Sable POV
"My father is dead."
The words come out automatic. Rehearsed. I've said them a thousand times over fifteen years.
But Vesper's face says otherwise.
"He's very much alive," she insists. "And he's demanding to see you. Now."
My legs give out. I sit down hard on the bed, mind spinning. Dad died when I was nine. Heart failure, they said. I watched them lower his coffin into the ground. Cried at his funeral while Maris held my hand and whispered false comfort.
"This is a trick," I say. "Corvin sent someone to pretend—"
"It's him." Calix's voice cuts through my panic. "I know Stellan Thorne. Met him once, before my exile. That's him at the gates."
Before his exile. Seven years ago. That would make it eight years after Dad supposedly died.
"You met my dead father," I say slowly, "eight years after he died."
Calix nods. "He faked his death. Went into hiding with a small army of loyalists. I didn't know why at the time. But now..." His eye fixes on me. "Now it makes sense. He was protecting you."
"Protecting me? By abandoning me?" Anger surges hot and fierce. "I was nine years old! Maris tortured me for fifteen years while he was hiding somewhere playing soldier!"
"Maybe he didn't have a choice," Vesper suggests quietly.
"There's always a choice!" I'm on my feet now, shaking. "He chose to leave me. Let Maris give me this scar—" I touch my cheek, "—feed me poison, suppress my wolf, destroy my life! Where was his protection then?"
The room falls silent.
Calix moves toward the window. "He's not leaving. Says he'll burn the fortress down if we don't bring you to him."
"Good. Let him burn it." I cross my arms. "I don't want to see him."
"Sable—"
"No!" The force of my shout surprises even me. "I just lost my pup. I just found out everything I knew was a lie. I just rejected a mate bond and agreed to a revenge plan with a stranger. I can't—I can't handle a dead father coming back to life right now!"
Vesper exchanges a look with Calix. He nods slightly.
"Then I'll tell him to leave," Calix says.
"Wait." The word escapes before I can stop it.
Calix pauses.
I hate myself for it, but I have to know. "Why now? Why come for me now and not fifteen years ago?"
"Only one way to find out." Calix extends his hand. "Come with me. You don't have to forgive him. Just hear what he has to say."
My hand hovers over his. Every instinct screams to refuse. To hide in this room and pretend the world doesn't exist.
But I'm done hiding. Done being the scared, wolfless girl everyone pitied.
I take his hand.
Vesper leads us through stone corridors. The fortress is massive—carved directly into cliff rock. Torches line the walls. Wolves bow their heads as we pass. Not to me. To Calix.
The Rogue King.
I still don't understand what that means. But these wolves respect him. Some look at him with something close to worship.
We reach a massive door. Two guards pull it open.
The room beyond is some kind of throne room. But instead of one throne, there are two. Equal height. Equal grandeur.
Partners, not ruler and subject.
I file that detail away for later.
Right now, all my attention is on the man standing in the center of the room.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair shot through with silver now. Storm-grey eyes exactly like mine.
Stellan Thorne.
My father.
Alive.
He looks older than I remember. Lines crease his face. Scars mark his arms. But it's him. Undeniably, impossibly him.
"Sable." My name breaks on his lips. His eyes shine with tears. "My little girl."
Fifteen years of abandonment crystallize into pure rage.
"Don't." I hold up one hand. "Don't you dare call me that."
He flinches like I've struck him. "I know you're angry—"
"Angry?" I laugh, and it sounds unhinged. "I'm not angry. I'm furious. I'm destroyed. I mourned you! I cried at your funeral while Maris gave me this—" I point at my scar, "—and told me it was my fault for being weak!"
"I know. I'm so sorry—"
"Sorry?" My voice rises. "You let me think I was alone. Let me believe I was worthless. Let Corvin use me and Maris poison me and everyone treat me like garbage! Where were you?"
"Keeping you alive!" His shout matches mine. "Maris wanted you dead, Sable. From the moment you were born. The only reason she married me was to get close to you. To kill the last Nightborn heir!"
The room spins.
"What?"
Stellan takes a step closer. Calix tenses beside me but doesn't interfere.
"Your mother—your real mother, Vivianne—she was pure Nightborn royalty. The last of her line. When you were born, you inherited everything. The power. The bloodline. The ability to challenge any Alpha in the world." His voice cracks. "Maris found out. She's part of an organization that's been hunting Nightborn wolves for centuries. They want our power extinct."
"So you faked your death and ran away?" I can't process this. Can't make it make sense.
"I faked my death because they poisoned me. Nearly succeeded in killing me." He pulls up his shirt. A massive scar crosses his chest—right over his heart. "Maris tried to murder me in my sleep. I barely survived. My Beta—your godfather, Roran—got me out. We've been building an army ever since. Gathering wolves who hate what the packs have become. Planning to come back and end Maris."
"Fifteen years," I whisper. "It took you fifteen years?"
"I tried to come back sooner! Every year I tried!" His voice breaks completely now. "But Maris had you so closely watched. Every time I got close, she'd threaten to kill you if I didn't back off. She kept you as her hostage. Her insurance policy against me."
Something in my chest cracks. "She told me you died of heart failure. That you were weak."
"I let her tell you that. Let you hate me. Let you think I abandoned you." Tears stream down his face now. "Because you being angry at a dead father kept you safe. If you'd known I was alive, if you'd tried to find me, she would have killed you."
"She tried to kill me anyway," I say flatly. "Poisoned me for years. Suppressed my wolf. Let Corvin destroy me."
"I know. And the moment you were exiled—the moment she no longer had eyes on you—I came." He gestures to the army outside. "I'm here now. I'm here to take you home."
"I don't have a home."
"Then come with me. Let me protect you like I should have from the beginning."
I look at him. This stranger wearing my father's face. Offering protection fifteen years too late.
Then I look at Calix. The Rogue King who saved me. Who offered me partnership and revenge.
Two choices. Two paths.
"I—"
The wall explodes inward.
Stone and debris fly everywhere. Calix shoves me behind him as the room fills with dust and screams.
When the dust clears, figures stand in the ruined wall.
Wolves. Dozens of them. Led by someone I recognize instantly.
Corvin.
And beside him, smiling like a viper, is Maris.
"Hello, Sable darling," Maris purrs. "Did you really think we'd let you escape that easily?"
Corvin's eyes find mine. "You're coming home. Now."
My father snarls, shifting partially. "Over my dead body."
"That," Maris says, pulling out a silver dagger, "can be arranged. Again."
She moves faster than anyone expects. Faster than she should be able to.
The dagger plunges toward my father's heart.
Time slows.
I see it happening. See him about to die. Again. For real this time.
And something inside me snaps.
Power explodes outward from my body. Raw. Ancient. Terrifying.
The Nightborn bloodline, fully awakening.
The dagger stops inches from my father's chest. Frozen in mid-air by invisible force.
Everyone stares at me.
My eyes are glowing violet. I can feel it. Feel the power coursing through my veins like liquid lightning.
"Nobody," I say, and my voice echoes with otherworldly resonance, "touches my father."
The dagger turns in mid-air.
Points at Maris's throat.
"Impossible," she breathes. "You're suppressed. You can't—"
"I was suppressed." The dagger moves closer to her throat. "Not anymore."
Corvin shifts, lunging toward me.
Calix intercepts him mid-leap. They crash into the wall, already tearing at each other.
My father's army pours through the broken wall, clashing with Corvin's wolves.
The throne room becomes a battlefield.
And I stand in the center, dagger hovering at Maris's throat, power singing in my blood.
"Now," I say softly. "You're going to tell me everything. Every lie. Every secret. Every reason you destroyed my life."
"Or what?" Maris spits. "You'll kill me? You're too soft. Too broken—"
The dagger cuts a thin line across her throat. Not deep. Just enough to draw blood.
"Try me," I whisper.
Maris's eyes widen with genuine fear.
Good.
Behind me, Corvin screams. I turn to see Calix's claws at his throat.
Two enemies. Both helpless.
Finally.
Then the floor beneath us cracks.
No—not cracks. Opens.
A trapdoor I didn't know existed.
Hands reach up from below. Strong hands. Too many to fight.
They grab Maris first. Pull her down into darkness. The dagger clatters to the floor.
"No!" I lunge for her but more hands grab me.
Not enemy hands.
Ally hands.
Someone in black tactical gear hauls me backward. "Get the girl out! Now!"
"Let me go!" I fight but they're too strong.
Calix is dragged away from Corvin by similar figures.
My father shouts orders, trying to reach me.
But the room is chaos. Complete chaos.
The last thing I see before they pull me into a hidden passage is Corvin's face.
Bloody. Beaten.
And smiling.
"This isn't over, Sable!" he calls. "You're mine! You'll always be mine!"
The passage door slams shut.
Cutting off his voice.
Cutting off the battle.
Leaving me in darkness with strangers.
One of them removes their mask.
A woman. Maybe forty. With eyes like ice and a smile that promises violence.
"Hello, Sable Thorne," she says. "We've been looking for you for a very long time."
"Who are you?"
Her smile widens.
"We're the Nightborn Council. And you, darling, are coming with us."