When it was all over, it was a bloodbath. Bray checked, then double- and triple-checked before giving the all clear. But his instincts told him it was safe, and when both Lidon and Palani confirmed that, he felt confident to send out a code green.

“Vieno is okay,” Lidon assured him. “I can feel him, and he’s fine.”

There was something in the alpha’s tone that Bray couldn’t identify, something that told him there was a lot more going on, but he let it go. In the same way, he didn’t comment on the fact that Lidon was stark naked, having just shifted back. There were far more pressing things to worry about.

It had been a carnage. He’d watched Lidon shred some attackers to pieces, had killed two himself, and he’d seen his men fight valiantly. But had it been enough? Lidon said Vieno was safe, which meant Hakon was okay, and he would’ve mentioned it had he felt anything about Enar and Palani. But what about the others? What about Kean and Ruari and Jax? His chest was tight with worry.

When they turned the corner, Bray’s heart stopped. Kean was leaning against the wall of the house, his shirt soaked with blood. 

“Kean!” Bray called out, rushing over. Had Kean gotten shot? God, he looked like he’d been beaten, too, his eye swollen and turning blue and black, various scrapes on both arms. What had happened to him? 

“It’s Jawon,” the beta said, his voice constricted. 

Bray hadn’t even seen the man slumped against Kean, the beta’s arm holding him, too focused in his worry for Kean. Jawon wasn’t moving and looked pale as a ghost, a sharp contrast with his shirt, which was crimson. 

“Jawon!” Lidon said, kneeling next to Bray. “What happened, Kean? I thought he was okay when I left you guys.”

“He was. I put pressure on the wound and held him, and I thought he was okay. Then he started bleeding like crazy.” Kean’s voice broke. “Alpha, I did everything I could.”

Bray found himself choking up. Jawon was dead? Lidon reached out for Jawon, checking the pulse in his neck with trembling fingers. After half a minute, his hand dropped, the alpha pale and shaken. “He’s gone.”

Lidon gently took Jawon from Kean and laid him on the ground. With shaky hands, he closed his cousin's eyes for good. 

“I’m sorry, alpha…” Kean said, ending on a sob.

Lidon grabbed the beta’s head with both hands and kissed him on his forehead. “This is not on you, Kean. You didn’t shoot him.”

His voice sounded wobbly, as if the alpha had to push down his emotions. He had to, Bray thought, because he was feeling the same thing. He wanted to grieve for Jawon, but he couldn’t. Not until they’d checked on everyone. Not until he was sure Ruari and Jax were okay.

“Bray…” Kean sobbed and Bray gave in, pulling him close for a hug. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in his ear. “I’m so sorry.”

He heard Lidon leave them, heading inside to check on the others, but he couldn’t leave Kean yet. After about a minute, the beta finally let him go. When Bray released him, Kean yanked him back and kissed him, a desperate kiss that wasn’t elegant or even practiced, but that somehow communicated everything Bray felt too.

He cupped Kean’s cheek, his heart clenching at how lost and forlorn the beta looked. “I have to check inside,” Bray said softly.

Kean nodded. “Isam dashed by earlier and said Ruari and Jax were okay.”

“Oh god, thank god. I was so worried,” Bray said, that tightness in his chest finally uncoiling.

Kean’s eyes softened. “I know you were.”

He shouldn’t, but he kissed him again, then rose.

“I need to stay here for a little,” Kean said. “Everything fucking hurts. I’ll be there in a few.”

Bray nodded and went inside. The main house was in pure chaos, his men dragging out bodies, while pack members sought comfort with each other. He found his dad in the kitchen, his lip split and his face already swollen. Both his hands were raw and bruised, and they held a trembling Lars, who was plastered against his alpha, his dad’s hands putting pressure on Lars’s arm.

“You okay, Dad?” Bray asked.

“Lars was shot. I need Enar or Maz.”

“They’re on their way,” Palani called from the hallway. 

“Where is Sven? Please, Bray, tell me he’s okay,” his father asked, but before Bray could answer he hadn’t seen him yet, running footsteps sounded from the hallway, and then the omega launched himself at Bray’s father. 

Bray’s eyes watered as he watched the reunion, his dad cradling his two boys in such a sweet manner it made Bray almost look away because it was too private and intimate to watch. Kean had been so right. This wasn’t about sex or kink. This was love.

He put a soft hand on Sven’s shoulder. “I’m really glad to see you’re okay,” he said.

He was rewarded with a tentative smile that grew bigger as Sven realized Bray meant it. “Thank you. Ruari is fine,” Sven said, and for that news, Bray could’ve kissed him. 

Enar rushed in, his face tight with worry. “Lars, what happened?”

“He got shot,” Bray’s father said.

Enar was already reaching out for Lars’s arm. “Grayson, I appreciate your protectiveness, but I need Lars to tell me himself, okay?”

“Yeah, of course, sorry, I’m…” 

His father sounded out of it with worry, Bray thought. 

“I’m okay, Daddy,” Lars said, and for the first time, Bray could see the love behind that term. “Let Enar do his job.”

Bray left Lars in the capable hands of Enar and walked into the hallway, where blood stains had splattered everywhere. Then his eyes widened as he tried to process what he was seeing.

A man lay flat on his stomach on the floor, his hands folded in his neck. His black shirt and fatigues indicated he was part of the group that had attacked them. That in itself wasn’t so astonishing, though Bray was a little surprised to see one of them had survived unharmed by the looks of it. What was mind blowing was the wolf standing right next to him, softly growling.

It wasn’t Lidon, because the alpha was standing beside the wolf, holding his son against his bare chest, his big hand resting on the wolf’s head with affection. He’d apparently found some shorts somewhere, though he was still barefoot. It wasn’t Palani either. Bray had heard him call out, and he’d seen Enar as well. That left…

The wolf was light in fur color, almost white, and much, much smaller than Lidon was as a wolf. It had to be Vieno. How had the little omega managed to shift? And why was he still in wolf form?

“Ruari is in the bedroom with your son,” Lidon told him. “They’re fine, Bray. They’re all fine.”

The relief in the alpha’s voice matched what Bray felt inside as he hurried into the bedroom Lidon had indicated. He almost stumbled over the bodies of two men, clearly taken down by a wolf. Blood was everywhere, and the gruesome sight made his stomach turn. 

He found his son sleeping on the pristine white bed that had somehow escaped the carnage, looking pure and innocent, completely unaware of what had happened. Next to him sat Ruari, his small shoulders shaking as he sobbed.

“Ruari,” Bray said, rushing over. “Are you okay, baby?”

Tear-filled eyes looked up at him, the horror of what he had witnessed clear on his face. “Oh, Bray,” the omega cried. “It was horrible.”

Bray wasn’t sure who made the first move, but he opened his arms wide and held him, taking the omega on his lap as he sat down on the bed, careful not to disturb the baby, cradling Ruari against his chest. “I know, baby. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine,” Ruari said, his voice broken with tears. “Not fine, but okay. I’m okay. Have you seen Kean? Please tell me he’s not hurt.”

Bray pulled him closer, allowing his own head to rest on Ruari’s. “I saw him outside. He’s okay, baby. The four of us, we’re okay.”

“Please, Bray, take me out of this room. The smell, the sight, I can’t stand it anymore,” Ruari begged.

“Hold on to Jax,” Bray said, and once Ruari had lifted his son and pulled him close, Bray rose to his feet, cradling Ruari in his arms. The omega slumped against his chest in utter surrender, and Bray’s insides went weak. 

He carried him out and almost bumped into Kean. The beta had taken off his blood-soaked shirt, though a few red streaks were still visible on his chest, as well as the beginnings of what looked to be a broad arrangement of bruises. He’d fought hard, Bray realized. He’d fought for his own life and that of the others inside. They all had, alphas, betas, and even the omegas.

“Ruari, baby, are you okay?” Kean asked.

“Kean!”

Bray put Ruari down, and they kissed, then hugged, but Bray was part of it. Kean kissed him again, and he kissed him back, and he wasn’t sure what it all meant. They stood in a tight hug, the four of them, careful not to squish Jax, and Bray’s soul quieted with contentment and peace, the likes of which he had never experienced before, which was ridiculous considering everything they had been through.

And then he knew.

Ruari felt safe and protected with both Bray’s and Kean’s arms around him as they walked into the hallway, where Isam was securely fastening a zip tie around the wrists of one of the attackers, who had apparently survived. When Isam turned the man on his back, Ruari gasped.

“Dad!”

It flew from his lips before he could stop it, and he watched his father’s eyes widen in shock. “James? What the hell are you doing here?”

Multiple faces looked from Ruari to his father and back at him again, all displaying a similar expression of confusion and shock. “This is your father?” Bray asked.

“Who is James?” Kean asked almost simultaneously.

Ruari closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had known this moment would come, though he had never expected it to be like this. And man, was he grateful for his honesty with Lidon and Palani. If he had not told them what he knew about his dad, he would’ve been truly fucked right now. As it was, things weren’t looking too swell, but at least those two knew he’d been honest about his father’s past and objectives. 

Even then, he had never expected to run into him like this. The last time, his father had hired men do the job. This time, apparently, he’d deemed it safe enough to join in the attack himself.

It sank in, the fact that Vieno had pinned this man down. It had been his father, attacking them in that bathroom. If Vieno hadn’t attacked, Ruari might have come face-to-face with his father as he broke through that bathroom door, and what would’ve happened then?

His only consolation, but it was a tiny one, was that his father’s reaction made it clear he had no idea Ruari was staying here. That meant the attack hadn’t been aimed at him or an attempt to extract him, and for that, he could only be grateful. It also meant the objective of the attack had been to kidnap Hakon, and that thought made Ruari’s blood boil.

“Can you hold Jax for me?” he asked Kean.

He couldn’t face his father while holding Jax. He needed no distractions now. Kean’s eyes showed that he had already understood what was happening, who Ruari’s father was. The beta took the baby with soft hands and nestled him against his shoulder. “Come here, buddy.”

Ruari smiled despite it all, the sight of papa Kean too precious. Then he turned around, his face tightening, and gave his father an icy look. “I don’t go by James anymore. I got rid of that name when I realized you would take my son away from me.”

“He is an abomination,” his father spat out. “He should've never been born. You have no idea what you are playing with, you stupid bitch. You’re as stupid as your mother, going behind my back to get pregnant. Look at where that’s brought us. A defective son who gave birth to a bastard child, not even a man, but an abomination.”

Ruari had heard it all before, his father’s hateful tirades against the wolf shifters, against his mother who had gone to that fertility specialist without his father knowing, against the CWP, against it all. And even though he knew the depths of his father’s hatred, it still got to him. Would there ever be a time when it wouldn’t hurt anymore? When he could hear his father’s words and not feel rejected?

Bray shot forward, his foot suddenly on his father’s neck, and the wince on the man’s face told Ruari that Bray was putting pressure on it. The anger in the alpha’s voice was dripping. 

“You need to stop talking now,” Bray said. “My son is not an abomination, and I will not tolerate you speaking like this about my mate.”

At first, Ruari heard Bray defending their son, and it made his heart sing. Then the last part of that sentence hit. Mate? Bray was calling Ruari his mate? Had the alpha grasped the truth?

“Ruari, would you mind introducing us to this man?” Palani asked, putting a calming hand on Bray’s arm.

Ruari straightened his shoulders, encouraged by Palani’s friendly tone. “This is my father, Bennett Wyndham, the leader of the radical wing of the Anti-Wolf Coalition, the AWC. As you can hear, he’s got some pretty nasty opinions on wolf shifters and the gene.”

He met the shocked look from Bray head on. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I was too scared you’d reject me.”

“Of course they would reject you, who wants a—”

His father’s words were cut off when Bray visibly put more pressure on his throat, and he made a choking sound, his tied hands flying up toward his throat to get rid of Bray’s foot, which stayed unmoving.

“Bray, please make sure our guest gets enough oxygen to survive,” Lidon said mildly. “We have questions to ask him, and he can’t answer them if he’s dead like the rest of his men.”

With visible reluctance, Bray pulled his food back a little. “He’d better shut his mouth about Ruari, then,” he growled.

“So,” Lidon said slowly. “This is the man who was also responsible for the previous attack on our pack.”

Gasps bounced through the hallway as those words sank in with everyone. It made it clear that Lidon and Palani had kept their promise to Ruari. They hadn’t told anyone, except for Bray, but he hadn’t known Bennett Wyndham was Ruari’s father. That registered now, and Bray shot Ruari a look he couldn’t decipher, before refocusing his attention on Lidon.

“Give us a status report, please, Bray, so Mr. Wyndham here can learn about the fate of his men.” Lidon’s voice was cool, but something simmered underneath.

“As far as we can tell, there were twenty attackers. Fourteen have been killed, and six have been taken prisoner, with one in critical condition and one seriously injured.”

His father’s face tightened at that news. Ruari figured the man had not been expecting those results. He had to have known they’d lost, and he had watched Vieno kill the other men in the room with him, but he might have harbored hope others had escaped or survived.

“And the death toll on our side?” Lidon asked.

“Two dead, one in critical condition, and multiple men with minor injuries.”

Two dead? Pack members had died? Ruari couldn’t hide his stress at that news. Who was it?

His father had paled visibly. “You killed fourteen of my men?” he asked Lidon.

“Oh, not just me. It was a pack effort. You went after my son, you bastard. You should’ve died a slow death as far as I’m concerned. You’re lucky my mate has more constraint than I do.” He gestured at Vieno, who was still standing there in wolf form, regal and beautiful.

Ruari couldn’t even be upset at Lidon’s words. His father should have died. In fact, it was a miracle he’d survived in the first place. More luck than anything else, Ruari figured. He had to have known that with an attack like this, going after the pack alpha’s first son, they would show no mercy.

A chilling thought registered with him. His father was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. He had to have known this would be the likely outcome, that even if he had counted on surviving himself, he’d suffer losses.

“He did it on purpose,” Ruari said slowly. “He’s counting on you to alert the authorities, and you’ll have to explain how you killed these men. Everyone will know the shifters are back, but the first thing they will hear is that wolves are vicious, capable of killing fourteen men. They’ll leak the pictures of what happened here, and the public opinion will turn against you instantly.”

The words just fell from his mouth, and it wasn’t till he was done that he realized this might’ve been better to discuss in private, but by then it was too late. Around him he heard murmurs and exclamations of shock, but Lidon and Palani didn’t look surprised. 

“I came to the same conclusion,” Palani said. “But thank you for sharing your thoughts, Ruari. This can’t be easy for you, knowing your own father did this.”

Something changed inside Ruari, something that snapped and broke free. Even after everything his father had done to him, he had still considered him his father. Somehow, Palani’s words changed that. This was not a man he wanted to call his father anymore. This was not a man he wanted to be associated with in any way, not ever again. 

He exhaled, then spoke. “He’s not my father anymore. I don’t think he ever was. He’s a stranger, a murderer, and you can do with him whatever the hell you want.”

A wave of relief hit him. He felt light, as if he’d lost weight he’d been carrying around for a long time. Kean’s arm came around him, and he leaned into his embrace, grateful for the beta’s support.

And for the first time in a long, long time, Ruari felt free.