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“Of course,” she replied quickly. “I’ll pick the most useful ones for you before you leave.”

Luca leaned forward again, his focus sharpening. “Do you know anything about Odin’s bloodline of wolf shifters?”

Rose shook her head. “Most of what I know comes from human mythology, not shifter records.”

Then her gaze returned to me, careful, analytical, almost fascinated.

“But if you truly are a hybrid tied to Odin’s line… and already carry magic…” she said slowly, “then you might be far more powerful than anyone realizes.”

Luca pov

The morning after our visit to the library, I made up my mind. It was time to face my father.

Selena had already marked me as hers. That meant there was no future where I belonged to anyone else no matter what he wanted.

When I told her, her reaction was immediate. Her eyes lit up with that familiar possessive excitement.

“I should go with you,” she said with a grin. “I’d love to see his expression when you tell him.”

I shook my head, wincing slightly. “No. I can handle this alone. He isn’t violent, but… this is something I need to say to him myself. He has to understand he can’t control my life anymore.”

She studied me for a moment, then smiled softly.

Before I could think too much, she pulled me in and kissed me slowly, sure, distracting enough to make my thoughts blur. For a second, I almost forgot my plan entirely.

When she finally pulled back, her expression had softened.

“Come back to me after you show them my mark,” she said quietly.

“I will,” I replied, brushing a kiss near the corner of her lips before forcing myself to leave.

I turned away from her before I lost my resolve completely.

Selena watched me go. When I glanced back, she blew me a playful kiss. I answered with a wink, then headed toward the estate.

The guesthouse where we stayed was smaller and set apart from the main building. I crossed the grounds and entered through the front, where the butler immediately recognized me and let me pass without question.

This time, I avoided the secretary entirely.

Instead, I took the hidden service stairs up toward my father’s office. My intention was the same as before: listen first, gather what I could, then decide my next move.

But when I reached the door, everything was silent except for the faint rustle of pages. He wasn’t speaking. He was reading.

I waited for a few minutes, listening carefully. Nothing changed.

Eventually, I started to reconsider. Staying hidden too long would only increase the chance of being noticed. And if I was caught lurking, it would raise more suspicion than if I simply walked in.

Just as I was about to move, I heard footsteps inside.

I stepped back quickly, pressing myself out of sight.

If he came out, I’d act like I was just arriving.

But instead, I heard him pacing inside his study.

Then my wolf hearing picked up something sharper, a phone connecting.

My father’s voice followed immediately, cold and commanding.

“Tell me why none of the border shipments are recorded,” he snapped. “I allowed you to take strong, newly mated wolves this time loyal ones and yet you still can’t manage a simple report?”

I didn’t stay at the doorway long enough to risk being seen. Instead, I crept closer again, just enough to catch fragments of what was happening inside the study.

My father’s voice carried through the room sharp, controlled, and cold.

Whatever the person on the phone was saying, I couldn’t hear it. But I didn’t need to.

What I did hear was enough to make my instincts tighten.

Witches.

Deals.

Payments for “risk.”

And something about border shipments that were never officially recorded.

A slow, uneasy realization settled in my chest.

So the missing wolves… weren’t just disappearances.

They were transactions.

My own father might be involved in selling them off.

I swallowed the urge to react, forcing my expression into stillness. This wasn’t something I could confront yet not without proof.

After the call ended, I backed away before he could notice anything unusual and slipped down the hallway.

By the time I reached his office door again, I made sure my steps were casual, like I had just arrived normally.

Then my phone rang.

Too loud. Too careless.

I shut it off immediately, but the damage was already done.

The door opened.

My father stood there, eyes narrowing the moment he saw me.

Still, I played it off, slowing my expression into something lazy and familiar like his version of me. The son who never challenged anything.

“Well, well,” he said, voice edged with irritation. “You actually showed up.”

I stepped inside like I belonged there.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” I replied lightly. “I came with news.”

He motioned for the door to close, already distracted. “Make it quick.”

But then he looked at me properly.

And stopped.

I smiled.

“You’re not going to like this,” I said. “Selena chose me.”

His eyes sharpened instantly. “That wolf girl… I sensed her shift before. She’s unstable right now. The heat is approaching.”

“She’s a wolf hybrid,” I corrected.

That finally got his attention.

“A hybrid?” he repeated, like the word itself was inconvenient.

I shrugged. “And she’s my Bonded. There’s nothing to undo.”

Silence stretched.

Then his tone changed to colder, more deliberate.

“Luca Cliff.”

That full name again.

I exhaled slowly. So we were doing this version of the conversation.

I sat on the edge of a chair across from him, relaxed on purpose.

“You always talk about plans,” I said. “Like we’re pieces on a board.”

His jaw tightened. “We are a family. Everything we do has structure.”

“Structure,” I echoed. “Right. Harlow, Hazel… all places where you wanted them.”

“They serve a purpose.”

“And I don’t?” I tilted my head slightly. “I was supposed to ‘manage witches,’ wasn’t I?”

His silence answered for him.

That alone told me everything.

I stood again.

“My sisters don’t need managing,” I said. “And I’m not your political tool.”

His voice rose slightly. “You’re throwing away alliances that took years to build over a Bond?”

I paused at the door.

“No,” I said quietly. “I’m choosing reality over your schemes.”

His chair scraped as he leaned forward.

“You think this won’t have consequences?”

I glanced back once.

“It already does.”

Then I walked out.

If I could get in touch with Rowan, we might be able to piece together a proper way to track this down. He was still patrolling the border, but nothing new had come from his search for the kidnappers.

But if my father really was involved… then this wasn’t just an investigation anymore.

It became my problem.

As his son, and as an alpha, I couldn’t ignore the fact that someone under his rule might be harming our own people. The instinct to confront him rose fast, sharp and raw, but I forced it down. Dryden didn’t get taken down by impulse. He got taken down by strategy.

So I needed patience.

And a plan.

I headed back toward the guest house, thinking I would update Selena first, then go find Rowan and move forward with him. But the moment I stepped into the kitchen, Cassius was already on the phone.

He lifted a hand at me, silently telling me to wait.