Dr Jasper POV

Time is running out. I have to act. But why do I feel so conflicted all of a sudden? And why did I tell her about her mother?

Maybe because I know she won't last the night. Maybe because I want part of her to know that I am, biologically, her father.

I haven't called myself her father in a long time because I don't deserve that title. Fathers don't do this. Lie to their child. Treat them like an experiment. Hurt them.

I want to tell her this was never my choice. I never wanted to include my baby girl in this. But when my father found out Marina, Aida's mother, had been bitten by a vampire on a research trip abroad, treated in Lithuania and had been healed, he had a feeling that the baby she was pregnant with, Aidalyn, would be born different.

And that she was. As suspected, she had the same internal power that Marina possessed as a result of the bite. It was strong. Too strong and on many occasions, it got a hold of Marina. She never meant to do any of the things she did in wolf form during those bad days.

But we both agreed we didn't want that for Aida. And that is why I started working on the medication. A drug to suppress her wolf traits. It was supposed to be a secret for Aida and Marina.

I succeeded in part for Aida but not in time for Marina.

And then my father found out what I was doing. He wanted to use her power to harness the strength. But Marina and I didn't want that for her. I knew that I could somehow duplicate the power if I only had time. And as long as I had Marina.

Now here I am. Fast forward seventeen years. Marina has been gone for that long, taken, and Aida has been kept secret until a year ago.

They found her and called in the favour I owed. That my father owed. I still don't know how they found her. I had masked her all this time.

I walk down the hallway now, playing my melancholy monologue in my mind. Wondering how I got to this point, carrying my beautiful daughter down to a lab to end her life. She looked so much like her mother as a child.

I feel the sting of tears start to form, but I cannot let them fall. I must see this through. Aida is better off dead than having to be at their mercy.

Amalie too.

Goddess forgive me.

***I've set Aida up in the lab hospital. She is still out from the sedative dose I gave her. I will set up a reverse infusion. Tonight will be her last.

The infusion will drain every last drop of her very unique blood, and I will transfer it into Amalie. Then I am done. My debt is repaid, and my life will be over.

I need to get it together. I must prepare Amalie. Amalie will be their prize. After tonight, she will in complete transition, and she will no longer be the daughter of the Alpha I once knew as a tiny child.

I used to wonder if she and Aidalyn would have been friends. The daughters of the Alpha and Beta. And as fate would have it, Aida would be the future Luna. Marina would have been so happy. I would have been so proud.

I shake my head to rid it of this dream that can never be. That life is gone. My father saw to that. He convinced me it was all for the best after what I had done.

And now I must do this, or it will be worse for everyone. For Aida.

I slap myself hard in the face. "Just bloody get on with it, man."

Right.

I go to the cabinet in the small office behind the beds and feel towards the back. I find my target. The small bottle of liquor I keep for emergency shots of courage. This calls for a double.

I pour a shot of the single malt whiskey and throw it back. And then another. I mentally prepare myself for the next step.

I must drain Aida, ending her life. Saving her from a lot worse. They had wanted her. They had got word of her power, my father's doing. Word of Marina's blood had spread through the packs and though we tried to hide Aida, it was too late.

Lukah had asked for Aida. Demanded, really. A life for a life. But I convinced them that she was too unstable, too unwell, and promised an alternative.

So, they attacked last week and took Amalie. The pack believes it to be an accident, but it wasn't. The daughter of the Alpha. They couldn't resist. She shares a blood type with Aida. I knew this, of course, so I knew they would be compatible.

I could not let them get their hands on Aida's power. It would be the end of wolves as we know it. Though this alternative is not much better.

To finish this, I must complete the cycle and transfuse Aida's blood into Amalie. When she awakes tomorrow, if she survives, she will be the first of a new kind. A hybrid. Stronger than both races with none of the weaknesses and all of the strengths.

If she survives, that is. I hope with all my power that she does not. If there is a goddess, I will be praying that Amalie perishes too.

She will be a force that cannot be stopped. And she will be the property of the one of the three high leaders of the vampire race, Lukah. At his mercy. As we shall all be if I don't do this now.

What choice do I have?

Amalie will not be the last. If this works, the werewolf life as we have always known it will be over.

I pray my contingency plan works.

I pray a lot of things.

***

"Please somebody help me!" Amalie screams as I set up the infusion.

I don't blame her for screaming. She must be feeling the changes by now. The entire time she's been here, I've been injecting her with the vampire venom to enhance the bite. I tighten the straps that tie her to the bed and inject another sedative dose. It's getting harder to knock her out. She puts up a gallant fight. She is her father's daughter, after all.

Ah, Argos. This is partly his fault. If he had just listened to my father all those years ago, we would not be here now.

I hate the Lakes. They always have to be on top. They're always so righteous, so bloody pig headed. If only he saw what my father was trying to do: make us stronger. He wouldn't have gone to them. It would never have gone this far.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert"

Overhead, the alarm goes off. It awakens me from my thoughts.

Who on earth is out there now? It's 10 p.m.

I go into the office and turn on the laptop. I had a security system set up a few months ago as a precaution. It covers the perimeter of the building, the woods, and the underground lab. The screen comes online, and I look at the grid. The alarm has been triggered in the wooded area beyond the ruins of the old site.

This can only mean one thing. Argos and the pack are coming.

Oh goddess, not now.

I watch as over fifty wolves make their way through the grounds and head towards the lab. I see the large pack leader at the helm, the unmistakable white wolf at his side, my son, James.

He makes me proud every day. And I shame him.

What has happened to me? I used to be so proud of my pack. So in awe of the strength we held as one. But the pain we suffered after the first of the attacks was too much, and I lost my way. My loss was too much to bear.

I turned to my father in anger.

My father was a brilliant scientist, an elder of the pack. But he was deranged. He betrayed us, and I helped him. And now, I pay for his crimes.

I need time. If they get here and interrupt the process, it could ruin everything.

I need to start this now.

Forgive me, Marina. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. But I can save our baby from your fate. I need to do this.

I'm sorry. Aida. I'm sorry.