Aida POV

"I know you want to see him now, but maybe we should just take a break, work out where to start," Arge says, trying to calm my nerves.

I get where he's coming from, but I've waited too long. Seventeen years too long. And now it's time for this man, my sperm donor, to answer for his growing list of indiscretions.

My gorgeous, ever patient mate stops walking and turns me to face him, a hand on each of my shoulders, his forehead resting on mine. I close my eyes and breathe him in. His intoxicatingly sweet scent. It takes me right back to the cafe of the institution. The day we met. The day he changed my whole sad existence. Changed it into the most far-fetched ride of my crazy life, but for the better. That I have no doubt about.

I open my eyes and stare into his. He is everything warm and calm and all that I need in this upside-down life I've landed in.

"Better?" he asks, caressing my shoulders a few times before sliding his hands down my arms softly and taking my hands in his. A shiver of appreciation erupts over me, and I manage to calm my breathing completely.

"Much," I say, offering him a small smile. It's the best I can do right now.

"Now, plan what you need to know so your emotions don't get the better of you," Argent replies smoothly, such an Alpha in the making.

"Okay. Here's what I need to know. The why. Why did he start all this? Why did he do this to me and Amalie? The what. What am I? What is my mother? What is his end plan? And then, the how. I need to know how this man has done all of these horrible things and how we can fix it," I spill it all out into the open. It's like it all comes tumbling forth, along with a few tears, in the hope that saying it out loud like this, even if he can't or won't answer, maybe letting it go will help me somehow.

Because what I've realised after all of this is that I don't need to know who I was because I know who I am. I am James's sister. I am Jemma's sister. I am Argent's love. And I am the next Luna of this pack. I have a family. I have a pack. I have an army of people who care about me, and that's all that counts.

I don't need or want anything from my deadbeat dad other than to kick his scrawny ass up and down that cell. For my own personal gratification of course, but that doesn't help Amalie. Or the very real danger this pack faces if we don't get to the bottom of this.

And I will. That's a promise.

Arge takes my hand and leads us down towards the cells. These are the rooms where they keep intruders, the punished, the traitors, and the imprisoned. My father is all of the above. And an asshole.

As we descend into the underground, the heat starts to prickle at my neck. The smell weaves it way up the stairs and lodges unkindly in my nostrils. It's the smell of fear, desperation, and decay. As the stairway darkens and leads us to a narrow tunnel, my eyes adjust, and I can see a low flickering light up ahead. A guard stands outside one of the locked rooms and turns to face us as we draw closer.

"We have come to question the prisoner," Argent states, and the guard nods. He turns his back to us and unlocks the oversized padlock on the door using a key from the chain around his neck. He then lifts up the solid wooden paling latch and pulls open the large door.

I gather my thoughts and push the anger aside for now. There is so much we need to know, and I'm guessing it's only a short matter of time before shit starts falling down around us. And I also have a feeling that this small, sad excuse for a wolf is a pinnacle in all of it.

Looking at him now, scrunched up in a ball in the corner of the wretched room, he doesn't seem so dangerous. Pathetic and sad perhaps, but no danger.

And that is exactly why he is. In my experience, the people that seem like they mean no harm actually harm the most.

"Look at me," I command. I am his future Luna. I will accept no disrespect today. I owe him nothing. His head bobs up and down weakly before he finally peers up at me through his shaggy, dirty hair. "I have no intention of leaving this disgusting space until you've answered all my questions. Do you understand? After you have and I am satisfied with your answers, I will ask you whether you wish to live here for the remainder of your life or if you wish to die. Those will be your only choices left now."

He makes no move other than blinking at me, slow laboured blinks that portray a certain feeling of surprise. And awe. "You will be a wonderful Luna, Aidalyn. If I were a better man, a better father, I would say I'm proud. But I deserve no such emotion," he says, his throat hoarse and his voice wavering at the end.

"That much we agree on, Dr. Jasper," I answer with a flat face. I have zero emotion left, it seems. Maybe that's a good thing.

He can't hurt me anymore.

Argent pulls a dirty box from the corner of the room and places it behind me. Then he brushes off the dust and gestures for me to sit.

"I'll be right outside if you need me," he says, kissing me softly on my head and moving to stand just outside the door with the guard.

I smile and give him a small nod, taking a seat on the wooden box and sitting to face my father. I take in a deep breath and then instantly regret it. The stench down here is palpable and when it hits the back of my nose, I cough a little in response. Steadying myself once more, I look into the eyes of the man who helped bring me into this world and then almost took it all from me.

Because of what? Fear? Regret? Jealousy? I guess I'm about to find out.

Before I get a chance, he lets out a sigh and begins without me. "So, I guess you want to know why?" he asks, but it's not really a question. I nod slowly, and he adjusts his body so that he's sitting to face me square on. "Hmm. Where do I begin? Maybe with your mother, Marina. Seems a good place to start since meeting her was the start of the end, if you like."

My reaction is null, but he doesn't wait for me to say anything. He just continues.

"She was everything to me. Our family was our whole life. And then, all at once, it was gone. Had I known then what I do now, maybe I would have made better choices. But at the time, well, all I can say is that I did what I thought I had to," he explains, ever the masochist.

"After she was bitten, we thought she was so lucky to have survived. Then you were born healthy and again, how lucky were we? We thought all was well. Until they came in the night and took her. Just like that, my world fell apart. Marina and you were lost to me."

He sobs a little remembering, but I don't feel sad for him. Not at all. He still could have taken the high road.

"Then after thinking you were gone, all that time, my father called and said he had news of her. I thought it was a miracle. But when I arrived and saw the abominations he was creating with mere babies, on all of these small, helpless werewolf children he stole. I couldn't be a part of it. Not even if it meant seeing her again. No. Not even I was that evil then. Creating monsters with were-children. He was despicable. So, I attacked him. I took you, still a newborn, and I burned that place to the ground with all of the creatures in it." His sobs turn to full on tears now and I feel sick to my stomach.

This is multi-generational. The abuse. The testing. What the hell were they into? They tested and killed innocent children?

I hear Argent growl behind me. My father just signed his death warrant.

Jasper continues his tale of destruction, "My father had grand delusions, you know. He wanted to be bigger, better, more powerful than anyone. He hated that he was only a Beta. A second. He wanted it all, and he went to inhumane lengths to secure it. Working with the vampires was the last straw, or so I thought. When he bartered my family away, that's when he crossed all the lines," he says, not looking at me now.

But I can't tear my eyes away. It's like a crash now, tumbling out of control. Neither of us can stop its destined path.

"That's when I realised that he was behind it all. The attack. The bite. Marina and you being stolen in the night. Then the attack on the pack again later, to find my journals. He sent them in, and I lost another daughter, and we lost countless pack members."

The journal. That's what I need to know about. What is so important about the journal?

"What's in the journal What did he want so badly?" I ask quietly, still absorbing all the information he has spewed out.

He replies, "It's her story. It's the story. Your story too. All my research on you all. Marina always knew she was different. Special. All the children in her family are. They are the direct descendants of the one, true hybrid line. The original immortal werewolf line." Jasper stares at me now, waiting for me to understand what he's saying. Is he saying that we, that James and I, are immortal?

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" I question, my feet tapping with the nervous energy running through me, my pulse racing to a new speed.

"Your family are immortals by birth, Aida. You have both vampiric and wolf blood in your veins. Some of your ancestors lived to be thousands of years old. The journal is my work on your family chronicle. It traces all the known knowledge of your family line. So, you see, if Lukah got his hands on it, if he knew who you really were, what you are capable of being? It would be a disaster."

"Wait ... what?" I start, but I need to take a breath, a second to digest this. To pick up what he is putting down. "Are you telling me that I'm, that I'll never die?" I'm starting to wonder if crazy runs in the family as well as immortality now.

"You won't die of natural causes, no. It's doesn't mean you can't perish in other normal ways," he says, like that's any easier to take in.

"And why would this interest Lukah?" It's not like vampires need immortality.

"Because he's been trying for centuries to make an immortal superior race. He wants to rule them, to birth them, to wipe out all wolves forever and enslave the humans. He is nuts." He says this like he wasn't in on the whole crazy escapade.

Does he not remember the tests? Amalie?

"And why did you hurt Amalie, then? I don't understand why you would use her." I'm pacing now, back and forward in front of him. Fighting hard on my urge to throw up or maybe punch him. Or both.

"Because I didn't want them to have you. I thought I could use her in your place. But obviously, it wouldn't have been the same. But it may have given me time to escape. To hide. They can't ever fulfil their plans, Aida. It would be the end of us all."

This I get. No way are they getting a hold of me to breed super evil babies. Ew. No. Just no. "And what about my mother? Why didn't they just use her?" I ask, wondering how she was turned into the creature I saw today. I shudder just thinking about it.

"Another case of trial and error. They turned her, hoping her bloodline would allow her to remain fertile, but it didn't. It just allowed her to keep some of her wolf traits in her new ... form." Jasper swallows hard. It must be hard to see his mate like that now.

I sigh out loud and sit down again. My brain is in overdrive trying to process all the new information.

"Aida? I'm sorry. I'm sorry about it all. I hid you in all those homes and suppressed your wolf to try to keep you safe. When it became evident that I couldn't hide you forever, I thought it would be better if you died than become ... what they want you to be." He stares straight into my eyes this time . I don't hate him for that.

Is he crazy? Yes. Is he an ass? Absolutely. But I do believe, in his crazy mind, he believed he was doing the right thing.

Shit. Now what?

"Can you help Amalie?" I ask next, wondering where the fuck we go from here. It's all a lot to take in.

"I don't know. It depends how far she has gone. I can try," he answers, and I turn to see Arge coming back in, looking as bewildered as I feel.

"Okay," I say, and taking Arge's outstretched hand.

"Aida, one more thing," my father says, trying to stand up to meet our height. Arge sounds a warning growl, and Jasper steps back immediately.

He looks between the two of us. "Lukah sent me here to finish the task my father started all those years ago."

"What?" Argent snarls, dropping my hands and grabbing Jasper by the throat, lifting him up above his head and pushing him against the cell wall.

Jasper struggles to speak. "It was never my plan to, ah, do it. I was always going to tell you ... You just need to know that if I don't ... he will come. He will come for you all." Argent drops his frail form, and he slides down the wall into a crumpled mess on the floor.

Then Argent grabs my hand and pulls me out after him, yelling at the guard to lock Jasper back up. I don't bother looking back at the man who was my father.

We march back up the tunnel and up the stairs, never slowing the pace, not speaking a word. We both know this isn't the end, not even close. We head straight to his father's office, barging in as Argos jumps with a start.

"We have another problem."