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They both shook their heads.

Her father wore a proud grin. “The Schrock line is strong.”

Adriel remembered how hard she’d been challenged when she chose to give her son her family name. Now it all made sense. This was how it was always meant to be. “Yes, it is. Our line is very, very strong.”

Juniper smiled, her eyes twinkling with shared pride. She’d always claimed Adriel was stronger than she realized. Now, she believed she was right.

“Is it true,filha? Christian is, in fact, Cerberus’s son?”

A cold wave pushed into her chest as she met her father’s questioning eyes. There had never been anyone else until Juniper. Would this truth change things?

Her gaze lowered. “He is of his line, yes, but he has always beenmyson.” Deciding to no longer live in fear, she met her father’s stare. “My son Christian is an honorable?—”

“I have no question about his honor, my dear. I was only asking because I think this is helpful information for Dane.”

Adriel frowned. “Why?”

“Delilah is Christian’s called mate, correct?”

“Yes.”

“If Cerberus was Christian’s father, he is halfdraugr.Your son’s calling further proves that crossbred immortals can be called.”

“Crossbred, but not half-bred,” Dane clarified. “Christian is fully immortal where as my birth mother was mortal.”

“It’s still worth investigating,” her father argued. “I have a theory that the cross-pollination of species is altering our evolution.”

“Wait,” Juniper cut in. “If Christian is a combination of two supernatural races, doesn’t that make him a hybrid like me? Shouldn’t he have some additional mutated gene that makes him something else?”

“Technically, yes. But we will have to spend more time with him to know for sure.”

Juniper glanced back at Adriel, a look of worry in her eyes. “If Christian’s a hybrid and he was called, does that mean I face the same possibility?”

“No,” Adriel said, disregarding all science in favor of love. “I won’t have it.”

“Fuck callings,” Dane snapped. It was an easy position for someone who didn’t face such possibilities. But for Adriel and Juniper, the threat of being called was a very real concern.

“Why would The Order keep this from us?” she wondered. “They teach that only purebred immortals can be called to other immortals.”

Both Dane and Juniper rolled their eyes. “They lie, Ade. They like their neat little world as simple as possible. People like Dane and I mess that up. That’s why they despise outsiders.”

Her father frowned. “It’s my understanding that they kept a great deal from the females. Is it possible the males knew, but the females were kept ignorant for a reason?”

Adriel clutched her throat as a sense of betrayal choked her. Was that true? Did Christian know? He was an elder on the council.

She couldn’t imagine such deliberate deceit. “I listened. I’ve never heard whispers of such things or sensed any desire to interfere with destiny. The Order views any calling as sacred.”

Her father rubbed his jaw contemplatively. “Many creatures with supernatural bloodlines have destined mates. Some callings have even been known to skip generations, traveling through time and the cosmos in order to find the other half of the soul. These are the mysteries philosophers have tried to solve since the dawn of immortal man.”

“Hold up,” Juniper interjected. “Are you talking about reincarnation?”

“Indeed.”

Adriel’s faith did not recognize reincarnation, so she had difficulty aligning with such claims.

Dane sank into the bench, his face as white as a sheet.

Adriel released Juniper’s hand to go to him. “Dane, are you all right?”