
My father.
Thomas Calloway.
Alive.
I must have made a sound because he turned, and our eyes met across the lobby.
For a moment, neither of us moved. We just stared at each other two strangers connected by blood and abandonment and twelve years of silence.
Then he started walking toward me, and I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but stand there with terrible coffee and watch the ghost of my father become real.
"Brynn." My name came out rough, like he hadn't said it in years. "You've grown so much."
"You left." The words came out flat, emotionless. "You left when I was five and you let me think you were dead."
"I know." He stopped a few feet away, keeping distance like he knew I might bolt. "I know how it looks. How it felt. But I can explain"
"Can you?" I set the coffee down on a nearby table before I threw it at him. "Can you explain twelve years of silence? Twelve years of birthday cards you didn't send, school events you didn't attend, nights I cried myself to sleep because I thought both my parents were dead?"
"Brynn, please"
"You don't get to 'please' me." Anger was building, hot and dangerous, and I felt my wolf stirring beneath my skin. "You don't get to show up after twelve years and expect me to understand. To forgive."
"I don't expect forgiveness." His voice was quiet but steady. "I expect anger. Rage. Hatred, even. You've earned all of that and more."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because my mother had a heart attack and my daughter was at the hospital alone." He took a careful step closer. "Because despite everything, despite the choices I made and the pain they caused, you're still my daughter. And I needed to make sure you were safe."
"Safe?" I almost laughed. "I'm about as far from safe as possible. The Steelclaws found me. The blood debt is active. I'm thirty-six hours from my first transformation with barely any training. Safe is not a word that applies to my life anymore."
His expression shifted surprise, concern, fear. "You know. About everything."
"Grandmother told me. Right before the stress of trying to protect me from your pack's vendetta gave her a heart attack."
"My pack?" Confusion crossed his face. "Brynn, I'm not Steelclaw. I'm Council."
"You were Steelclaw once. Before you joined the Council." I gestured toward the waiting room. "Before you abandoned your family to work within the system. Before you let your daughter grow up thinking she was an orphan while you played politics in Washington."
"I left to protect you"
"Everyone keeps saying that!" My voice rose, drawing stares from other people in the lobby. "Everyone has an excuse for lying to me. For hiding the truth. For making choices about my life without consulting me. Well, I'm done being protected. I'm done being kept in the dark."
"Brynn, if you'll just let me explain"
"Explain what? That you faked your death to throw off Steelclaw investigators? That you've been working to change blood debt laws while your daughter lived in fear of discovery? Grandmother already told me everything."
"She told you what she knows. But there's more"
A voice cut through our argument. "Brynn? Everything okay?"
I turned to see Jaxon standing a few feet away, his posture carefully neutral but his eyes alert. Ready to intervene if needed.
My father's gaze snapped to Jaxon, and I saw the exact moment recognition hit.
"You." The word was barely a whisper. "You're Alpha Hale's son."
Jaxon stood straighter, meeting my father's gaze without flinching. "Yes, sir."
"What are you doing with my daughter?"
"I'm her wellness buddy. School-assigned peer support program."
"Don't lie to me, boy. I can smell the mate bond from here." My father's voice dropped to something dangerous. "How long has this been active?"
"Since the assembly. When her suppressants broke."
"And you didn't report it? Didn't tell your Alpha you'd found his blood debt claim?" My father took a step toward Jaxon, and I saw his hands clench. "What game are you playing?"
"No game. Just trying to keep her alive long enough to find a solution that doesn't end with her death or servitude." Jaxon held his ground. "Which is more than your Council has done."
The air between them crackled with tension. Two wolves from different worlds, both claiming to protect me, neither trusting the other.
"Stop." I moved between them. "Both of you, just stop. I don't need you fighting over who gets to save me. I need"
I didn't know what I needed. Answers. Sleep. For this nightmare to be over.
"You need to come home with me," my father said. "Right now. Before this situation gets any worse."
"I can't leave campus. I have medical watch, midterms, a whole life here"
"None of that matters if the Steelclaws claim you." He looked at Jaxon. "And they will claim you. The moment Alpha Hale confirms your identity, he'll enforce the blood debt. Ten years of servitude at minimum. More likely execution as an example to any other Bloodrose who might still be in hiding."
"I know what the blood debt says"
"Do you know what it means?" My father's voice was urgent now. "Do you understand what ten years of servitude actually entails? It's not maid service, Brynn. It's complete subjugation. Your will, your body, your life all of it belonging to the Steelclaw Alpha. Whatever he commands, you must obey. Whatever he wants from you, you must give."
The words sent ice through my veins. Jaxon's expression had gone carefully blank, but I saw shame flicker behind his eyes.
"That's the law you've been working to change?" I asked my father.
"For twelve years. But the Council moves slowly, and blood debts have supporters who believe in traditional pack hierarchy." He ran a hand through his hair. "I was close to getting enough votes for reform. Then you surfaced, and everything accelerated."
"Because now there's an active case. An actual Bloodrose they can make an example of." Understanding clicked into place. "You weren't just trying to change the law. You were trying to change it before they found me."
"Yes." The admission seemed to cost him. "I failed. And now you're here, exposed, with Alpha Hale's son standing guard and the full moon thirty-six hours away. Everything I worked for, everything your mother died for it's all falling apart."
He looked at Jaxon with something between pity and contempt. "And you. Do you actually think you can protect her? That mate bonds override pack loyalty when your Alpha commands?"
"I don't know," Jaxon said quietly. "But I'm going to try."
"Try isn't good enough. Not when my daughter's life is at stake." My father turned back to me. "Come with me. Now. I have safe houses, resources, Council protection. We can hide you until"
"Until what? The blood debt doesn't expire. Running just delays the inevitable." I shook my head. "Besides, I can't run. Not with the full moon this close. I need to transform somewhere secure, with people who can help me if I lose control."
"I can arrange that"
"No." The word came out firm, final. "I'm not running anymore. I'm not hiding. I'm going to face this head-on, whatever happens."
My father looked like I'd slapped him. "You sound just like your mother."
"Good." I met his gaze. "Because from what I've heard, she was brave enough to face impossible odds. Brave enough to die protecting what mattered. I'd rather be like her than like someone who hid for twelve years."
The words were cruel, and I saw them land. But I didn't take them back.
"We should check on your grandmother," Jaxon said quietly, breaking the tense silence. "Visiting hours start soon."
My father and I stared at each other for another long moment. Then he nodded.
"After," he said. "After we see her, we talk. Really talk. All of us." He looked at Jaxon. "Including you, Alpha Hale's son. Because if you're truly mated to my daughter, your choices affect her fate. And I need to know if you're an ally or a threat."
"Fair enough," Jaxon said.
We headed to the ICU together daughter, absent father, and the son of her mother's killer. A family reunion that would have been comedy if it wasn't tragedy.
And somewhere, a clock was ticking down to the full moon.