His father returned from Seattle on a Thursday.
Kael was in the warehouse, reviewing the latest reports, when the door opened and Aldric Shadowbane walked in. The Alpha moved like a storm front—quiet, inevitable, impossible to ignore.
Theo scrambled to his feet. "Alpha. We weren't expecting you until—"
"Leave us."
Theo left. The door closed behind him. Kael remained seated, his hands flat on the desk.
His father crossed the room and sat in the chair opposite. He didn't speak immediately. He studied Kael with those pale eyes—the same amber color, but colder. Older.
"You've been busy," Aldric said.
"I've been doing my job."
"Your job is to monitor Council activity. Not to meet with a vampire in abandoned tunnels."
Kael's blood went cold. "How—"
"Mira. She followed you three nights ago. She's loyal to the pack, Kael. More loyal than you've been."
Mira. The one person he'd trusted. The one person who'd known him since he was a teenager.
"She told you everything."
"She told me enough. The vampire. The tunnels. The creature." Aldric leaned forward. "My grandmother's journals."
Kael didn't answer. His mind was racing. If his father knew about the journals, he knew about the binding ritual. He knew about the sacrifice.
"The vampire," Aldric continued. "Lyra Silvanus. Daughter of Cassius Silvanus. The same Cassius Silvanus who wrote to our family in 1847, begging for help."
"You knew about that."
"Of course I knew. It's our history. A vampire came to us with a warning, and we refused to listen. People died. Wolves died. And we blamed the vampires instead of facing the truth."
Kael stared at his father. "You knew. All this time. And you did nothing."
"I did what my father did. What his father did. I maintained the treaty. I kept the peace. I protected the pack."
"By lying."
Aldric's expression flickered. "By surviving. The treaty is fragile, Kael. One wrong move, one accusation, and we're back to the Blood Wars. I couldn't risk that."
"Even if it meant letting the creature hunt?"
"I didn't believe it was real." His father's voice was quieter now. "The journals. The old stories. I thought they were legends. Warnings from a more superstitious time. By the time I realized they weren't... it was easier to keep pretending."
Kael stood. He walked to the window and looked out at the gray Portland sky.
"You sent Mira to follow me."
"To protect you."
"To spy on me."
"Both." Aldric rose and joined him at the window. "Kael. I'm not your enemy. I'm your father. I've made mistakes. I've kept secrets. But everything I've done has been to keep you safe. To keep the pack safe."
"The creature is real. It's hunting. People are dying."
"I know. Mira told me what you found in the tunnels. The altar. The names." He paused. "The sacrifice."
Kael turned to face him. "If you try to stop us—"
"I'm not going to stop you." Aldric's voice was steady. "I'm going to help you."
The words hung in the air. Kael waited for the punchline. The condition. The betrayal.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because my grandmother was right. Because Cassius Silvanus was right. Because if I don't help you, I'm no better than the ancestors who refused to listen." He met Kael's eyes. "And because you're my son. If you're going to face this thing, I'm not letting you do it alone."
Kael didn't know what to say. His father—the Alpha who'd spent his life maintaining distance, enforcing the treaty, pretending the old threats didn't exist—was offering to help.
"The ritual requires a sacrifice," Kael said. "Someone has to give their name willingly."
"I know."
"I'm going to do it."
Aldric's expression didn't change. "I know that too."
"You're not going to try to stop me?"
"I want to. Every part of me wants to lock you in this warehouse and never let you leave. But that's not who you are. It's not who I raised you to be." He paused. "Your mother would be proud of you."
Kael's throat tightened. "You never talk about her."
"I know. I should have. I buried her death because it was easier than facing it. I'm done burying things."
They stood together at the window, father and son, watching the gray sky.
"We need to meet with Lyra and her father," Kael said. "All four of us. If we're going to do this, we do it together."
Aldric nodded slowly. "I'll make the call."