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“Dammit,” I muttered quietly. “I’ll let Ridge know what’s going on.” I sent my thoughts through the bond.“Ridge, we’re here.”I struggled to keep my thoughts steady. If I let him sense my fear now, he would demand I go back.“Everything’s fine sofar. Kyle believes they have a show of force here, with the main militia positioned around Blackwood Creek.”
“I’ll let our patrols know. Please be careful.”His response was filled with concern, and I sensed his fear for my safety.“I’m right at the edge of Blackwood Creek with Dean. If anything goes sideways, just say the word, and we’ll be there in an instant.”
“Thanks, Ridge.”
The gas station had undergone such a transformation that it no longer resembled the lively roadside I knew it to be. Though the neon lights still flickered in the darkness, the hunters had cleared it out, leaving behind an eerie emptiness that made my skin crawl. Groups of them stood around, weapons at the ready, waiting for orders from William, who perched on the front counter like some twisted king surveying his kingdom.
I spotted a young boy tied up in the corner. Camila’s brother Marcos. My anger was a living thing inside me.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said to Kyle as we stepped inside, bracing myself for whatever lay ahead.
The moment we stepped into the gas station, dread washed over me. The tension clung to my skin, and the silence was so deafening that it made my ears ring.
I forced myself to focus on William as we walked forward. It had been years since I’d seen him, and time hadn’t been kind to him. His once-strong frame was now stooped, and lines were etched into his face like deep ravines. This wasn’t the man of my childhood who had carried me on his back when I was tired, or watched Disney movies with me because I was sick and Mom had to go to work. This was a bitter, hateful stranger.
“Ah, Victoria. Kyle.” He scanned us with icy indifference. “You both look so much like Heather.” For a second, I thought I caught a hint of warmth in his voice, but it vanished as quicklyas it had appeared. “It makes me sick,” he spat out. “I can’t stand being reminded of her.”
Confusion swirled within me. When I’d run away from home, William had constantly invoked our mother’s memory, using her tragic death as motivation for our hunter training. Now, his grief had twisted into something far uglier, fueled by the knowledge of Heather’s affair with a shifter. It seemed that even her memory was tainted for him now.
I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, fighting to keep my emotions in check. My eyes locked with William’s, searching for any hint of the man I’d once known.
“We came here like you asked.” My voice was steady despite the turmoil raging inside me. “So why don’t you tell us why we’re here? If you hate us so much, why even call this meeting?”
For a moment, it seemed my words didn’t have any effect on him. Then something shifted in his expression, and I saw a glimmer of vulnerability flash across his face. “I don’t hate you.” His whole demeanor appeared to change, and he looked small and vulnerable. “I hate what you’ve chosen to be. Victoria, you’ve allowed yourself to become a mindless, unnatural monster.” He looked at Kyle. “And you. My son, my firstborn, the child who should carry on my legacy, you’ve turned your back on everything our family has fought for over generations to stand with the monsters!” He paused, gathering strength. “But I don’t hate you. In fact, I called you here today to offer you one last chance to put all of this behind us so we can be a family again once the mission is complete.”
I felt an ache deep in my heart. I glanced over at Kyle, who looked just as conflicted as me. We both knew that no matter how much we might want to salvage a relationship with the man who had raised us, there was no going back to the way things used to be.
“William,” I uttered gently, trying to express both understanding and sympathy in my tone, “there’s no way we can go back to being a family after all of this. The choices we’ve made, the lives we’ve led...they’ve changed us. We’re not the same people anymore.”
Kyle’s scoff echoed through the small gas station, disbelief etched across his face. “You can’t seriously think that’s possible.” He shook his head at William. “Our lives have been a mess ever since Mom died, and you want to just pretend like everything’s fine?”
“Enough!” William barked, his eyes flashing with anger. “Don’t talk about her. This isn’t about her; it’s about moving on.”
A heavy silence settled over the room as the two men, both stubborn and hurt in their own ways, stared at each other. It was hard to believe that they’d once been so close, a father and son united in their grief and their purpose. Now, standing on opposite sides of a war neither of them truly understood, all I saw was the pain and bitterness that had driven them apart.
“I’ve spent my whole life hunting these creatures, trying to protect humans from the monsters that walk among us,” William said. “Now, we’re closer than ever to wiping out the last of the wolf shifters.” He paused, his gaze flickering between Kyle and me. “But I’ve also been thinking about what happens after that. What kind of life do I want for us?” He looked at me, and for a moment, it was almost as if he was seeing me as his daughter again, not the enemy he’d spent years hunting. “I want the three of us to be a family again. To move back to Colorado, live normal lives, forget about all this. We can do that once the monsters have been eliminated. Once I know you’re safe.”
I swallowed hard, my chest tightening with emotion. Part of me longed for the simplicity and safety of the life he was offering, a life where we could all be together, free from the fear and violence that had come to define us. But I knew it was merelya figment of his imagination, a fabrication he had concocted to rationalize the atrocious acts he had committed.
“William,” I calmly stated, ensuring that my tone remained non-confrontational, “you can’t go back. Too much has changed, too many lives have been lost. Even if we could somehow forget about all this and start over, what kind of life would that be? Living in fear and denial, pretending we don’t know the truth about shifters? Is that really the kind of future you want for us?” I struggled to keep my temper in check. “A life built on lies and bloodshed?”
His eyes, brimming with a combination of sadness and anger, were fixated on me. Hidden beneath his twisted exterior was a man who had suffered the loss of everything he cherished, and now he found himself struggling to come to terms with the harsh reality that his life’s purpose would ultimately leave him with nothing. This last-ditch effort to regain some semblance of happiness was born from the realization that once he’d completed the hunters’ ultimate goal, he’d be left empty and alone. None of his soldiers would stay with him. Once this was over, if they unleashed their cure, there would be no fight left. They would leave William and have families of their own. He would be left with no one. He’d lost his wife, and now he knew he’d lost his children.
With desperation in my heart, I tried to reach out to the man who had once been my father. “Don’t you see, William? This path you’ve chosen...it’s not going to bring you any happiness. You’re just hurting yourself, and you’re taking everyone around you down, too.”
He shot me a cold glare. “You don’t know anything about what I want or what will make me happy.”
“Maybe not,” I agreed, watching him closely. His emotions were stretched tighter than a drum. “But I do know that yourobsession with killing shifters won’t give you the peace you’re searching for.”
In that moment, Ridge’s concern and anxiety came through our mating bond.“Are you okay? What’s happening?”
I forced an outward smile even though Ridge couldn’t see it.“We’re fine, Ridge. Just talking with William. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Look, Dad.” Kyle’s voice was strained as he tried to keep his anger in check. “We all want to move on from this life. We can’t just pretend that nothing happened, that innocent people didn’t die because of what we were taught to believe.”
“Enough!” William snarled, his face contorting with fury. “You two have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re so blinded by your love for these monsters that you can’t even see the truth anymore.”
“William, please,” I pleaded. “Just take a step back and think about what you’re doing. There’s still time to change, to make things right.”
