The urge to tear open the door and defend Father against Alarik’s optimistic arguments grew stronger and stronger.

“You really are a fool if you don’t also sense the instability of these treaties!” Father stopped walking. “Nicolaj never wanted peace. He was forced to sign the treaties. And these attacks on humans are just the beginning!”

Alarik said nothing in response to Father’s words.

Something distracted me. I felt a strange cold sensation on the back of my neck as if someone was watching me.

I looked around. The corridor was empty. I smelled... nothing. But the feeling remained.

“This university is yours.” My father’s words rang through the door. They were closer now. “But sometimes, I wonder if I haven’t made a mistake leaving it to you.”

Footsteps approached the door. And as always, I stole away unnoticed before anyone could spot me.

We had just arrived at our family’s country estate when Finn hurried through the doorway across the stone terrace, one of the countless Jeep car keys in his hand.

“Finn...” I called out, and he looked up, pausing briefly. “Are you all right?”

Finn looked in a hurry, as if something had happened. He must have just come back from school.

“Dad’s out of his mind,” he replied with a pitying expression. “So, watch out and just do what he tells you to do.” He waved the car key in the air. “I have to go to the guys.”

He could only mean his high school friends, who were all about to undergo their first transformation soon.

As a result, the stronger among them would not only rise from the Omega rank to the Delta rank, they would also all have to submit to Father's alpha bond.

Finn hurried down the terrace into the pebble front garden and disappeared along one of the paths that led through the bushes around the house.

Nervousness grew inside me.

I looked at Nash, then at my father’s office window.

“Come...” I urged Nash, and we disappeared into the house, walking through the wide entryway to Father’s double office door.

Nash knocked and after Father invited us in. I closed the door.

Father was pacing back and forth like he was getting ready for something. When he looked up, he looked grimly at Nash, stepped toward him, and put his hands on Nash’s shoulders.

“Listen to me, son. Your uncle doesn’t want to do anything about the Ruisangors.”

I had tried to keep my mouth shut, but the comment just slipped out.

“You’re his Alpha, Father. He’s under your command. He must obey you.”

Father had wanted to say something else to Nash, but he fell silent, looking at me instead, for longer than a second...longer than two, three...

My nervousness returned, and I began to fiddle with my bracelet.

Had I interrupted him?

“Emy’s right.”

Father was still looking at me, but it felt more like he was looking through me. Then, in a hurry, he turned his eyes away from me.

“That man has a mind of his own,” Father growled in displeasure. “I didn’t call you here to discuss Alarik. I want you to be careful and tell your men to stay away from the borders of Fogs Forest.” He let go of Nash and paced around his desk, rummaging through his files as if looking for something. “My men already know.”

He didn’t find what he was looking for, tapped the top of the desk for a moment, then hurried away from the desk again, past his organized chess table, toward the window.

Nash stared at Father with concern. Or was it confusion? The same confusion I always felt in this room?

Father wheeled around and looked at Nash urgently.

“What are you waiting for?”

Nash snapped out of his stupor, turned and hurried past me, out of Father’s office, while Father turned back to the window.

I felt like I was glued to the floor. I wanted to leave the office, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to leave Father alone with these problems. I wanted to support him somehow.

The words left my mouth on their own, even if they were well-chosen.

“I’m going to get involved in the university’s election campaigns and make sure the DeLoughreys are de-registered.”

Euphoria filled my chest. Father would be proud if I managed that. And I wouldn’t let him down.

He turned toward me. Something I hadn’t expected, because he often tended to stare into the garden, or rather, into the void.

But now he was looking at me, fixating me with his gaze, which, as always, I couldn’t interpret.

Father had never put his alpha bond on me, and I had stopped worrying about it. He probably didn’t want to make it difficult for me to accept Nash as my Alpha someday.

His stare brought me back to the present, pooling all my nervousness in the center of my chest until I couldn’t take it anymore and reached for my bracelet.

Father’s gaze traveled down my arm and lingered on the spot where the fabric of the bracelet nestled against my wrist.

Something in his expression hardened.

I fought the urge to clasp my hands behind my back so that he could no longer see the bracelet.

Somewhere outside the house, tires squealed.

The sound was enough to snap Father out of his stupor. He turned his eyes away from me, paced across the room, past me.

“Tell Nash he has to be in my office at eight o’clock tonight.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. Then he was gone.

I didn’t know how much longer I stood there staring into nothing, just like him, until the confusion inside me was enough that I had to move to get rid of it.

Lost in thought, I wandered through the hallway to the lounge, where old paintings from the early days and model ships were displayed in glass cabinets next to the floor-to-ceiling windows, past the seating furniture to the burning fireplace.