Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

CAMERON

I vor Basque cut an intimidating figure against the backdrop of dark wooden bookshelves and leather-bound spines. And as his expectant scrutiny of me intensified, his words echoed in my head.

"My name is Ivor Basque, and I am your biological father."

"Cameron?" His brow wrinkled in concern.

This conversation, my being here, everything was surreal. "I need a moment."

He nodded curtly. "Of course. I'm glad that you're taking this so well. It will make the rest easier. Have a seat. I'll get you some water."

I parked my ass on the edge of the nearest chair and took the bottle of water he produced as if out of nowhere. A few glugs cleared my head, and the full impact of his words hit.

His claim was impossible. He couldn't be my father. Lionel was my father. What the heck was I doing even entertaining this shit?

My face must have reflected my thoughts because he pressed his lips together with a sigh. "Ah, I suppose that reaction is more realistic. I have a lot of explaining to do. Will you hear me out?"

"It's not like I can make a run for it now, is it?"

He cracked a smile. "No. No it isn't. I suppose one could say that you're a captive audience."

Was he seriously making puns right now?

"I'm sorry. I…um…I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable."

" I make you uncomfortable? You're the leader of a graynite army."

"I'm also a father who's properly meeting his daughter for the first time."

He spoke with a sincere tone of vulnerability that brought me up short for a moment. Either he was an excellent actor, or he was telling the truth, as far as he believed it to be anyway. "The whole father-daughter thing is still up for debate. Explain it to me. Why would you think I'm related to you in any way?"

He drew up a chair and sat opposite me, leaning forward so his forearms rested on his thighs. "I know you're my daughter, just as I know the tempo of my own heartbeat."

My scalp prickled, sensing the conviction in his words, but I narrowed my eyes. "I'm going to need a little more than that. A paternity test should do."

"That can be arranged, although it would take some time. In the meanwhile, allow me to convince you of the truth."

"I'm listening…" His eyes were the same shade of gray as mine, and the arch of his brows…No, that didn't mean a thing.

"I didn't know you existed until almost sixteen years ago when I felt your presence. I tried to reach out to you. To connect with your mind, but you were a child, and you were afraid. You blocked me out."

Wait… "I had nightmares… You were the nightmare man?"

He winced. "I frightened you. I should have been more careful. I'm sorry."

There was no way he could have known about my nightmares. So if he did, then?—

"I tried again and again to reach you after that but to no avail. You'd hidden yourself from me somehow."

"Derek."

"Your shield. Of course, that would make sense."

But Derek was missing right now. He'd vanished during the fight with the faction graynites. He'd shifted into chimera form to save me, and then…then he'd disappeared.

Adaline, Levi's mother, warned us that the chimera form was unstable, and to use it would leave us unable to shift, but unlike the others, my chimera was linked to my shield, and using it had taken Derek away from me.

Ivor had briefly met Derek at Calista's, but I hadn't introduced them, so… "How do you know about Derek?"

He looked sheepish. "I've been searching for you for a long time, and when I found you, I made it a point of learning as much about you as I could."

"How did you find me?"

"Through Romi."

"My brother?" I gave him a hard stare, daring him to take that away from me.

He sighed. "No, Cameron. Romi isn't your brother. Lionel is."

I glugged more water. "This is insane. It can't be true."

"I understand it's a lot to take in. When I discovered I had a child I, too, was stunned. All those years I spent searching for you…But then I found Romi. My grandson. Tracking him, watching him, led me to you. But before I could contact you, you were gone. Then the news of Romi's death reached me, and for a moment I feared that I'd lost you too. But then I saw you at the academy."

"What? What do you mean you saw me?"

He sat back looking a little uncomfortable. "I saw you through Varsa's eyes."

"You saw me…What the fuck?" This was too much. It made no sense.

"Varsa was caught in the crossfire of a false graynite attack several years ago. He was badly injured. I was able to heal his body but not his mind. Healing him formed an unwitting connection between us, allowing me to look through his eyes." He smiled softly. "To see you. To spend time with you in Willowman's garden…"

Oh god… "That was you?"

"Yes."

It hadn't been Varsa I'd shared a connection with; it had been him . He'd been there all the time. We'd talked for hours. We'd been…friends.

His eyes lit up as he watched the revelation unfold on my face, but I dropped my gaze, not wanting to give him that connection. Not yet. Not until I understood it all. He'd been there when Varsa died. Varsa's final words came back to me. "I'll see you soon…" They'd been Ivor's words, not Varsa's. The poor goyle had been nothing but a spying vessel and…wait a second… "The orb…Willowman's transport orb. Did you switch it out?"

"I did. I needed to get you out of the academy and here, safe with me. I knew you were in danger there. That there were forces who wanted you dead. I admit, it did not go to plan. Ignus was…He was a little overzealous in his approach."

Overzealous was an understatement. He'd scared the shit out of me. "He made me believe he could take me to Romi."

"We did have Romi's location for a short time. But he was moved to their main base, and we don't have that location."

"The faction…"

"Yes."

Silence fell between us, deep and introspective.

Could it be true? Could he be my father? But if he was, then that would make me… "I'm not a graynite. My mother was human, and graynites can't procreate with humans." But even as I said it, I knew it to be false. I had fae blood, which meant my mother hadn't been fully human, but… "She loved Lionel. She had a contract with him and?—"

"The woman who raised you was not your mother."

"What?" I sat up straighter. "You're lying."

"I'm not. When I found you, I had my people look for your mother, for the woman I loved, but there were no official registers of your birth, and on further investigation, I found that the woman who everyone believed was your mother was not my Melanie."

My pulse thundered in my veins so that when I spoke, my voice sounded small and distant. "Melanie?"

"Yes. Your real mother's name is Melanie. I've searched for her for years to no avail." He continued to speak, but his words were drowned out by the buzzing in my ears and the rush of blood in my head. "And now I have no idea what became of her. What Lionel did to her and?—"

"She's dead."

His eyes flew wide. "What?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Melanie…I'm pretty sure she's dead."

The look of pure devastation on his face was so raw, so genuine, it made my chest ache. Not just for him, but for her too. The specter that had haunted the academy for far too long. It had to be her. The timing, the stories…Everything connected.

"Tell me…" he said softly. "Tell me everything."

And so I did. I filled him in on Melanie's spectral condition. On how she'd helped me by getting into the academy filing room, and how her mind had been compromised. Her memories taken. I told him about Travani and Carter and what they'd done. How they'd been manipulated into kidnapping Melanie and ultimately killing her.

"And the baby…" His voice cracked. "You were taken…"

The baby…the baby they'd left at the church had been me. I knew it now. Felt it in my bones to be true. That this man…this graynite was somehow my father.

"Lionel did this," Ivor said. "He found out that Melanie was pregnant before I could, and he took you."

Emotions tumbled inside me, anger, grief, and shock, all fighting for dominance. I pushed them all down because right now I needed to think. To focus.

"But why? Why would he do any of this? You're his father." Wait… "Oh god, he knows you're his father, doesn't he? That you, a graynite, are his…I'm so confused."

"I'll explain all of that to you later, but for now, all you need to understand is that you're an anomaly. A halfblood graynite, something we weren't even aware was possible until I discovered your existence. After that, we went in search of others like you. The children we hadn't known we'd spawned."

"I don't understand."

"Graynites cannot procreate with humans or any other supernatural race, but it seems we can do so with a fae blood."

It took a moment to sink in. "You're saying that Melanie was fae blood…"

He nodded slowly. "We met on one of my sojourns outside our wards."

"A sojourn like you made to go see Calista?"

His eyes narrowed. "Calista is not part of this story, Cameron. But, yes, she is a friend to the graynites."

I wanted to know more about Willowman's friend, but it would have to wait. "Okay, go on…"

"Melanie didn't know who I was or what I was. I didn't plan to tell. She was meant to be a…diversion. What do you young people call it? A fling. But I fell in love and took risks to see her. Lionel obviously discovered my association with Melanie somehow. I think…I think there may have been a photograph of Melanie and me together. I should have taken it from her, but I wanted her to have something of me when I left her."

"You never planned to come back?"

"No. It was safer for her that way. To have the memories of our time together."

"Did you know she worked at the academy?"

"Not at first, and by the time I found out, I was too infatuated to stop seeing her. One more day, I'd tell myself. One more day…"

"Enough to get her pregnant." I sounded bitter, and maybe I was. Bitter on Melanie's behalf. A woman who'd been punished simply for loving the wrong man. But if she hadn't done so, then I…I wouldn't exist. I was grateful to be alive but hated that my existence had caused her so much pain.

"I didn't know it was possible for me to sire a child. I didn't know she was fae blood. I didn't know…" He squeezed his eyes shut. "And now she's gone." His eyes snapped open. "I need to see her."

And she deserved to see him. To have her questions answered. To get closure but… "She's trapped in the academy walls."

"Because of her trauma, because she doesn't know the truth," Ivor said. "But you can set her free. Once it's safe to do so, you'll tell her who you are. You'll set her free to find me, won't you?"

He looked so earnest, younger somehow in that moment.

"I will. I promise you that." Melanie was my mother. I was her child, taken from her all those years ago, but fate had unwittingly brought us together again because Travani and Carter hadn't known who I was when they assigned me that room. Their part in my abduction was horrendous, but they weren't the only ones to blame.

I closed my eyes, my head buzzing with information that spawned more questions. "Lionel sent Romi to find me. He knew my mother…the woman who raised me. It all points to him. He killed Melanie, and he placed me with…" But I'd loved her. Loved the woman who raised me. "I need a moment." Maybe more than a moment.

"Of course. I…I'm sorry this is so much to take in. There is more. About the faction and when we believe it was formed and who we think might be overseeing it. But that can wait until your team is present."

I nodded mutely, still processing. Wait…who they thought might be overseeing it? "The alpha is in charge of the faction, right?" I met his gaze. "That's what we're taught. That killing the alpha will bring down all the graynites and…" That didn't make sense now, now that we knew the faction used artificially created graynites. The alpha was meant to be the first, the linchpin, the…Revelation hit me like a slug to the chest. "It's you, isn't it? You're the alpha."

He smiled wryly. "Yes, Cameron. I'm the alpha."