POV: Xavier

The cell door burst open before dawn. I was already awake, holding Thelma as she slept fitfully against my chest. The mate bond hummed with her troubled dreams, and I'd spent the night sending calm through our connection, trying to give her peace even in this prison.

"Get up." My father's voice was ice cold. Alpha Damien stood in the doorway, power radiating from him in waves that made my wolf whimper. Behind him, Beta Marcus and six guards formed a wall of muscle and authority.

Thelma jerked awake, immediately tensing. I felt her fear spike through the bond.

"Father," I said carefully, easing Thelma behind me as I stood. "We need to talk about this."

"There's nothing to discuss." His eyes, the same amber as mine, held no warmth. "You defied direct orders. You completed a mate bond with the enemy. You've betrayed your pack, your family, and everything I raised you to be."

"She's not the enemy," I said, keeping my voice steady. "Marcus and Elena murdered her parents. She's innocent in all of this."

"Innocent?" My father's laugh was harsh. "She's the daughter of James Silver, the man who destroyed the coalition and threw our territories into chaos. Her very existence is a threat to the peace we've built."

"A peace built on murder and lies," Thelma spoke up, her voice stronger than I expected. "You helped kill my parents because they wouldn't bow to your control."

My father's expression darkened. "Your father was a tyrant who thought his power made him a god. He needed to be stopped."

"By murdering him and leaving his infant daughter to be raised by his killers?" Thelma's voice shook with rage. "What kind of peace requires butchering families?"

"The kind that keeps hundreds of packs from going to war." My father descended the steps into our cell, and the temperature seemed to drop. "Your father had abilities that could have destabilized everything. Powers that you inherited. I won't make the same mistake twice by letting you live to use them."

My blood turned to ice. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying your mate bond changes nothing." He turned his cold gaze to me. "I gave you a mission two years ago, Xavier. Infiltrate the Tee pack. Get close to the girl. Learn her weaknesses. And when the time was right, eliminate her."

Thelma went rigid beside me. Through the bond, I felt her confusion, then dawning horror as she understood what he was implying.

"That mission changed," I said desperately. "I told you I couldn't go through with it."

"You told me many things." My father's smile was cruel. "You told me you were maintaining your cover. You told me she trusted you completely. You told me you were working on a plan to neutralize her powers before the final strike." He paused, letting his words sink in. "You told me the seduction was proceeding perfectly."

"No." Thelma's whisper cut through me like a blade. "No, Xavier said.."

"I changed my mind!" I turned to her, grabbing her shoulders. "Thelma, listen to me. Yes, that was the original plan. Yes, I was ordered to get close to you, make you trust me, even seduce you if necessary. But I fell in love with you. Really in love. Everything I told you last night was true."

"Was it?" Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Or is this just another part of the mission? The mate bond was convenient, wasn't it? Now I can't run from you. Now I'm tied to you forever."

"The mate bond can't be faked," I said desperately. "You know that. You can feel what I feel."

"I can feel what you want me to feel." She pulled away from me, and the distance between us felt like a chasm. "You've been trained in manipulation since childhood. How do I know any of this is real?"

"Because I'm standing between you and my father right now!" My voice cracked. "Because I'm about to fight my own Alpha to protect you!"

My father's hand landed on my shoulder like an iron shackle. "Stand aside, boy. This doesn't have to end with you dead too."

I shook him off and shifted my stance, placing myself fully between Thelma and my father. "I won't let you touch her."

"Then you'll die." My father's eyes flashed with wolf gold. "Last chance, Xavier. Your loyalty is to your pack. Your Alpha. Your blood. Not to some girl you've known for three years."

"She's my mate." My own wolf surged forward, and I felt my claws extend. "That makes her my pack now too."

My father moved faster than I expected. His fist crashed into my jaw, sending me stumbling backward. I barely blocked the next strike, and then we were fighting in the cramped cell, fists and claws flying.

"Stop!" Thelma screamed, but neither of us could stop now. My father was stronger, more experienced, and fighting without the hesitation that slowed my strikes. I couldn't bring myself to truly hurt him, but he had no such reservation. His claws raked across my ribs, and I felt something crack.

"You were my best student," he snarled, landing another brutal hit to my stomach. "I trained you to be my successor. And you threw it all away for a girl whose father I killed with my own hands."

The words hit Thelma like physical blows. I felt her anguish through the bond.

"Her father was ten times the Alpha you'll ever be," I gasped, spitting blood. "And she's a hundred times the leader you are."

That pushed him over the edge. His wolf exploded out partially, giving him even more strength. He caught me by the throat and slammed me against the wall hard enough to crack stone.

"You want to know what your precious mate's father did?" he growled, his face inches from mine. "He killed seventeen Alphas who refused to submit to him. He tore apart packs and families. He was building an empire on the bones of everyone who stood in his way."

"Liar," Thelma said, but her voice wavered.

"Ask your mate," my father suggested, still choking me. "Ask him what his mission briefing said. Ask him what evidence I showed him of Alpha James's crimes. Ask him if he really believes your father was the hero you think he was."

Thelma's eyes found mine, desperate and pleading. Through our bond, I felt her begging me to deny it.

But I couldn't.

"There was evidence," I choked out. "Documents. Witness statements. Bodies. I don't know if it was all true, but there was evidence."