I was in the middle of my afternoon workout when I heard the knock. Not a hurried rap or Natalia’s impatient drumming, but three solid, measured thumps. I set down the dumbbells and wiped sweat from my forehead. The intrusion was unexpected—I’d carefully scheduled my routines around everyone else’s habits in that house. Kimiko should have been at her book club, Natalia at special training with her Cryo-Lich Ring, and Luka...
Luka should have been at work.
"Come in," I called, grabbing a towel as the door swung open.
It was him. But something was wrong.
Luka filled the doorframe as always, a mountain dressed in casual clothes instead of his usual Hunter gear. But the mountain looked... smaller somehow. His shoulders hung an inch lower than usual. The permanent crinkles around his eyes—the mark of a man who’d spent a lifetime smiling—were smooth with tension. Most telling of all, he didn’t immediately boom out some embarrassingly enthusiastic greeting.
"Luka?" I stood up straighter, my senses sharpening. "Everything okay?"
He attempted a smile, but it was like watching someone try to lift a weight that was too heavy—the strain showed. "Everything’s fine, son." He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking around my room without focusing on anything. "Just... feeling a bit cooped up. Feel like taking a drive?"
I watched him carefully, searching for tells. "Now? Don’t you have work?"
"Called in. Mental health day." He shrugged, the gesture uncharacteristically small. Then, like an afterthought: "You can get behind the wheel of the Raptor."
My eyebrows shot up before I could control my reaction. "You’re letting me drive the ’Raptor’?"
The Raptor wasn’t just a truck. It was Luka’s pride and joy—a custom-built behemoth with seats upholstered in authentic Mandible Crawler hide, a reinforced chassis that could plow through a concrete wall, and an engine that growled like a caged beast.
He babied that thing more than he did his actual children.
"You’re a man now, aren’t you?" he said, and something in his voice sounded wrong. Like he was reading lines from a script he didn’t fully believe in. "Time you learned to handle a real machine."
I felt cold suddenly, despite the sweat cooling on my skin. This was wrong. All of it.
Something had happened. Something serious enough to make him skip work. Serious enough to offer me his sacred truck. Was this about the Gala? Had Julian’s father made a move already? Or... fuck.
Had Kimiko told him about me and Natalia?
I touched the Liar’s Brooch pinned inside my shirt, the cold metal a reassurance against my skin. At least I’d know if he was lying to me.
"Sure," I said, keeping my voice casual. "Let me grab a quick shower first."
"I’ll be in the garage." He nodded, turning to leave. But he paused, one hand on the doorframe. Without looking back, he added, "Wear something comfortable. Might be a long drive."
The door closed behind him, and I immediately grabbed my phone.
No messages from Natalia warning me of disaster. Nothing from Kimiko either. Just a good morning text from Emi with too many heart emojis that I hadn’t had time to answer yet.
As I threw on clean clothes, I made my decision. I’d follow Luka’s lead, match his energy, and let my Brooch guide me. If he was lying, I’d know. If he was baiting me, I’d know.
And if he actually knew what his daughter and I had been doing behind his back?
Well, at least I’d gotten better at running.
===
The Raptor was every bit as ridiculous up close as it looked from a distance. It sat higher than a normal truck, requiring an actual step to climb inside. The interior smelled like worn leather, gun oil, and the faint, woody scent of Luka’s aftershave. There was a custom weapons rack behind the seats, currently empty. The dashboard looked like it belonged in a military aircraft.
Luka tossed me the keys without ceremony. "Try not to kill us," he said, but there was no humor in it.
I adjusted the seat and mirrors, taking my time. The control panel was intuitive enough once you got past all the custom toggles and switches. I started the engine, and it roared to life with a sound you felt in your chest cavity.
"Where to?" I asked, backing us out of the garage.
"Just drive," Luka said, staring out the passenger window. "Head toward the outer districts. I’ll tell you when to turn."
I navigated the clean, pristine streets of Veridian Hills, keeping my attention split between the road and Luka’s reflection in the window. The silence stretched between us, heavy with unspoken words. Minutes passed with only the rumble of the engine for company.
"Two days until the exam," Luka finally said, his voice quiet, lacking its usual booming confidence. "You nervous?"
"A little," I admitted, offering a partial truth. "It’s a big step."
Luka nodded, still gazing out at the city as it transitioned from the gleaming spires of the Core Districts to the more industrial outskirts. "Take the next right. Toward the wall."
I followed his directions, and soon we were driving along the massive barrier that separated our gleaming metropolis from the monster-infested wilderness beyond. The wall loomed hundreds of feet high, a constant reminder of humanity’s precarious position in this world.
"That kid you embarrassed at the Gala," Luka said suddenly, and my grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Julian Valerius. His father, Marcus Valerius, is a billionaire. Owns half the companies that make our gear. He sits on the VHC’s civilian oversight board."
"I’m aware."
Luka turned to look at me then, and what I saw in his eyes made me nearly miss a turn. It was fear. Genuine, paternal fear.
"Satori, I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, I truly am." His voice was low, intense. "But you didn’t just make an enemy of a spoiled kid. You made an enemy of a name. And in our world, a name like Valerius can crush a boy like you before he even gets a chance to shine."
The Brooch remained cold against my chest. This was real. This was the reason for the drive, the heavy mood, the concern.
"They can rig the exams," Luka continued, his hand forming a fist on his knee. "Blacklist you from guilds, make sure you never get decent contracts. They can make your life hell, son."
He was worried about me. Actually worried. Not about his reputation or what people would think of the family. About me. My future.
"I know what I’m doing," I said, softening my tone. "I’ve thought about the consequences."
Luka sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "I know you think you do. But you don’t understand how this world works yet. The Hunter community isn’t like civilian life. It’s small, it’s tight-knit, and it’s ruled by old money and older grudges."
"Pull over up there," he added, pointing to a scenic overlook. "That spot with the guardrail."
I guided the Raptor to the indicated area, a place where the road widened to allow vehicles to stop and admire the view. From here, the city spread out below us like a sea of fallen stars, the barrier wall a dark line dividing civilization from chaos.
I turned off the engine, and silence settled around us. For a long moment, we just sat there, watching the distant lights.
"Look," Luka finally said, and something in his voice had changed. He sounded... tired. Older. "You’re a man now. Going off to the Academy, going to be living in the dorms. You’re... you’re a good-looking kid. Girls are going to notice you. Especially now."
What the fuck? Where was this coming from?
I stayed silent, my face carefully blank as I watched him from the corner of my eye.
"Just... be careful, son. Be smart." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Always have condoms on standby. Especially in those dorms. You don’t want to end up with a kid to take care of in your second year."
I blinked, genuinely caught off guard by the sudden shift in conversation. Was this some kind of weird sex talk?
"That’s what happened with me and Natalia’s mother," Luka continued, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "We were just kids at the Academy. Second-years. Young, stupid, thought we were invincible."
This was... unexpected. In all our time living together, Luka had never spoken about his first wife, Natalia’s mother.
"Then... we had Nat." His massive hands gripped his knees so tightly his knuckles turned white. "I had to drop out to take on more Gate runs just to pay the bills. She... she couldn’t handle the stress. The job, the baby... it broke her. It broke us."
I’d never seen Luka like this—vulnerable, wounded, showing the scars of an old pain. It reframed everything I thought I knew about him. His overbearing pride in Natalia. His desperate desire for his kids to succeed "the right way." His constant cheerleading and support.
He wasn’t just some dopey, well-meaning stepdad. He was a man who’d had his dreams shattered by one mistake, who’d rebuilt his life from the ruins, who was terrified of watching history repeat itself.
And I didn’t know what to say. The Kaelen part of me had no frame of reference for this kind of genuine, heartfelt vulnerability.
So I offered a simple truth.
"Thank you for telling me, Luka." I swallowed past a strange tightness in my throat. "And... don’t worry about the exam. I have a plan."
He nodded, seeming satisfied with my response. "I know you do, son. You’re smarter than I ever was."
The drive back was different. The heavy tension was gone, replaced by a comfortable silence. Luka reached over to turn on the radio, and some pre-Rupture rock song filled the cab. I caught him watching me from time to time, a thoughtful expression on his face.
When we pulled back into our building’s garage, I shut off the engine and handed him back the keys.
"You handled her well," he said, a hint of his usual warmth returning to his voice. "Better than I expected, actually."
As I got out of the truck, Luka’s heavy hand clapped onto my shoulder, firm and steady.
"I know you’ll do great at the exam," he said, giving me a squeeze. "Just... come back in one piece, okay? We still have a lot of driving lessons ahead of us."
I nodded, unable to fully process the tangle of emotions his words triggered in me.
"I will."
As we walked toward the elevator, I realized something that disturbed me far more than any talk of enemies or unexpected pregnancies could have.
For a brief, unguarded moment, I’d actually meant it.