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Chapter One

Papa Christian eyed me.

I blew out a breath. With the night I’d had, I really didn’t want to fight with him about this. I’d just made one of the hardest decisions I’d ever had to—would ever have to—and now this.

I wrangled my emotions in, knowing full well that starting an argument with any of my fathers was a horrible idea. “Papa, I said in front of everyone that I would take part in this weekend too. I have to take part ineveryaspect. I gave my word. You of all people know how important that is.”

His stare didn’t waver. “Izzy, don’t try to use my good judgment against me. I fully support you taking part in the training alongside all your potential mates, but this…”

Mother put a hand on his shoulder. “I used to stay in the dorms, and Isabelle stayed in the dorms when she was at The Fort too.”

“Not with a dorm full of potential mates,” Papa Christian snapped.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “What do you think I’m going to do, Papa? I’m going to sleep, eat, and train. That’s it. Just like when I attended The Fort before.”

“I know what goes on at The Fort,” Papa Christian said.

Papa Connor, who’d been sitting on the couch watching all this with a smirk, finally stood. He gave his brother a sly look as he joined the conversation. “We all know what happens at The Fort. Especially you, Christian.”

Mom hid a smile.

I was pretty sure I knew what they were all getting at. My fathers had brought my mother to The Fort when she was seventeen. Younger than me even. Their relationship had grown and blossomed there. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what Papa Connor was alluding to.

Papa Christian looked like he wanted to stake Papa Connor, so I tried to intervene. “Alexei will be there. He won’t let anything happen to me.”

He turned large eyes on me. “You think his presence makes it better?”

“It always did before.”

“But now we know Alexei’s been harboring feelings for you this whole time.” His lips thinned, and a twitch started in his jaw.

“Christian…” my mother started.

I waved her away and walked up to him myself. “You raised me to be strong, independent, and my own person. Why do you think that will change if I spend the night in the same building as my potential mates? I’ve only just met them all. You can’t think that I—”

He held up his hand. “I’d prefer not to talk aboutthat.”

That made two of us.

“You can send a guard to stand outside my room…like you would, anyway. You can give that guard explicit instructions to not let anyone in my room until I leave for training in the morning.”

Mother raised to her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “You have to let her go,” she whispered.

His shoulders slumped. His gaze fell to the floor, but after a while, it worked its way back up to me. “Part of me doesn’t want you to grow up.”

There was little to do about that.

Papa Connor and my mother both gave him a face, and he rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. It’s just that she has so much on her plate already. With her visions lingering, I don’t want her to rush into anything just because she feels she needs to get this done.”

“I do need to, Papa. The clans need to be united, stronger together, that’s how we’re going to survive this.”

“But why you?”

“If not me, who else? You’ve already done your part. It’s my turn now. I already promised you I wouldn’t take this lightly and I’m not. Deciding tonight…” I blew out a breath. I knew in my heart I’d made the right decision, but that didn’t mean it didn’t take a lot out of me. I was happy with the direction I’d chosen, but Papa Christian was right about things. I did feel the weight of it on my shoulders. “The potential mates deserve to see that I’m in this with them every step of the way. Give me a guard, Papa, then let me go.”

“Connor?”

“On it.”