Connor swallowed.“You’re right, I have been avoiding you.”
“And why is that?”
“With everything that happened, I’m just a little mixed up.Not as healed as everyone thinks, I guess.Trying to focus on getting things back to normal.Avoid anything related to the military while I support Opal’s transition to life here.”
“Ah, yes.Your little soul-daughter.You rescued her not once, but twice.How long did she spend with the mercenaries that caught your team by surprise?The report you gave wasn’t clear.”
“Opal is traumatized still.”He shrugged.“She doesn’t remember a lot.”
Alison tipped her head in acknowledgment of that.“Standard travel would put her with them for a week, maybe even two.I find it hard to believe she doesn’t remember anything about them.”
“All due respect, Ali, stay away from my daughter.I’ve said no to all the requests to have her work with a mind mage to unearth the memories, and I’ll continue to.Even Ryan and Thalia agree it would be cruel to push her, and Thalia very much wants information on who killed her mate.”
“She turned in her papers today.I’d wondered if she was going after the men who attacked you.”
“Can’t really blame her, can you?Vengeance should be expected in a situation like that.”
“It is her right, with her mate being killed,” Alison said.“I just wonder how she expects to find them.”
“You’d have to ask her.But the information certainly wouldn’t be coming from Opal.”
“You’re very protective of her—Opal.It’s admirable.”
“It’s my job,” Connor said, a bite to his voice he couldn’t mask.“I’m not just her soul-guardian, I’m her father.I won’t let her down.”
Alison nodded, looking away into the trees.“Being a guardian is difficult.At first, you focus on their physical health.Their mental health.Helping them through traumatic situations.The death of their parents.Then, you teach them to think and to be.To become more.They surpass you, in some ways.”
Connor swallowed the emotion clogging his throat as she described him.Their relationship as it had changed over the years.
“You want to make the world a better place for them.A safer place,” Alison said, rising from her seat to step toward him.“To honor that bond that fills your chest with warmth and purpose.”
He stayed still, unable to move as she caught and held his eyes.
“Somewhere they’ll thrive.And never know such extreme pain or heartache again.Never be subjected to fear.To trauma and death.”
The bond that connected them thrummed with emotion.He’d been fighting so hard to block it since he came home.To ensure he didn’t inadvertently give away their plans.The shield he’d kept was gone now, and he felt everything.
Alison cupped his face, her ice blue eyes full of familiar emotion.He felt a tear slip from down his cheek.“I’ve always loved you, Connor.Even before Davina died, I considered you mine to protect.I still do.”
Connor clamped down on the words trying to escape his throat—then why are you doing this?But the emotion reached her across the bond.He saw it in her eyes.
“The world is a brutal place, Connor.When we see it for the best it can be—the beauty, the progress—it blinds us to the threats that are churning.The dangers rising silently in the dark.Without care, they’ll overwhelm us.You’ve seen the truth.Walked the battlefields no one else knows about.That they take a different shape doesn’t make them less volatile.”
“What are saying, Ali?”
“It would break my heart to see you suffer, my soul-son.Everything your mother did, that I’ve done, has been to make the world safer.For you.”Her words were soft as she wiped the tear off his cheek.“You’re a parent now.You understand that drive.I see it in your eyes when you look at that girl.”
“I would do anything to protect her,” he agreed.“But my mother—”
“Davina and I had different approaches.Different opinions.But our goal was the same.She made the world safer by creating a sanctuary for the unwanted.Designating protectors for them and building a pathway for them to find their way to us.”
That was… exactly right.He couldn’t describe it better himself.“And you?”
Her mouth tipped in a half-smile as her hand dropped from his face.“I do my best to prevent war, Connor.We do.Your team, the others under my lead, we unearth information.Influence the shape of world events through the shadows.”
“But—”
“How many times have you intercepted information that was dangerous?”Her eyes brightened fiercely when he remained silent.“How many, Connor?”
