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There lay his dilemma. He couldn’t bring himself to give the word.

Sobs racked his body, and he buried his face in Horvan’s chest. “I can’t. I just can’t.” Horvan’s solid frame muffled the words.

Horvan held him close.

“Let me ask you something. Why is this hitting you so hard? You never met Alec until yesterday. You know nothing about him. What is it about him that’s tearing you apart?”

Dellan peered up at him, letting his tears fall. “He’s—hewas—my son. I never got to know him. I never even knew he existed. And now? I have to watch him die. I have to sit there and be helpless. I can’t even hold his hand when he takes his last breath. Hell, I never even got to see him take his first one. The fucking Gerans saw to that.”

He sobbed again, only this time both his mates enfolded him in their arms, giving him all the warmth that had been sucked out of him since that stark conversation with Doc.

“What do I do? Help me decide.”

Horvan raised Dellan’s chin with his fingertips. “Love, you heard what Doc said. Alec can’t survive this. So the way I see it? You have two choices. You let Alec suffer until his body finally breaks down, or you help him go out peacefully, knowing love for the first time.”

Dellan gazed at the man in the bed. Yes, he resembled Dellan’s dad, but apart from that, he was a stranger.

I can let a stranger go. I can give him peace.

Dellan swallowed hard, then released Horvan. He opened the door and walked over to join Doc at Alec’s bedside. Dellan stroked Alec’s forehead.

“Okay, Doc. Take the pain away.”

He didn’t watch Doc’s ministrations. He kept his gaze focused on Alec’s face. He didn’t need to see—he knew the moment the drug took effect.

Alec let out a sigh, and he was gone.

Then Horvan and Rael were there, holding him, loving him, and he leaned into them. Dellan didn’t weep—he’d sobbed enough.

I couldn’t help you.

Rael kissed his forehead.But you can help the others.

Dellan stared at him. “Others?”

Horvan nodded. “Alec is the first child of yours that you know about. But there must be others. And not justyourchildren—all the kids born to mothers who were forced into their wretched breeding program.”

“Kids that need your help too,” Rael added. “And their mothers and fathers.”

Dellan’s mind raced. He’d been so mired in whathe’dlost, he’d never even considered other people. Mothers who’d given birth, then had their child ripped away, never to hold them. Fathers who’d been forced to mate, planting the literal fucking seeds to bring life to this world but never having a chance to be the father. And worse, far worse than that, the fucking straw that broke the camel’s back, was the fact that almost none of these children had a chance to grow up knowing they were loved.

What they received from the households they were implanted into wasn’t love—it was indoctrination.

Shifters are better than humans.

Shifters are born to rule over humans.

Our feet belong on their necks.

First at home, then in school, a never-ending litany of superiority and entitlement.

And it was about time someone stopped it.

Dellan nodded slowly. “You’re right.”

Hecouldmake a difference to their lives.

All he had to do was work out how. And focusing on a new goal was better than dwelling on the past, on events he couldn’t change.