THEA'S POV
Magnus is kissing me.
His lips are on mine, fierce and desperate, and every coherent thought in my brain disappears. One of his hands cradles my face like I'm something precious. The other wraps around my waist, pulling me closer.
I should push him away. Should demand answers. Should be furious that he just said I'm "only a responsibility" and now he's kissing me like I'm the air he needs to breathe.
But I don't push him away.
Instead, I kiss him back.
It's nothing like the romance novels I've read in secret. This isn't soft or gentle. It's raw and consuming and feels like something breaking open inside both of us. Like we've been holding back a storm and it's finally been unleashed.
His wolf rumbles approvingly—I can feel the vibration in his chest. My own wolf, still so new and confusing, purrs in response.
Then Magnus jerks back like I've burned him.
"I shouldn't have done that," he rasps, stumbling backward. His silver eyes are wild, half-gold with his wolf rising. "Gods, I shouldn't have—"
"Why did you?" My voice is barely a whisper. My lips still tingle. "If I'm just a responsibility, why—"
"You're not." The confession bursts out of him. "You're not just anything, Thea. You're—" He stops himself, jaw clenching so hard I hear his teeth grind. "This was a mistake."
Each word is a knife in my chest.
"A mistake," I repeat flatly.
"Yes. No. I don't—" He runs both hands through his hair, looking more rattled than I've ever seen him. "Your father made me promise. Made me swear I'd protect you but never—" He gestures helplessly between us. "Never this."
"Never what? Never touch me? Never care about me? Never see me as anything but a duty?" Anger floods through me, hot and sharp. "What exactly did my father make you promise, Magnus?"
He won't meet my eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"It DOES matter! Everything about my life has been lies and secrets and people making decisions for me without telling me WHY!" I'm shouting now, weeks of frustration exploding out. "My father lied about my mother. About what I am. About everything! And now you're keeping secrets too? After you just KISSED me?"
"That kiss never should have happened."
"But it did! So either tell me the truth or—"
A howl splits the night.
We both freeze. That wasn't a normal wolf howl. That was a warning. A threat.
Magnus's phone buzzes. He checks it and his face goes deadly pale.
"What?" I demand. "What is it?"
"Cade. They've been attacked. Vesper's forces hit the safe house where my pack was hiding."
No. No, no, no—
"The survivors are scattering into the mountains," Magnus continues, his voice tight with barely controlled rage. "But Cade says..." He stops, reading the rest of the message. "Vesper left a message. She says if we don't show up at the mill in one hour—not three hours, ONE hour—she starts executing pack members. Starting with the children."
The world tilts.
"She moved up the timeline," I whisper. "Because you claimed me as your mate. Because now she knows I'm not just Dorian's daughter."
Magnus doesn't deny it. Just stares at his phone like he wants to crush it.
"Then we go now," I say, already moving toward the cabin. "We get my father and we—"
"It's a trap, Thea. She's counting on us rushing in unprepared."
"So what do we do? Let her kill children?" My voice cracks. "Let her torture my father?"
Magnus is silent for a long moment. Then he looks at me with an expression that makes my blood run cold.
"No," he says quietly. "We go. But we do it smart. And Thea..." He steps closer, cupping my face in both hands. "If things go wrong—if I tell you to run—you run. You don't look back. You don't try to save me. You just run and you survive. Promise me."
"I'm not promising that."
"PROMISE ME." His eyes flash full gold. It's an Alpha command, pressing down on me with physical weight.
But I'm Alpha-born too. And I'm done being told what to do.
"No," I say firmly, and I feel his command shatter against my own power. "We survive together or not at all."
Something flickers in his eyes—surprise, pride, fear, and something deeper I can't name.
"You're going to be the death of me," he mutters.
"Funny. I was thinking the same about you."
He almost smiles. Then his phone buzzes again.
This time it's a video message from Vesper.
Magnus hesitates, then plays it.
The video shows a dark basement. My father is chained to a wall, blood dripping from cuts on his face and arms. He looks twenty years older than the last time I saw him.
"Thea," he rasps to the camera. "Baby, if you're watching this... don't come. Whatever she's promised, it's a lie. She doesn't want to trade. She wants—"
A woman's voice off-camera: "Wants what, Dorian? Go ahead, tell her. Tell her what I really want."
"Don't," Father begs. "Please, Vesper. She doesn't need to know—"
"Oh, I think she does." Vesper steps into frame. She's even more beautiful and terrifying on video. "Tell her, or I start removing fingers."
Father closes his eyes. When he opens them, they're filled with tears.
"Thea... Vesper is your mother."
The world stops.
"What?" I breathe.
"I didn't die in childbirth, sweetling," Vesper purrs, stroking Father's hair mockingly. "I left. Dorian and I... we had a disagreement about what to do with you. He wanted to hide you, protect you, let you be normal. I wanted to train you, use your bloodline, make you the weapon you were born to be." She leans closer to the camera. "So he faked my death and ran. For twenty-three years, I've been searching for you. And now..." She smiles. "Now I have your father, I have leverage over Magnus's pack, and soon I'll have you. One hour, Thea. The old mill. Come alone with Magnus, or everyone dies."
The video ends.
I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't—
"She's lying," Magnus says immediately. "Your mother died. Dorian told me—"
"Dorian lied about everything else. Why not this?" My voice sounds hollow. Distant. "She looks like me. Same bone structure. Same eyes."
"That doesn't mean—"
"The text message. The one that said 'we'll finish what we started with your mother.' Magnus..." I look at him, horror dawning. "What if they weren't threatening to kill me like they killed my mother? What if they meant they'd finish what Vesper STARTED?"
Magnus's jaw tightens. "Even if she is your biological mother, she's a monster. She abandoned you. Tortured your father. Murdered my pack members. That woman is your enemy."
"I know." My hands are shaking. "But she's also the only person who can tell me the truth about what I am. About why my bloodline is so important. About—"
Another howl. Closer this time.
Magnus's head snaps up. "We're out of time. More rogues. They're tracking us."
"How many?"
"Too many." He grabs my hand. "We need to move. Now."
We run.
The forest is pitch black, but my new wolf senses guide me. I can smell the rogues behind us—at least a dozen. Can hear their paws pounding against the earth.
"They're herding us," Magnus growls. "Pushing us toward the mill."
"So we're walking into her trap anyway."
"Looks like it."
We burst out of the trees and there it is—an old abandoned mill beside a frozen river. Every window is dark. Silent. Wrong.
The rogues behind us stop at the tree line. Waiting. Watching.
"It's not too late to run," Magnus says quietly. "I can hold them off while you—"
"Together," I interrupt. "Remember?"
He looks at me for a long moment. Then, to my shock, he pulls me close and kisses me again. Softer this time. Almost gentle.
"If we survive this," he murmurs against my lips, "I'm telling you everything. Every secret. Every truth your father made me hide. No more lies."
"And if we don't survive?"
"Then at least I got to kiss you twice."
Despite everything, I almost laugh.
We walk toward the mill hand in hand.
The door opens before we reach it.
Vesper stands in the doorway, backlit by firelight from inside. She's changed into tactical gear—leather and weapons. Ready for war.
"My daughter," she says warmly. "You're even more beautiful than I remembered. You have your father's courage but my power. Perfect."
"Where is he?" I demand. "Where's my father?"
"Inside. Alive. For now." She steps aside, gesturing for us to enter. "Come in, both of you. We have so much to discuss. Like why Dorian really made Magnus promise never to claim you." Her smile is pure venom. "Did he tell you yet, Magnus? Did you tell her that she's not just your mate?"
Magnus goes rigid beside me.
"What is she talking about?" I ask him.
He won't look at me.
"Oh, this is delicious," Vesper laughs. "He didn't tell you. Dorian, you magnificent bastard, you kept that secret too."
"Tell me WHAT?" I shout.
Vesper's eyes gleam with malicious joy.
"You're not just Magnus's fated mate, darling. You're his TRUE mate. The one. The only. The mate whose death would kill him. The mate whose rejection would destroy his wolf. The mate who, if claimed, would make Magnus the most powerful Alpha in history." She pauses. "And the mate who, according to ancient prophecy, will either save the werewolf race... or end it entirely."