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“Fine, but not attwo in the morningmy time,” I grumbled as I climbed in the front seat.

“That’s fair,” he chuckled as he got behind the wheel. “We can do a lunch run on Saturdays if you come home Friday nights.”

“Once a month would be nice,” I admitted. “Learn some balance.” I took the opportunity when he nodded. “Like you and Mum need. You’re both late for your physicals. I’ll talk to Mum and get you both scheduled for—”

“We’re healthy and don’t need—”

“You are not the doctor,” I snapped. “And you set a bad example for the whole pack when you don’t take your health seriously. I see people with issues all of the time that could have been somethingsmallif they had just fucking gotten checked, Da. Physicals savelives, and you get to spend time with me telling you that you are healthy. That’s time not wasted.”

I was so into blasting him that I didn’t feel the tension and upset in the vehicle until I let out a few breaths.

Fuck.

“I won’t apologize for saying that,” I said evenly. “But I should have waited until we were off pack lands so your wolf doesn’t think it a challenge. I’m a son talking to his da about not being a git.” I met his gaze for a moment. “I listen to you as family. Listen to me and respect my knowledge too, Da.”

“You’re right,” he accepted after several tense minutes. “Even if I disagree, I should never be so dismissive of you. Sorry, Hugo.”

Steam was coming off my brothers, but I’d heard Da apologize to them too. They were too much and he should smack them into place.

“I was thinking of bringing up the idea of doing more outreach programs to the new board,” I told Da. “The blood drive turned out awesome. We should keep that going.”

“The vamps get enough damn blood and—” my second brother drawled.

“They’re most of our soldiers and first responders,” I cut in, shocking them again that I wouldn’t just let that go. “Yes, our soldiers mostly sit around and run drills.”

“But they keep peace and are deterrents to remind the other governments we fought for peace,” Da said firmly. “And we need to take better care of them. The vampires are valid that they’ve been pushed to blue collar roles because of what they handle better. We push our people to go into business and make a lot of money.

“They push theirs to serve in jobs that don’t pay anywhere near as much. I’ve talked with a few Alphas that are nervous. The vampires are voicing more upset over the way things are, and we’re fucked if they ever hit their limit.” He growled when my eldest brother snickered. “They control the fucking military, duffer. The police. They have access toeverything.”

“Yeah, that’s a terrifying point,” I muttered as one of my other brothers agreed. “And they have the extra expense ofblood. Shifters equate it to the extra food we eat but so do vampires and magics. We just don’t go around helping people move and do more with our extra strength. We protect and help pack. Our pack needs to be more than wolves.”

“It does,” Da agreed. “You come up with a plan and we’ll help. Even if it’s not with ASH’s additives, donate blood to give to the police and European military. Get a basic screening for all members—including kids—of the pack that donates. Maybe a screening day for London’s police that we can pay for so it’s not all on ASH especially stepping outside of North America.”

“That’s actually a great idea, Da,” I praised. “Yeah, most of the practices are closed on weekends besides overflow. We couldn’t do a full day with the time difference—that would mess us all up too much.”

“An afternoon is better than the nothing that’s been happening,” he accepted. “Get one on the books and more could follow. ASH is a leader and the founder a visionary who wanted to save lives and push peace.”

“What?” I asked.

“I heard a story about the founder, but I don’t know if it’s true. He risked his life to save some humans,” he muttered. “Everyone has monsters in their ranks, and several of the humans took advantage of the situation—we saw it here too.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“A mayor of where they lived or leader—maybe a minister—I don’t remember—wanted to marry a woman, but she wasn’t interested. When the chaos started, he threatened to name her whole family witches if she didn’t marry him. She was going to do it, but her father clocked the git, saying they’d never sell their family.

“He had them dragged in front of the town to be ‘outed’ and then locked them in their house, setting it on fire. The founder knew the woman and family. He was training her to be a nurseI think. He outed himself to save that family—got them all out with only minor burns and killed the guy and his men.

“The family thanked him and didn’t care, but the rest of the town freaked out and tried to kill him. But the story was that the founder of ASH used to treat humans. It wasn’t originally AllSupesHospital, but AllSouls. He didn’t want humans to be shipped off because that would corrupt them all against us. He made quite the stink about it, but people said a doctor—”

“Only knows medicine. Yeah, Ms. Reed is dealing with that now,” I said with a sigh.

Da nodded, frowning. “I remember a Reed from the beginning of ASH. I thought I once heard it was Dr. Miller who founded it, but—the memory fades.”

I snorted. “Our brains don’t deteriorate with age like humans. You just have too much to store.”

My da let out the rare full laugh, shocking my brothers. He laughed and laughed… But I saw the worry and tension. Something was going on with him and the stress was overwhelming him.

And I was going to figure it out. As his son.