I gasped, locking my gaze with his piercing eyes. “My father... did what?” I whispered, my voice trembling with disbelief.

“You heard me,” Hadrian said, his smirk as cold as his tone. “Now, tell me... would you be so eager to ‘protect’ a child of your mother’s killer?”

“I’m nothing like him!” I snapped, the words escaping in a fiery burst. “I don’t even share his features! You know as well as I do that his appearance is determined by the wolf gene, ...