57. Chapter Fifty-Seven #3
"Daughter," he calls to me weakly, and the ugly and desperate word falls into the space between us.
I stare at him.
"You don’t get to call me that."
My father flinches as if I slapped him.
"I’m glad to see you alive and well," he adds quickly.
My laugh comes out quiet and empty. "Are you?"
He looks at each of my mates in turn, but when he reaches Blaze, he blanches. I don't have to look at my Alpha to know he must look terrifying as his darker impulses rise to the surface, driven by his hunger for vengeance.
"I—I heard things," he says, looking back at me with a growing desperation. "About what you did here… about the battle. I came after, a few weeks ago, but I didn’t want to disturb you."
"So, you've lived in my fortress for weeks," I say slowly, swallowing back all of the insults and curses churning in my belly.
His mouth tightens. "I didn’t know if you’d want to see me."
"You were right."
Pain flickers across his face, but it feels practiced. A useful expression. One he probably wore for neighbors, family members, anyone he needed to bend toward him. He probably wore it as he cried about his daughter who ran away to join the military.
"Halley, things were complicated back then," he says, his voice mellowing, summoning the old inflection that used to ensure my obedience when I was younger, adorning it with traces of regret. "Those officials came and they said you couldn’t stay and that they’d take care of you.
It was the law and I'm just a Beta, there was nothing I could do. "
"Don't sell yourself short, father," I say the term with restrained venom. He's no father. He never was. "You planned for years to sell me off to the highest bidder."
"Surely you understand. You know how poor our family was, and you were going to be mated to a lovely Alpha who would take care of you, just like I was trying to take care of our family."
"I was your family."
"They were taking you somewhere you'd be cherished."
"That's a lie, and you know it."
"How was I supposed to know any better?"
"Because they called me defective."
His eyes drop.
"You heard them," I say. "You knew I wasn't going somewhere safe."
His silence answers for him.
He stands in front of me, terrified of my mates, my power, and the consequences he always thought he'd escape.
My father’s gaze flicks toward the survivor line, searching for sympathy.
"Halley," he says, voice low as he realizes he won't find any allies. "Please. This doesn’t need to happen here."
"Why not?"
His mouth tightens.
The faces around us have changed. Soldiers who were checking straps now stare at him with open disgust. Survivors clutch their packs closer, their fear of the mountain replaced by anger aimed directly at him.
"You were happy to let strangers discuss my body on the porch," I say. "You stood there while they decided where I belonged."
He holds unnaturally still.
"You had my life in your hands," I say. "And you chose to benefit yourself."
I step closer.
"Now you’re standing in my fortress, waiting for my mate to take you through a route I helped make possible, into a sanctuary I saved."
Viper shifts behind me, pride flooding through the bond, as his scent wraps around me as a form of support. My father takes an involuntary step back.
"Don’t look at me. I’m not the one deciding your fate," Viper spits. "I won’t take you one step beyond that gate unless Halley says you go."
My father looks from Viper to the open gate, then to the mountain waiting beyond it.
I see the understanding settle over him.
His place in the line, his route into Blackreach, his chance at safety and a future all depend on me now.
Behind me, Knox moves one step closer.
"If she says you don’t go," Knox says, cold and controlled. "You don’t stay here either. I’ll exile you from Blackgate myself."
His fingers loosen around the bag strap after Knox finishes speaking.
"Your choice, pretty girl," Viper murmurs, placing a steadying and possessive hand between my shoulder blades.
I exhale, and all I can hear is the wind moving through the gate and the pounding of my own heart.
"Please, Halley," he says, his voice thinning. "I’m still your father."
I can see it in his face. He expects me to be cruel because cruelty is what he understands.
"I won’t do what you did." I turn to Viper and give him a firm nod. "He can go."
My father’s shoulders sag with relief, and I let him believe he is safe before I look up at my mate and smile.
Viper tilts his head, watching me with open curiosity.
"But you can treat him however you deem reasonable."
A big, wicked grin that could rival Blaze's spreads across his face. He turns to Zero and says, "Put him in my group. We're going to have some fun."
My father’s relief vanishes, replaced by horror, and I enjoy the sight more than I should. My mercy is mine to give, but I won’t interfere with whatever punishment my Alpha considers appropriate for the man who hurt his Omega.
"Is there room for one more on this merry little trip?" Blaze asks behind me, his voice dripping with a clear promise of pain.