Liam's POV
Liam wakes to find Theron sitting in the suite's common area.
His mother is still sleeping. The mountains are visible through the window. Everything smells like money and power and danger.
This is his chance to talk to his father alone.
He approaches carefully like his father might bite. "Are you really the Alpha?"
"I am," Theron says. He doesn't offer more explanation. He just watches Liam with eyes that are analyzing everything. Trying to understand this boy who carries his blood.
"Did you know about me?" Liam asks. He sits down across from Theron, keeping the coffee table between them like it's a barrier against something.
Theron's jaw tightens. "I did."
"How long?"
"Since before you were born," Theron says. "I've known for twelve years that I had a son. I knew your name. I knew your age. I knew everything about you except how to face what I'd done."
Liam has spent his entire life expecting his father to be a hero. The missing father. The important father. The father who was too busy being powerful to be there. He's imagined him a thousand different ways. Strong. Cruel. Indifferent. Anything but this.
This man who looks at him like he's the most important thing in the world.
"Why didn't you come?" Liam asks. His voice breaks and he hates it. He's twelve. He's supposed to be strong. He's supposed to be able to handle a missing father without falling apart.
Theron looks at him for a long moment. He's thinking about how to answer a question that doesn't have a good answer. How to explain cowardice to a child who's learned to survive without him.
"Because I was a coward," he says finally. "That's not an excuse. It's just the truth."
Something in Liam's chest unclenches slightly. At least his father is honest. At least he's not trying to pretend he was noble or that he was protecting them.
"I told myself I was protecting you," Theron continues. "I told myself that keeping you away from me was the best thing I could do. I told myself that being an Alpha meant I couldn't be a father. I was lying to myself. And I was being a coward."
Liam has spent his entire life expecting his father to be a hero. Instead his father is just a man who made a bad choice and is trying desperately not to make it again.
It's somehow more terrifying.
"My mother cried a lot," Liam says. He doesn't know why he's telling Theron this. It just comes out like he's been waiting years to say it. "She cried when she thought I was sleeping. I could hear her in the healing cottage at night sometimes. She cried like something inside her was breaking."
"I know," Theron says quietly.
"How do you know?"
"Because I deserve to know," Theron answers. "Because you deserve to tell someone who will listen. Because I need to understand exactly how much damage I caused so I can spend the rest of my life trying to fix it."
Liam sits down across from his father. They're separated by a coffee table and seven years of absence, but suddenly it feels like the smallest distance in the world.
"Did you ever think about us?" Liam asks. "Did you ever wonder what I looked like? Did you ever want to meet me?"
"Every single day," Theron says. And his voice is so raw that Liam believes him immediately. "For twelve years. Every single day I thought about you. I told myself I was being noble by staying away. I told myself it was protection. I was lying to myself and I knew it."
Liam wants to hate his father. He wants to tell him that some things can't be fixed. He wants to walk away and pretend this conversation never happened. He wants to go back to a time when his father was just a story instead of a man with real eyes looking at him.
But Theron is looking at him with an expression so raw and honest that Liam can't quite manage any of those things.
"Can I ask you something?" Liam says.
"Anything," Theron replies immediately.
"Are you going to stay?"
Theron doesn't answer right away. He's thinking about it. Actually thinking about what staying would mean. What giving up his old life might cost him. Whether he can be the man his son needs.
"Yes," he says finally. "I'm going to stay. Not because the universe is forcing me. Not because your mother is my mate. Not because it's politically convenient. I'm going to stay because you're my son and I want to be. I'm going to stay because being here with you matters more than anything else I could possibly do."
Liam doesn't know if he believes him yet.
But he wants to.
"Are you scared?" Liam asks.
"Terrified," Theron admits. "I'm terrified that I'll mess this up. I'm terrified that I don't know how to be a father. I'm terrified that one mistake will ruin everything again."
"My mother was scared too," Liam says. "When I was born. She didn't know if she could raise me alone. She didn't know if she was strong enough."
"Was she?" Theron asks.
"Yeah," Liam says. "She was the strongest person I know."
Theron nods like he's filing this information away. Like he's committing it to memory.
That's when the lights flicker.
It's subtle. A tiny flicker that lasts maybe a second. But Theron's entire body goes rigid.
"What was that?" Liam asks.
"Power issue," Theron says. But his eyes have gone cold. That Alpha cold. "Stay here."
"What's happening?" Liam calls after him as Theron stands up.
But Theron is already moving, already pulling out his phone, already shifting into the leader mode that Liam saw briefly during the evacuation.
"Get me a status report," Theron barks into the phone. "Power grid. Perimeter security. Everything."
He's listening to whoever is on the other end and his expression gets darker and darker.
"How many?" he demands. "You're sure? All three directions?"
He hangs up and looks at Liam with an expression that's trying to be calm but isn't.
"Get your mother," Theron says. "Both of you need to go to the inner sanctum. Now."
"What's happening?" Liam asks again.
"The safe house is under attack," Theron says. And there's something in his voice that suggests this isn't a small attack. This isn't a test. This is something bigger. Something worse. "The rival packs have coordinated. They're hitting us from multiple directions simultaneously."
"But I thought..." Liam starts.
"I thought we had more time," Theron finishes. "I was wrong."
He's already moving toward the door. He's already shifting into the Alpha who commands armies instead of the father who was just trying to connect with his son.
"Go get your mother," he says again. "The inner sanctum has its own power source. You'll be safe there."
"What about you?" Liam asks.
Theron stops at the door. He turns back and looks at his son with an expression that breaks something inside him.
"I'm going to do what I was born to do," Theron says. "I'm going to protect my family."
Then he's gone.
Liam can hear the chaos starting. The sounds of guards moving. The sounds of orders being shouted. The sounds of a siege beginning.
He runs to his mother's bedroom.
Daphne is already awake. She heard it too. She's already grabbing their bags like she's been expecting this moment. Like she's always known that safety with Theron would be temporary.
"We have to go," she says.
"The inner sanctum," Liam says. "That's where he said we should go."
Daphne's expression hardens. "Of course that's where he said."
But she takes Liam's hand and together they move toward the sounds of war.
Behind them, the safe house begins to shake.
And somewhere beyond the walls, Theron is about to face something that no amount of power can fully protect against.
A choice between the kingdom he's built and the family he's just found.
And this time there's no running away from it.