Chapter 149
FLÄNA
The door to my father’s study was already cracked open.
I paused outside anyway, hand resting against the worn wood. It had been years since I’d knocked to enter this room–back then, I’d always been too eager to be invited inside, too desperate to sit across from him and feel like he was proud of something I’d done,
Now? I didn’t even know what I’d say once I stepped in.
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But Mason wasn’t going to come. And someone had to.
I pushed the door open gently,
He was seated behind the broad oak desk, the same one he’d used since I was a child, though the surface was clearer now. Fewer books. Fewer papers.
Just a crystal tumbler of something amber he hadn’t touched, and a framed photo of the four of us–me and Mason standing between our parents, all dressed in formal wear from some long–forgotten ceremony. I couldn’t remember what it had been for. Maybe an alliance gala, or a naming day for someone in the pack.
We were all smiling in the photo, a happy family.
My father didn’t look up when I stepped inside. Just stared down at the glass like he was trying to decide if drinking it would make any of this easier to swallow.
“I knocked,” I said softly. “You just didn’t hear it.”
His eyes lifted slowly, the weight behind them heavier than I expected.
The years had been good to him in some ways–his shoulders were still broad, his jaw still sharp–but there were, new lines around his mouth, deeper ones at the corners of his eyes.
He looked like a man who had been fighting an invisible battle with no victories, and no clean losses either. Just the slow erosion of certainty.
“I thought it might be you,” he said finally, “Mason won’t look at me. And my little girl…” His voice cracked faintly, almost too quiet to catch. “Looked like she wanted to take my head off.”
I stepped fully into the room, letting the door close behind the. “I’ve been training.” I said, trying to soften the moment. “You should be grateful I didn’t.”
That earned a huff of a laugh. Dry. Tired. But real.
“You used to run into this office just to tell me when you lost a tooth,” he said, shaking his head. “Now you walk in like a general reporting for duty.”
“Some things change.”
“And some things shouldn’t have to.”
I circled around the desk and leaned down, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. He sat stiffly at first, like he wasn’t sure how to receive it. Then he let out a long breath and lifted a hand to pat mine–awkward, uncertain But it was something.
Chapter 149
+25 BONUS
“I still love you,” I said softly into his ear. “Even when I disagree with you.” Hetet that sit between us, like he wasn’t sure he believed Or deserved it.
“I don’t like being at odds with my children,” he said finally, his volce rough. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I raised you to be loyal. Steady. I thought-“He cut himself off, jaw flexing.
“You thought we’d follow in your footsteps,” I finished for him.
“I thought I could protect you both by making sure your futures were… already decided. Safe, Clean.”
Istraightened up, settling onto the edge of the desk beside him.
“No one plans for the Moon Goddess to mess up their neat little dynasties,” I said gently.
He gave a humorless chuckle. “That’s the trouble with the divine. They rarely ask permission.”
I took a deep breath and looked at him.
“I think sometimes the things we try hardest to control are the ones we’re least meant to.”
He didn’t respond to that. Just looked at the photo on his desk again.
After a beat, he asked, “Do you really think this rogue of Mason’s is good enough for him?”
I didn’t have to think. “She helped save my life,” I said simply. “But honestly? That’s a conversation you should be having with Mason. Not me.
