Kael’s POV
After the al and a courteous exchange of conversation, I accompanied Alpha Gerald to his private study. I left Eira in the care of Luna Iris.
The other four remained with Evan, and Raven stayed with them, though I knew my brothers would still keep a quiet watch over Eira.
The study was lavish yet dignified. Dark polished wood lined the walls, and tall shelves filled with ancient volus rose toward the ceiling. A large desk stood near the far wall, while a finely carved wooden couch was placed opposite his high backrest chair.
"Please, have a seat," Alpha Gerald gestured.
I did.
He settled across from , composed and observant.
"I believe your family is having a pleasant ti here," he began.
I inclined my head. "It appears so. My mate is already intrigued by the place. I fear she may wish to extend her stay."
A faint smile touched his lips. "If she chooses to remain, she will be welcod. We would ensure she is treated and cared for like royalty."
"That is precisely what she deserves," I said evenly, eting his gaze. "To be treated as royalty."
A asured silence passed between us.
"Alpha Kael," he continued after a mont, "do you rember your last visit here?"
"I do," I replied. "My reaction was likely similar to my son’s. The place leaves a lasting impression."
He nodded slowly. "That is also the last clear mory I have of your childhood. Even then, I knew the kind of Alpha you would beco. I told your father that I envied him for having a son like you."
"After having a son like Evan," I said calmly, "I believe there is no longer any reason for envy."
"Certainly," he agreed. "He will be a better leader than I am. He has inherited compassion from his mother."
I offered a light nod.
Then his tone shifted. "But before Evan, we had another child."
I held his gaze, saying nothing.
"I do not know if you rember," he continued, "but when you visited us that year, my mate was expecting. She was only a day away from giving birth. That evening, when both our families dined together, you were allowed to touch her belly when the baby was troubling my mate due to strong movents."
"I rember," I said quietly. "It was the first ti I felt life move beneath my palm."
"My mate told the child responded most actively to your touch."
"Perhaps the child felt a connection with ," I replied carefully.
"It did," he said without hesitation. "And had we not lost that child, you would have been connected to our family long back."
There was regret in his eyes. Not weakness. But a father’s grief that had never truly faded.
I allowed silence to linger, giving him space.
Then I spoke.
"For so ti now, I have been investigating the disappearance of children born to Alpha families over the past two decades. Among those records, there was ntion of your first child."
He gave a quiet hum, neither confirming nor denying.
"A report states that the HollowCrest heir, Alpha Gerald’s first child, went missing." I emphasised the final word. "A son."
He humd again.
"Was it truly a son?" I asked directly.
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"Will it help you in so way if I tell you it was a daughter?" he countered.
"Certainly," I said with confidence, "That’s the most important point of this whole conversation."
The corner of his lips lifted, a faint trace of amusent in his eyes.
"Since when have you been suspicious?" he asked.
"For a while," I replied evenly. "There were several reasons. But I am more interested in yours. What made you question it?"
He exhaled slowly, the weight of mory behind that breath.
"That day at the council," he began, "when she used her power... other than your family, I was not affected. Ti did not stop for ."
I had already drawn that conclusion myself. Hearing him confirm it only solidified what I knew.
"That is no coincidence," I said calmly. "When she unleashes her power, it spares only two kinds of people. Those bound to her by blood or bonds. Or those she instinctively perceives as protection rather than harm."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"She does not know you well enough to see you as her protector or share a bond," I continued. "Which leaves only one possibility."
"That she is related to by blood," he finished quietly. "That she is my daughter."
"That is correct."
A silence passed between us. This one felt different. Heavy, yet no longer uncertain.
"What were your reasons?" he asked after a mont. "You seed certain. Certain enough to bring your entire family here earlier than planned."
"She is a rare pureblood," I said.
Alpha Gerald gave a small nod. "And that was the reason I concealed her true gender at birth."
"It is understandable," I replied. "A pureblood like her, born into a royal lineage, would have beco a target before she even learned to walk."
He leaned back slightly, listening.
"Such pureblood like her is born only in the pure and strong ancient bloodlines as yours," I said and looked at the large crest carved into a wood and hung on the wall behind Alpha Gerald, "A young girl keeps scribbling certain unique crest without knowing what it is and aning of it. She even keeps it safe in her secret box unknowingly as if it’s sothing precious. It certainly ca out of the imprint of her past mory.
That day I saw a paper in her secret box. I recognised the crest, but said nothing to her at that mont.
"She once told us she keeps having nightmares of a huge black wolf chasing after her. But that chase didn’t feel terrifying."
"If one observes closely," I went on, "the resemblance between your mate and mine is undeniable."
He smiled then. Not the controlled expression of a powerful Alpha. But the quiet, overwheld smile of a father who had finally found sothing long lost.
"She has inherited her mother’s beauty," he murmured softly. "Especially the hair."
I inclined my head in agreent. "She has."
"Before the council, you deliberately kept her face hidden from everyone. I never had a proper look at her. And it would have been disrespectful of to insist," he comnted.
That’s indeed true, and I wouldn’t have forgiven such a rudeness towards my mate.
We both talked about the incident from the past six years, that how Eira ca into my life, and what happened after that, until she returned in my life.
He was clearly angry about what happened with her because of , but then he said, "When her own father failed to protect her, there’s a little can you bla you for. Given what you are doing for now, I can only be grateful that you are her fated mate."
"Whatever reason we co up to comfort ourselves or to each other, the fact that we failed her will never change. That regret and pain of it will never leave us," I said.
"We have to live with it."
I offered a light.
"I knew my daughter is your fated mate even before she was born," he said, "my mate and I were happy as we knew you, and your family. That our daughter would be in safe hands and she will have a deserving mate who will protect her. Or the life of no rare pureblood was ever safe and easy due to so greedy bastards."
"That’s another thing I want to know," I said, "Now you know the entire story of us, I want to know how did you know I was her fated mate. Because the enemies knew it already even before I knew it."
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